Opening of THE SPOOK postponed due to COVID
As a result of COVID exposure, all of this week’s performances of The Spook have been cancelled. This affects performances from Tuesday 15 March to Sunday 20 March 2022 inclusive.
The season will now commence next Thursday 24 March 2022.
After having to cancel this production on the eve of its first preview in July last year, due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and then making the tough decision to postpone it again later in the year when it became obvious we were in for the long haul, we though surely ‘third time lucky’! Sadly, it’s proving harder than we’d hoped. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.
We have a entertaining and lively show on our hands, funny and heartwarmingly human, and we know it’s going to make audiences very happy when they finally get to see it. You’re welcome to download and use the suite of production images via the button at the bottom of this email. Please credit: Photos (c) Bob Seary.
If you have tickets, we will of course be happy to exchange them to another date. Performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 5pm, with the final performance on Saturday 9 April at 2pm.
THE SPOOK
It’s 1965, and things are a bit slow in the South Bendigo branch of the Communist Party of Australia.
Sales of The Tribune have slumped, no one’s very interested in the resident Maoist’s slide nights about life in China, and lighting a revolutionary fire in the belly of rural Victoria isn’t progressing too well.
Enter Martin, a young and eager recruit, whose zeal is welcomed by the group, including Greek couple George and Eli Tassakis, even as his mum despairs of his long hair and his rejection of church and army reserve.
But Martin has a secret: he’s been recruited by ASIO to spy on the comrades, and he’s about to get his new friends into serious trouble.
Inspired by a true story, Melissa Reeves creates a whimsical study of small-town Australia, Cold War fear-mongering, friendship and betrayal, laced with dry humour and keenly observed relationships.
Reeves is an unashamedly left-wing writer, with a bent for political theatre which includes a stint at the Melbourne Workers Theatre where she co-authored Who’s Afraid of the Working Class, produced at New Theatre in 2001. Her idols include Bertolt Brecht, Franca Rame and Dario Fo, and she believes left-wing theatre makes the best theatre!
In light of New Theatre’s own fraught history with ASIO’s ‘spooks’, and the recent sabre-rattling by the conservatives regarding China and its influence (shades of Menzies’ ‘reds under the beds’ scare-mongering), it’s rather fitting that this razor-sharp and very funny Australian political satire is being given its Sydney revival on our stage.
Winner: 2005 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award – the Louis Esson Prize for Drama
Winner: 2005 AWGIE Award for Best New Play
The Age:
Reveals as much about modern politics as it does about our past
Season Details
Venue: New Theatre
Date: 24 Mar – 9 Apr 2022
For more information click HERE
