It’s that time of year when theatre companies around Australia are beginning to launch their seasons and Sydney Theatre Company is one who many have been keeping an eye on to see what artistic director Mitchell Butel will do in his sophomore season. In his debut season, he programmed a number of classics and crowd-pleasers, with a huge number of A-list theatre and movie actors on the bill. This year, Butel has gone for a list that is perhaps a little bit more esoteric in some ways, with a few more Australian premieres and bold choices amongst the still many crowd pleasers.
Butel said this year that many of the plays centre around family and while that may be true, it seems like there is perhaps a more subtle focus around diversity in this line-up. There really is something for everyone and truly considered representation is at the heart of the program, which is both refreshing and also feels quite deliberate at this time, in a way that feels like making a statement without explicitly doing so. This is a courageous choice but will hopefully have the impact of introducing STC to new audiences for a commercial as well as cultural payoff.
Among the highlights of this season include the Australian premiere of a modern retelling of Oedipus, the world premiere of The Palace Letters which tells the story of the dismissal of Gough Whitlam and the fight to uncover the correspondence between Sir John Kerr and Queen Elizabeth as well as the return of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Some more highlights include the TikTok sensation John Proctor is the Villain and A Christmas Carol which will star Tim Minchin. The one thing missing from this year: a musical. Once again, Mitchell Butel’s smash hit with Melbourne Theatre Company “Kimberly Akimbo” is missing from the season and one can only hope that it makes the program soon (although with the state of musical theatre in Australia at the moment, the shift away from musicals does feel deliberate).
There is no doubt that this is a much more ambitious and intriguing season from Butel and time will tell how audiences respond. But for now, here is the synopsis of every show from the 2027 STC season to work out what you would like to attend!
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OEDIPUS
By Robert Icke
Date 27 Jan – 28 Feb 2027
It’s election night, and triumph looms for Oedipus as a landslide victory approaches. His wife has brought their nearest and dearest together for an evening that will transform the family forever. Their close, loving family and strong marriage are about to be rocked to their core.
LOGAN ST
By Jacob Boehme
Date 5 Feb – 7 Mar 2027
Goolie, a 60-year-old Afghan cameleer, meets Dulcie, a young First Nations woman, after she takes one of the pomegranates growing in his garden in the backyard of an Adelaide mosque. Set in 1941, their friendship endures for decades as they swap recipes and cook together, while Goolie learns that Dulcie must suppress her identity to live independently. Weaving family history, culture, community and storytelling across Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, Logan St explores the connections between these lives through score, soundscape, scent and video.
BECKY SHAW
By Gina Gionfriddo
Date 15 Feb – 25 Mar 2027
Suzanna’s complicated relationship with her cynical, damaged and abrasive foster brother Max becomes even more charged after she marries Andrew. When Suzanna and Andrew set Max up on a blind date with Andrew’s colleague Becky, their romantic entanglements spiral into chaos. A wicked comedy of contemporary manners, Becky Shaw explores love, sex, ethics, class and romantic entanglement.
THE PALACE LETTERS
By Melanie Tait
Date 6 Apr – 22 May 2027
Historian Jenny Hocking fights to uncover the truth about Gough Whitlam’s dismissal, tracing a web of intrigue that reaches all the way to Buckingham Palace. Set between 1975 and the 2020 release of long-suppressed correspondence, the play explores what the Queen knew of the Governor General’s intentions and what this means for Australian independence. The political thriller moves between past and present, capturing the events and atmosphere of The Dismissal.
AMAH AND NANNA
By Disapol Savetsila
Date 10 Apr – 16 May 2027
After Nanna’s daughter cuts off contact when her infant grandson is photographed at a political rally, Nanna forms an unlikely friendship with Amah, a Thai Chinese woman dealing with her own family challenges. Together, the two vivacious seniors embark on a cross-country road trip towards self-discovery and the Red Centre. The darkly comic thriller explores identity, tolerance, grievance politics and belonging in Australia, threaded through with heart and humour.
MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES: DEATH BY DECKCHAIR
By Deb Cox
Date 8 May – 13 Jun 2027
In 1929, Miss Phryne Fisher sails to the South Seas when a murder, jewel robbery and rumours of a mysterious curse throw a cruise ship into uproar. While Miss Fisher investigates alongside Detective Inspector Jack Robinson, she encounters a collection of unusual suspects including a light-fingered academic, a honeymooning magician and the dissolute heir to a newspaper fortune. The mystery hurtles between the ship’s upper and lower decks, exploring class divisions and potentially even a connection to the Titanic.
THE BOOK OF LIZ
By Amy Sedaris and David Sedaris
Date 29 May – 4 Jul 2027
Sister Elizabeth Donderstock runs away from her Amish-like religious community after being forced to give up her recipe for cheese balls. Clueless about sex and the modern world but armed with a sunny disposition, she encounters a series of eccentric characters on the road, including a Ukrainian migrant in a peanut costume. This gloriously silly picaresque follows Liz as she finds her place and worth in the world.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
By Oscar Wilde
Date 30 Jun – 25 Jul 2027
Kip Williams’ cine-theatre adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic returns to Sydney after sold-out runs on the West End and Broadway. Beautiful but impressionable, Dorian Gray falls under Lord Henry Wotton’s malign influence and descends into a life of hedonism while remaining outwardly unblemished as the years pass. Nikki Shiels plays 26 characters in a highwire feat of performance, stagecraft and technology.
THE FIFTH STEP
By David Ireland
Date 31 Jul – 19 Sep 2027
Luka asks the older James to become his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, with James preparing him for the fifth step, the confessional stage of the programme. But rigorous honesty proves difficult when James has secrets of his own, while Luka begins to resent the control James exerts over his life and relationships. As trust falters and resentment mounts, the two men move towards outright war in this darkly hilarious two-hander about power and authority.
JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN
By Kimberly Belflower
Date 3 Sep – 16 Oct 2027
A group of young people studying The Crucible navigate sex, gossip and fractured friendships in a small American town, until shocking accusations in the classroom force the community to take sides. Updating Arthur Miller’s portrait of mob hysteria for the social media age, the play follows five teenagers as they grapple with power in art and life. It is a coming-of-age drama that explores the complexity of adolescence while remaining thorny, provocative and funny.
VANYA
By Simon Stephens
Date 16 Oct – 5 Dec 2027
Eryn Jean Norvill plays every member of a troubled household in this Olivier Award-winning adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Vanya manages the estate of acclaimed film director Alexander, whose daughter Sonia loves local doctor Michael, while Michael and Vanya both love Alexander’s younger wife Helena. The familiar story is given a modern twist and a healthy sense of mischief, with the characters’ inability to reach one another made more potent by Norvill’s aloneness.
THE BOOKBINDER OF JERICHO
By Verity Laughton
Date 23 Oct – 11 Dec 2027
Set in Oxford at the advent of the First World War, The Bookbinder of Jericho follows working-class twins Peggy and Maude, who live on a narrowboat and work binding books at the university press. While Maude remains at work, whip-smart Peggy dreams of using her brains rather than her fingers and longs for the opportunities available to women at Somerville College. As she begins to imagine another life, her love for a Belgian soldier could become either her salvation or her downfall.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
By Jack Thorne
Date 11 Nov – 26 Dec 2027
On a freezing Christmas night, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who show him scenes from his life and force him to confront regret and loss. As he reckons with his past, Scrooge must determine whether it is too late to thaw his cold heart. This festive adaptation from The Old Vic brings carols, Yuletide feasts, gold tinsel and snow to the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
Photo credit: Holly Ward
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