About
Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta and Sydney Festival present
Dates: 9 – 18 January
Showcases on Saturday 11 and 18 January
True West, at the geographic heart of Sydney, where fresh and vibrant voices are adding their stories to our cultural landscape. Join us, as we present a mini playwriting festival with a program bursting with creativity from the world premiere of the play Lady Tabouli, through to play readings of Boom by Nick Atkins, The Garage Sale by Monikka Eliah, Q&A’s, panels and a showing of 宿 (stay) by Shakthi Shakthidharan.
This is a chance to peek behind the scenes as we see works in various stages of development, from readings through to showings where we are asking you, to be involved and perhaps shape the future of these plays.
Lady Tabouli
9-10 January previews
Saturday 11 January OPENING NIGHT 7.45pm
Unapologetic, piercing and deliciously funny-until-it’s-not, Lady Tabouli is James Elazzi‘s unflinching clash of cultures and a searing look at how expectations can eat away at us until we decide to change the rules.
BOOK NOW
Schedule for Saturday 11 January:
Event 1 – Creative Hello – networking for artists
Saturday 11 January 1pm to 2pm
Connect with other creatives from Western Sydney and meet the team at Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta.
BOOK NOW Free event but bookings recommended
Event 2 – Table reading of The Garage Sale and Q&A
Saturday 11 January 2pm to 3pm
BOOK NOW Free event but bookings recommended
The Garage Sale
By Monikka Eliah
A comedic play centred on an Assyrian family living in the Western Sydney. Their house is bogged down with cheap items from the local superstore. When the appliances start to breakdown around them everyone has a theory.
Originally developed with support of the Southlands Breakthrough Award a Penrith Performing & Visual Arts Program.
Event 3 – A moved reading, Boom
Saturday 11 January 3.30pm to 4.30 pm
Playwright Nick Atkins, Director Erin Taylor
BOOK NOW Free event but bookings recommended
Boom, a fast-paced contemporary drama that draws the audience into a world of suspicion only to discover a series of tender vulnerabilities hiding behind every facade.
Tara has had it with small scams and smaller wins. She has finally found an opportunity that will get her and her brother Max’s heads truly above water. She meets with Fred; he is rich and desperate. Can these two strangers give each other what they need?
This is a story of boom and bust and the individuals constantly trying to find a moral compass while drowning in compromise.
Event 4 – Panel – Creative Compass pointing True West
Saturday 11 January 5pm to 6pm (Free event)
Panel discussion on the creativity, dynamism and inclusivity of Western Sydney artists with playwrights James Elazzi, Stephen Sewell and Michelle Law. Hosted by Joanne Kee, Executive Producer of Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta.
BOOK NOW – Free event but bookings recommended
Schedule for Saturday 18 January:
宿 (stay)
A showing of a work in progress by Shakthi Shakthidharan.
more info on Sydney Festival website
Kurinji is the Western Sydney-based arts company co-founded by S. Shakthidharan, writer of Counting and Cracking, the acclaimed Helpmann Award-winning highlight of Sydney Festival 2019.
Singapore’s SAtheCollective is a multidisciplinary company of like-minded artists and musicians whose work seeks to redefine the boundaries of creativity through interdisciplinary and trans-cultural practices.
Working together for the first time on 宿 (stay), their collaboration contrasts the densely populated urban environment of Singapore with the vast spaces of remote Australia. Together they investigate the underlying environmental and economic systems that bind two seemingly different worlds. 宿 (stay) is presented as part of independent theatre season True West.