Simon Piening

One of the most successful new Australian plays of recent years, Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie began life in 2019 as a modest one-hander in the 110-seat SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. The play was instantly recognised as deserving of a wider audience, and a 2020 season was initially scheduled for both Melbourne and Sydney but had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.

Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toossi explores belonging and identity in the liminal space between cultures, in her 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning play, English. Set in a language learning centre in Iran, four adult students are preparing to undertake their TOEFL (or Test of English as a Foreign Language). The teacher, Marjan (Salme Geransar), sets the ground rules early, writing on the white board in large letters – “English Only”. Underline.

Global Creatures are no strangers to theatrical spectacle on a massive scale – they are after all the company behind Walking With Dinosaurs, How To Train Your Dragon, King Kong and the Australian production of Warhorse – each of them a visual and technical marvel in their own right. In recent years, Global Creatures have turned their hand to more conventional musical theatre fare, with original productions of Strictly Ballroom and Muriel’s Wedding.