Darlinghurst Theatre Company Season 2017

In its 2017 season at the Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst Theatre Company is producing world premieres of three new Australian plays including Jeanette Cronin’s comedy and puzzle play I Love You Now, Julian Larnach’s prophetic psychological thriller In Real Life and Mary Rachel Brown’s comedy and Christmas blues antidote Silent Night.

In 2017, Darlinghurst Theatre Company is also producing the Australian premiere of the Bathsheba Doran’s The Mystery of Love & Sex, the Sydney premiere of Terry Johnson’s Hysteria and the Australian professional premiere of Diane Samuel’s powerful generational drama Kindertransport.

In 2016, Darlinghurst Theatre Company implemented a gender parity policy and is proud to announce that its 2017 season achieves gender parity in the employment of all artists including directors, writers, designers and performers.

2017 will be Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s fourth year at the Eternity Playhouse, a state of the art theatre that the company fitted out and developed with the City of Sydney. Darlinghurst Theatre Company proudly pays its artists award wages and presents over 200 professional theatre performances a year. Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s program is artist driven and the company has taken a new approach to its show imagery in 2017 and created illustrations inspired by street art to reflect the passion of its productions and artists’ work.

The Productions

The Mystery of Love & Sex by Bathsheba Doran

Director Anthony Skuse


Feb 10 - March12

Darlinghurst Theatre Company produces the Australian premiere of The Mystery of Love & Sex by Bathsheba Doran, directed Anthony Skuse.
Charlotte loves Jonny, but lately she is loving Claire. Jonny loves Charlotte, but lately he’s been having casual sex with men. Charlotte’s parents Lucinda and Howard try not to judge, but they just can’t help themselves.

From the writer of HBO‘s Boardwalk Empire and Showtime‘s Masters of Sex comes a tender and funny story about love in all its forms, and that blurry space between friendship, romance and erotic desire. The Mystery of Love and Sex is also about families- the family we are born into and the family we create. It’s about our ability to keep secrets from family and even ourselves, and the challenges and rewards of finding your own path. Cast includes Deborah Galanos, Nicholas Papademetriou and Thuso Lekwape. 

Hysteria by Terry Johnson

Director Susanna Dowling


April 4 - April 30

Darlinghurst Theatre Company produces the Sydney Premiere of Hysteriaby Terry Johnson directed by Susanna Dowling. 
Terry Johnson’s comedy and farce takes its inspiration from history, when in 1938 the surrealist painter Salvador Dali paid a visit to the Sigmund Freud. Freud had recently escaped Nazi Europe and settled in London.

Hysteria imagines the fall-out when two of the twentieth century’s most brilliant and original minds collide. Hysteria also imagines that Freud received another guest who rattles and disturbs the founder of psychoanalysis and holds him accountable to a terrible truth. Cast includes Wendy Strehlow.

I Love You Now by Jeanette Cronin

Director Kim Hardwick


June 9 to July 9

A sexy romantic tragi-comedy about love, desire… plus tango!
 Darlinghurst Theatre Company produces and presents the world premiere I Love You Now by Jeanette Cronin directed by Kim Hardwick. 
Leo loved June, but now he loves Michelle. June is having an affair with Rob, Leo’s brother. On the side, Leo is also having an affair with Melissa, the nanny. Meanwhile, June is also seeing Helmut, her personal trainer.

Jeanette Cronin’s wonderful comedy and love puzzle takes a long hard look at intimacy. From when lovers first fall in love and tell each other everything to when they fall out of love and don't say anything. I Love you Now asks the big ‘love’ questions. Does love run out? Or is love is only limited by our imaginations? With performers Jeanette Cronin and Huw Higginson.

Kindertransport by Diane Samuels


Director Sandra Eldridge


July 29 to Aug 27

Just prior to the Second World War Britain took in over 10,000 Jewish refugee children from Europe.  The rescue effort was known as Kindertransport. Separated from their families and fostered out to British homes, most of the children never saw their parents again.
Diane Samuel’s extraordinary play is about this forced immigration and its effect on generations. Based on real accounts and told from the female perspective, Kindertransport tells a powerful story of survival centred on Eva and told across time. From when Eva was child in Hamburg in 1938 to 40 years on, when she has a daughter of her own who wants to know the truth about Eva’s past.

Cast includes Annie Byron.

In Real Life by Julian Larnach


Director Luke Rogers


Sept 15 to Oct 15

Darlinghurst Theatre Company produces and presents the world premiere of Julian Larnach’s In Real Life, a psychological thriller and cautionary tale about our rapidly changing world where everything is a just a device click away. In the not too distant future, Theresa is the CEO of a global digital company and inventor of the Drum, the world’s most popular personal device.  One evening she argues with her daughter who walks out of their secluded holiday retreat and vanishes without a trace.

Theresa seeks answers to her daughter’s disappearance, and seeks solace for her grief via social media and on line. Desperate to reconnect, she attempts to use technology to bridge the gap between the digital world and real life.

Silent Night by Mary Rachel Brown


Director Glynn Nicholas


Nov 10 to Dec 10

Darlinghurst Theatre Company produces and presents the world premiere of Silent Night, a comedy for anyone who feels a mix of terror and affection about spending Christmas with family. Normally Christmas is a time for giving, but for the Lickfold family it’s a time for winning!

Every year for the past 12 years the Lickfolds have entered the ARCE Awards for the best Christmas decoration display in Australia. The Lickfolds are over participators determined to win at any cost but their path to electric glory is thwarted when someone unexpected comes down the chimney. This unwanted Christmas guest wastes no time in exposing the darker secrets behind a winning display and the true reason for his coming.

Cast includes Richard Sydenham.

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