Eureka Day - Comedy for Adelaide in November

One of the world’s most hot-button issues right now – vaccination – will be explored on stage in November 2021 in Eureka Day, presented by State Theatre Company South Australia.

Hailed by the New York Times as the “perfect comedy for our age of disagreement”, Jonathan Spector’s comedy of (overly polite) manners will bring together a cast including Glynn Nicholas (ABC’s The Big Gig), Caroline Craig (Underbelly, Blue Heelers), Sara Zwangobani (Home & Away), Matt Hyde and Juanita Navas-Nguyen.

Eureka Day is set in a private school in California, where all decisions are carefully made by consensus. When a mumps outbreak occurs at the school, divisions go up and a Facebook Live chat spirals out of control as the parents argue over the topic of vaccination. The Australian premiere of this award-winning play lampoons fake news, culture wars and social media as it attempts to answer the question: how do you find consensus when you can’t agree on the facts?

Director Rosalba Clemente says Eureka Day uses the topic of vaccination as a springboard to explore the role of the individual in society, and ultimately, the failure of democracy.

“What is particularly funny, endearing and also ultimately tragic in this play is how that failure plays out where you would least expect it – among a group of very woke parents in an alternative community school,” she says. 

“The greater universal themes are most interesting, I think. How people behave in a climate of fear and what they will do to protect their own self-interests is an enduring human dilemma. We can certainly watch this playing out in global politics every day, but it is also true of our own personal lives. Even with the best set of intentions and values, it is often difficult to really listen and absorb the other person’s point of view. Can we ever truly agree on anything?” 

Ms Clemente says Eureka Day is ‘the comedy we all need right now’. 

“One of the things theatre should do apart from provoking our thinking and imagination is to entertain us. This play is not just about important issues, it is built to entertain the audience and hold up a mirror to the possibility that a lot of us, including those of us who attend theatre, might be walking around as disease disguised as virtue some of the time. And that’s a pretty funny idea.”

Eureka Day is at Dunstan Playhouse, Nov 12-27 and is the final show of State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2021 season. Tickets at https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/eureka-day/

Director: Rosalba Clemente / Set and Costume Designer: Meg Wilson / Lighting Designer: Mark Shelton / AV Design and Content: Chris Petridis / Composer: Stuart Day / Sound Designer: Andrew Howard / With: Caroline Craig, Glynn Nicholas, Juanita Navas-Nguyen, Matt Hyde and Sara Zwangobani.

Photographer: Jessica Zeng.