NORPA Season 2019
Northern NSW based theatre company NORPA (Northern Rivers Performing Arts) has revealed its 2019 Season, including the return of the company’s sell-out hit Dreamland re-imagined for Bangalow’s iconic A&I Hall, Bell Shakespeare with Much Ado About Nothing, I Want to Know What Love Is by QLD based company The Good Room, and a premiere performance by Katie Noonan with the Australian String Quartet.
“I fell in love with theatre with the adrenalin rush of a first crush. I was hooked,” says NORPA Artistic Director Julian Louis. “Our 2019 Season is full of performances that I hope will evoke those same joyous, thrilling experiences for new theatre goers as well as our committed audiences.”
“I’m delighted to be re-imagining Dreamland for Bangalow’s beautiful, historic A&I Hall. Dreamland is a show for all of us who have come here to invent a new life and have fallen in love with this region. Telling stories that are unique to the culture and fabric of the Northern Rivers is a hallmark of NORPA’s homegrown works and we’re going to put even more love into this work for its Bangalow reincarnation! It’s going to be a real treat.”
NORPA’s 2019 Season also includes the premiere of Fold, contemporary circus work created by NORPA Associate Artist and acrobat and director Darcy Grant(Gravity and Other Myths, Circa, Flying Fruit Fly Circus).
“Fold is circus at its most intimate and spectacular,” say Louis. “It explores the depth and breadth of human relationships, from a one-night-stand to the complexities of living together – this performance is exciting, funny and tender.”
The annual NAIDOC at NORPA celebrations will feature a one-woman show My Urrawai by Ghenoa Gela, about connecting to culture and coming out. “NAIDOC at NORPA is an invitation from local Bundjalung and Indigenous artists for everyone in our community to come together to learn more about where we live through the stories and culture of the Bundjalung people. Bring the family along to experience music, performance, visual art, food and story-telling,” says Louis.
NORPA’s 2019 Season also includes The Lovers of Viorne(L’Amante Anglaise) by Critical Stages, the classic psychological thriller from France’s Marguerite Duras, and a performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collectivepresenting Serenade for Strings - a romantic program of classical music and new Australian work led by ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone. For kids and families, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre bring wonder and delight to Roald Dahl’s classic The Twits.
“There’s so much to celebrate together this Season - so get your tickets, wrap yourself in theatre’s warm embrace and get loved up with NORPA in 2019!” says Louis.
NORPA 2019 Season At A Glance…
I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
THE GOOD ROOM
Based on 800 anonymous loves stories submitted by the public, I Want To Know What Love Is throws a spotlight on long-buried memories, bedroom fantasies, crushes and conquests as secret confessions are transformed into declarations centre stage.
29 & 30 March at Lismore City Hall
DREAMLAND
NORPA
NORPA’s sell-out show Dreamland re-imagined for Bangalow’s iconic A&I Hall. When a young man wanting to hire the hall interrupts the hall committee meeting, a crash course in local history ensues. Transporting us through different waves of settlement, from the Big Scrub, to hippies and tree-changers, Dreamland a celebration of place, told through song, dance and humour.
15 – 25 May at A&I Hall Bangalow
THE LOVERS OF VIORNE (L’AMANTE ANGLAISE)
CRITICAL STAGES
A classic psychological thriller from France’s Marguerite Duras.Based upon a true crime, The Lovers of Viorne is a beautifully poignant and emotionally powerful portrait of lost passion.
14 & 15 June at Lismore City Hall
FOLD - A DOMESTIC CIRCUS
NORPA
Ordinary moments are made extraordinary as the circus of life is revealed.Foldis a show that explores how relationships grow more complex over time. Everyday scenes are made memorable and familiar gestures are transformed into acrobatics.
28 & 29 June at Lismore City Hall
MY URRWAI
BY GHENOA GELA
My Urrwai is a revealing reflection on and celebration of cultural and familial inheritance, and an unflinching comment on race relations in Australia.
10 -13 July at Lismore City Hall
ROALD DAHL’S THE TWITS
SPARE PARTS PUPPET THEATRE
Roald Dahl’s The Twits is a comedy of rebellion and justice in which Muggle-Wump the monkey races to outwit Mr and Mrs Twit, two of most terrible and disgusting people ever to have lived.
20 August at Lismore City Hall
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
BELL SHAKESPEARE
Much Ado About Nothing is a saucy and razor-sharp battle of wits between the bickering Beatrice and Benedick, who wield words as weapons, their banter betraying their love and loathing of each other. Will truth and honesty win the day, and does love really conquer all?
24 & 25 August at Lismore City Hall
SERENADES FOR STRINGS
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA’S ACO COLLECTIVE
A romantic program of the finest classical music and new Australian work led by ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone.
25 October at Lismore City Hall
KATIE NOONAN AND THE ASQ
THE GLAD TOMORROW
Katie Noonan and ASQ will be performing together. Katie and the Australian String Quartet will be performing The Glad Tomorrow project: a song cycle based on Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry.
1 November at Lismore City Hall