Southbank Theatre (Melbourne Theatre Company)

After acclaimed performances in Sydney last year, Melbourne Theatre Company is bringing Julia to the Southbank Theatre stage from May 31 until July 13. This production from Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre documents one of the most pivotal moments in Australian political history: former Prime Minister Julia Gillard's famous 2012 'misogyny speech'. Demand for this play looks to be robust, so we recommend heading to the Melbourne Theatre Comany website to secure your tickets sooner rather than later. Time Out Sydney reviewed Julia when it played at the Opera House in 2023. Read on for that four-star review:  When Julia Gillard’s distinctive ocker voice first emerged from Justine Clarke’s mouth on Opening Night of Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Julia, the audience literally gasp-screamed. It was, without mincing words, pretty freaky.  STC’s production of Julia is a long-awaited response to one of the most iconic (and spicy) speeches made in Australian history. Written by Joanna Murray Smith, directed by Sarah Goodes, and starring national treasure Justine Clarke as Julia Gillard herself, this deeply Australian story is an amorphous re-imagining of all the forces that led up to that moment in 2012 when Julia Gillard so perfectly and viscously roasted Tony Abbott in the House of Representatives.  Julia is an intoxicating and fascinating experience that hits something deep and resounding within us We all know *that speech* (and if you don’t, watch it right

From the earliest times, our society has revolved around food rituals. Before the agricultural revolution, days were spent hunting and gathering. Now that we don’t have to spend a whole lot of time on that, we instead spend our days working to earn money to buy necessities like food, and then shopping for it, preparing it, going out for it, deciding what to consume. The actual eating is just one of the few ways we expend time and thought and energy on food. That’s what Food, a show on at the Lawler, Southbank Theatre for Rising, explores.  And considering how big a part of our lives food is, frankly, we’re surprised this is the first show we’ve seen that’s revolved around the stuff.  It’s impossible to explain what Food is in a nutshell. It’s immersive theatre. A dinner party (one where you won’t get to enjoy any food, mind you). A magic show. A guided meditation. Absurdism at its finest. A one-man show (or is it?! There is a lot of hilarious audience participation. Sit in the back rows if you’re not in the mood).  The show starts in familiar territory – some audience members will gather around a massive square banquet table, while others will sit in the rows behind and to the sides. Your waiter for the evening is master New York illusionist Geoff Sobelle.  But before too long, the night descends into a visual history of the evolution of what we eat and how we produce it. There are herds of bison, fields of wheat, factories, train lines, plantations, supermarkets, restaurants