Playback Theatre Sydney in Sydney, Australia | Performance & event venue

Playback Theatre Sydney

Locality: Sydney, Australia

Phone: +61 417 065 664

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25.01.2022 Well how much fun was that! Last night as many exes as we could manage squeezed onto a zoom and met. Stories, laughter, connecting. Reflection. Later today we will post the documentary which was viewed. Thank you to everyone who turned up and sent messages. We had a great time. Feel free to post your pics etc We will post the doc so if you want to comment on that or indeed view it, stay tuned..

25.01.2022 How are your video calls going? Do you use this communication to engage with work? To catch up with friends? To play trivia with family? Last week we tried to create one face from many parts.

25.01.2022 Reconciliation week wraps up tomorrow. Could we need it more than ever right now? Since the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody in 1991 there have been over 400 deaths in custody without a single conviction. That is not accounting for the numbers that lead up to the desperate need for the Royal Commission. Playback Theatre Sydney stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for social justice everywhere.

25.01.2022 It is with great sadness that the Australasian Playback community informs of the loss of Mary Good on 15 March 2020. Mary Good was instrumental in organising the 1980 trip to Australia and New Zealand by Jonathon Fox and Jo Salas and two others (Judith Swallow and Michael Clemente) from the first Playback Company. Mary was a founding member of the Sydney and Melbourne Playback theatre companies and later Living Stories (Playback) company in Melbourne. She trained in drama; ...psychodrama and Playback Theatre. She was a talented Playback Conductor; mentor and trainer. She was also a counsellor and a psychotherapist. Mary worked in India between 1998 and 2004 as a social action theatre practitioner and also helped to establish Playback companies there. Mary was a prominent Playback practitioner and will be sadly missed internationally and in particular in this region where she has been such a pivotal person in the Playback community. See more

23.01.2022 Over the last two days we performed our first two shows for the year. Back in the theatre, live! We also delivered two bespoke workshops - improvisation and devising - for high school students at Parramatta Riverside Theatres. One moment expressed the inner conflict of feeling guilt of sharing pictures of life now: going out to the theatre, sharing a meal with friends, when there is such devastation around world. ... These shots are from the warm up. #playbacktheatresydney #playbacktheatre #playback #sydneytheatre #australiantheatre #improvisation #impro #improv #improvise #improvisedtheatre #improaus #WarmUp #warmupexercise #connection #storytelling #lucky #privilege #conflict #campfires #campfirestories #campfirevibes #grandpiano

21.01.2022 On Saturday we had our first public show in over a year. What a treat. Stretched and sanitised, with just a little bit of rust, we invited the audience to share the worlds of their mothers. What she would say. What she does say. What remains with us. We heard about silk stockings, condoms and why you should always wear your best underwear. That we should be in no hurry to grow up. ... That mothers have names and are not always Mum. We witnessed a blessing in the form of handmade rosary beads, a mother's love defending her chicks and then the beaming pride when the world came good. We had a relationship opening up and finding new depths via psychedelica. The night was a rich and deep appreciation of mothers, full of love, grief, respect, pain, longing and joy. There were big emotions in the house. Thank you to everyone who came and specifically those that shared. Cant wait to do it all again. #playback #playbacktheatresydney #playbacktheatre #improvisedtheatre #improvsydney #107redfern #sydneytheatre #mothersday2021 #theatresydney #improvisation #growup #growuptoofast #appreciation #appreciationpost #gratitude #Great #rosarybeads #silkstockings #joy #autumn #autumninsydney #dayofthemother #whatwouldyourmothersay

21.01.2022 Recognising International Women's Day and the women in our lives, in our company and in our stories. Here's a song, talking truth to power that we learnt at the IPTN conference in India https://www.facebook.com/teleSUREnglish/videos/1431316247027350/

21.01.2022 Flashback to more tactile days - an intimate Indo-Aussie playback jam last December

21.01.2022 Whether it is Mother Earth or actual Mothers or Mothering in general, it's weird to think that it is only 1 day that we give thanks and take the time to acknowledge. 1 day to recognise that which gives life and sustains us. Perhaps it is this kind of thinking that puts us in such dire straits when it comes to climate for example, or a lack of connection in general..?

21.01.2022 We looked at the specifics of performing a show online. We found that what worked was simplicity, repetition, fewer words, clarity of intention and using different camera angles. We found that less is more, more or less.... Less is more. Less. Is.... More... And perhaps that being obtuse is counterproductive, but also that humour goes a long way...

21.01.2022 REHEARSAL TONIGHT... How do we make Zoom pics more visually appealing.. tis a question of the times. I am sure we shall continue to learn and tweak and adapt as we eek out a collaborative path along this journey of group communication whilst in hibernation... We continue to look at various forms and how they translate online, how to include music and what we're missing in the new format. Peripheral vision anyone? Some words at the culmination of tonight's rehearsal..... Gratitude. Consideration, Kindness. Connection. Possibilities. Potpourri. Playfulness. Stillness. Change of Heart.. See more

20.01.2022 Actors, Musicians, Conductors, Clowns and Roustabouts! Many people have called our company home since 1980. Were you one of them? Is that you in the hat? Were you in Playback Theatre Sydney? Not you, but your mate? Please pass this on.... We're planning our 40th year and want to kick it off in style. Please message us to be a part of the virtual chattery and photo sharing extravaganza that we will hold in July. Either message us here or via our website and we will be sure to send you the details. As we emerge from lock down into the second half of 2020, we look forward to gathering together, sharing stories and returning to a theatre near you, celebrating our 40th year.

20.01.2022 The night before last, a few of us from Sydney, a few more from around Oz & NZ, and a goodly chunk from around the world, joined the Playback Open Space Xmas Party! Celebrating the year, during which we've spent time meeting, connecting, listening, sharing and playing with Playbackers from around the world. 12 months ago, the International conference in India had come to an end and we wondered when and how we would see all these friendly faces again.... What a pleasure it has been to reconnect. May your Yuletide be safe and joyous, warm and distant...

20.01.2022 How are you connecting to yourself and others in these Iso times? Has your dormant baker been awakened? Have you discovered green thumbs.. Are you into Fashion Fridays or do your frock up to take your bin out? Or are you just dealing with the situation? Checking in with family and friends, keeping the plants alive and the dust at bay. What new joys are emerging for you?

20.01.2022 We've been getting our hands a little dirty this winter. A few additional rehearsals specifically to tend to our online performances. What that will look like. What it definitely won't look like. What is possible... Sorting, planning, digging away. We've been in technical rehearsal. Cultivating our zoomcraft, planting ideas, setting the lights, tweaking the sound, clearing the set and deciding on costumes. Basking in the singular fabulousness of stage management. And as inco...ngruous as it seems for an improvisational company, on Saturday we stepped into our first online dress rehearsal performance. And now it is early spring. And we can feel the sun. See more

20.01.2022 What a way to send off the year! Our final performance for 2020. It was exhilarating to be back in the room with an audience, sharing stories and celebrating together, live! More please.

20.01.2022 On Tuesday we met over the ether. Still a little clunky. Here's an image of one of the 4 part stories we played back. The stories were as varied as we are, but there was a beautiful gift giving moment that stands out. Steve had bought a particular t-shirt for Mabel at the conference in India, from the Hong Kong playbackers. Tonight was the first time he had seen her to be able to pass the gift to her. She was chuffed.... Sure, the physical gift remains at his house for the foreseeable future, but we have witnessed the giving and receiving, understood the meaning and felt the gratitude. The threads of connection occur when we turn up. It matters not how we do this. Smoke signals. Drum beats. Quills and calligraphy. Notes passed in class. Morse code. Whispers over the phone. The internet.. surely holograms are just around the corner...

18.01.2022 The themes which emerged last night were big. Struggling with complex and frustrating decisions, the overwhelming desire to burn it all down to start again and the heartbreak of distance. Sometimes it's our role to find the nuances of colour in the darkness. Image by Jonas Denil via upsplash

18.01.2022 Reality. Whose? Which one? How many are there?! Would that there were an answer... Some solid ground please, in all this upheaval (is there a downheaval?). Stories we touched on recently included being stuck in an old way of doing something, feeling out of control, being overwhelmed with choice, loss, experiencing a surreal environment. It can be wild out there at the moment. What keeps you grounded?... Pic by Pawel Czerwinski Upsplash

17.01.2022 It is with great regret that Playback Theatre Sydney will be cancelling our first show of the year tonight, March 14th. We decided to be cautious in these uncertain times, and make our small contribution towards avoiding non-essential gatherings. We in Playback Theatre Sydney take our social responsibility seriously. We know once the sun shines again we will be ready to hear your stories with open hearts. People who have booked tickets online will be receiving a full refund.

16.01.2022 Hi folks, Nir Raz and I will facilitate a Zoom discussion about the ethics of online Playback Theatre performances. We invite those who are interested to join u...s! Just in a brief discussion between the two of us, many issues came up for us to potentially explore. For instance, how do we maintain the ritual of an online space? Even if audiences say yes, is it okay to have a recording of the performance online for others to access? Is it okay for people to only participate with their voices? How do we negotiate choice (of tellers, of form) in this space? Is the online space more or less inclusive? We will announce this facilitated discussion in the next few days, but what other issues of ethics might you be interested in?

15.01.2022 Metamorphosis. Transforming. Emerging from our cocoons. Shedding our buffering and discovering our wings. With spring in the air there is a more obvious change in the natural world, the sweetness in the blossoms, the colours that reveal themselves. Change is really the only constant..... The fleeting nature of these stages, life fluttering by and the beauty of this. Yesternight we heard a story of knowing this beauty, of recognising it and appreciating that this too is our path.

15.01.2022 Bring your eye or mouth to the camera when meeting online and see how many emotions you can express using only the one part of your face.. Or not. Some people have engaged goats to join their meetings.

14.01.2022 Thanassis and Steve reflecting our joy, shock, thanks, wonderment last night. Thoroughly stoked. Merci people. More to come #playback #joy

14.01.2022 Off to our final rehearsal before our Christmas Soiree and then summer. Connecting, before we prepare for time away. Reflection, recuperation and rest. Then re-connection in the new year. But first games. And a show. And celebration. What are you rejoicing in?

13.01.2022 Playback rehearsed tonight. We do this every Tuesday, but tonight it was a virtual experience. It was wonderful. There was a little initial connectivity trickery to be had, but then we settled into it and found our connections and then some. Peering into each others lives literally as well as metaphorically. As we go further into isolation, it was a great reminder that we are all just a phone call away, a skype, a zoom.

12.01.2022 Emerging from the final throes of conversation last night, just before the last goodbyes, there was a utterance, a confession of a yearning was murmured over the ether, a desire to dance.. So the tunes we turned up and the lights we turned down and we swung into action. What are you missing the most in this isolation?... Note these pictures are from pre corona times..

12.01.2022 Last rehearsal we heard a beautiful story about a delicate bridge that was built between a mother and daughter via A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's always a delight when Shakespeare pops up in Playback- there's much potential of shadows offending.. Or forgetting, or paraphrasing... We were experimenting with the cinematic and using technology to see how we might build intimacy - and we discovered some magic along the way. We're also hanging out to get back in to a theatre!

12.01.2022 Twas Tuesday night and we convened at rehearsal over the ether once more. As you might expect we touched on isolation; the good, the bad and the bits we're enjoying. An appreciation of time to ourselves, our homes and gardens. Bike rides. Stealing 10 minutes in the morning to write. Teenagers hanging out with their parents...(?) And the other side, attempting to reach elders who are locked away, right next door or across the seas. Wrangling children desperate to escape the 4... walls. Grappling with endless bureaucratic forms. Work keeping a sense of normality. Work going online. Losing work and being mad about it. Losing work being glad about it. Oh and there was a story about a sense of betrayal atop a mountain, freezing feet and a potentially life saving unused blanket. Still working on how to transfer the work to thee, but we're taking the time. How are you finding it all?

12.01.2022 Toward the end of rehearsal last night, a moment about a death took the conversation to a level we hadn't experienced in a while. From there we spoke of despair, isolation, community and family, birth, desire, grief, longing and existence. We came away with gratitude. We were grateful for a space where we could be fully listened to. Fully heard. With no one trying to fix or solve, just listening.

11.01.2022 One of my favourite aspects of storytelling is discovering new worlds. Not only from the tellers, but discovering a story from within that you had never thought to tell before. It may have been just slumbering; waiting for the right moment, or it might be getting pieced together as the words tumble from your mouth there and then. And then what that story sparks in another and another and so on.... May your journey into the winter solstice weekend be full of rich stories, to give and to receive. Photo by Darwin Vegher on Unsplash

11.01.2022 For those of you playing at home, we performed our first online gig for an amazing women's organisation in Melbourne yesterday! It was surprising and wonderful just how like a live gig it felt. Acknowledgement of country encompassing the Eastern Kulin and Eora Nations was a beautiful thing.

10.01.2022 Over the last few months we have rehearsed online. From the desks and tables, from the lounge rooms and bedrooms of our homes. We have gained some insight into the lives of our company members. Spouses, children, flatmates and pets. The wall art, the clutter, the grand bookshelves... or lack thereof... ... One exercise has us share an item from our home and the story of it. Out came the photographs, dolls and historical weaponry. Highly recommended if your zoom meetings are lacking lustre. We have loved the handy use of household items as props. The robust sewing scissors cutting across the screen, or a stapler snapping away like a crocodile. Our homes and rooms, as extensions of us, are viewable to a wider audience, revealing more layers of our stories. What object would you share?

10.01.2022 Coinciding with Mother's Day, our first Public Performance for 2021, What would your mother say? Instead of flowery nods of appreciation on Mother's Day, we thought we'd give her a voice, via you, and your stories about that voice. We're offering a place for stories around her -wise or otherwise- words and the behaviour that inspired them.... Come along and share your story. #playback #playbacktheatre #sydneyplayback #theatre #australiantheatre #almostpostcovid #sydneyplaybacktheatre #sydneytheatre #impro #improv #improvistation #mother #mothersday #mothers #mothership #voice #enough #enoughisenough #wecandoit #rosie #puzzle #jigsaw #whoisshe #thisisher #flowerynods

09.01.2022 And all the avatars, merely players..

08.01.2022 What would your mother say? It seems everyone has a story that this question conjures up. Some well worn sayings come to mind, but also very specific warnings, forebodings, advice, encouragement. Share your story & see them played back theatrically at our first Public Show this Saturday 8/5 @ 8pm! Don’t miss out! Book now as seats are limited: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=748888 #playbacktheatresydney... #sydneytheatre #theatresydney #improvsydney #australiantheatre #107redfern #improvisedtheatre See more

07.01.2022 On Tuesday after rehearsal, we paid tribute to one of our past members - Rebecca Rogers. She was a member from 1997 until her passing in 2013. She held many roles within the company, including actor, conductor, musician and Artistic Director. She was a joyful and formidable character who we miss dearly. We played a song closely associated with her, The Parting Glass, and others including Streets of London and Down In The River To Pray. We remembered her laugh, passionate spirit, and her capacity to regale us with her adventurous and wonderful stories. We shared photos, tears and laughter. And a whiskey.

07.01.2022 Some of us emerged from the land of zoom to meet with the larger group at distance on Tuesday. There was much mirth. Everyone looks bigger in real life. Whilst there is nothing like being in person, it didn't feel like it had been a whole 8 months. One day we'll complete the circle.

06.01.2022 A leap of faith into the new normal.. Some of us met physically, last week. At rehearsal. Tentative steps towards the possibility of ... normality perhaps, connection certainly, and joy absolutely! We were big and plump with excitement! Being together, while still separate and somewhat physically distant, was such glorious medicine for our souls. Some joined on screens and it was not as weird as you might imagine!... We had to adjust, to tune out and to tune in. Tweaking our expectations and suspending disbelief. Whilst meeting up like this is not the same as all of us together in a room, it's similar to what we do in the theatre all the time. It's an agreed set of circumstances, a set of rules that we abide by when we purchase our ticket. We partake in the ritual, phones get put away, conversations hushed, lights go down and sound comes up and the curtain reveals... another world! Magnificent! We do our best to ignore the distractions, we accommodate; throat clearing, coughs and sneezes, the hushed tones whispering, the ushered torchlight for a latecomer, lolly wrappers crinkling. There's elements of risk and trust and hope in the contract. It could be fabulous. It could be diabolical. Let us see what becomes of it. We're not sure how long we will have this reprieve of restrictions, but we are glad we could meet in person at least once..

05.01.2022 Tis True. TONIGHT is now SOLD OUT. YAY! Thank you! If you managed to nab a ticket.. Please wear a mask. This is mandatory under the new temporary measures by NSW Health. We have emailed all ticket holders, so if you do feel unwell, please advise us by replying to the email.... We're most chuffed and extremely lucky to be performing at all. We're very excited and cannot wait for your stories! See you tonight

04.01.2022 One activity from yesterday. The Helium Stick by Thanassi. We had to work so hard to get this stick to the ground, which we rarely could do. It kept going up. Team Cohesion. The magic and mystery.

04.01.2022 It's our 40th Birthday this year. 40 years of Playback Theatre in Sydney. 40 years of your stories Being played, being heard, being seen.... What stories come to your mind when thinking back? There'll be celebrations throughout the year. We're kicking off our performances this Saturday coming at 107 Redfern Street at 8pm We would love you to join us.

03.01.2022 We start rehearsal by checking in with each other. How are we, really. It helps clear our hearts and minds. Some of yesterday's metaphors were pretty bleak. Deflated meringues and destroyed sandcastles to quicksand and earthquakes. Jigsaw pieces with no identifiable patterns. ... Bonnie & Clyde grasping for their final escape plan. A drought stricken garden of Eden. The Emperor's New Clothes. Parachutes way off course. A box of chocolates only to discover it's Pandora's.. Asphyxiation via rising acidic fumes.. Yep, we go there.. The light in this? Being heard. Being seen. Being understood. Having a witness. To our vulnerability. To our story. To our lives. And the opportunity to explore the human condition with creativity... wouldn't be dead for quids..

02.01.2022 What a year! We’ve made it to Christmas and we thank you for all your stories this year. Stories of loneliness and togetherness; stories of sadness and joy; stories of death and new birth; stories of uncertainties and stories of hope. Many stories heard and some yet to be told. We look forward to more stories and playing back to you in 2021! . . .... #playback #playbacktheatre #playbacksydney #playbacktheatresydney #sydneytheatre #australiantheatre #improvisedtheatre #improvtheatre #improvise #improvisationstheater #theatresydney #theatreaustralia #playbackaroundtheworld #australiandrama #austheatre #australianarts See more

02.01.2022 Before we embark on how to move forward in this brave new world, we might take time to reflect on what we have lost. Contact. Connection. Community. A loved one. What are you missing from your previous life? What's changing? In flux?... This is what we reflected upon on Tuesday. The micro and the macro, the individual and the world. Those we encounter daily and those across the seas in our hearts. We pondered what we might be grieving or mourning.

01.01.2022 Difficult Conversations How do you go with them? Some people avoid them. Some people avoid people just to avoid them. Some people like to think they can sit with them well. Usually it comes down to one's ability or willingness to listen. At Tuesday's rehearsal one of the themes to emerge was intersectionality. ... When was the last time you changed your mind? Not about breakfast. About a long held belief? It's a rare thing... https://www.thisamericanlife.org//the-incredible-rarity-of

01.01.2022 We kicked off Tuesday with dancing! - a great way to start anything. We asked ourselves 'If we were an emotional animal what would we be?' Depressed donkeys, empathetic puppy dogs and apathetic meercats.. A game was played where there could only be 3 people on screen at the one time. Ridiculousness ensued We then told a few stories of old selves verses new selves. And said a wee fare-thee-well, well - for the time being. Sigh.. We miss each other. We're thinking of the great "TALES OF ISO" that will emerge when next we meet. We are really looking forward to getting together with you.