'A Lovely Day To Be Online' makes its fateful homecoming, gracing the stage of Geelong Arts Centre's The Open House theatre in September.
Fresh from an impressive run at Adelaide Fringe Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival earlier this year, Geelong and Melbourne-based actor, singer, writer and musician Connor Morel is bringing his gig-turned-musical-turned-existential-crisis theatre show ‘A Lovely Day To Be Online’ home to Geelong as part of the Geelong Arts Centre’s Grand Opening Festival.
Following a $140m Little Malop Street Redevelopment, the Geelong Arts Centre will be officially swinging open the shiny new doors on Saturday 19 August, with a huge four-week-long opening festival happening to celebrate.
‘A Lovely Day To Be Online’ is the latest show to join the festival program, alongside the likes of celebrated multi-ARIA-Award winning R&B-pop artist, Jessica Mauboy, and an Australian comedy triple-header, featuring Dave Thornton, Dilruk Jayasinha and Lizzy Hoo, plus Missy Higgins, Opera Australia, Belvoir St Theatre, family fun with Windmill Theatre Company and more.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
Taking over the new Open House in Geelong on 22 September from 7pm, singer-songwriter and self-obsessed internet addict Connor fronts a live band in this original gig-theatre show that asks: are we doing the internet right? And would life just be easier without it all?
From the fake Instagram influencers to the radical keyboard warriors; the scamming crypto hackers to the obsessive YouTube addicts: we’re all in the sauce. But is it all going too far? And what would it take for us to realise it is?
Full of original soul-pop tunes, stories, memes and a whole lot of heart, this show delves into the humanity of how we use the internet, and how it preys on us when we’re at our worst.
Debuting at Melbourne Fringe last year to rave reviews, Connor (frontman of Geelong’s nostalgic pop rock band The Run and who is already being referred to as ‘an Australian answer to Bo Burnham) wrote the 50-minute show as a reflection on his own obsession with his smartphone and what it was doing to him.
Addressing how social media affects his relationships, his local community, and his broader understanding of how the world functions, the show was initially inspired by Connor’s own frustrating habit for his smartphone pre-pandemic, and escalating mid-pandemic with an increase in screen time prompting the rise in conversations surrounding politics and social media in popular culture (think the documentary The Social Dilemma and podcast Your Undivided Attention).
Featuring director Casey Gould, bass guitarist Kat Ades, and drummer Jake Pickering, A Lovely Day To Be Online is a hilarious look into internet culture, and a glaring critique into who we become when we leave the real world.
A Lovely Day To Be Online will head to The Open House, Geelong Arts Centre as part of the Grand Opening Festival in September. Purchase tickets here.
