What's on at GPAC

All year round the Geelong Performing Arts Centre, or GPAC as it’s affectionately known, offers a unique mix of theatre shows and events that educate, enlighten and bring together like-minded people.
Featuring exceptional new writing along with the classics, including some of the best productions from across the country, GPAC is certainly the place to go if you feel like being inspired.
Coming up this weekend, The Season by Nathan Maynard is a warm and laugh-out-loud comedy about an Aboriginal family who come together each year for the traditional Mutton Bird harvest on Tasmania’s Dog Island. It is a time for the family to catch up, to reminisce and to look forward together. But as with any family, tension is simmering just below the surface, and can bubble over with both heartbreaking and hilarious results.
The show is big-hearted, upfront and honest, providing a fascinating glimpse into a little-known tradition. More importantly, it joyously celebrates a thriving culture that continues to grow and strengthen despite several centuries of colonisation. This one will be showing at The Playhouse from August 9 to 11.
The end of the month will welcome Dan Giovannoni’s wonderfully original multi-generational migrant story Jurassica. This critically acclaimed production from Red Stitch and Critical Stages – winner of the 2015 Green Room Award for Best New Australian Writing – is embarking on an eight-venue tour of Victoria, New South Wales and ACT.
Jurassica tells the story of Ralph and Sara who left Tuscany in the 1950s as part of the ‘populate or perish’ scheme and built a new life in a concrete-front-yard home in Suburban Moorabbin, Victoria. Their grandson Luca struggles to talk to both his father and grandfather until one day Ralph is rushed to hospital and, through the unlikely connection of Kaja, the interpreter, who herself fled war-torn Belgrade, Luca learns to reconnect. Performed in Italian as well as English, Giovannoni’s work deals with very current themes of displacement, home and how our past shapes our future, and yes, dinosaurs play an important part in it too. This is a show not to be missed.
Following these two stunning shows, GPAC will also welcome The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver on September 13-15. Winner of the Judges’ Award in the prestigious Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting (UK), this is a profound and compelling study of a young woman trying to discover where her illness ends and her identity begins. An adrenaline-pumping, full-contact show follows with Prize Fighter by Future D. Fidel on October 3-6. You won’t want to miss these sensational shows.
The Season comes to The Playhouse from August 9 to 11, while Jurassica will light up The Playhouse, August 29 – September 1.
Tickets via the Box Office on 5225 1200 or gpac.org.au