ON THE BEACH

About the show

Two of Australia’s great theatre-makers, Artistic Director Kip Williams and playwright Tommy Murphy (ABC's Significant Others, Holding the Man) join forces for this world premiere. Commissioned by STC, On the Beach a vast, poetic and haunting story of community, dignity and love in dark times. In 1957, Nevil Shute’s classic novel On the Beach introduced the world to an uncanny post-apocalyptic vision that sees Australia as one of the last surviving outposts of civilisation on a planet destroyed by nuclear fallout. A small group of friends in Melbourne – some local, some survivors from the US Navy – are living out their eerily prosaic lives and loves in the wake of World War III. But when a mysterious distress call rings out across the Pacific Ocean, the characters are called to choose between duty to the ones they love and duty to the human race. In the spirit of past productions like Chimerica and The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two, Williams brings his sumptuous, innovative style to match Murphy’s beautiful, soulful writing. Featuring a cast of incredible Australian talent – Matthew Backer, Tony Cogin, Michelle Lim Davidson, Emma Diaz, Vanessa Downing, Tai Hara, Ben O’Toole, Contessa Treffone, Elijah Williams, and Alan Zhu – On the Beach is a new and gripping portrait of Australian society, a prescient insight into the times we are living through and a deeply poignant reverie on the indestructible power of human connection.