After the overwhelming success of last year’s production of As You Like It (CONDA winner best non-professional production) Tantrum Theatre and L!vesites once again bring family-friendly Shakespeare to the park with A Comedy of Errors.

From 8-18 March 2012, leap into the chaos with our contemporary re-imagining of the riotous comedy about mistaken identity. After his award-winning direction last year, Carl Young (CONDA winner best professional director) returns to adapt and direct this comedic classic, hurling it into the 21st century where everybody has a mobile phone and a Facebook account but miscommunication reigns.

Tickets for the Newcastle season (Mount Carrington, Carrington) are on sale here through Ticketek right now.

More information about the production and full details about the regional tour can be found here.

This Sunday 19 March characters by Tantrum will be heading to Beaumont Street for the Hamilton Food, Wine & Music Festival.

Join the festivities and keep an eye out for our performers and a hilarious wedding gone wrong.

Find out more about the festival here: www.hamiltonfestival.com.au

Tantrum Theatre is currently seeking expressions of interest from sound designers/musicians to undertake the role of Sound Designer for a new production presented in partnership with Australian Theatre for Young People (atyp).

Tantrum Theatre is a not-for-profit youth arts organisation that provides opportunities for young people aged 5-30 years in Newcastle and the Hunter region to participate in drama.

Tantrum nurtures young and emerging artists by providing opportunities for growth, risk taking and excellence through performance-based training and activities in Newcastle, while linking these young artists with innovative arts programming with local and national arts organisations and providing the opportunity to work alongside professional artists.

Tantrum and atyp have co-commissioned one of Australia’s leading playwrights, Alana Valentine, to write the script Grounded. The production is a celebration of Newcastle, its unique location, the working port’s connection with the community, the river and the activities which are so vital to this town’s livelihood. The storm causing the grounding of the Pasha Bulker on Nobbys Beach was a significant event for Newcastle in many respects, bringing the world’s focus to the city. Newcastle residents can recall the exact moment they heard the news of the grounding of a ship on a local beach. It was an event that excited and intrigued locals and visitors alike and drew people to explore the industrial port and the extraordinary situation that was so close they could almost touch it.

Working with the director, the sound designer for this exciting production will be given the opportunity to create a soundscape that represents this iconic Newcastle landscape. We are looking for a full, heavy sound, for example one that might be created using electric guitars or electronica.

Rehearsals began in January 2012 and the performance will be held at the Playhouse in Newcastle and the atyp Wharf Theatre in Sydney in May 2012.

Previous sound designing or accredited music experience is required. A sound designer’s fee will be paid for the position.

Please email a cover letter and CV to Toni Main at ad@tantrumtheatre.org.au.

Expressions of interest must be submitted by 5.00pm Wednesday 15 February 2012.

For further information please contact the Tantrum office on (02) 4929 7279.

Aliki left us with some cup cakes and this beautiful letter.

 His speech was so warm, heartfelt and hilarious we just had to share it with you.

Throughout weekends in January, Tantrum performers are transforming famous artworks into live, interactive pieces of art at the Newcastle Art Gallery as part of the Australian Modern Masterpieces exhibition.

Our actors will be performing from 10.30am-12.00pm and 2.00pm-3.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays until the end of January, so pop in to the gallery some time to see live performance imitating art with Newcastle’s gutsiest youth theatre company.

We are now taking enrolments for our 2012 drama workshops. Spaces are filling quickly so get in fast!

See our workshops pages – 5-17 years and 18-30 years – for workshop times and days.

To enrol email Rachel at info@tantrumtheatre.org.au or call us on 4929 7279. Office hours are 10am – 4pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Enrolment Forms

Written by

Adapted and directed by
Carl Young

A collaboration with
Newcastle L!vesites

After the success of As You Like It (CONDA winner best non-professional production) Tantrum Theatre once again celebrates Newcastle’s parks with boisterous family-friendly Shakespearean farce.

Leap into the chaos as Shakespeare in the Park makes a bold return with A Comedy of Errors, a contemporary re-imagining of the riotous comedy about mistaken identity.

Adapted and directed by Carl Young (CONDA winner best professional director As You Like It) this comedic classic is hurled into the 21st century where everybody has a mobile phone and a Facebook account but miscommunication reigns.

So bring a picnic and watch the joy and confusion unfold as the paths of two sets of long-separated twins finally cross and mayhem follows.

Dates

Newcastle Season
Mount Carrington, Carrington
Thurs 8, Fri 9, Sat 10, Sun 11 March at 6.30pm
Thurs 15, Fri 16, Sat 17, Sun 18 March at 6.30pm
Tickets through Ticketek here:

Regional Tour
Bain Park, Wauchope
Friday 23 March, 11am & 6.30pm
Tickets through the Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, 6581 8888

Tucker Park, Paterson (please note change of venue)
Sunday 25 March, 6.30pm
Monday 26 March, 11am
Tickets through Dungog Visitor Information Centre, 4992 2212

Lake Macquarie Art Gallery Grounds
Friday 30 March, 11am & 6.30pm
Tickets through Ticketek

Peace Park, Cessnock
Sunday 1 April, 6.30pm
Monday 2 April, 11am
Tickets through Cessnock Community Performing Arts Centre, 4990 7134

Gloucester Shakespeare Festival
Fri 11 May at 7.30pm
Sat 12 May at 1.00pm & 8.00pm
Tickets through www.shakespeareingloucester.com.au

Tickets

Newcastle Season and Regional Tour
$25 full price
$20 concession and under 30 years
$15 children under 18 years
$15 per person for groups of 8 or more

If a performance is cancelled due to wet weather, tickets for the Newcastle performances can be transferred to any of the remaining shows in the Newcastle season or the regional tour by contacting Tantrum Theatre on (02) 4929 7279.

Part performance, part adventure! Find a fresh way to discover your city by following the clues in this joyful, family-friendly exploration of Newcastle.

In association with
Australian Theatre for Young People

Presented as part of
The Civic Theatre’s Inspirations Season

Against the backdrop of one of the most intriguing events in Newcastle’s recent history, the grounding of the Pasha Bulker, we meet Farrah, a young Novocastrian with a fascination for Newcastle’s industrial port, a fascination none of her peers share or comprehend.

Yet when a storm forces the ship on Nobbys Beach and the

world’s attention turns to the harbour she knows so well, the impact on Farrah’s own reality is not what she expects. Farrah’s obsession with shipping and bulk carriers allows audiences to explore universal themes of isolation, belonging and identity, and that time in your life when the obsessions of childhood get grounded in reality.

Tantrum Theatre and Australia’s flagship youth theatre company – Australian Theatre for Young People – have co-commissioned nationally recognised playwright Alana Valentine to create this new work which celebrates Newcastle’s identity and the significance of the working harbour to Newcastle’s culture.

Grounded will be performed by the young people of Newcastle not only for a local audience at the Playhouse but will also travel to Sydney for a second season at the Australian Theatre for Young People’s home at The Wharf.

Approximate running time 1hr and 30min with no interval.

Dates

Newcastle Season
Playhouse, Newcastle

Thursday 10 May at 11am & 7pm
Friday 11 May at 11am & 7pm
Saturday 12 May at 2pm & 7pm
Wednesday 16 May at 7pm
Thursday 17 May at 11am & 7pm
Friday 18 May at 11am & 7pm
Saturday 19 May at 11am & 7pm

Sydney Season
atyp Studio 1, The Wharf

Wednesday 30 May at 7pm 
Thursday 31 May at 11.30 am & 7pm
Friday 1 June at 7pm
Saturday 2 June at 7pm

Tickets

$30 full price
$25 concession
$20 per person for groups of 6 or more
$15 per student for school bookings. Accompanying teachers free.

Tickets for the Newcastle season on sale soon through Ticketek.
Tickets for the Sydney season on sale through atyp here.