28.11.24
Dear Grif-friend,
I’m presently sitting within the lobby of Carriageworks (our presenting venue associate for Ellen van Neerven’s swim earlier this 12 months) on the point of attend the newest Longhouse: Works in Progress by Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP).
Sharing within the incubation interval of 5 new works showcasing Asian Australian voices is one thing fairly particular. This echoes my pleasure that we get to work with Michelle Lim Davidson for her 2025 present, Koreaboo. The first Longhouse I attended was in 2017 and it’s unimaginable to see how far this concept has come and what number of artists have now taken half after which developed their work by to presentation. I’m additionally salivating on the prospect of post-event catering by superstar chef Heather Jeong—as a result of, in fact, a gathering of neighborhood will need to have meals.
Speaking of amplifying Asian Australian voices, this week we’re celebrating the ultimate few performances of Golden Blood in Melbourne at Arts Centre Melbourne. This five-star manufacturing has simply handed the unimaginable milestone of 100 performances for superstars Merlynn Tong and Charles Wu since its premiere within the SBW Stables Theatre in 2022, directed by CAAP Artistic Director Tessa Leong. I consider all of the individuals who have gotten to see Merlynn’s beneficiant storytelling over these 100 performances, on the Stables, at Sydney Theatre Company, and now at Melbourne Theatre Company. It means a lot to Griffin that we will proceed to take Australian tales from their authentic season within the Stables and prolong that neighborhood far and vast.
While there are an enormous variety of components in making a particular return season of a Griffin manufacturing, we’re all the time listening to our first audiences. We hear your pleasure within the lobby, your very clever three-word evaluations, and your willpower to get a last-minute ticket when a season sells out. We additionally love listening to the fun of once you get to say—‘I saw the original!’ We’re pleased with each playwright, performer and artist who kind Griffin’s neighborhood, and also you simply by no means know after we’re going to be debuting the profession of the following Cate Blanchett, Tommy Murphy, Meyne Wyatt or Merlynn Tong.
Community is key to theatre. I see it within the design course of, with artists coming collectively to create magic in response to a shared thought. I see it within the rehearsal room, the place a bunch of individuals (a lot of whom are often assembly for the primary time) do one thing akin to enjoying collectively in group-therapy for a month. I see it within the engagement with the audiences {that a} playwright has written their work for, so everybody can see their tales instructed. And I see it in our theatre, when a hundred-odd strangers meet on the identical time and place, and share within the ephemeral expertise of attending a reside efficiency collectively.
Your finest (and most inexpensive) option to be within the room is to affix our neighborhood and subscribe to Griffin 2025. While you’re tossing up whether or not to get an air conditioner or an air fryer throughout the Black Friday/Cyber Monday gross sales this weekend, do not forget that a subscription to Griffin is rather like shopping for particular person tickets on sale. We’re bringing you one other season of huge concepts and intimate tales, as a result of we’re a part of a heat neighborhood of our presenting companions subsequent—Seymour Centre, Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, and Old Fitz Theatre.
We can’t wait so that you can be part of us.
Khym x
Khym Scott
General Manager