Theatre is back and it’s back with punch. From 31 October through to November 14 2020, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and Queensland Theatre present Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley, winner of the 2019 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award.

“Mouthpiece will challenge you and send you out into the night with so many things to talk about. We are thirsty for this kind of theatre,” said Lee Lewis, Artistic Director, Queensland Theatre. Playwright Kieran Hurley looks theatre squarely in the face, Lewis said, and challenges audiences to question the kinds of stories told and the power of the people who get to tell them.

Click here to see the Mouthpiece events page for more information and tickets.

Stage luminary Christen O’Leary and Jayden Popik, in his Queensland Theatre debut, star.

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Lewis said it was a bold play to restart theatre.

“We are starting with a simple story, magnificently crafted by a talented playwright, brought to life by two extraordinary actors. What could be better? Welcome back,” she said. “If you’ve missed live performance this year and the spark of post-show discussion echoing well beyond the theatre foyer, then you can’t miss this.”

“The story may be political, but the play is all human. If you think you’ve seen the story of the power of unlikely friendships before, Mouthpiece is way ahead of you. This is the kind of play that makes you wonder at the sheer imagination and skill of great theatre writing.”

Lewis said Queensland’s first lady of the stage, Christen O’Leary will bare her theatre soul in the role of Libby as the play asks ‘why do we make theatre at all’?

“It is the hardest of questions to face coming off six months of silence on our stages. But Libby will show us the simplest and most powerful of answers… theatre is how we connect with our fellow humans.”

“Joining her on the Playhouse stage will be Jayden Popik, in his Queensland Theatre debut, playing Declan. He hails from up Townsville way but has been working in Melbourne for the last few years and made it across the border just before it closed, deciding that surfing on the Sunshine Coast was more appealing than lockdown in Melbourne. So, like a lot of artists, COVID-19 has brought him back home at a time when family has never been more important.”

Mouthpiece is part of the Queensland’s Own program, showcasing the state’s major performing arts companies at QPAC and is funded through the Queensland Government’s $22.5 million two-year Arts and Cultural Recovery Package.

For more information go to the Mouthpiece event page here. Tickets via qpac.com.au or phone 136-246.