![\"Garry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788800780_361_8eb9106bbf9d4d6f5987a25e6b49627e290edc5a.png\")
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September 7, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Artistic director Eamon Flack calls it \u201cthe highest tightrope that I\u2019ve ever walked in my 20 years\u201d at Sydney\u2019s Belvoir St Theatre.<\/p>\n The Marrickville fire that gutted the theatre company\u2019s main scenery workshop<\/a> in June was a blow that was partly eased by the generosity of other arts organisations sharing their workshops, and private donors who came forward to replace a forklift, machinery and tools.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a massive financial hit in all sorts of ways \u2013 the lost work hours, the additional staff, the loss of everything that was in that building,\u201d Flack said.<\/p>\n Then there is the cost of living crisis that has cut short Australian seasons of such musicals as Beetlejuice The Musical <\/a>and Dear Evan Hansen<\/a> and forced the closure of vocal ensemble The Song Company<\/a> and the Australian Design Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Article This is not to mention the cancellation of a season of Runt after author Craig Silvey was arrested and charged with producing and distributing child exploitation material<\/a>. He later pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n Then there was the illness that hit a second actor during the Melbourne season of The Jungle and the Sea that meant flying a late replacement from Sydney last week.<\/p>\n \u201cEver since COVID, the amount of sickness inside casts and rehearsal rooms is just so much higher than it used to be,\u201d Flack said. \u201cI just feel like people\u2019s immune systems were affected by COVID, and life is so much more extreme for artists, so the pressures are just so much higher than they were.\u201d<\/p>\n Launching Belvoir\u2019s 2027 season \u2013 highlights of which include a new production of A Clockwork Orange, Noni Hazlehurst as the owner of an inner-city pub facing demolition in The Lark and Robyn Nevin and Zahra Newman in Lily Tomlin\u2019s 1991 show The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe \u2013 Flack said the company was used to disruption.<\/p>\n \u201cWe plan well, and we plan carefully, but we also plan for chaos, and we plan for uncertainty,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where possibility exists, and we know that no one can really be in control of an artistic process, and it\u2019s foolish to try.\u201d<\/p>\n But Flack said the problems for Australian theatre were cultural as much as financial.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen the state of the overall system so demoralised, so poorly kept, so badly cared for,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a policy point of view, I really am so pleased that [Federal Arts Minister] Tony Burke is making this great effort to haul the frankly bullshit, outdated, destructive policy settings into the 21st century. But I think that we\u2019re on a knife edge.\u201d<\/p>\n Belvoir\u2019s nine main stage productions and two late-night shows next year include a contemporary version of A Clockwork Orange that Tom Wright has adapted from Anthony Burgess\u2019 novel.<\/p>\n Flack and artistic associate Margaret Thanos were touring August: Osage County in Perth when she picked up a copy in a bookshop and realised how much it was relevant to the current debate about young men and violence.<\/p>\n She will direct the play, which will be set in the present and use the Nadsat teenage slang of the book and Kubrick\u2019s famous film.<\/p>\n \u201cWith these Scots [College] boys<\/a> and the Sydney Swans<\/a> and the manosphere [the issue is] in the public zeitgeist,\u201d Thanos said.<\/p>\n Hazlehurst will star in Daniel Keene\u2019s The Lark, set in an inner-city pub that is facing demolition amid gentrification; and Geraldine Hakewill and Alex Malone will feature in David Adjmi\u2019s Tony-winning Stereophonic, about a 1970s band that strongly resembles Fleetwood Mac<\/a> recording a legendary album amid cocaine, rivalry and fractured relationships.<\/p>\n![\"Belvoir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/75d58ac71c3e96b841cd2d911480a1437bfcb635.jpeg\")
Belvoir artistic director Eamon Flack with, from left, directors Margaret Thanos, Ayah Tayeh and Mehhma Malhi.Sam Mooy<\/p>\n![\"Now](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/e4a56f98eca660974976f52935d55d66291fc585.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Belvoir\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f4fa0859b0a674dc9f612a87187529c187cb490b.jpeg\")
Belvoir\u2019s 2027 season includes\u00a0The Lark with\u00a0Noni Hazlehurst.Daniel Boud<\/p>\n![\"Belvoir\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/b851ab05178629ebf7a011f619ab4e80540bcf9f.jpeg\")
Belvoir\u2019s 2027 season also features a new adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, featuring Marco Chiappi (at rear) and (from left) Darius Williams, Brittany Santariga and James Thomasson.
\nDaniel Boud<\/p>\n![\"Geraldine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1e1ce746fa96a4b89f82a781ccdb8369f00bb763.jpeg\")
Geraldine Hakewill (left), and Alex Malone will star in Stereophonic at Belvoir. Daniel Boud<\/p>\n
![\"Belvoir\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4970349faadac83a20467e1a60253dc961f929c3.jpeg\")
Belvoir\u2019s 2027 season includes Wish You Were Here, with\u00a0Minerva Khodabande (centre) and Violette Ayad (right).Daniel Boud<\/p>\n