Satirical comedy, music, multimedia, cabaret and dance are part of Wollongong's answer to the Sydney Fringe festival, MerrigongX.
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Now in its fifth year, the program run at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre throughout 2022 will feature seven thought-provoking productions and three fresh works in development, in a "pay-as-you-feel" environment.
Merrigong Theatre Company director Simon Hinton said it was the biggest program they've ever produced for the series.
"It's the most interesting diverse selection of shows," he said. "It's really reflective of how exciting the contemporary performance world is at the moment."
Theatre-goers can watch a musical comedy in September based on the tragic story of Victorian explorers Burke and Wills, Mount Hopeless, by Tom Hogan and Elana Stone.
"At school Elana learned about them as heroes and explorers, whereas I hadn't really heard about them," Hogan said. "Now they suddenly seem like such real idiots ... they thought there was an inland sea and made sure their carriages turned into boats."
Despite the expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1860-61 being fact, Hogan said the "weird and strange" decisions (by today's standards) made for the perfect musical comedy.
"They are ridiculous people who had way too much money for their own good and that was definitively their downfall," he said.
Celebrated First Nations writer, artist and activist Kirli Saunders will present a rough reading of her play Going Home in August, which explores the removal of four siblings from their families in 1970's and their subsequent homecoming.
"An artist like Kirli has both extraordinary talent as a writer and a creator but also a unique personal perspective and exploring her own story, and I think that's incredibly powerful," Mr Hinton said.
He said the commissioned work is destined for the theatre company's main stage season in future years once it makes it through the "research and development lab", which is where it's currently at.
Also in August, Sorry Sorry Sorry by performance collective Applespiel takes a multimedia look at the world of internet apologies - from footy scandals, to politicians, intimate and personal apologies to corporate attempts at saving face and landmark social moments.
Other works in the program include science-fiction piece UFO which mixes stop-motion animation, detailed miniatures with live theatre; one-woman show Elsie For Vestri is about a gender-fluid 20-something who can't leave her apartment; and a middle-aged mum of three becomes a Lobster to use dance and movement to explore what is an artist's worth.
For full details of the MerrigongX program, visit www.merrigong.com.au
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