06 OCTOBER 2022 – 23 OCTOBER 2022 | FESTIVAL HUB: TRADES HALL
This season of SIRENS was awarded the Emerging Company Incubator Award, supported by Monash University’s Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, and the SA Touring Award, supported by Adelaide Fringe at the 2022 Fringe Awards.
Twenty two years old and rurally isolated, Eden is a prophet. When he sings he catches sight of heaven. He sees a boy. Sun kissed, streaked with salt, swimming out at sea. Not afraid and not alone. He’s beautiful.
But when the music stops, Eden falls back to earth. He is bored, aimless, angry at his Mum and consumed by the attention he seeks from older men on the internet.
One night Eden meets David, a drag queen forced home to care for his dying father, and suddenly his world makes sense. In David, Eden discovers new songs and stories. Dancing and divinity. Possibility and potential.
But only for as long as he can keep the fantasy alive.
Dark and funny, human and touching, SIRENS is a bruising exploration into the lives of isolated Australians. This solo performance presents a complex psychological study into obsession and intimacy, multi-faceted forms of love, the unpredictability of the queer experience and what we owe the people and places that ‘make us’.
Brought to life by the creative team behind the critically acclaimed kerosene (nominated for five Green Room Awards including Best Production, Best New Writing and Best Direction) and presented by VIMH (let bleeding girls lie, The View From Up Here), SIRENS is theatre stripped back to its essentials – just the word, the performer and the audience.
This project received Cash to Create through the Fringe Fund with thanks to Pinky Watson and Rosemary Walls, and is proudly supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.
CREATIVE TEAM
Written and Performed by Benjamin Nichol
Created with Izabella Yena
Directed by Liv Satchell
Sound Design by Connor Ross
Lighting Design by Harrie Hogan
Produced by Julian Dibley-Hall
“[T]his performance will undoubtedly stand out as being one of the highlights of this year’s Fringe festival.” – Darby Turnbull, Theatre Matters
“[SIRENS] strikes a delicate, powerful chord thanks to the nuance and intensity of its characterisation, the intimacy and emotional depth that writer-performer Benjamin Nichol brings to the stage.” – Cameron Woodhead, The Age
“[T]his queer odyssey of the heart leaves you feeling refreshingly uncynical as you ponder the moments of yearning from your own life.” – Harry Haynes, Arts Hub
“Nichol has crafted a story that is so unflinchingly raw and honest that it ends up being something you’ve not seen before. Given we are in October, it is safe to say that this will be one of the best shows of the year.” – Myron My, My Melbourne Arts
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