Joel Bray’s DADDY Opens A Bold New Season At Geelong Arts Centre
Heading into its third year, REWIRE has established itself as a hotbed for fresh, unconventional, and provocative performance. You won’t find standard proscenium-arch theatre here—expect transformations of space, direct audience engagement, and stories that dig into pressing themes like identity, freedom, and what it means to belong in a world on edge. According to internal Geelong Arts Centre figures, attendance for REWIRE events has surged each year, suggesting audiences are eager for experiences that aren’t shy about challenging tradition. If you’re tired of the same old line-ups and yearn for a dash of the extraordinary, REWIRE 2025 might be precisely the creative jolt you’ve been waiting for.
DADDY
The season opener on 21–22 February is none other than Joel Bray’s DADDY—a cheeky, intimate, part-dance, part-immersive experience that quite literally sugar-coats its central themes. Bray, an award-winning choreographer and proud Wiradjuri man, has never been one to tiptoe around big questions. DADDY sees him dive into the complexities of being a queer First Nations artist, grappling with the effects of colonisation, inherited trauma, and personal empowerment. In doing so, he masterfully uses the language of movement to strike a universal chord. Perhaps one of the most striking aspects is how Bray blurs the lines between audience and performer: sweet treats might appear at any moment, and you could find yourself gently drawn into the performance space, adding your voice—or body—to the unfolding story.
“We wanted to create a show where no two nights are exactly alike,” Bray has said in interviews. This spontaneous spirit underscores DADDY’s core ethos: bridging the gap between the artist’s identity and our own sense of self, all while dusting the experience with a humorous edge. Expect to leave both entertained and disarmed, your sweet tooth sated but your mind brimming with introspection.
An Eclectic Line-Up
If you manage to extricate yourself from DADDY’s sugary embrace, you’ll find the rest of the REWIRE 2025 season brimming with just as much excitement and audacity. Here’s a quick taste of what’s in store:
• From 4–5 April, Nancy Denis’ fiery solo cabaret M’ap Boulé arrives onstage. This piece takes a deep dive into Haitian history, an Australian upbringing, and the complexities of queer identity. The result? A rousing celebration of self-discovery that fuses music, monologue, and powerhouse vocals into an explosive testament to liberation.
• Next, it’s time to rev up the energy with Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam on 27–28 June. Picture a wild reinterpretation of the often-dreary grant application process. Yes, you read that correctly: an action-packed escapade featuring performers racing on speeding treadmills, confronting a madcap range of challenges. It’s unhinged, fearless, and promises to lure even the most stoic viewer into bursts of laughter. If you’ve ever stared blankly at funding paperwork wishing for a spark of adrenaline, this is for you.
• From 15–16 August, the brilliant minds at Bloomshed tackle Pride and Prejudice, flipping Jane Austen’s genteel romance on its head. In this newly minted version, sharp wit meets a modern lens on gender, class, and Australia’s housing crisis. The comedic style is said to be irreverent—bordering on satirical anarchy—so brace yourself for a reimagined Mr Darcy you might not recognise, and an Elizabeth Bennet who may have more on her mind than mild-mannered courtship.
• Rounding off the programme on 29–30 August, The Last Great Hunt arrives with Night Night, a cinematic-theatre hybrid about a character named Pip journeying to Antarctica—and slipping into a wondrous new dimension. By pairing live performance with big-screen visuals, The Last Great Hunt conjures that hypnotic in-between state where stage illusions melt into filmic magic. Expect an otherworldly hush in the theatre as you track Pip’s precarious voyage.
The Under-30 And MobTix Edge
In an era when ticket prices can scare off younger audiences, Geelong Arts Centre offers a refreshing twist: the $30 Under 30 programme. It ensures anyone under 30 can snag a ticket to selected shows, including DADDY, for a mere $30. Beyond that, the MobTix scheme makes discounted tickets available to First Nations peoples, reflecting the Centre’s commitment to inclusivity and open cultural dialogue. In a 2022 survey, over half of Australians under 35 indicated that affordability was a primary barrier to attending arts events. Geelong Arts Centre seems determined to dismantle that barrier—one discounted ticket at a time.
The Sweets And The Spiritual
You might be wondering: why sugar, specifically? Joel Bray’s performance often references sweets, from candy sprinkles to possibly more extravagant treats. The hidden detail here is the symbolism: historically, sugar was a colonial commodity—one that symbolised power, exploitation, and desire. By using sugar as both prop and thematic underscore, Bray reclaims that narrative, offering a playful yet pointed commentary on how certain ‘treats’ have shaped cultural identities (and sometimes contributed to their erosion).
This layering of the sweet and the sour is typical of Bray’s artistry, embedding complex socio-political threads in physically joyous dances. The result is a mix of communal camaraderie and potent critique, a blend that incites both laughter and introspection.
The Allure Of The Unusual
At its core, REWIRE 2025 speaks to the hungry spirit in all of us—an appetite for something outside the norm, for shows that tap into primal impulses, social tensions, and heartfelt revelations in equal measure. Joel Bray’s DADDY sets that tone from the get-go, reminding us that behind every succulent morsel of sweet theatre lies a chance to chew on bigger truths about identity, history, and human connection. And as the season unfolds, you’ll witness everything from high-energy treadmill escapades to reimagined Austen, each production a singular statement on how we can push our cultural conversation forward.
So if you’re in the mood for a dose of the unconventional—a dash of comedic chaos here, a spoonful of heartfelt reflection there—don’t let REWIRE 2025 pass you by. Step into the theatre, let your senses be scrambled, and see if you don’t leave feeling that the lines between everyday reality and art have blurred in the most exhilarating way. After all, the best theatre often arrives in the form of a jolt—one that rewires your perspective and leaves you hungry for more. And at Geelong Arts Centre this year, that jolt seems guaranteed to satisfy even the most adventurous palate.
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