World premiere heading to Theatre Works

Wanna laugh-cry at the absurdity of the world we live in? Me too!

During these strange pandemic times, we aim for a new poetry of the voice and body that will smash assumptions about the way we see ourselves. We’re Probably Really Really Happy Right Now, by VCA Master of Writing for Performance graduate Ellen Grimshaw, is a highly original play that defies categorisation.

Ellen Grimshaw
Photo by Lachlan Woods

Grimshaw is an actor and emerging playwright in Melbourne. She has a strong feminist perspective, which she draws on when placing comedy, absurdism and surrealism at the forefront of her work. She has been in multiple independent theatre productions in Brisbane and Melbourne and has received awards for her acting on screen.

This high octane premiere production rips apart the madness of a culture soaked in ludicrous toxicities ranging from Tall Poppy Syndrome to misogyny, and violence to power dynamics. Seven of Melbourne’s finest actors, under Sarah Vickery’s confident direction play multiple personas that just want to be free to express themselves – only no one gives a shit. What do you have to say right now to be heard? What do you have to do to be seen?

Inspired by personal experience, performance art, Commedia Dell’arte and experimental dance choreography (Pina Bausch and Reza Adboh), We’re Probably Really Really Happy Right Now liberates from gender binaries, social compliance, and self-restraint; this incendiary reaction to absurd and messed up notions of happiness and conformity is oh so very out of order…

See this wildly ambitious piece of postmodern theatre for yourself as part of Theatre Works 2021 season – it is sure to blow you away in one way or another.

Peter J Snee

Peter is a British born creative, working in the live entertainment industry. He holds an honours degree in Performing Arts and has over 12 years combined work experience in producing, directing and managing artistic programs & events. Peter has traversed the UK, Europe and Australia pursuing his interest in theatre. He is inspired by great stories and passionately driven by pursuing opportunities to tell them.