Dim the lights, community theatre has made a comeback in Sutherland Shire.
After a horror 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cronulla Arts Theatre is up and running for 2021, albeit with 75 per cent audience capacity due to ongoing restrictions.
And the theatre company has launched its 2021 season with David Williamson's Travelling North.
Directed by Michael Gooley and starring Graham Egan as Frank and Karen Firmstone as Frances, the play centres around a couple's decision to head north to start their new life together.
Williamson is Australia's most successful playwright, and considered a master of his craft.
While he is known for his acute observations of Australian social and political attitudes, the focus of Travelling North was less on satirising attitudes and more about the human drama - what we value in our relationships, especially as time and age challenge our hopes and expectations.
Set in the 1970s, newly-retired Frank and his partner Frances have found love in their later years, and decide to relocate from Melbourne to the tropical warmth of far north Queensland.
However, it is not long before their idyllic new life is challenged, first by Frances's daughters, who demand she return to Melbourne to look after their children, and then by Frank's failing health.
Travelling North runs until Saturday, March 20.
Performances are on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm. There are also three Sunday matinees scheduled.
Tickets are $30 or $27 and can be booked online via the theatre's website, click here www.artstheatrecronulla.com.au
