An uncomfortable night at the theatre

Good theatre can do more than entertain; it can provoke, interrogate and challenge our views of the world.

Anna Steen in STCSA & Adelaide Festival’s In The Club. Photo by Sia Duff.

Playwright Patricia Cornelius doesn’t mince words when it comes to describing what she wants from the theatre.

‘Either I can sit there and wish that it was over, or I can actually be engaged by something and be made to contest how I think. And even if you kind of readjust your thinking when you come out of the theatre, it’s still a fantastic exercise to be able to go, “Oh my god, I’ve always thought this and now I’m questioning it,”’ Cornelius said.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts