Pandemic play to take centre stage at Darwin’s Browns Mart

Darwin’s Brown’s Mart was the first theatre in Australia to reopen after the first Covid-19 lockdown, and on Wednesday night it will become the first in the nation to host a play.

DARWIN’S Brown’s Mart was the first theatre in Australia to reopen after the first Covid-19 lockdown, and on Wednesday night it will become the first in the nation to host a play featuring pandemics as a central theme.

Set 10-15 years in the future, New Babylon is an absurdist comedy that focuses on a group of wealthy “preppers” on-board a cruise ship, escaping a dystopian world of ongoing pandemics and climate change catastrophe for a mysterious promised land.

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Writer and co-director Stephen Carleton, who grew up in Darwin, said while the play had been ready to perform before Covid-19, with a focus on climate change, he had reworked it to bring pandemics to the forefront.

“Suddenly the hypothetical became very real and we had to respond to that,” he said.

“I think theatre should always respond to the world around us with a sense of urgency, and I think along with climate change that’s the most obviously pressing topic.”

New Babylon opens at Brown’s Mart Wednesday night and will run Tuesday to Saturday until June 19.

For more information or to get tickets, go to brownsmart.com.au.

Follow @AliciaCPerera