There are two new Indigenous plays, the return of Robyn Archer, a lesbian divorce drama-comedy and an adaption of Charlotte Wood’s novel The Weekend.

Kicking off 2023 is Blue, by Indigenous actor and dancer Thomas Weatherall, who is starring in Netflix’s reboot of Heartbreak High. The antithesis of Into the Woods, Blue is a deeply personal and intimate work that follows a 20-year-old youth in and out of memories and into the present as he works through personal and familial grief.

Weatherall said he began writing Blue in 2019, “as a sort of unprescribed therapy, with no real intention to actually see the piece brought to life for an audience”.

“I was in a bit of a tough place mentally and used the script as a way to both express and explore those feelings, while still trying to provide myself the safety-net of this fictionalised story and character, albeit a very personal fiction,” he says.

“Blue deals with the heavy stuff – death, life, love, grief, mental health, memories, familial struggles, and, for me, it was important that it wasn’t too easy a pill to swallow.

“I wanted to create a space where an audience can hear someone talking about these issues that society often deem as taboo, as openly and unashamedly as this play does through its character Mark.”

Following will be Blessed Union, a play about a rainbow family active in the campaign for marriage equality.

Nathan Maynard’s modern tragedy, At What Cost, set in his home state of Lutruwita/Tasmania will make its return season. And after being twice announced and ready to open when the 2021 lockdown began, Michelle Law’s Miss Peony will make its debut.

Flack said Belvoir was making huge efforts to shore up a pipeline of future work against the devastating impacts of government arts policy going back a decade.

Audiences needed to commit to theatre-going, not to only see the hits. “We want audiences to take that leap of faith,” Flack says. “If we only took one safe step at a time from here to here we’ll very quickly fall into a monoculture of spectacle and same-mindedness. No city wants that.”

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Through Blue, Weatherall hopes the concerns of young men can be heard.

“You really are never alone in your thinking, and by reaching out, you may even be providing someone else the opening to a discussion that they too are in need of,” he says. “Again, without giving away too much of the story, that’s a necessary discovery for Mark.

“I think it’s important for people to actually be able to see someone share that in front of them on stage, not to act as a role model, but to encourage the fact that the strongest thing you can do is talk to someone about it.”

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