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 OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts