Seasons:
28 Nov – 15 Dec, 2012
Bondi Pavilion, Sydney
11-19 Janurary, 2013
Theatre Works, Melbourne
17-28 September, 2013
Brisbane Festival
Director: Stephen Nicolazzo
Set Design: Owen Phillips
Costume/Hair/Make Up Design: Eugyeene Teh and Tessa Pitt
Lighting Design: Katie Sfetkidis
Sound Design: Nate Edmondson
Choreography: Kurt Phelan
Stage Manager: Rebecca Poulter
With:
Ash Flanders, Genevieve Giuffre, Kevin Kiernan Molloy, Caitlin Adams, Peter Paltos, Amanda McGregor, Paul Blenheim, Tom Dent and Zoe Boesen.
Presented By Little Ones Theatre, Theatre Works, Brisbane Festival, Rock Surfers Theatre Company
Charles Busch’s exuberant cult classic is a tongue-in-cheek parody of 1960s surf and beach party movies with a twist of equally retro high camp horror.
Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo this camp classic follows the dissasociative world of Chicklet, a Gidget-esque nerd with a dream to surf. When people in the town are attacked in strange sado-masochistic ways, it is up to the surf-bums and a B-Grade Horror star to find the culprit and save Chicklet from her potentially lethal sexual awakening.This production boasts a cross-gendered cast, sixties surf rock hits, and an appreciation of the perverse. Its classic Busch meets the golden age of Hollywood and the homo-eroticism of Point Break.
Following a slew of rave reviews and sell out Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane seasons, the outrageously funny Psycho Beach Party went on to win a Green Room Award for Best Female Performer (Genevieve Giuffre) and was nominated for Best Direction and Best Ensemble. It was also nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress (Genevieve Giuffre). Psycho Beach Party was also included in The Age’s Best of Melbourne Theatre list in 2013.
★★★★★ “Sharp as a wet towel snap and very salty indeed, Stephen Nicolazzo’s slick direction and an enthusiastic cast…[have created] a winning start to the year”
Time Out Melbourne
★★★★★ “A perfect dollop of summertime silliness”
Time Out Sydney
★★★★1/2 ” Psycho Beach Party is an absolute cack. Hi-lar-ious. What fun…Through strong ensemble theatre, the actors bring an almost erotic frisson to these cartoons of beachy teens, holding serious method and silly manner in true equipoise…Its the funniest show around!”
The Age
★★★★ “Perceptive, bold and sharp”
The Guardian
★★★★ “This is one show that pulls all the cheesy hallmarks of the genre into a blender, sets it to high, leaves the lid off, and presses go, letting the results splatter deliciously over the audience”
Brisbane Times