The Strangeways Cabaret will tour Wollongong, Queanbeyan and Bathurst in 2026 with original songs, live music and stories of love.
Some performances begin before the lights dim.
They begin in the moments beforehand – people finding seats, scanning the stage, noticing the instruments already waiting. A cabaret carries a different expectation from conventional theatre. It invites closeness. It suggests confession, humour, unpredictability and the possibility that someone may sing something unexpectedly familiar.
This winter, that atmosphere will travel.
After becoming a regular part of the annual calendar at Merrigong Theatre Company since 2021, The Strangeways Cabaret will leave its home stage and head across regional New South Wales for a three-city tour through Wollongong, Queanbeyan and Bathurst.
Built by Merrigong’s permanent ensemble of neurodiverse actors and musicians, the production approaches one of the oldest artistic subjects – love – with curiosity rather than certainty. Through original songs, live performance and an ensemble of distinctive characters, The Strangeways Cabaret will offer audiences a theatrical experience shaped less by grand declarations and more by the contradictions and everyday details that make emotions recognisable.
The Strangeways Cabaret Finds New Ground Through Regional Touring
Touring changes a performance.
Shows created in one place inevitably gather new meaning as they move into different communities, new stages and unfamiliar audiences.
For The Strangeways Cabaret, that movement feels central to the event itself.
This year’s regional tour will introduce local guest artists into each stop, creating performances that respond to place while maintaining the ensemble’s established style of humour, emotional honesty and theatrical experimentation.
Across more than a decade, members of The Strangeways Ensemble have developed work that moves between genres and moods. Previous productions have combined wit and reflection without settling into predictable forms.
This new cabaret will continue that approach.
The result will not present love as a singular idea. Instead, audiences will encounter a series of perspectives: hopeful, uncertain, playful and occasionally uncomfortable.
The stories may move through online dating, loneliness, affection and disappointment, but together they suggest something broader – that connection rarely arrives in a straight line.
Music And Character Shape The World Of The Strangeways Cabaret
Cabaret has always occupied a space between concert and theatre.
In The Strangeways Cabaret, a live band will provide the structure while performers move through original songs and character-driven storytelling.
The stage will become populated by a collection of personalities navigating emotions with humour, awkwardness and surprising openness.
Some moments will lean toward comedy. Others will slow down.
What emerges appears less interested in polished conclusions than in emotional recognition.
A song about broken promises may sit beside a playful take on modern relationships. Characters may exaggerate themselves while revealing something truthful underneath.
That shifting tone reflects one of cabaret’s enduring strengths: its ability to hold contradiction without resolving it.
The ensemble – featuring Malcolm Allison, Ethan Arnold, Jordan Bowater, Ethan Green, Rachel Head, Phillip Prentice and Christian Tagliaferro – will bring those moments together through a style that remains collaborative and distinctly human.
For audiences, the experience will likely feel conversational rather than distant.
The Strangeways Cabaret Creates Space For Different Voices
Theatre often speaks about representation in broad terms.
Performances like The Strangeways Cabaret make those conversations more immediate.
Created and performed by Merrigong Theatre Company’s neurodiverse ensemble, the production places lived experience and creative interpretation at the centre of the work.
But rather than defining itself through category alone, the show appears focused on something more expansive: creating space for stories that may not always occupy centre stage.
Director Anne-Louise Rentell has described the work as a deep dive into the ensemble’s experiences and imaginations while also opening opportunities to connect with new audiences through touring.
That sense of exchange feels especially suited to regional venues.
Audiences in Wollongong, Queanbeyan and Bathurst will each encounter slightly different performances shaped by local artists and local energy.
Every stop becomes part of the work itself.
Leaving The Theatre With Something Unexpected
Cabaret endings rarely feel final.
The curtain falls, but the songs tend to linger longer than expected.
People leave repeating lines to each other or remembering a moment they didn’t anticipate affecting them.
That may be the quiet promise of The Strangeways Cabaret.
Not that it will define love or offer neat conclusions, but that it will create room to think about the subject differently – through humour, performance and the strange familiarity of hearing human experiences turned into song.
Across three regional stages this winter, audiences will gather in darkened rooms and listen.
Then they will step back outside carrying fragments of stories with them.
Event Details
Event: The Strangeways Cabaret
Recommended Age: 16+
Performance Warning: Contains strong language and adult themes
Wollongong
Date: Saturday 27 June 2026 – 8:00pm
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes (no interval)
Venue: IPAC | Bruce Gordon Theatre | 32 Burelli Street, Wollongong NSW 2500
Tickets: Adult $30 | Under 30s $25
Bookings: https://merrigong.com.au/shows/the-strangeways-cabaret/
Queanbeyan
Date: Saturday 4 July 2026 – 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes (includes 20-minute interval)
Venue: Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre | The B | 253 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan NSW 2620
Tickets: Adult $40 | Concession, Under 30s, Groups 8+ $30
Bookings: https://theq.net.au/whats-on/the-strangeways-cabaret/
Bathurst
Date: Friday 17 July 2026 – 1:00pm & 7:00pm
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes (no interval)
Venue: Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre | BMEC Showroom | 105 William Street, Bathurst NSW 2795
Tickets: Standard Entry $32 | Concession $26
Bookings: https://www.bmec.com.au/whats-on/the-strangeways-cabaret/