Where Is Joy? | Theatre Excursion + Drama Club
Hey friend, No Drama Drama Club is a little community building project about going to the theatre. We love seeing shows but wish the theatre was more of a group affair, with the same energy as a book club. So, this is our experiment to see what that would look like.
You’re invited to come along to see Where is Joy? at fortyfivedownstairs with us, and join us afterwards for a No Drama Drama Club meeting where we’ll talk about the show in a friendly supportive space. We'll take care of buying your tickets so you can just book with us and show up.
We’re big fans of keeping our community safe, so this is a mask-required event. Ryan will have some spare N95s to hand out before the show if you need one. Thanks for looking out for each other.
This event is hosted on the unceded land of the Kulin nations. We pay our respects to their elders past and present. If you’re a settler like us, you should be paying the rent.
📢 About the show
Where is Joy? runs for 90 minutes and is a new play about the only major woman artist of the original Heide Circle, Joy Hester.
It’s a one-woman show created and performed by Emma Louise Pursey which blends in her lived experience with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a diagnosis she shares with with Joy) and is directed by big-name-in-theatre: Susie Dee.
We’re quite excited about the prospect of a show which examines chronic illness and the way history remembers us. It seems like it’ll be a fascinating and stunning night of theatre.
To learn more about the show and read content warnings, you can visit fortyfivedownstairs’ website.
🦮 Access Info
This venue is fairly inaccessible. The show will be in the downstairs theatre which is down four flights of stairs, however there is a ground level access entrance, details of which are below.
The venue has kindly offered to let us host the post-show drama club in the gallery space, however there is no ground-level access to this space.
fortyfivedownstairs has level access to the theatre space only. The back of our building is at Flinders Street level, however the gallery is only accessible by stairs.
To enter the gallery space there are two flights of stairs, 28 steps in total, with a landing in the middle. The first flight has a handrail on the right-hand side going down, the second flight has a handrail on both sides. To enter the theatre space, there are an additional two flights of stairs down.
For further details around the venue’s access please see here
💸 Booking info
fortyfivedownstairs & Emma Louise Pursey have very generously offered us discounted $30 tickets for this event.
For full transparency, the reason that tickets above are slightly above the $30 is due to the transaction fees on this platform.
We anticipate that we’ll sell out our ticket allocation, so if you’re keen for a mask-required theatre excursion you should book in as soon as you can.
⏳ Schedule
NB Times may vary slightly
7:00pm — We’ll meet you in the foyer for some introductions and to organise tickets
7:30pm — Show begins
9:00pm — Show ends, we’ll take a little ten minute break
9:10pm — We’ll gather upstairs in the gallery space for our No Drama Drama Club with a structured group yap about the show.
10:30pm — Time to head home
💬 No Drama Drama Club Discussion
Here’s our plan for hosting our drama club. It may change slightly but it’s pretty close, we think!
Housekeeping — Safety mechanisms and venue information
Icebreakers & Introductions — Maybe a little drama game? 👀
First takes — We’ll all share a star rating to the show and jot down some initial thoughts
Group discussion — A chat facilitated by Jenna & Ryan who’ll have some great questions prepared 🤓
Second takes — We’ll write & share our own mini reviews with amended star ratings (or maybe no rating, if that’s how you roll)
Chat amongst yourselvesı — We’ll pack up but keep the space open to chat to your new friends & theatrical accomplices
From the river to the sea, always was, always will be.