By Arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical On Behalf of Samuel French A Concord Theatricals Company
Saturday 12 July - Saturday 19 July 2025
Queensland Multicultural Centre
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work. We pay respect to the Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Jacqui Somerville Program Director
Bachelor
of Acting
Welcome and thank you for joining us.
You’re about to step into a world that feels ancient and immediate, mythic and terrifyingly familiar Welcome to Thebes reimagines classical Greek tragedy in a contemporary post-conflict setting, where the rubble of war still smoulders, and hope is a fragile thing.
Moira Buffini’s play is unflinching in its questions: What does rebuilding look like when the wounds of the past are still bleeding? Who gets to lead, to govern, to heal, and at what cost?
For the Class of 2025, this production has been both a challenge and a gift. It’s demanded rigour, vulnerability, and fierce collaboration. They’ve wrestled with power and politics, with ancient grief and modern injustice, with the weight of history and the urgency of now.
This production is both culmination and launchpad: a testament to the discipline this cohort has cultivated, and a glimpse of the creative citizens they are becoming. It has also been a joy to witness them model and collaborate with the Class of 2026 ensemble members who they are joined on stage by tonight.
I’d like to celebrate our set and costume designer Claira Ruthenberg, a Queensland College of Art honours student, and her supervisor Tanja Beer, for working with us to collaborate to create a design for a Bachelor of Acting production. A relationship I hope continues to grow in the future. I honour the text, the process, and the collective commitment that brought this vision of Welcome to Thebes to life. In particular, director Timothy Wynn, production team Aaron, Amy, Keith, Claira, Tanya, Paula, and Conservatorium colleagues Claire, Liz, Stuart, Grace, Michael. Thank you.
I also thank you, dear audience, for supporting these emerging artists. We invite you to listen closely, feel deeply, and consider what kind of world we’re all trying to build. May this performance spark reflection, provoke conversation, and remind us why we gather to tell stories
Welcome to Thebes is a bold, electrifying collision of ancient myth and modern politics. In staging this play today, I’m struck by how urgently it speaks to the present moment. Buffini’s imagined postconflict Thebes—scarred by civil war, led by a new female government, and shadowed by a visiting global superpower—feels uncomfortably familiar. We recognise the fragile democracies, the legacy of violence, the uneasy diplomacy, and the deep yearning for peace.
Our production asks: Who gets to lead in times of chaos? How do nations rebuild? And what responsibility does the powerful West bear when engaging with countries in crisis? As the world confronts rising authoritarianism, systemic inequality, and the aftermath of war in multiple regions, Welcome to Thebes challenges us to examine the cost of idealism, the compromise of power, and the human faces behind political headlines.
Timothy Wynn
Photography by Rhys Canham
Please be advised this production contains strong language, violence, reference to sexual assault, the use of fake/toy guns, and gunshot sounds. It is recommended for audiences 15+.
Act I - 70 minutes
Interval - 15 minutes
Act II - 65 minutes
The total run time of this performance will be approximately 2 hours 30 minutes including interval.
Buffini
Abdicated King Oedipus’ ‘plague’ seems to linger. Fighting over their father's throne, General Polynices leads his six Warlords and their armies against his brother, Eteocles, and Thebes. A decade of brutal war of mythological proportions ensues, leaving the country of Thebes in rubble, plague, and death. Desperate to save their country, the ex-rebel leader and newly elected President, Eurydice, has invited Athens in hopes of establishing an economic aid and alliance to rebuild. Athens and their hero, ‘First Citizen’ Theseus, answers Thebes’ call.
A country in a time of self-proclaimed peace continues to tear itself from the inside out. Inner conflict within Thebes creates opportunity for those who seek it. Survivors of the ‘War of Seven’ , servants to the recently deceased Polynices; Warlord ‘Prince’ Tydeus and the General’s wife Pargeia, leaders of the opposition party, continue to incite protest, and opposition to Eurydice in hopes of seeing the rebirth of the old Thebes; in their image.
Synopsis written by Liam McMahon
Photography by Rhys Canham
Megaera
Emma Kidd
Sergeant Miletus
Junior Lieutenant Scud
Eurydice
Prince Tydeus
Pargeia
Haemon
Antigone
Ismene
Tiresias
Polykleitos
Aglaeus
Thalia
Euphrosyne
Eunomia
Xenophanes
Rhys Canham
Rushad Katrak
Angela Lal
Riley Fahey
Cecilia Varese
Cameron Rixon
Jordana Wenke
Ari Banerjee
Liam McMahon
Lachlan Brayshaw
Rory Gryffin
Allegra Marino
Darcy Jackson
Emma Kidd
Lachlan Brayshaw
Rushad Katrak
Theseus Phaeax
Matthew Ianna
Harmonia
Talthybia
Callum Johnston
Grace Faint
Bia
Helia
Eris
Enyalius
Plautus
Ichnaea
Ensemble
Ellie Dawson Bonny Treloar
Georgia Cassidy
Ben Jason-Eaton
Jack Miller
Oliver Hunter
Samantha Fuller
Mia Thomas
Michael Hawkins
Olivia van Gool
Naire McDonald
Understudy
Olivia van Gool
Timothy Wynn is the founding and current Artistic Director of THAT Production Company, an independent theatre company based in Ipswich, Queensland. Theatre: THAT Production Company: Dance Nation (with Metro Arts), Head Over Heels (with Ipswich Civic Centre), Duck Duck Goose (with Theatreworks), Every Brilliant Thing, I Love You Bro, Sea Wall, Kill Climate Deniers (with Metro Arts), Yeilding, When the Rain Stops Falling (with Ipswich Festival), God of Carnage (with Ipswich Festival), A Lie of the Mind, Romeo & Juliet, Pains of Youth, Seven Jewish Children (with Anywhere Theatre Festival), Fastest Clock in the Universe, Saved, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Spring Awakening; Queensland Theatre: Neighbourhood Watch (2023 Young Artist Program); La Boite Theatre Company: Thread (La Boite HWY Festival 2019). Awards and Nominations: 2021 Matilda Award Best Director for Sea Wall (nominated), 2023 Matilda Award for Best Director for Every Brilliant Thing (nomin d)
Photography by Rhys Canham
Claira is an emerging spatial designer and recent graduate of the Bachelor of Design program at the Queensland College of Art and Design. As an honours student, she has developed her skills through hands-on experiences, working in both assistant and associate designer roles. Welcome to Thebes is her first production as a set and costume designer through her honours program at Griffith University.
Keith Clark’s lighting design work includes Single Asian Female and The Wind in the Willows (La Boite Theatre Company), Boy Girl Wall and Packed (The Escapists), Handle with Care (Joymas Creative), DeGenerator, Opposite of Prompt, AngelMonster, and The Machine that Carries the Soul (Phluxus Dance Collective), Moon Spirit Feasting (Elision Music Ensemble), Juice (The Crash Collective), Kazka and Legend (Lehenda Dance Company), The Laramie Project (Forward Movement), Die Opernprobe & Der Häusliche Krieg (Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program) and Tarnished (La La Palour). At the Queensland Conservatorium his lighting designs include Grease, Street Scene, Beatrice and Benedict, Iolanthe, Dido and Aeneas, 42nd Street and Legally Blonde. Improvised designs have been for such artists as The Necks, Jeff Lang, The Ordinary Fear of God, Aaron Goldberg, Kate MillerHeidke, and Nakhane. Keith’s designs for various productions have toured nationally and internationally to Europe and America. He is also a member of the award-winning independent theatre group The Escapists.
Fight Choreographer
Vocal Coach
Musical Composition
Musical Direction & Composition
Mentor & Costume Assistant
Set & Costume Design Mentor
Set Assistant
Rehearsal Photography & Videography
Projection Design
Production Managers
Assistant
Stage Manager
Stage Manager
Jason McKell
Marcus Oborn
Charlie Ross-Lavender
Florence Lingane
Darcy Jackson
Paula Martins
Tanja Beer
Rory Gryffin
Rhys Canham
Emma Kidd
Amy Hauser
Keith Clark
Aaron Jeffery
Isabelle Markham
Special thanks to Queensland Conservatorium supporters and donors.
Philanthropy plays a vital role at Queensland Conservatorium. Only through your support can our students experience valuable learning opportunities through productions such as this one. To invest in the future of music and performance in Queensland, contact us on +61 (0)7 5552 7218 or email giving@griffith.edu.au
Queensland Conservatorium thanks our generous donors and supporters. We would like to acknowledge our instrument bank donors supporting the students in tonight’s performance.
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Director
Professor Bernard Lanskey
Deputy Director (Learning and Teaching)
Associate Professor
Donna Weston
Deputy Director (Research)
Dr Alexis Kallio
Conservatorium Manager
Stuart Jones
Open Conservatorium
Manager
Jason Budge
Program Director (Bachelor of Acting)
Jacqui Somerville
Lecturer in Acting
Claire Christian
Front of House
Operations Manager
Michael Hibbard
Executive Officer (Engagement)
Dr Natalie Lewandowski-Cox
Technical Team Leader
Cameron Hipwell
Operations Administrator
Clare Wharton
Technical Officers
Keith Clark, Amy Hauser, Len McPherson
Venue Officers
Grace Royle, Joshua White,
Joseph Gale-Grant
Administration Officer
Liz Tyson-Doneley
Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University 140 Grey Street, South Bank 4101 Concert enquiries: (07) 3735 6241 griffith.edu.au/music griffith.edu.au/queenslandconservatorium queenslandconservatorium.com.au
QueenslandConservatorium QldCon _ Griffith
Correct at time of publication