Banging Denmark

From the pen of Van Badham, one of Australia’s leading social commentators, comes Banging Denmark – a biting rom-com with a fiercely feminist sensibility, at the New Theatre this September.

Aussie Jake Newhouse is a management consultant with a side hack as a toxic male podcaster. He also fancies himself as a pick-up artist.

His latest crush, a brilliant and beautiful Danish librarian, isn’t buying his usual lines, so he enlists the help of academic Ish Madigan to give him tips on flirtation.

He’s offering to pay – a lot – and she’s broke enough to accept, despite their fraught relationship. But for Ish, the project feels like a betrayal of the sisterhood!

How Ish, Jake, their friends and an online stranger navigate the complexities of love, sex and internet dating in the 21st century lies at the heart of this hilarious social satire.

For this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival, New Theatre is delighted to be presenting a new production of Van Badham’s very funny hit play, helmed by Madeleine Withington, making her New Theatre directorial debut.

Maddy graduated from the Actors Centre Australia in 2014 and since then has been working as an actor and voiceover artist on a range of projects. You may have heard her voice on the radio convincing you to join the navy, reconsider your super fund, or get a boob job. Maybe all at once.

Recent theatre productions she has appeared in include New Theatre’s acclaimed Australian premiere production of James Graham’s The Angry Brigade, Fuente Ovejuna! at Flight Path Theatre, and her first play Wil and Grace – which premiered at the Fringe HQ.

Butter: A Love Story is her first short film (which received a Special Mention from the Jury for Best Comedy at Flickerfest 2023), and screened at the St Kilda Film Festival in June (Best Original Score Nominee).

In 2022 she directed her first play, Much Ado, at Flight Path Theatre, and scored rave reviews, and she has since directed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) to the same response.

“I’ve always loved Van Badham’s work, and when I read this script, I fell in love with its humour and its incisiveness,” said Maddy. “Australians are really funny, but I think in theatre sometimes there’s a tendency to value ‘serious’ scripts more highly.”

When I was eleven, I decided that what I wanted to do with my life was make people laugh, and so far that’s held true for my work. I’m so excited to bring this to the stage, and provide a night of both laughter and introspection for audiences.”

“I know audiences are going to resonate with this piece, simply on the basest level, because everyone has been at least one of the characters in this play. I hope people will come away with a deeper sense of empathy, and maybe a couple of questions they can’t shake. Which is a nice thing for a play to do, I think,” said Maddy.

Director: Madeleine Withington | Featuring: Matt Abotomey, Emelia Corlett, Sarah Greenwood, Kandice Joy, Gerry Mullaly | Assistant Director: Isabella Milkosovitch | Production Designer: Ruby Jenkins | Sound Designer: Daniel Herten | Accent Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley | Production Manager: Jaime Petersen | Stage Manager: Atlas Andrews | Assistant Stage Manager: Patrick Mondrian