The all-star, all-Irish smash hit of the 2016 Dublin Fringe Festival and winner of Best Production, RIOT is set to make its Australian debut in an exhilarating theatrical explosion that will set hearts soaring and pulses racing at the Sydney Festival from 5 January, before heading to Arts Centre Melbourne from 31 January 2018.
Serving up a disorderly cocktail of wild theatre, banging jigs, slapstick comedy and eye-popping circus, this jaw-dropping spectacle will leave audiences dazzled, dizzy and ready to change the world. Infusing the magic of theatre with the excitement of variety and the energy of the dance floor, RIOT broke Dublin Fringe box office records, set social media ablaze and is touring the globe in 2018.
Rooted in the Irish traditions of poetry, oratory, Irish dance and song, then deconstructed using musical, electro, striptease, drag and pop culture, RIOT is a theatrical gut-punch. It is a love letter of hope to the future and a clarion call on the state of the world today.
Leading the stellar cast is Queen of Ireland Panti Bliss, who is well known to Australian audiences. Her 2016 one-woman-show High Heels in Low Places racked up stellar reviews and packed houses in Australia as well as Ireland, UK, Europe and USA.
The self-described accidental activist played a major role in the successful referendum campaign for Marriage Equality in Ireland, has authored her memoir Woman In The Making and starred in the 2015 critically acclaimed documentary, The Queen Of Ireland.
Joining Panti on stage are Street Performance World Champions and unlikely heroes of Britain’s Got Talent, The Lords of Strut. These spandex adorned lads are on a mission to change the world with a dose of dance, acrobatics and a big old measure of slapstick.
Multi-award winning dance duo Philip Connaughton and Deirdre Griffin roll out some thumping jigs whilst Megan Riordan, the star of the Tony Award winning Once The Musical (Dublin) and Ronan Brady – the Gaelic football player who ran away to join the circus – add to the sensational line up.
Rounding out the cast is Kate Brennan, RIOT’s street corner poet delivering the emotive words and rhymes of Emmet Kirwan including those from Heartbreak – which became an award-winning short film, along with the show’s ‘Sirens’ vocalists Alma Kelliher, Adam Matthews and Nicola Kavanagh. Thrilling, uplifting and utterly unique, RIOT is your big summer night out, with a delicious twist.
RIOT – A disorderly cocktail of partying and politics
Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent – Meriton Festival Village, Hyde Park North, Sydney
Season: 5 – 28 January 2018
Information and Bookings: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
Fairfax Studio – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne
Season: 31 January – 9 February 2018
Information and Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Image: Panti Bliss and the Cast of RIOT – photo by Conor Horgan & Niall Sweeney