Inviting audiences to immerse themselves in a theatrical feast of the imagination, Belvoir presents the Sydney premiere of Louise Fox’s adaptation of The Birds in the Upstairs Theatre this May.
Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 gothic horror story captured the paranoia and tension of the Cold War and inspired an immortal Hitchcock film. Now, a new adaptation brings this classic to the stage, a version feverish and suspenseful, for a new age, with new anxieties.
Nature isn’t behaving. The weather is doing strange things, the sea and sky sound different, and things that were once innocent, benign, harmless, are taking on dark and alarming aspects. From a remote farmhouse one family sounds the warning, but when the threat is unimaginable, and the world seems to be about to change forever, survival is just the first step…
Directed by Matthew Lutton (Love Me Tender, Malthouse’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, Solaris) and starring Paula Arundell (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Angels in America, Sonia Friedman Productions’ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), The Birds was first produced and presented by Malthouse Theatre in 2025.
“I saw this one-woman take on The Birds in Melbourne last year and loved its theatrical ambition, its bold invitation to put the other creatures we share the planet with into the frame of our stories, and above all the superb performance by Paula Arundell. It’s tense, thought provoking, and a virtuoso piece of storytelling from one of our great actors,” said Belvoir Artistic Director Eamon Flack.
An ever-relevant ecological horror story, this bold one-woman adaptation is a ‘symphony of dread’ (The Guardian) not to be missed.
Director: Matthew Lutton | Featuring: Paula Arundell | Set & Costume Designer: Kat Chan | Lighting Designer: Niklas Pajanti | Composer & Sound Designer: J. David Franzke | Sound Associate: Gideon Cozens | Stage Manager: Rosemary Osmond | Adaptor: Louise Fox
The Birds
Upstairs Theatre – Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills
Season continues to 7 June 2026
Information and Bookings: www.belvoir.com.au
Image: Paula Arundell stars in The Birds – photo by Pia Johnson