The Suitcase Royale
Encyclopedia
The Suitcase Royale is an award-winning theatre-comedy ensemble from Melbourne
, Australia
, composed of Joseph O'Farrell, Miles O'Neil and Glen Walton. The trio employ a knocked-together aesthetic and play live rag'n'bone music to frame their self-coined "junkyard theatre" .
The group started in 2004 and has since created six major shows, undertaken eight international tours, and has extensively toured the Australian theatre scene. They have recorded one self-titled album, released in 2010. They are the recipients of the Best Performance Award, Melbourne Fringe Festival
(2004); the Golden Gibbo Award, Melbourne Comedy Festival (2008); and the awards for Innovation and Excellence, Green Room Awards
(2010). In 2010 they were nominated in the Innovation category of the Total Theatre Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for 'The Ballad of Backbone Joe'.
in 2002 while undertaking a Creative Arts degree in theatre. “We started out as a folk band,” O’Neil has said. “We only made a theatre show on the side to fill in a double bill for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. We ended up being a lot better at making theatre, at that time, than we were at making music, and the theatre thing took off.”
, Ottawa
, Winnipeg
and Edmonton
. The Montreal Gazette described the show as "theatrical genius"; and the boys' favourite quote was "Wallace & Gromit meets David Lynch". Felix returned to Australia and was performed as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival
2004. Through 2005 it was performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival
, Lanfrachis Memorial Discoteque and Perth Awesome Festival. It was later put to rest at the International Figurentheater-Festival in Erlangen
, Germany, May 2009.
. It went on to be performed at Lanfranchis Memorial Discoteque and the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2005. It was performed as a part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival in April 2006. It travelled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2006. Chronicles was shown at the Andy Warhol Memorial Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA in November 2007. The show is later voted #4 in the top 20 events of Pittsburgh in 2007. It was performed at the Ruhrfestspiele
in Recklinghausen
, Germany June 2008 where a companion comic book was created by a local artist. It was then performed in the Bosco Theatre in Dublin as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival
and at the Soho Theatre
in London in September 2008.
in Marion Bay
, Tasmania
, 2005." The show premiered at the Black Lung Theatre in March 2006, simultaneous to the run of Chronicles at the Adelaide Fringe. It was performed at the Falls Festival in Lorne
, Victoria over New Year's Eve in 2007, the Imperial Panda Festival, Sydney, in January 2008, the Adelaide Fringe Festival in February 2008. It played at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in March 2008 where the company received the Golden Gibbo Award.
, Melbourne October 2007. It premiered at Federation Square
, Melbourne, as part of the Puppet and Visual Theatre Festival in June 2008. It went on to play at the Darwin Festival in August 2008, Sydney's Imperial Panda Festival in February 2009, the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen in May 2009 and at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in August 2010. The show played at the Sydney Theatre Company
in September 2010 . It did a season at the Soho Theatre in London's West End in July 2011.
, London in May 2009.
in July 2011. It is playing at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival at the Pleasance Courtyard.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, composed of Joseph O'Farrell, Miles O'Neil and Glen Walton. The trio employ a knocked-together aesthetic and play live rag'n'bone music to frame their self-coined "junkyard theatre" .
The group started in 2004 and has since created six major shows, undertaken eight international tours, and has extensively toured the Australian theatre scene. They have recorded one self-titled album, released in 2010. They are the recipients of the Best Performance Award, Melbourne Fringe Festival
Melbourne Fringe Festival
The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia. The Festival runs for three weeks from late September to early October, usually overlapping with the beginning of the Melbourne International Arts Festival...
(2004); the Golden Gibbo Award, Melbourne Comedy Festival (2008); and the awards for Innovation and Excellence, Green Room Awards
Green Room Awards
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
(2010). In 2010 they were nominated in the Innovation category of the Total Theatre Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for 'The Ballad of Backbone Joe'.
Career history
O'Farrell, O'Neil and Walton met at Deakin UniversityDeakin University
Deakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...
in 2002 while undertaking a Creative Arts degree in theatre. “We started out as a folk band,” O’Neil has said. “We only made a theatre show on the side to fill in a double bill for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. We ended up being a lot better at making theatre, at that time, than we were at making music, and the theatre thing took off.”
Felix Listens to the World
The show was devised by the boys in their final year at Deakin University drama school in 2004. At that stage they thought of themselves as a band but friends preparing a contemporary dance performance asked them to make up the second part of a double bill at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, where the show went on to win the Best Performance Award. The ensemble toured the Canadian Fringe circuit from May to September 2004 and performed Felix at four festivals: MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
. The Montreal Gazette described the show as "theatrical genius"; and the boys' favourite quote was "Wallace & Gromit meets David Lynch". Felix returned to Australia and was performed as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne Festival is a celebration of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held for 17 days each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia.-History:...
2004. Through 2005 it was performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival
Adelaide Fringe Festival
The Adelaide Fringe Festival is an arts festival held annually in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The event is the Southern Hemisphere's largest arts event and the second-largest fringe festival in the world, second in size only to the Edinburgh Fringe...
, Lanfrachis Memorial Discoteque and Perth Awesome Festival. It was later put to rest at the International Figurentheater-Festival in Erlangen
Erlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
, Germany, May 2009.
Chronicles of a Sleepless Moon
The show centered around a wardrobe, which fit the whole set, and was reinforced with the DIY approach idiosyncratic of the company. The wardrobe doubled as the underground vessel that took the characters of the Butcher (O'Neil), the Doctor (Walton) and the Newsman (O'Farrell) deep beneath the earth. Chronicles premiered in March 2004 at the Melbourne Next Wave FestivalNext Wave Festival
is a biennial festival based in Melbourne, Australia, which promotes and showcases the work of young and emerging artists. Encouraging interdisciplinary practice, Next Wave fosters the creation and presentation of works by artists aged 16 to 30 working across a broad range of art forms, including...
. It went on to be performed at Lanfranchis Memorial Discoteque and the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2005. It was performed as a part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival in April 2006. It travelled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2006. Chronicles was shown at the Andy Warhol Memorial Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA in November 2007. The show is later voted #4 in the top 20 events of Pittsburgh in 2007. It was performed at the Ruhrfestspiele
Ruhrfestspiele
Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is one of the oldest Theatre festivals in Europe. Founded after World war II, the festival is an event for the Ruhr district....
in Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south...
, Germany June 2008 where a companion comic book was created by a local artist. It was then performed in the Bosco Theatre in Dublin as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival
Dublin Fringe Festival
The Dublin Fringe Festival allows artists to develop and present their work by submitting their application which is subsequently reviewed by the programme manager. The festival is open to both Irish and international participants....
and at the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
in London in September 2008.
The Ghosts of Ricketts Hill
"From out of a marsh, under a tree in the left corner of the left field comes the first ever showings of The Ghosts of Ricketts Hill at the [New Years Eve] Falls FestivalFalls Festival
The Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania Australia since 1993.It lasts four days, from 29 December to 1 January each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, 30 December and 31 December...
in Marion Bay
Marion Bay, Tasmania
Marion Bay is a large bay and a bounded locality located on the southeast coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is near Dunalley in the Municipality of Sorell...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, 2005." The show premiered at the Black Lung Theatre in March 2006, simultaneous to the run of Chronicles at the Adelaide Fringe. It was performed at the Falls Festival in Lorne
Lorne, Victoria
Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria, Australia. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road tourist route...
, Victoria over New Year's Eve in 2007, the Imperial Panda Festival, Sydney, in January 2008, the Adelaide Fringe Festival in February 2008. It played at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in March 2008 where the company received the Golden Gibbo Award.
The Ballad of Backbone Joe
Backbone Joe was first performed at Suitcase HQ and sometime venue, 25A in NorthcoteNorthcote, Victoria
Northcote is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Darebin...
, Melbourne October 2007. It premiered at Federation Square
Federation Square
Federation Square is a civic centre and cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, Melbourne, as part of the Puppet and Visual Theatre Festival in June 2008. It went on to play at the Darwin Festival in August 2008, Sydney's Imperial Panda Festival in February 2009, the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen in May 2009 and at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in August 2010. The show played at the Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
in September 2010 . It did a season at the Soho Theatre in London's West End in July 2011.
The SPACE SHOW
First played at the Falls Festival, Lorne, Victoria over New Year's Eve 2008-2009. Its premiere season was at the PACT Theatre in Sydney in March 2009. It played at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in March 2009 and at Battersea Arts CentreBattersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.-History:...
, London in May 2009.
Zombatland
Zombatland was first performed as a scratch show at the Battersea Arts CentreBattersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.-History:...
in July 2011. It is playing at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival at the Pleasance Courtyard.