The Forge

05/10/2023

Get cultured at The Forge this weekend! Our resident creative crew The Dire Theatre Company is performing their condensed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream! Grab your tickets ad support locally made creative content!
https://www.trybooking.com/CLMMO

Good Evening Dire Devotees!

Tomorrow kicks off the final weekend of our run of "A Midsummer Night's Dream'! Join us at The Forge this weekend for a fairy filled romp in the woods!
Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CLMMO

18/09/2023

In the words of our resident theatre troupe, The Dire Theatre Company, Incite Change. Without Fear.

07/08/2023

Coming soon is our resident theatre company The Dire Theatre Company's all new, all original THE DIRE THEATRE COMPANY LIVE RADIO VARIETY HOUR!
Don your blindfold and be swept away on the high seas as the troupe perform the radio play Treasure Island using roaming speakers and traditional radio play sound effects!
Shout out to Culture Bank Wollongong for jumping on board to support the teams initiative!!

13/06/2023

Our resident troupe The Dire Theatre Company is bringing their new semi creative, semi satire, semi political work to The Forge!

Join us for the best new works in the region, reasonably priced entertainment, and a bloody good sausage!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CIXSA

Who doesn't love a democracy sausage?

Come along for The Dire Theatre's first democratic debate YES, MISTER SPEAKER! You decide on the policies - will one of our candidates persuade you that militarising our nations wildlife is in order or will you be convinced that our nation's shortages can be fixed by letting them eat cake? Either way, the debates are are going to be wacky and bizarre!

Whichever way you swing politically, this debate will be sure to make you laugh! Don't miss this opportunity! Book today!

Tickets available here: https://www.trybooking.com/CIXSA

04/06/2023

This month our resident performance and arts collective The Dire Theatre Company, are presenting some very funky fresh new indie works. Keep your eye out for tix!

01/06/2023

There's something for everyone this month at The Forge from our resident performance and art company The Dire Theatre Company!

25/05/2023

This Saturday at The Forge is our resident theatre company, The Dire Theatre Company's next indie project the 100 Minutes Short Play Exhibition!

A series of short, indie plays, where the artists share the profits!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CIGSX

22/05/2023

This Saturday our resident theatre troupe The Dire Theatre Company presents 100 Minute Short Play Exhibition at The Forge this weekend!
Join artists from our region and elsewhere as they present some independent, original performance works!
Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CIGSX

Good Evening Dire Devotees!

The Radio hour is over, and we move to our next exciting indie project!

The 100 Minutes Short Play Exhibition is a celebration of new and independent short works! Groups from far and wide are converging at The Forge this Saturday to perform their original works! This isn't just another short play festival, this one is special because all of our participants get to share in the profits! So come along and see some great independent performance and help get some artists paid!! Your patronage is more valuable than the dollars you spend, it's the acknowledgement of an artists value that means the world (but the cash is pretty nice too, thanks)!

First up in our drip feed announcements designed to excite you is the work of a creative team made up of familiar local and Sydney based artists performing a piece by writer/director/producer Kelly Nicholson "Death of a People Pleaser".

Mary puts the wants and needs of others before herself.
When she dies in a freak incident she lands the job of a grim reaper, escorting the recently departed to the other side.
With the help of some unexpected friends and a career change, could this life ending mean a new beginning for Mary and the death of her people pleasing?

Join us for 100 Minutes and become a part of our regions semi-pro scene!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CIGSX

04/04/2023

Our resident arts collective have a months worth of fresh new works hitting our venue this month! Check them out for upcoming dates!

23/03/2023

Opening tomorrow night, our resident arts collective The Dire Theatre Company present's Saving Grace! A new, modern Australian play, about heart break, inegrity, and the demonic apocalypse.

Good evening Dire Devotees!

What makes us here at The Dire proudest, is that we create. We make things. From nothing we come together and do the best thing people can do; create!

It's not CATS, it's not Les Mis, it's not another British farce, it's something we made, brand new and we made it for you!

Opening tomorrow night!!

Come and see our regions premiere semi-pro collective as they perform the brand new indie work Saving Grace at The Forge!

Indie, fresh, and profesh! See you there!
https://www.trybooking.com/CGNIG

09/03/2023

Our resident arts collective The Dire Theatre Company squares up with another independent, original, semi profesh show Saving Grace!

Support independent, support local, support fresh!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CGNIG

Local heart throb Molly Lyn Moyes leads the charge in the Illawarra's newest, onliest, new and independent show!

Real life Molly is just like her character Grace in many ways; She's adventurous, courteous, enjoys free food, and claims to have once seen the devil.

Come along and support new independent work while the other fogies are doing Shakespeare*.

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CGNIG

*We are also doing Shakespeare, check out SHEkespeare's upcoming Heroes and villains showcase!

03/03/2023

Our resident arts collective The Dire Theatre Company presents Saving Grace!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CGNIG

Good afternoon Dire Devotees!

We are thrilled to announce our next full scale indie work is opening this month, Saving Grace!

Saving Grace is a story of love, loss, bureaucratic mismanagement, wine, biblical level apocalypse, wine, under employed demons, a race against Armageddon, and wine.

Carrying on The Dire tradition of creating new work, Saving Grace is a brand new Australian play about love, loss, and demons.

The play focuses on Grace, a young woman who has recently left an abusive, long-term relationship, only to become accidently embroiled within the fate of reality when she meets writer and poet, Bhodi the demon, who has been incorrectly sent to Earth to begin Armageddon, despite his aversion to violence and his love of literature.

Saving Grace is a new comedy being performed at The Forge and sits within a trilogy of supernatural plays penned by author Adam O'Brien.

Join us The Forge for the Illawarra's best semi profesh, indie works and for Saving Grace!

Tix via the link!
https://www.trybooking.com/CGNIG

20/02/2023

This Saturday The Dire Theatre Company presents US THREE + CHAT GPT!

A techno-artistic experiment that may very well provoke sentience in the machine, this is the first of many profesh, indie works The Dire will produce this year at The Forge!

Artificial Intelligence app ChatGPT will write the script for The Dire Theatre Company's new play

13/02/2023

Join our resident arts collective The Dire Theatre Company for their experimental real time performance of US THREE + CHAT GPT!

The audience tells the Artificial Intelligence Chat GPT to generate scripts based on their suggested characters, plots, and scenarios, and the team performs them in real time!

Tix via the link! https://www.trybooking.com/CFTWK

11/02/2023

Our resident theatre company is building a creative arts library in our venue and needs your help to preserve, store, and share this local treasure! Follow the link and help out!
https://gofund.me/2bc06135

Hello Dire Devotees!

We are officially over halfway!
We've been raising some cash to properly build The Gordon Streek Drop-In Library which is opening later this month, and we are SO thankful for the support we have received so far! As well as the financial support we have received from the community, we have recently received an impressive donation of play scripts and texts all things theatrical from one of our fearless leaders' old mentors and lecturers, the formidably wonderful Kevin Poynter! Thank you, Kevin for your very generous contribution to the library, your texts will become a valuable asset for our region!
We still need supplies to get the library to standard so if you can help support us, please go to https://gofund.me/2bc06135 and be part of the creation of a creative arts library that honours local legend Gordon Streek and is available to all!

P.S. Watch this space for some show announcements, we are sooooo excited to share what's coming up!

15/01/2023

Our resident company The Dire Theatre Company is filling our space with a wonderful gift. Consider contributing and stay tuned for 2023 announcements!

https://gofund.me/2bc06135

Happy New Year Dire Devotees!!

We hope you have had a restful and relaxing holiday period and are ready for a killer 2023 of independent theatre! This is a bit of a lengthy one so strap in! We have a whole swathe of announcements and calls for submissions and EOI for you in the coming days, but our first announcement of the year regards a very special gift we received.

Gordon Streek was a regional icon of theatre making and arts accessibility. He is a part of the reason that so many people from our region (and beyond) have carried on with art and theatre and his influence cannot be denied. Gordon's passing will forever be remembered and his memory lives on in the lives and institutions of so many.

Our creative director Adam O'Brien was given custodianship of Gordon personal library. That custodianship came with the promise that Adam, and therefore The Dire Theatre Company, would share this library with the people of our region. Today, we are making good on that promise.

From the end of February at The Forge The Gordon Streek Drop-in Library will be open to the public. People will be able to come and access the several hundred books from Gordon's library and have a quiet place to enjoy them. Our doors will be open on select days and by appointment to any and all who want to enjoy or study the many works Gordon had collected through his exceptional life.

We will keep you updated on dates and times for the official opening, but while we wait, we would love some support to properly sort, categorize, and store the library so that it is as accessible as it can be to our region. Follow the link below to help support us.

https://gofund.me/2bc06135

You are dearly missed old friend and your work and influence is not forgotten.

Stay tuned this week for more announcements about our 2023 season opportunities and a very exciting year!

30/11/2022

We are the home of the regions best indie art and the regions best indie arts collective! Join The Pack, The The Dire Theatre Company Reds, and the SHEkespeare Purples as they launch their season and raise some cash to keep the lights on and the portaloo serviced!
https://www.trybooking.com/CEDMK

Good evening Dire Devotees!

Our season launch and rent party is coming up soon and we can't wait to let you guys in on what we have in store!
Starting December, we are the sole occupants and managers of the regions coolest indie art space The Forge, and we'd love your support to keep the lights on! Book a ticket or just be a gracious benevolent son of a gun and donate some spare change, and then join us for booze, food, and the launch of our very packed, very diverse, very Dire, 2023 Season! We will be joined by the SHEwolves of SHEkespeare who will also be launching their season (and just between us, it's a bit great)!

Follow the link and secure a seat or just sling cash and help us to continue to create and support art and performance in all of it's iterations, including the very indie, very artisan projects teased below!

https://www.trybooking.com/CEDMK

23/11/2022

Our resident theatre company and arts collective, The Dire Theatre Company, is ahving a rent party and season launch next month!

As the business of whom they pay rent to, we encourage you to give genourously! As the business who see's the good work they do and the way they support our community, we encourage you to join them!

Good Evening Dire Devotees!

Next month is our Rent Party and Season Launch at The Forge and we cannot wait to share our 2023 season with you! The evening is a free event with food, booze, and entertainment, however if you would like to support us and help keep the lights on follow the link https://www.trybooking.com/CEDMK and see what you can do to keep us creating work, paying artists, and inciting change, without fear.

We have a very full card in 2023 with five main stage productions (teased below!), a marvellous SHEkespeare season, art exhibitions, indie fringe shows, school inursion projects, and so much more!

Book your tickets and join us as we celebrate our legacy, and march The Pack forward in to 2023!

14/11/2022

This Thursday The Dire Theatre Company presents Dodgy Dogs Comedy! The Pack are serving up laughs and curry, and the legends at Barley Grass Bar are slinging booze!

WHO'S HUNGRY?

None other than our resident hostess with the mostest Natanyah Forbes will be MC-ing this Thursday and she has been cooking up a STORM in our kitchen. We can't wait for you to take the first bite!

Make sure you get your tickets quickly or you'll miss out on this scrumptious night of comedy and curry!

https://www.trybooking.com/CAFCA

$15 Tickets 🎟
$5 Curries 🍛
$8 Cocktails 🍹
The Dire Theatre Company The Forge

09/11/2022

Join our resident company The Dire Theatre Companys more ferocious arm SHEkespeare for their rent party and season launch!

We're back in black (purple)! We're joining the Reds of The Dire Theatre Company at The Forge for our rent party and to launch our 2023 season!

Come along, follow the link and get your tickets! It's a free event but feel free to support us with a donation and get excited for our 2023 season!
https://www.trybooking.com/CEDMK

30/10/2022

The night is here.....

FRIGHT NIGHT kicks off at 5pm with Barley Grass Bar and $2 tacos
Spooky spectacles begin at 6pm

Book your tickets online or at the door - $20

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

29/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

Natanyah is an actor, writer, comedian and frequent player at the Forge (for which we Forgians are eternally grateful) who slays every project she puts her hand to.

So for more reasons than one we thought she’d be an excellent addition to Fright Night and our final lineup announcement.

Come see the amazing and wild performance that Natanyah has put together TOMORROW NIGHT at the Forge!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

29/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

George has always been fascinated with what lingers in the dark, in the shadows of the human mind. What’s a more perfect time than the eve of Samhain to explore the memories that haunt us? With experience in acting, producing and occasionally writing, George introduces a new spoken piece, “The girl in the corner”.

Book your tickets to see George this Sunday!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

28/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

Brandon is a theatre and film actor and screenwriter with a love for all characters, especially the dark and twisted ones.

Give Brandon an opportunity to hold an axe or get himself covered in blood and he’s there. A masked gun-wielding guard in 1984, a bathroom floor zombie and a raincoat wearing Patrick Bateman are just some of the roles Brandon has had the chance to let his scary flag fly.

So of course Fright Night is the perfect night for it to fly again!

Book your tickets for Brandon! Because Fright Night is 2 days away!!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

27/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

Adam is a theatre maker and performance arts practitioner from the Illawarra region. He has studied art and performance at university, but more importantly, is a practitioner and advocate of new and independant art.

Adam will be facing his fears this halloween by publicly singing, as well as reciting one of the worlds spookiest poems! Also, he'll probably have a very bad were wombat costume, so, yeah.

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

26/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

Isabelle is one of the most recognisable faces in local theatre but her characters couldn't be more different. From Shakespeare's Juliet to a depressed centuries old vampire with the grace and elegance of a burlesque performer which she also is, talk about talented!

For Fright Night, Isabelle’s burlesque performance will make you shriek and shiver. So don't miss her this Sunday!!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

25/10/2022

Spooky things are afoot! Who the foot belongs to, your guess is as good as mine...

Find out what these kooky creatives are up to, by booking a ticket to Fright Night!!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

23/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP TEASER 🎃

Horror-Comedy short film Bloody Words has been travelling the film festival circuit for the last few months, picking up Best Comedy and Best Short Film Awards in Hollywood and London.

And it will be premiering for the first time at Fright Night!!!

Don't miss it or you may have a vengeful evil doll come after you (just sayin') 🩸

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

22/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

British Flower is an actress, musician, dancer and model who typically as a Goth, makes Halloween their everyday life.

Their work involves a great variety of things as they love to try everything and take on any challenge that’s thrown at them. Nothing is ever too much for them.

For “Fright Night” at The Forge they will be bringing the magic by singing songs from “Hocus Pocus” and “Hocus Pocus 2.” With the spells that these songs contain, anything could happen, but never fear, it’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus. 😉🧪.

Book those tickets for British!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

21/10/2022

🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT LINEUP 🎃

Sam Sweeting is the anti-hero of the Reanimator Trilogy. Sweeting is played to perfection by Jeffrey Combs as a mad scientist obsessed with bringing back the dead.

"I'll be singing a couple of spooky songs in order to find the spookiest thing of all; voice dysphoria"

Don't miss the sweet singing of Sweeting! Ticket link below!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

20/10/2022

I'm sure you're shivering with antici......
...pation for Grass Bar at the Forge on Sunday 30th for
🎃 FRIGHT NIGHT! 🎃

Featuring $2 tacos!!

Time to get your spook on and book those tickets!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

19/10/2022

Fright Night approaches....the witches stir, the skeletons dance and the spiders dine with roaches. Songs will be sung, poems recited, a burlesque act will excite. Spooky stories and so much more, all in the night of fright.

Lineup announcements begin this Friday!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9

16/10/2022

Start thinking up those costume ideas because FRIGHT NIGHT is two weeks away!

🎃Tickets - www.trybooking.com/CDGIO
👻Event - https://fb.me/e/3GCCG52h9