OBSERVER: Break Of Day
Acclaimed Australian director Sarah Goodes is reuniting with AACTA award-winner Kat Stewart for the premiere of Steve Rodgers’s Break of Day. This new Australian classic will play at Malthouse’s Merlyn Theatre from August 7–29.
Stewart, recipient of the 2025 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Mainstage Production for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, leads an ensemble cast including Sherry-Lee Watson, Chum Ehelepola, Richard Piper and newcomer Theo Clarke.
Watson joins the production fresh from filming two major upcoming Netflix series, My Brilliant Career and Breakers.
Break of Day is set in the rural town of Burra Creek, home to the world’s largest online retail warehouse.
Pam (Stewart) works the nightshift, catching three buses while the rest of the world sleeps. Meanwhile, her daughter Rae (Watson) is also pulling an all-nighter, but for very different reasons. Rae is at the top of her class, but it’s hard to climb the rungs of opportunity in a town the NBN forgot.
As the night unfolds, Pam envisions a better life for her daughter and will stop at nothing to secure it.
In Burra Creek, humour is armour, grit is generosity, and the universal struggle between a mother and daughter is everything. Because sometimes, you have to break the rules to break the cycle.
Director Sarah Goodes says: “I am thrilled to be teaming up with the extraordinary Kat Stewart again to introduce audiences to this remarkable new play by Steve Rodgers.
New Australian work is always exciting, especially a piece like this—one that has been lovingly developed over time and is both funny and moving.
At times filled with joy and at others offering a heartbreaking look at the widening social divide in a fractured society, it is theatre at its best. With this cast, it is not to be missed.”
Kat Stewart commented: “I can’t wait to hit the rehearsal room again with the incomparable Sarah Goodes. Working with her has been a career highlight.
“What drew me to Steve Rodgers’s beautiful script is how deeply relatable it is. It’s a story about the fierce sacrificial love of a mother, set against the harsh realities of modern regional Australia.
“It is funny, gritty and generous. But most importantly, it feels true.”
Anna Cordingley is Set and Costume Designer, Lighting Designer is Paul Jackson and Jethro Woodward is Composer and Sound Designer.
Performance Season: August 7 – 29
Previews: Monday at 6.30pm; Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm
In Season: Monday at 6.30pm; Tuesday-Saturday at 7.30pm; Saturday at 2pm
Time to Talk: 7.30pm, Tuesday August 18
Tickets are on sale now at malthousetheatre.com.au
Cheryl Threadgold
Pictured: Kat Stewart in Break of Day.
Photo: Sulaiman Enayatzada