Shoelace Chaser

9 — 27 May 2026

Southbank Theatre, The Lawler

Growing up is hard enough, but add in being a carer – and the race gets even tougher. A moving comedy drama about chasing your dreams when the odds are stacked against you.

Education & Families

Shoelace Chaser is part of our acclaimed Education & Families Program.

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This is rated 5 out of 5 stars

‘Uplifting, mature theatre, guaranteed to leave you smiling.’

The Age on Ballkids
This is rated 0 out of 5 stars

‘A brilliantly written work … Nunn is a consummate storyteller.’

Australian Arts Review on Cactus

ABOUT THE SHOW

Being 17 is hard enough – hormones, homework, the looming question of what comes next. Add caring for your mum to the mix, and Thea’s juggling act is nothing short of Olympic.

Smart, self-sufficient and secretly just holding it together, she’s spent the last two years keeping her life under wraps. No-one knows she’s a carer. Not even Syd, her endlessly chatty new running partner who pushes her to pursue a university athletics scholarship and dream of something more. But chasing that future means leaving her mum behind – and the last time Thea tried that, things didn’t quite go to plan.

Starring Leigh Lule (Trophy Boys) and Zoe Boesen (Abigail’s Party), Madelaine Nunn’s moving new play sensitively explores our responsibilities to those we love, the untold strength of care and the courage to know when to lean on others for help. Directed by award-winning theatre maker Liv Satchell (Ballkids), Shoelace Chaser is a warm and feel-good story for anyone who’s ever been a teenager.


MTC Next Stage aa6oor
Developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program, with the support of our Playwrights Giving Circle

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair Accessible

  • Hearing Assistance

  • Audio Described

  • Tactile Tour

  • Auslan Interpreted

Performance Type Performance Date(s)
Audio Described
by Vision Australia
Thursday 14 May at 1.30pm
Tactile Tour
at venue
Thursday 14 May at 1.30pm (Tactile tour commences at 12.30pm)
Auslan Interpreted More information here.
Zoe Boesen

Zoe Boesen

Fiona

Artwork for Leigh Lule

Leigh Lule

Thea

Artwork for Elliot Wood

Elliot Wood

Syd

Artwork for Madelaine Nunn

Madelaine Nunn

Writer

Artwork for Liv Satchell

Liv Satchell

Director

Artwork for Bianca  Pardo

Bianca Pardo

Set & Costume Designer

Artwork for Thomas Roach

Thomas Roach

Lighting Designer

The Lawler

140 Southbank Boulevard

Southbank, Victoria 3006