Rebels

5 Jun — 10 Jul 2027

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

Inspired by true events, Bob Hawke, Kerry Packer and Clive Lloyd come together for an afternoon that will change Australia forever.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

Step back in time inside Kirribilli House for a charged and compelling encounter between Bob Hawke, Kerry Packer and Clive Lloyd.

It’s late January, 1985. The Prime Minister wants to rebuild Australian cricket from the ground up. Packer, Australia’s richest man who already revolutionised the sport through World Series Cricket, has his own leverage and his own agenda. They need Lloyd, now retired and one of the most successful captains the game has ever seen, to make it happen. An absorbing afternoon unfolds, setting in motion events that would go on to change Australian sport and world politics forever.

Playwright Julian Larnach, who adapted Favel Parrett’s novel Past the Shallows for the stage to widespread acclaim, fashions an unmistakably Australian work of historical fiction – larger-than-life personalities, power struggles and big money – into a fast-moving three-hander that imagines what was really said in that room. Beneath the witty banter and the bravado, what's at stake is more than just cricket; it’s what a nation stands for.

Jessica Arthur (The Shiralee, The Dictionary of Lost Words) directs this sharp and intelligent take on what might have happened behind closed doors.



Commissioned and 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

  • Open Captioning

  • Closed Captioning

  • Auslan Interpreted

Performance Type Performance Date(s)
Audio Described
by Vision Australia
Saturday 26 June at 2pm
Tuesday 29 June at 6.30pm
Tactile Tour
at venue
Saturday 26 June at 2pm (Tactile tour commences at 1pm)
Open Captioning
via screen
Saturday 3 July at 2pm
Closed Captioning
GoTheatrical App
Saturday 3 July at 2pm
Auslan Interpreted More information here.
Artwork for Simon Gleeson

Simon Gleeson

Bob Hawke

Artwork for Alpha Kargbo

Alpha Kargbo

Clive Lloyd

Artwork for Julian Larnach

Julian Larnach

Writer

Artwork for Jessica Arthur

Jessica Arthur

Director

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

140 Southbank Boulevard

Southbank, Victoria 3006