Merrigong Theatre Company has announced its 2025 MerrigongX artists' program and audiences can expect the unexpected. 

“You don’t always know what you’re going to get when you see a MerrigongX show,” says Annie Clapton, the company's producer of new work.

“These shows are all experimental in very different ways. They’re all playing with form – but they’re all unexpected theatre pieces which makes it a really engaging experience for audiences.”

In its eighth year, the program will showcase four local productions, support 14 developing artists and host three Made from Scratch nights.

“Our artists are the whole focus. MerrigongX is about helping them develop new work and their creative practice,” Annie says.

“We like working with artists who are going to try something new and challenging, and play with form a bit – experiment with things that aren't necessarily traditional theatre.”

The four shows to be staged at IPAC – Public Access, Squatch Watch: LIVE, Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) and Dog People – have been developed over the past three years by artists in the MerrigongX program.

“I think shows can be rushed to the stage sometimes, but we want to give artists the time to develop their practice and bring it to audiences in their own time,” Annie says.

“I think it produces a really high quality of work when we are able to let artists do that.”

Acclaimed Gunai artist Kirli Saunders will kick off the program with Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) shows starting on Thursday, February 20.

“Kirli has been working with us since 2020,” Annie says.

“Previously she was developing a show called Going Home. She was trying to make that in a traditional theatre structure, and in recent years it has evolved beyond that,

“The show now covers all of the different art forms that she works in – it has music, it has poetry, it has dance and it’s become a very non-traditional structure.

“It’s also the first First Nations work within MerrigongX, which we are very happy to finally get out on stage.”

Lucy Heffernan’s Dog People will show in June. Her previous 2018 MerrigongX show, Party Girl, won Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award for Best Theatre in 2023 and went to 2024's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

“It’s sort of a love story to dogs and dog people,” Annie says.

“Through investigating and developing that work, it’s also become about grief and how people are like their dogs – and dogs are like your family and how often we can learn a lot about grief through our pets.

“It involves a hilarious and slightly sinister dog mask, which one of the performers wears. I love that mask.”

Squatch Watch: LIVE by Vaguely Adjacent will take to the stage in September. Annie says this show is an example of how experimental MerrigongX artists can be.

“It is officially a live podcast event, but it’s actually made by four theatre majors,” Annie says.

“The podcast format is an interesting device they’ve used to comedically investigate different conspiracy theories and hoaxes. They’ve chosen an interesting way to look at that idea.”

In October, The Corinthian Food Store will present Public Access, an immersive exploration of public spaces shown in Wollongong Library.

“It’s a really interesting show about how to interact in public spaces in a world that’s heading more towards privatisation,” Annie says.

“We made sure to have it performed in the public library. Instead of recreating a library on stage, they wanted to bring people into libraries and have that energy, and make it more of an interactive piece,

“So that's quite an innovative way of investigating public spaces. Wollongong Council have been excellent to work with in figuring out how to do that.”

MerrigongX opens applications once a year from August to September for a four-week period. During this time, applicants can send in an expression of interest via the website.

“It’s really great to see our MerrigongX artists growing their careers beyond the program – it’s been very rewarding,” Annie says.

“Often, new Australian work gets one season out and then never sees the light of day again. So it’s really great that we’re seeing more and more shows that come through and go on to have continued life after the program. 

“Party Girl [by Lucy Heffernan] did particularly well, Dear Diary [by Kay Proudlove] moved to our main stage and had a national tour, Birdsong of Tomorrow is talking about running more seasons this year, A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen has moved from MerrigongX to our main stage, and have exciting announcements coming soon.”

MerrigongX will host three Made from Scratch events this year – in March, June and September. Made from Scratch gives applicants the chance to test new ideas to a new audience. Expressions of interest for Made from Scratch are open year round.

“Artists are given 10 minutes to really do whatever they want – it just has to be something they're working on that is new, that they want to test in front of a new audience,” Annie says.

“We have seven to eight performers or acts, and they're always a variety of genres and art forms. We’ll have some poetry, dance… it’s not limited by form.

“It’s always a really warm and fun audience. There's always a really great energy in the room for a Made from Scratch night.”

Details on each show can be found at merrigong.com.au.