PRIVATES ON PARADE

New Theatre is bringing back the pomp and irreverence of the classic Privates on Parade, as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival.

This new production of the play combines song, dance and a lot of laughs, as audiences are taken back to wartime Singapore and Malaya with a group of young English servicemen.

“They’ve been brought together in an entertainment troop to take concerts out to the soldiers and their leader is the rather flamboyant drag queen, Terri,” says Alice Livingstone, director of Privates on Parade.

Privates on Parade was written in 1977 and beneath its humour lurks darker themes of homophobia, racism and colonialism.

“It’s a way of looking back and going, ‘Gee we have moved on a long way, look at what we used to be like and look at what we are now’,” Livingstone says.

Of her cast Livingstone says, “They’re fabulous. They’re a lovely blend of experienced actors and newer performers.”

New Theatre put on a production for Mardi Gras every year and have done so for over a decade.

“A lot of people come and see our shows as one of the main things they do during the Mardi Gras Festival,” says Livingstone. (PG)

Feb 11–Mar 8, New Theatre, 542 King St, Newtown, $25-32, newtheatre.org.au