Australasian Playback Theatre Gathering 2025

Please note. Unfortunately we have reached the current limit for the gathering. Please though join a waitlist and we will let you know if spaces become available. Just click 'get tickets' and add your details.

The last Australasian Playback gathering was in Hobart in 2017.

So much has happened since then. Covid really tested us and we are still feeling the impact. In particular, as many of us jumped online to stay connected, the pandemic opened our eyes to the broader international Playback Theatre community, and to the sometimes challenging social and political contexts of our collective practice.

The 2025 Australasian gathering is a timely opportunity to get together to see where we are all placed now, where we want Australasian Playback to go and what support and training will help get us there.

Our theme ‘Playing It Forward’ is a Playback-infused pun on the phrase, ‘paying it forward.’ To ‘pay it forward’ means that we appreciate the gifts we’ve been given by those who came before us, by sharing them with those who will come after us. It is an act of generosity, equity, and gratitude.

In 2025, it will be fifty years since Playback was created, and it has existed in Australia for nearly as long. It’s both time to look back in appreciation, and forwards with inspiration.

Come explore how Playback can engage with our changing world; how to bring values of justice and compassion to the stage; and how to nourish ourselves and our Playback practice into the future. Come away enlivened and ready to ‘play it forward’ in your companies and communities!

Please note that this event is for those with some Playback Experience. See the Australasian School of Playback website for more information.

Registration information

Deposits

To help ensure that the event is viable we are seeking a deposit from those planning to attend. Deposits are due by 8 November and the balance of your registration is due by 28 February. Deposits are refundable up to 28 February.

Registration types

Full registration: Payable by those in substantially full time employment or otherwise able to afford the full fee.

Concession registration: For those on low incomes, students and recipients of Government benefits.

Remote location registration: For those travelling from Darwin, Perth and New Zealand, there is a 20% discount on the registration fee in recognition of the travel costs involved.

Accommodation and meal options

On-site: This option includes all meals and accommodation. Accommodation is in shared rooms with either two or three people to a room.

Off-site: This option includes lunch and dinner only.

The venue can accommodate a wide range of dietary requirements. We will ask for your preferences closer to the time of the event.

Scholarships

In a spirit of inclusion and in recognition of the need to include a diversity of participants we hope to be able to make a limited number of scholarships available. Our ability to offer those scholarships depends on registrations and on donations (see below). Scholarship applications are due by 8 November. Visit our website for more information.

Donations

We are inviting those who can afford to do so to consider making a donation towards the costs of the gathering.

Donations will go directly towards minimising costs to attendees, especially those who are receiving scholarships. If you have low (or no) travel costs or can otherwise afford to help, you are encouraged to consider this option.