Based in Geelong, Back to Back Theatre has received international recognition for its groundbreaking work, performed by an ensemble of actors who identify as having an intellectual disability or as neurodivergent. Its latest production, Multiple Bad Things, directed by Tamara Searle and Ingrid Voorendt, grapples with questions of inclusion and identity as three employees struggle to work together. “Multiple Bad Things is about manipulation, and about the taking of power,” says ensemble member Sarah Mainwaring who features on the cover of this month’s issue. After premiering in Geelong, Multiple Bad Things tours to Brussels before opening at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre on 29 May. (Read our feature on page 36.)

Limelight Editor’s Choice

At a time like this, in a placeless warehouse, three employees approach a possibly pointless task. Struggling to work together, they grapple with questions of inclusion, identity and intersectionality. They are forced to test the limits of their bodies, their cooperation and their capacity to care. Civility slips, bad behaviour escalates and reality distorts. The witching hour is here. Who will be the scapegoat?

In the making of this new work, Back to Back Theatre invites new voices into the devising room. Zoë Barry’s score is assembled from collected field recordings of bad things. Anna Cordingley’s design demands the actors’ physical participation to reach its manifestation.

MULTIPLE BAD THINGS is theatre. It is not real. But in a world where self-righteously indignant voices so often drown out the most disenfranchised and vulnerable, this theatre sometimes feels real.

Welcome to the workplace at the end of the world. They’re only saying what you’ve already been thinking.