Summer of the Aliens
Season 2 - 9th April to 2nd May, 2026
🎉 A wonderful surprise for The 1812 Theatre! 🎉
We are incredibly grateful to the Bendigo Bank’s Upwey branch — and especially to Jenny Jury, Customer Service Officer — for selecting The 1812 Theatre to receive a $1,500 Staff Grant as part of the bank’s 2026 program.
Jenny chose the theatre as the local community group she’s passionate about supporting, and we couldn’t be more honoured. Community champions like Jenny — and organisations like Bendigo Bank — help keep independent theatre thriving.
Thank you for believing in what we do and helping us continue bringing great live theatre to the hills!
May 1
Behind every unforgettable memory play is a director who knows how to turn nostalgia, tension, and humour into something alive — and in this production, that vision belongs to Liam Mitchinson.
With a sharp eye for emotional detail and a deep understanding for Nowra’s semi autobiographical world, Liam crafts Lewis’s 1962 Melbourne with remarkable clarity and heart. Under his direction, the neighbourhood feels both familiar and unsettling — a place where childhood innocence collides with the strange, unpredictable behaviour of the adults who shape it.
Liam allows the audience to experience the warmth of Lewis’s family moments, the bite of teenage confusion and the eerie, lingering question of what’s real… and what Lewis needs to believe. Every scene guides the audience through Lewis’s memories with humour, tenderness, and just the right touch of mystery.
🎭 Don’t miss your opportunity to see the world through Lewis’s eyes - Summer of The Aliens about to commence its final week at The 1812 Theatre.
🎟️ Tickets: https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026-season/summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 27
In a Melbourne suburb where nothing feels quite normal anymore, two figures stand out in Lewis’s memories — each strange, striking, and unforgettable in their own way.
James Anderson plays Mr Pisano, the eccentric neighbour whose unpredictable behaviour and colourful personality leave Lewis both fascinated and unsettled. James’s performance captures the humour, oddity, and quiet sadness that make Mr Pisano one of the play’s most memorable adults.
Yin Ingamells plays the role of the Japanese Woman, a haunting, delicate character who drifts through Lewis’s world like a living question mark. Her quiet intensity, stillness, and emotional depth add a layer of mystery that lingers long after she leaves the stage.
👽 As Lewis watches the adults around him behave in ways he can’t decode — from Mr Pisano’s strange outbursts to the Japanese Woman’s quiet sorrow — he clings to the only explanation that feels big enough: the aliens must be among us.
🎭 Summer of The Aliens is plying at The 1812 Theatre until 2nd May. Nostalgic, mysterious, and deeply human — don’t miss this remarkable production.
🎟️ Tickets: https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026.../summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 26
🌒Something strange is happening in Lewis’s neighbourhood…
In Louis Nowra’s Summer of The Aliens, the adults around Lewis begin to shift — their moods, their stories, their behaviour. Nothing is quite what it seems… and two characters capture that unsettling change with remarkable clarity.
Rosalind Mackay plays Mrs Irvin — a neighbour whose clipped words, watchful silences, and sudden flashes of emotion leave Lewis wondering what she knows… and what she’s hiding.
Jason Triggs, plays the characters of Stan and Richard, adding layers of tension and unpredictability. Whether it’s Stan’s rough edges or Richard’s controlled, unreadable calm, Jason’s characters deepen the sense that the suburb is shifting in ways Lewis can’t explain.
👽 As the world grows stranger, as secrets ripple beneath the surface, Lewis turns to the only explanation that feels big enough: maybe the aliens really are among us.
🎭 Summer of The Aliens is now running at The 1812 Theatre. Step inside… if you’re ready to see the world through Lewis’s eyes.
Tickets: https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026.../summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 25
🌙Shadows are stirring at The 1812 Theatre…
1962 Melbourne is getting stranger by the minute… and no one embodies that beautifully chaotic world quite like Grandma, Bev, and Beatrice.
At the heart of Lewis’s memories stands Grandma, brought to life by Ann Maree Eastman. Grandma is sharp, unpredictable, and achingly human — a woman whose fading clarity and sudden bursts of truth leave Lewis questioning everything he thought he understood about the adults around him.
And weaving through the neighbourhood’s secrets and tensions is Sarah Sundstrom, playing the roles of both Bev and Beatrice. Each character adds a new layer of mystery and emotional weight — from brittle humour to unsettling intensity — shaping the world Lewis is desperately trying to decode.
As the summer grows stranger, as families fracture and loyalties shift, Lewis clings to the only explanation big enough to hold the chaos: the aliens must be among us.
🎟️https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026-season/summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 25
Its 1962 and like much of the world a Melbourne suburb is on edge. Families behaving strangely. Secrets simmering beneath the surface. And in the middle of it all, a young boy trying to make sense of the people around him, including his parents, whose relationship is a portrait of two people who once hoped for more but now feel trapped in a life neither knows how to fix.
Ange Ellis steps into the role of Norma, Lewis’s mother and one of the most emotionally complex figures in Lewis’s world — a woman stretched thin by poverty, responsibility, and the quiet, grinding disappointments of her life. Sharp‑tongued, volatile, sometimes tender and often overwhelmed. She is a woman trying to hold her world together as everything around her shifts. Lewis sees her flaws long before he has the emotional tools to understand them, which is why she becomes one of the “aliens” in his mind: someone acting strangely, unpredictably, and beyond his comprehension.
Brett Hyland plays Lewis’s farther, Eric, whose unpredictable behaviour adds tension, mystery, and emotional weight to the story. Eric is complex, unsettling, and impossible to ignore — a key piece of the puzzle Lewis is desperate to solve. Eric is an “alien” of a different kind: not strange in behaviour, but unreachable, unknowable, and emotionally out of orbit.
Summer of The Aliens is funny, nostalgic, and quietly profound — don’t miss your chance to experience it.
🎟️https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026-season/summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 23
🎭Summer of The Aliens by Louis Nowra 🎭
The world of 1962 is a tense place, and the adults are worried… but for two teenagers in a Melbourne housing commission suburb, life is getting complicated for very different reasons.
In this vivid, funny, and deeply human coming of age story, Michelle Drinnan shines as Dulcie — sharp witted, fearless, and unafraid to challenge Lewis’s view of the world. Her Dulcie is the spark that forces him to confront the messy, confusing truth of growing up.
Alongside her, Daniel Parton plays Brian, Lewis’s best mate whose priorities are… well, a little more earthly. Brian’s blunt honesty and teenage bravado add humour and heart as the boys stumble through a summer full of strange neighbours, shifting friendships, and the creeping suspicion that something isn’t quite right.
👽 As the world around them grows stranger, Lewis clings to one explanation big enough to make sense of it all: the aliens must be among us.
Summer of The Aliens is playing at The 1812 Theatre until 2nd May. Nostalgic, funny, and quietly profound — don’t miss this beautifully crafted production.
🎟️https://www.1812theatre.com.au/2026-season/summer-of-the-aliens/
#summerofthealiens
Apr 22
