The Brisbane theatre’s second stage of a thre-part program begins next week with the opening of The Time is Now, a new perspective on the future by a socially-conscious cast of kids, and a responsive adaptation of Shakespeare’s bloody political play, Julius Caesar.

La Boite has approached the uncertainty of the year with a three-act program with the second act beginning on Monday May 21. 

La Boite (‘The Box’) was named after the box-shaped venue it occupied for decades on Hale St in Milton and is now ironically located in the Roundhouse Theatre in Kelvin Grove.

The theatre will celebrate its 95th birthday this year and its status as Australia’s oldest continuously-running theatre, with Chief Executive Zohar Spatz rocketing La Boite into the future.

Reaffirming its commitment to becoming “Australia’s most diverse theatre company”, La Boite presents The Time is Now, an explosive response to the UN Declaration of Human Rights starring 10 young actors aged 12-17.

Spatz said the programming was a creative push to include diverse perspectives and centre marginalised voices.

“We really want to create a legacy of taking classic things and twisting them into a contemporary way,” Spatz said.

“Act 2 highlights our continued mission to create powerful new work and champion diverse stories. While Act 2 features very different works to Act 1, we’re still striving to create stories that entertain, move, empower, surprise and transfix local audiences.”

The Time is Now, created by Ari Palani, Aleea Monsour, and David Burton, opens at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre on May 24 and runs until June 5.

Performed by a young cast from La Boite’s own Young Artist Company, the creators said the play is a unique opportunity to give voice to a generation who are often dismissed but who have the most to lose from the carelessness and self-importance of adults.

“This young ensemble is a diverse, bright and articulate group who are absolutely busting to attack the stage! I think audiences will walk away surprised at the energy and directness of this show – it’s very funny, very moving, and incredibly inspirational,” said David Burton, co-creator of the show.

Young Artist Company participant and cast member Huda Akhlaki said audiences should expect to get a fresh perspective from the play.

“The Time is Now gives us the opportunity to voice our opinions and perspectives about social and political issues happening right now, as well as our hopes for the future and what we want it to look like,” said Akhlaki.

Caesar is the second major production announced for La Boite’s Act 2. (Image: Dylan Evans)

The second major production for La Boite’s Act 2 is a cutting-edge reinvention of Shakespeare’s Caesar, premiering from July 17 to August 7.

Caesar makes La Boite history by being the first main stage play to take a classic text and have five authorial voices respond to it.

Director and La Boite’s Creative Producer Sanja Simic said Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s most masculine and overtly patriarchal plays and they aim to explode it by giving five playwrights one act from the play each with the space to respond to it.

Their playwrights, Claire Christian, Jean Tong, Megan Wilding, Merlynn Tong and Zoey Dawson, are all female-identifying or non-binary and will recast the play from a collaboration of diverse perspectives.

“We want the playwrights to infect the play like a virus and explode it from the inside” said Simic. “We welcome the chaos that will ensue.”

“While there might be a singular directorial vision, the work itself will be a tapestry of voices,” she said.

Act 2 will see new First Nations visual artists exhibited in La Boite’s forecourt, as part of an exhibition which integrates First Nations voices and responses to Country through digital design, installation, lightboxes, and live performance, curated by Blaklash.

La Boite will also feature play readings of You’re Beautiful and Perfect by Steve Pirie and Garbage Patch by Maddie Nixon as well as hosting Blackout Comedy an Indigenous stand-up show hosted by comedian Steph Tisdell.

Music in the Round kicks off during Act 2, a music showcase held twice monthly in May, June, and July, which will feature culturally diverse music from emerging artists across South-East Queensland.

Spatz said Act 3 will be announced in late 2021 with aims to carry on La Boite’s innovative, diverse and alternative productions until the end of the year.

“Ultimately, La Boite is trying to open its doors to everyone and really cement a connection to space and place. I’m immensely proud of the company’s commitment to advocating for change and programming critical, diverse works.”

Tickets for Act 2 are on sale now. For more information, visit La Boite’s Website.