12-21 September 2019

The inaugural show for the recently founded Rumpus Theatre collective, XXX Neon Sign, is the perfect introduction to the indie theatre troupe, says co-founder, Rebecca Mayo.

“I think it’s a really great first outing for Rumpus, just because it’s really different,” she says.

“That’s what we want this space to be, something you won’t see necessarily on a big stage. Something that needs a kooky experimental space to put it on in. We’re setting up our brand very early.”

XXX Neon Sign is created by Adelaide musician Dan Thorpe, who has set a long-form poem by James Andre to music.

“It’s about a queer man working in a porn shop. I think what interested Dan about it is it’s a really fascinating, awful, hilarious examination of masculinity, and what men say to each other when they think no one else is listening. And he’s put it to music,” Rebecca says.

The show is the first to happen in the new Rumpus venue in Bowden (the former Sister gallery space), which has been designed by Meg Wilson to fit the “RSL-meets-sporting-club-meets-Nanna’s-rumpus-room” brief.

Dan Thorpe will be bringing in a grand piano, and the Rumpus website hints that the show features “a naked flame, and also a naked dude,” so, uh, yeah.

XXX Neon Sign is showing from 12-21 September. Tickets are available via TryBooking and are just $25 each (or $20 for the preview show, happening Thursday, 12 September).

To see the full Rumpus season, visit their website, or read our season preview article with two of the three founders, Rebecca and Nescha Jelk.