GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

GRIEF IS THE THING
WITH FEATHERS

  • 26 Jul – 24 Aug 25 Upstairs Theatre

GRIEF IS THE THING
WITH FEATHERS

Based on the novel by Max Porter
Adapted for the stage by Simon Phillips, Nick Schlieper & Toby Schmitz
Directed by Simon Phillips

  • Venue Upstairs Theatre
  • Dates 26 Jul – 24 Aug 25
  • Content warning

    Approximate running times of each production are uploaded to the production page as soon as that information becomes available. During the rehearsal period running times are liable to change given the extensive workshopping and development each production undergoes before it reaches the stage.

    Content warnings will also be uploaded to each production page as they are advised.

    Should you wish to speak to a member of staff regarding running times, content warnings or any other show related queries, our box office can be contacted on 02 9699 3444.

  • Co-Produced with

“…and the boys shouted I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU and their voice was the life and song of their mother. Unfinished. Beautiful. Everything.”

Two young boys fall back on their imaginations as they grapple with their mother’s sudden death. Their father has the soul of a poet but can only see a future of platitudes and loneliness. In the sadness, like a gothic Mary Poppins, comes Crow – trickster, babysitter, provocateur and healer. Did this odd bird come to a grieving family because they needed him? Or is he something they made?

Max Porter’s exquisite verse novel has been a literary sensation, garnering an ardent tribe of devotees. Now, in the expert hands of Simon Phillips, comes a fresh stage version full of theatricality and insight.

The dad in this story knows his Ted Hughes poetry well, and it’s from Hughes that the character of Crow emerges. The book has legions of fans, and after you’ve heard the mercurial Toby Schmitz tell this tale of loss and life, you’ll be in their ranks. It’s dark, then it’s beautifully bright. And you’re in the hands of some of the country’s most celebrated and experienced theatre makers. A gem. – Eamon

Performance Times

Weekly Times

  • tuesday 6:30pm

    Except 29 Jul at 7:30pm

  • wednesday 6:30pm
  • thursday 1pm & 7:30pm

    No 1pm performance on 31 Jul & 7 Aug

  • friday 7:30pm
  • saturday 2pm & 7:30pm

    No 2pm performance on 26 Jul

  • sunday 5pm

    Except 27 Jul at 6:30pm & 24 Aug at 2pm

  • image description Preview Session
  • image description Special Performance
  • image description School Performance

PRICES

  • Full Price (Adult)^ $76 – $97
  • Mates Rates (Adult)^ $71 – $87
  • Senior* $66 – $87
  • Concession $56 – $77
  • 30-Down# $54 – $69
  • Previews $56 – $61
  • Student Saver $41 – $56

Save with Season Tickets!

With 4-play packages starting from $190 plus a range of ticket types and concessions, there is a package to suit everyone!

Join Us

~ Bookings of 10+ full price adult tickets receive a $10 discount per ticket.
^ Tickets to Saturday and Sunday performances may have an added $5 surcharge.
* Seniors prices are available with an eligible Australian Government-issued Seniors Card.
† Concession prices are available with a full-time student card, Centrelink Pensioner concession card, Veterans’ Affairs cards, and to members of Actors Equity (MEAA), and ArtsHub, and HotHouse Theatre Subscribers.
# 30-Down and Student Saver prices are available for Previews, Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday matinees.

TEAM

  • Max Porter
    Original Author
    image description

    Max Porter is the author of four novels, including the Sunday Times #1 bestseller Shy, the Booker Prize longlisted Lanny,  and the multi-award winning Grief is the Thing with Feathers. His work has been translated into 35 languages. Porter’s screen adaptation of Shy, starring Cillian Murphy, is being released by Netflix in Autumn 2025. He is also the author of The Death of […]

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  • Simon Phillips
    Director/Co-Adaptor/Co-Set Designer
  • Nick Schlieper
    Lighting Designer/Co-Adaptor/Co-Set Designer
    image description

    Nick Schlieper has designed for all of the major performing arts companies in Australia and works regularly internationally. Recent productions for Belvoir include Master and Margarita, Opening Night, Packer & Sons, Ghosts and set and lighting for Scenes From The Climate Era and Once In Royal David’s City. His many productions for STC include Dracula, […]

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  • Toby Schmitz
    Co-Adaptor
  • Cast

  • Toby Schmitz
    Dad/Crow
  • Philip Lynch
    Boy
    image description

    Belvoir Street Theatre: NEVER CLOSER.  Griffin Theatre Company: THE LEWIS TRILOGY.  Red Line Productions: JUST! LIVE ON STAGE!, HAND TO GOD. Film: FIVE BLIND DATES (Amazon Studios). Short Film: INCORRUPTIBLE, LEAF LITTER, SHELTERED. Television: HE HAD IT COMING (Stan). Training: WAAPA (2017) NIDA (BFA 2021).

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  • Fraser Morrison
    Boy
    image description

    Fraser Morrison is a Sydney-based actor who studied at École Philippe Gaulier. Theatre credits include ‘Cruise’ (Fruit Box Theatre Co.), ‘The Eisteddfod’ (Old Fitz), ‘Dumb Kids’ (Legit Theatre Co.), ‘Cherry Smoke’ (KXT), ‘The Resistance’ (ATYP), ‘How to Defend Yourself’ (Outhouse Theatre Co.) ‘Remembering Pirates’ (Darlinghurst Theatre Co.), ‘M.Rock’ (ATYP), ‘Natives’ (KXT), and ‘Reagan Kelly’ (Metro Arts). His screen highlights include ‘The Last Days of the Space Age’ (Disney+), ‘The Family Law’ (SBS), and ‘Oi’ (CIMP Prod.) which premiered at MIFF.  ‘Grief […]

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  • Freya Schack-Arnott
    Musician
    image description

    Freya Schack-Arnott (DK/AUS) is a contemporary cellist and nyckelharpist who has crafted a multi-faceted career as a performer, improviser and composer, ranging from contemporary classical repertoire to experimental, electronics, folk and cross-disciplinary art forms.  Schack-Arnott is the composer and onstage performer at Belvoir Theatre’s current production of “Grief Is The Thing With Feathers” and has […]

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  • Creatives

  • Ella Butler
    Costume Designer
    image description

    Ella is a Sydney-based Production and Costume Designer for theatre, film and live performance. Informed by her beginnings in theatre, Ella’s work has evolved through contrived spaces, searching for the extraordinary found in the everyday.Ella’s work as Costume Designer at Belvoir includes August: Osage County, Tell Me I’m Here, The Weekend and Scenes From the […]

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  • Freya Schack-Arnott
    Composer
    image description

    Freya Schack-Arnott (DK/AUS) is a contemporary cellist and nyckelharpist who has crafted a multi-faceted career as a performer, improviser and composer, ranging from contemporary classical repertoire to experimental, electronics, folk and cross-disciplinary art forms.  Schack-Arnott is the composer and onstage performer at Belvoir Theatre’s current production of “Grief Is The Thing With Feathers” and has […]

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  • Daniel Herten
    Sound Designer
    image description

    Daniel Herten (he/they) is a Sound Designer, Composer, Video Designer and Creative Technologist working across live performance and interactive media. Living in Fiji, China and Thailand before Australia – Daniel now collaborates on Bidjigal and Gadigal land to tell stories. Their work explores how audiences interface with stories, focusing on integrating real-time technology to enhance […]

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  • Craig Wilkinson
    Video Designer
    image description

    Craig Wilkinson is an award-winning live performance video designer and the creative director of optikal bloc. His video design work has toured extensively across Australia and internationally to Hong Kong, UK, North America, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Video design credits include: GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS (Belvoir St Theatre); DRACULA (Sydney Theatre Company); […]

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  • Jon Weber
    Illustrator
    image description

    Jon Weber is an artist and illustrator from Brisbane, Australia.  This is his first show for Belvoir St Theatre.  After studying Fine Arts at QCA, Weber’s work has featured in everything from children’s books to animated films and death metal covers. He has professionally worked within the areas of gaming, art, visual media and music for well over […]

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  • Margaret Thanos
    Assistant Director
    image description

    Margaret Thanos is an award-winning Cypriot-Australian director, writer and actor for theatre and film. She is also the owner of Queen Hades Productions, a production company that works to bring together activism and art. Margaret’s directing credits include Furious Mattress, Not Now, Not Ever: A Parliament of Women (25A), the 5-star sell-out season of I […]

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  • Andrew Henry
    Co-Producer
    image description

    Andrew Henry performed at Belvoir in The Blind Giant Is Dancing. He is the founder of Andrew Henry Presents (AHP), the company behind acclaimed productions such as Death of a Salesman starring Anthony LaPaglia, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (STC 2025,) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Previously, Andrew co-founded and served as Artistic Director of Red Line Productions, […]

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  • Laura Farrell
    Voice Coach
    image description

    Laura Farrell (she/her) is a Voice and Dialect Coach living and working on Gadigal land. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Voice from NIDA; a Post Graduate Diploma in Voice from the Victorian College of the Arts; and a Bachelor of Music Theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts. A current lecturer […]

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  • Diego Retamales
    Fight Coach
    image description

    Diego is a Chilean-Australian actor and fight choreographer based in Sydney/Gadigal with a B. Performance from Theatre Nepean’s final graduating year in 2008. Recent fight choreography credits include: Timon of Athens (Sport for Jove), POSH (Old Fitz/Queen Hades), Furious Mattress (Belvoir 25A), Pride and Prejudice (Old Fitz), SHOOK (Lost Thought/Qtopia), Teenage Dick (Flight Path), A Very Expensive […]

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  • Sam Illingworth
    Stage Manager
    image description

    Sam is a Sydney-based Stage Manager and a 2012 graduate of WAAPA’s Stage Management course. This is his first production with Belvoir. His credits across Stage Management include, for Crossroads Live: Wicked the Musical (Australian national tour and Singapore season); for Global Creatures: Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Muriel’s Wedding The Musical; for Opera Australia: La Traviata – Handa Opera on […]

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  • Claire Edmonds-Wilson
    Assistant Stage Manager
    image description

    Claire (she/her) is an emerging stage manager, having recently graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a BFA in Technical Theatre and Stage Management. She is thrilled to be making her debut at Belvoir St Theatre on Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. Recent credits include Assistant Stage Manager for The Fairy […]

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Information
for schools

  • Book your performance

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    TERM three

    See this play for:
    PERFORMANCE
    INTERTEXTUALITY

    Recommended for Years 10 – 12

    Curriculum Links

    Drama
    Stage 5
    • Appreciating
      (Outcomes 5.3.1, 5.3.2)
    Stage 6
    Preliminary
    • Improvisation, Playbuilding, Acting (Outcomes P1.7, P1.8, P2.1, P2.2, P2.6, P3.1)
    • Elements of Production in Performance
      (Outcomes P2.6, P3.1, P3.2)
    • Theatrical Traditions and Performance Styles
      (Outcomes P2.6, P3.1, P3.2)
    HSC
    • Individual Project: Performance, Design
    ENGLISH
    Stage 6 (HSC)
    • Texts and Human Experiences (Common Module) (related text)
    ENGLISH EXTENSION 1
    Stage 6
    • Elective 4: Literary Mindscapes (related text)

    Schools Performances

    All schools performances are followed by a Q&A session with the cast.
    • Wed, 6 Aug 2025 11:30am

    Tickets are only $25 per student with one complimentary teacher ticket for every ten students booked.

    Evening and Matinee Performances

    School groups can book any general public performance. Book our Thursday 1PM matinees for the schools performance price of $25 per ticket, or an evening performance from $45 per student.

    What to expect

    Belvoir creates for a wide audience and our productions may contain mature content. Accurate information about productions including running times and content is available once rehearsals have begun.

    Contact Us

    For more information about our education programs, please get in touch.

    Head of Education Jane May
    Education Coordinator Nicola Denton
    +61 (2) 8396 6241

    Book your performance

    Complete this form to request tickets for Grief is the Thing with Feathers
    Want to book multiple productions? Head to our full Schools Booking request

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