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FRUIT BOX THEATRE

Join us for a hilarious and heartfelt evening of storytelling. For one night only, five queer storytellers will spin true tales from their lives, inspired by the prompt RENEWAL. Ripe with love, wisdom, nonsense and folly, join us as we hold space for the messy parts of queer life and share a little of your own (if you feel so inclined).

Off the back of their successful season at The Old Fitz Theatre, FRUIT BOX THEATRE’s gritty storytelling event Queer Compost comes to Bondi Festival with a night for the leftovers, the scraps and the fruit gone bad. The tales and stories too queer for the main meal. Hosted by Madeleine Gandhi, buckle up for the sheer joy of some good old-fashioned storytelling.

PROMPT: RENEWAL

Tell us about the second chances you have given and received. Your sequels and second takes. We want to hear about the time you wiped the slate: perhaps you rekindled a romance against your better judgement, built a sharehouse filled with chosen family, or changed your career/love language/country/hair style (all at once?). QUEER COMPOST celebrates the gardens that have regenerated through heat waves and frost. 

CREDITS

Hosted and Produced by: Madeleine Gandhi (she/her)
Maddy is the co-founder of Fruit Box Theatre and a producer who cares about kicking the dust up on storytelling. By “storytelling”, she really means cultural scripts and who gets to write them. You’ll find her behind a laptop more often than a microphone, working as the General Manager of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company in Melbourne. She’s also a lawyer (non-practising) and lesbian (practising). She sports a tattoo of a spinach leaf and heralds from the sapphic capital of suburban Brisbane. Good luck trying to convince her you’re not an artist (hint: everyone is).

Storytellers:

Wilfred Roach (He/Him)
Wilfred is a Sydney- based storyteller, writer, poet and performer who was born in Trinidad and grew up in London. Wilfred loves writing and the deliciousness of the spoken word in all its varied and beautiful forms. He delights in music and loves to sing and has great pitch! He`s a published author, with the first volume of his memoirs, Black Gay and Underage published in 2019 and is now an audiobook. He has appeared in several Australian anthologies, including Australian LGBTIQ Multicultural Council’s Living and Loving in Diversity, Sydney School of Arts` Short Stories, and most recently in Live Poets at Don Bank’s, Presence. Wilfred is also an activist and advocate for queer refugees in East Africa.

Chris McAllister (They/Them)
Chris McAllister is a stand up comedian, speaker and event producer whose work weaves transmasculine identity, wholesome storytelling and needle-sharp one-liners. They are the creator of the viral trans allyship movement #ICanTell, which transforms a phrase usually used to undermine trans people, into a phrase of recognition and allyship. Just recently their show ‘I Can Tell’ had a sold out run at Sydney Comedy Festival and a trip to London where people travelled hundreds of miles to attend. Chris’ joyful but wry wit leaves audiences inescapably hopeful.

Cheryn Frost (She/They)
Cheryn Frost is a performance maker working across theatre, film and drag with credits across directing, writing, lighting design, curating and producing. They have presented work for the Biennale of Sydney, Dark Mofo, MCA, Performance Space, Bondi Festival, and The Bearded Tit. Cheryn was the recipient of the Stephen Cummins Residency at Performance Space for 2025 and participant in the Queer Development Program. Their credits include Brolga: A Queer Koori Wonderland (Performance Space), (Not So) Blue Light Disco (Bundanon), Volcanoes & Vulvas: The Exploration of My Two Greatest Loves (Redline Productions/The Old Fitz) and Hydraulic Fucking (PACT).

Samantha Andrew (She/Her)
Samantha is a multi award-winning Actor, Writer, Performer and Online Content Creator. In 2020 Samantha made waves on TikTok for her original comedy sketches. Her account has earned her a loyal following of +280,000 followers, over 13 million likes and has seen her interviewed by SBS, featured on Sunrise, Studio Ten and The Project. Samantha has been named a “superior creator” by Tanya Hennessy, “a hilarious treasure trove of Aussie nostalgia” by Punkee and was named one of the “Top 10 comedian influencers on TikTok in 2020” by the Analytical TikTok Database ‘In Beat’. 

Michael Sun (He/They)
Michael Sun is a critic, essayist, and editor from China and Australia. His writing on film, music, and literature is regularly published in The Guardian, Esquire, ABC Arts, Sydney Review of Books, and Art Guide, among many others. He writes a monthly column at Shameless where he cosplays as an agony aunt.

Produced by: Sean Landis (he/him)
Photograph by: Abraham de Souza

Book Now

Time: 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Duration: 90 minutes

Dates: Saturday 12 July

Price: $24 – 28 + bf

Venue: Seagull Room, Bondi Pavilion

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    Bondi Festival acknowledges the Bidiagal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal people, who traditionally occupied the Sydney Coast, and we pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders both past and present.