club house
Where you go to hang out. Let it swing.
Where you go for a party after dark. To bring back the wild.
Club House is a theatrical brains trust. A collective of crafty and exceptionally naughty theatre artists and friends, led by award-winning actor and theatre maker, Bec Massey.
Club House is where experienced artists go to play together. To mess around and magic up a shiny something out of nothing.
Seriously good times in the theatre.
Since Club House's inception in 2019 at Belvoir Theatre in Sydney, we’ve gone from strength to strength, cementing our position as an important emerging voice in the Australian theatre landscape.
2022 we made our celebrated debut at the Sydney Festival with David Finnigan’s 44 Sex Acts in One Week. We also began the creative development of It’s a Secret! (supported by the Major Festivals Initiative). This large-scale, all-ages romp features some of the country’s brightest creative talent, including director Bruce Gladwin (2022 International Ibsen Award) and choreographer Lucy Guerin, AO.
2023 we hunkered down and developed the third instalment of David Finnigan’s apocalyptic comedy series: Dance Dance Insurrection, a devastatingly funny meld of choreography, conspiracy theories, and intergenerational warfare. This ever more relevant work will find its place in the world in 2027.
2024 was the year of 44 Sex Acts. Club House Productions debuted at the Canberra Theatre Centre, were touted by Brisbane as “the hit of the Comedy Festival”, and took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm - selling out (literally not spiritually) and winning gold for Australia at what felt like the theatre olympics (Best Play, The Stagey Place).
2025 Kip Chapman, director/writer/ immersive theatre wunderkind and all round amazing human, returned to the Club House where he and Bec reworked t’s a Secret! into the interactive work it was always meant to be. Supported by our friends at Melbourne Fringe we trialed the concept in an ambitious work-in-progress with two sell out shows with actual live audiences. The only way you can trial an immersive show. We built a scavenger hunt through the Victorian Trades Hall and turned the graffitied carpark into an underground party for families. Voted by audiences as THE. BEST. PARTY. EVER.
2026 We set our sights further a field with an exciting new partnership with Parrot Ox, international theatrical managers extraordinaire. The fit is snug - they, like us, want to move hearts, change minds, and step off the beaten path - it’s a match! They will be working with us to share the joyfest that is It’s a Secret! with festival audiences in Australia and round the world.
To learn more about what’s happening in the Club House, see our Works.
44 Sex Acts in One Week
Steve is a Foley director and composer whose work has soundtracked countless theatre productions, including the raunchy cabaret Blanc De Blanc and Nakkiah Lui’s ground-breaking plays Blackie Blackie Brown and Black is the New White.
In addition to his theatre work, Steve also served as Ricki-Lee Coulter’s music director from 2012–14, and has collaborated with major Australian artists like Megan Washington and Samantha Jade.
Colm is a highly-skilled producer who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin. He has previously worked for a slew of leading arts organisations, including Force Majeure, Landmark Productions, Druid Theatre and the STC. After producing 44 Sex Acts in One Week for the Sydney Festival, Colm has continued working alongside Bec Massey, offering ongoing artistic support and mentorship.
44 Sex Acts in One Week
Amber is a beloved Australian actor of the stage and screen. Since 2002, she has worked with a host of leading theatre companies including the MTC, Malthouse Theatre, STC, Belvoir, State Theatre Company of SA and Queensland Theatre Company. Her most recent works include the MTC’s North by Northwest and Windmill Theatre’s Girl Asleep.
Amber is currently developing a new work with Club House.
It’s a Secret!
Julie is a celebrated theatre artist and a queen of the Australian stage. For decades, she has toured festivals across the globe: from her solo schoolboy performance in Anthill’s Kids’ Stuff to her ensemble work in Belvoir Theatre’s Cloudstreet. Most recently, she shone alongside Hugo Weaving in The President at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.
It’s a Secret!
Jacek is an internationally-acclaimed musical theatre actor known for his thrilling live performances and unforgettable take on the iconic Roxanne in Baz Luhrmann’s hit movie Moulin Rouge. A skilled vocalist in both English and Polish, Jacek is also the leader of Vulgargrad, the multi-lingual band that melds traditional Russian folk, thieves’ songs, polka, and punk. Outside of music, Jacek has worked across film, television, and theatre, starring in shows like Tidelands and Mustangs FC.
It’s a Secret!
Iain is a highly-acclaimed composer, conductor, and director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. He has won numerous awards for his compositions, including the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, APRA/AMC’s Vocal Work of the Year Award (for his opera based on Tim Winton’s The Riders), as well as multiple Helpmann Awards (Cloud Street; Secret River; The Rabbits).
Most recently, Iain wrapped up his 2020–24 tenure as the Artistic Director of the Perth Festival, where his programming highlighted the local Noongar culture and focused on themes of inclusion and belonging.
It’s a Secret!
Catherine is one of Australia’s most recognisable screen actors, having worked on everything from Strictly Ballroom to Rush, Wentworth, Secret Life of Us and the police drama Water Rats. She has amassed many accolades across her decades-long career, including AFI, ASTRA and Green Room awards.
44 Sex Acts in One Week
It's A Secret
Kip is a director who uses interactivity to explore the connection between art and the public. His practice is deeply collaborative, drawing on his own multidisciplinary skillset and artists from diverse creative fields. Kip’s works include the immersive space experiences Destination Mars and APOLLO 13: Mission Control, as well as the wildly camp live cooking show Hudson & Halls.
Kip is the creator and writer of the award winning TV series, Happiness.
Dance Dance Insurrection
Yvette is one of Australia’s most sought-after choreographers, with over 20 years’ experience bringing performances to life. She has worked across all genres and industries: from television events (the ARIA and Logie Awards) to theatre productions (In the Heights; American Psycho), and even stadium shows (AFL Grand Final 2021 – 2023). In the world of choreography, Yvette is an unparalleled talent.
44 Sex Acts in One Week: The TV Series
Jordan is a multi-award-winning writer, director, and performer whose films have screened at festivals across Australia and the world. His most recent credits include co-writing Justin Dix’s shipwreck horror Blood Vessel and developing the feature project Other People, as part of Impact Australia’s screenwriting incubator.
44 Sex Acts in One Week: The TV Series
Todd is an intimacy coordinator with over 25 years’ experience performing on stage and screen. His work in intimacy coordination spans film (The Long Track), television (Shortland Street; Raised by Refugees) and theatre (Saving Face; Daddy Ubu).
It's A Secret
Tim Bonser is a Naarm/Melbourne based lighting designer for live performance, whose work has been seen across Australia and internationally. Recent lighting design credits include DJUNA for Bullet Heart Club, GUYS & DOLLS for Antipodes Theatre Co which earned him a Green Room nomination, COMMON DISSONANCE for Na Djinang Circus which played at Edinburgh Fringe, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Theatre Works and toured regional Victoria, the new Australian musical ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER for Perryman Theatre Company, HALF TIME for the Hayes Theatre Co and GENESIS for the West Australian Ballet.
Collaborating with many artists in the independent theatre sector, Tim has designed at venues including 45 Downstairs, Chapel off Chapel, Theatre Works and La Mama. He has designed for universities including the Victorian College of the Arts, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, the Federation University Arts Academy (Ballarat) and JMC Academy.
Tim got his training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts Majoring in Live Production and Design - Lighting (2018). During his studies, he completed a secondment with Paul Jackson on the Production Company's LAZARUS.
Working as the head of lighting at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Tim lights shows for hundreds of artists a year, local and international, across all genres of music.
It's A Secret
Tim Chappel is an Academy Award, BAFTA, and AFI Award-winning costume designer who began his career with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. That debut brought him international recognition and launched a career spanning stage, screen, and large-scale live events.
He has designed for global television and live events, from The Masked Singer and Dancing with the Stars to the Islamic Solidarity Games Opening Ceremony in Baku and the Dubai World Expo Closing Ceremony.
Chappel’s stage credits include Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical — which earned him the Tony, Olivier, and Helpmann Awards for Best Costume Design — alongside acclaimed productions such as Dream Lover, Sweet Charity, Vivid White and Gypsy. He also teaches at NIDA and AFTRS, passing on decades of design experience to the next generation of artists and designers.
44 Sex Acts in One Week wins 'Best Play' at Edinburgh Fringe, The Stagey Place
Club House debut Canberra Theatre Centre
August 2024
We came (44 times), we saw (so many amazing pieces of theatre) and we were conquered by the generosity of the many gorgeous audiences that rocked up each day at 4.40pm to the King Dome to see 44 Sex Acts. Whilst they were throwing javelins and running races in Paris, we were competing for audiences in the Arts Olympics (aka The Edinburgh Fringe).
July 2024
It was frosty cold outside but the heat was turned up for Club House’s wild debut at the Canberra Theatre Centre.
Programmed as part of Valence, 44 Sex Acts in One Week was a perfect fit for this new series, designed 'to ignite the senses and challenge perceptions; bringing together visionary artists, exploring the now, pushing the boundaries of convention, inviting reflection and action.'
44 Sex Acts is the ‘highlight of the Brisbane Comedy Festival’
May 2024
We just smashed a two-week-long stint at this year’s Brisbane Comedy Festival.
Not only did our fruity, apocalyptic rom-com bring some seriously good times to the Powerhouse theatre, but we were heralded the 'highlight of Brisbane Comedy Festival’ (Scenestr) and one of the 'best performances — a hilarious, heart-warming, subversive, and intelligent show that stood out like a banana in your pocket.' (Stage Whispers) This high praise is a testament to David Finnigan’s hilarious, prescient script, and the sizzling chemistry and comic timing of our cast.
2022
‘[The] momentum of the theatrical spectacle is stripped bare to its primal beating heart.’ Read article
TIME OUT
★★★★★
2022
AARON BEACH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BELVOIR
‘Club House Productions operates as a playground for some of Australia’s finest theatrical artists and as a result creates poignant and quintessentially Australian comedy that is thoroughly enjoyable and accessible to global audiences.’
We acknowledge the following organisations for their generous support. With their help, Club House is able to achieve our creative and organisational goals.
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