Carriageworks will transform into a theatre for Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is coming to Sydney in July, following runs at Adelaide Festival and Melbourne.
Opting for an unusual venue, the former railway station workshops in Redfern will become a theatre space.
Seann Miley Moore, of X Factor UK and The Voice AU, leads the cast in the production.
READ MORE: Carriageworks is among the venues set to host Vivid Food 2025

John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch burst on to the stage in 1998 and won an Obie Award (considered off-Broadway’s answer to the Tony Awards) for Best Off-Broadway Musical. Since then, it’s transferred to Broadway, other US cities, the West End and now it’s back in Australia.

The revival was the star of the Adelaide Festival in March, and it’s preparing for a run at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre in June. Come July, when its stars are sufficiently warmed up, the production will play at an unusual venue in Sydney. Rather than taken to the well-worn stages of the Capitol, Lyric or Theatre Royal, the creative team have landed on Carriageworks, the former railway station workshops in Redfern.

*Hedwig and the Angry Inch will play in Sydney in July. (Image via hedwig.com.au).*

Why Carriageworks?

To understand why this vast workshop, now an events space, is the perfect fit for Hedwig, you have to understand the show’s origins. Way back in 1989, Mitchell and Trask met on a flight from LA to New York. Mitchell was a Broadway actor, while Trask was a rock musician in a band called Cheater. When they touched down in New York, Mitchell went to see Trask in action at a punk-rock drag party in a SoHo club and was sufficiently impressed. He asked the musician to help him compose music for a character named Tommy Gnosis.

They performed the act together at that same club five years later and developed the show through band gigs, rather than in a theatre setting, to preserve a grungy, rock energy. A new character, Hedwig, soon developed and became a fan favourite, so popular that she became the focal point of the act.

With this context of the SoHo club in mind, the glamorous stages of the Capitol Theatre or the newer Foundry Theatre don’t seem quite right. Instead of the more traditional theatre settings, they will take over Carriageworks in Redfern, using the foyer and creating an 800-seat theatre for the production which opens in July.

Co-director Shane Anthony said that bringing the Tony Award-winning show to Carriageworks was entirely intentional:

It’s a perfect venue for this show. Hedwig was spawned in a bar…in New York City in the late ’90s. That was grungy, that was gritty, that was very grassroots. We decided quite purposely to shift away from the more glossy, camp Broadway production that took place in 2014-2015. Part of that vision was to make the production a little bit grungier, more authentic. To try to capture more of the truth of Hedwig’s journey, which at times is quite tragic.

What is Hedwig and the Angry Inch about?

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a punky rock musical that’s filled with androgynous, David Bowie-inspired ’70s glam rock style sounds (he co-produced the Los Angeles production), as well as songs inspired by John Lennon, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.

It follows Hedwig Robinson, a queer East German singer in a fictional rock and roll band, who survives a botched sex-change surgery before embarking on a no-budget rock tour across America, staying in a caravan while travelling. The character is inspired by a German divorcee who was Mitchell’s family babysitter and moonlighted as a sex worker at her trailer park home in Kansas.

The story also draws on Mitchell’s experiences as the child of a US Army major general who once commanded the US sector of occupied West Berlin.

During its recent run at the Adelaide Festival, the staging went beyond your typical stage production. A whole trailer park was built outside, continuing into the foyer and all the way into the theatre. Punters could enter to grab a drink, and theatregoers were immediately immersed into Hedwig’s world. It’s sure to be the same at Carriageworks, with heaps of space for set designers to play with in the towering old workshop spaces.

The production will reflect the ongoing public discussions and political changes that the transgender community is being affected by, such as the UK’s Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of ‘woman’ last week as well as the Trump administration’s policies in America. The production is no stranger to controversy either: Hugh Sheridan was cast to play Hedwig at the 2020 Sydney Festival until trans advocates demanded he be replaced by a trans actor.

This new production is being staged by a different team who have consulted with the trans and gender diverse community while casting the actors. Non-binary actor Seann Miley Moore, who you may recognised from X Factor UK or The Voice AU, takes the lead role. Many of the creative team identify as non-binary too; “it’s a part of the DNA of the team,” co-director Shane Anthony says.

Whether you’re a long-time fan of the musical or film, or simply want to see what a theatre show staged at Carriageworks might look like, save the date of Thursday, July 17 and make sure you’re online at 10am next Tuesday, April 29, when tickets go on sale.

FAQs

Where and when will Hedwig and the Angry Inch play in Sydney?

Choosing to steer away from the sleeker theatres in Sydney, the production will play at Carriageworks, taking over the foyer and creating an 800-seat theatre in the former railway station workshops.

How can I buy tickets?

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, April 29 at 10am. Sign up at carriageworks.com.au to be first in the line.

How do I get to Carriageworks?

Carriageworks is located at 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, and is easily accessible by public transport or car.

By train: alight at Redfern Station (eight-minute walk), Macdonaldtown Station (10 minutes) or Newtown Station (15 minutes).

By bus: bus routes 422, 423, 426, 428, 370, 352 stop on City Road at Sydney University, which is a five minute walk from Carriageworks.

By car: there is limited on-site parking available at the end of Carriageworks Way, accessed via 229 Wilson Street. Additional parking may be available at South Eveleigh, 2 Central Avenue (15-minute walk via the Redfern footbridge) and Little Eveleigh Street.