Info
The Art House with Jopuka Productions presents
A Critical Stages Touring production
I'VE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU
Created by the Good Room
Why do you have to go to work? How come adults drink to have fun? Is 50 too old to learn to surf? What was life like before the Internet?
Step inside a theatre-turned-playground-turned-battleground transformed by Generation Up Next for a riotous theatrical experience full of questions asked by young people, and answered by adults.
Watch as age collides with experience in a joyous and revealing one-hour tell-all, where adults take a backseat as a powerful group of 9 to 13-year-olds from your town drop some truths… and the mic.
Combining anonymous submissions with high-impact video design, I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You pits Age against Experience in a conversation built around three key starting points: what you’ve been told, what you know to be true, and what you want to believe.
Built in collaboration with and performed by local young people, audiences both young and old will come together to tackle the big (and little) questions that life throws at us.
Winner of the 2021 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production for Young People.
Originally commissioned by Brisbane Festival and produced in association with QUT Creative Industries at La Boite Theatre in 2018. I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You is supported by Arts Queensland, Russell Mills Foundation, the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative, and the Australia Council for the Arts, the arts funding and advisory body of the Australian Government.
Cast & Creatives
Director - Daniel Evans
Co-Resident Director - Maddy Nixon and Nathan Sibthorpe
Key Creatives - Amy Ingram and Nathan Sibthorpe
Dramaturg - Saffron Benner
Producer - Amy Ingram
Production Design - Jonathan Hindmarsh
Lighting Design - Jason Glenwright
Composer & Sound Design - Dane Alexander
Sound Associate - Mike Willmett
Video Design - Craig Wilkinson (Optikal Bloc)
Choreography - Nerida Matthaei
Stage Manager -Damian Tatum
Assistant Stage Manager - Sarah Robertson
Original Young People Producer - Annette Box
Original Costume Design - Madeline Taylor
CAST - TBA
Reviews
CRITICS
“I've Been Meaning To Ask You is a prime example of exciting, new and progressive Australian theatre.” Broadway World Australia
“The best The Good Room project realisation yet. I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You has been created using audience and anonymous stories and the consequence is genuine audience engagement to ponder not only its targeted central questions, but the value of communication between generations that typically don’t interact with such honesty and consideration” Blue Curtains Brisbane
“the surprises keep coming… an extraordinary work.” Blue Curtains Brisbane
PARTICIPANTS
“This goes far, far beyond any drama education for children I have encountered – a truly unique and valuable process with highly qualified, respected and talented professionals” – Parent of Participant
“The Good Room creatives have planted little seeds of thoughts that have not only expanded my children’s empathy for humanity and for themselves but ultimately celebrate life.”- Natalie Parish, Parent of Participant
“The Good Room allowed my daughter to feel safe & at home in their creative space & as she grew through the process so did her sense of personal validity… The whole team gave these young people a professional platform to express safely & with guidance. They allowed them to celebrate communication through creativity & gave a new power to their young voices.” – Parent of Participant