Rabbit & Watson by Shane Woon
Next date: Wednesday, 15 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
to 09:30 PM
Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy
A celestial love story
Award-winning playwright Shane Woon (A Guide To Being Immortal) continues his exploration of Chinese mythology and Australian culture with an epic love story that transcends space and time. Mixing Chinese fantasy cinema, Boy Love drama and the AFL, his new play is a tender mythic story of love, identity, and the weight of expectation.
The Rabbit God Tu'er Shen has already died for love. Now he's the god of gay matchmaking, pairing soulmates with celestial red thread, while searching for the happily-ever-after he never got. Whenever his first love pops up in a new life, Rabbit abandons heaven to follow him, risking his powers and his reputation for just one perfect ending. The results have always been tragic, chaotic, and occasionally embarrassing. But now his long-lost lover has returned as Watson, a rising AFL player, and Rabbit is determined that in this lifetime love will finally go his way.
Directed by Keith Brockett, Rabbit & Watson is a celebration of Chinese Australian identity, blending myths carried across the oceans through an Australian lens and setting. From the football field to the media scrum to the celestial realm, this is a story about finding true love, and what comes after.
"I wrote this play to provide a platform for Chinese Australian artists, and to invite audiences to see and share in our cultural references, humour, and desires.
As a high school teacher, I wanted young diverse people to see and share in the experience of having non-dominant identities seen on stage.
As a footy fan, I wanted to look closely at the pressures that shape the AFL and how its culture affects ideas of queerness, masculinity, and belonging at different levels of society.”
- Shane Woon, Playwright
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Age Suitability
Suitable for audiences aged 16+
Special Performances
Preview: Wed 15 July, 7.30pm
Opening Night: Thur 16 July, 7.30pm
School Matinee Performances: Wed 22 July, 11am & Thur 23 July, 11am
Post-show Artist Talk: Wed 22 July, 7.30pm
Auslan Interpreted Performance: Thur 23 July, 7.30pm
Creative Team
Playwright: Shane Woon
Director: Keith Brockett
Performers: Sean Yuen Halley, Anton Pan-Cassin, Kane Felsinger and Marissa O'Reilly
Lighting & Sound Design: Joe Paradise Lui
Artist Bios
Keith Brockett is a director, actor and voice-over artist of Chinese-Malaysian and English descent based in Naarm (Melbourne), whose recent directorial projects include Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, La Dispute by Pierre de Marivaux, William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, TruScum by Oscar Bray, and Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls, as well as serving as assistant director on Melbourne Opera’s 2024 production of Lucia di Lammermoor (Dir. Suzanne Chaundy) at the Athenaeum Theatre. Keith’s stage and screen credits includes Will Eno’s one-man show Title and Deed, Happy Ending for Melbourne Theatre Company, the Australian premiere of the off-Broadway hit Puffs, Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, as well as TV cult hits The Librarians and Ronny Chieng: International Student, New Gold Mountain, and The Newsreader. Keith is a co-founder of the Green Room-nominated theatre company The KIN Collective, and a proud member of the MEAA.
Shane Woon is a Naarm-based playwright who completed his Master of Theatre (Writing) at the Victorian College of the Arts. His works include Feng Shui Secrets (Slanted Theatre, National Theatre of Parramatta), A Guide to Being Immortal (Melbourne Fringe: New Writer's Award, 2025), and Rabbit & Watson (VCA Theatre Writers Festival). In addition to writing, Shane has worked as a dramaturg on Denise Chan’s Kopi Diem (KXT, Storytellers Festival) and is an active contributor to theatre education in Victoria. He regularly teaches and consults with arts organisations, including Arts Centre Melbourne (VCE Resource for Yong, panel host for Miss Peony and an ArtsHub interview with Michelle Law for Miss Peony). Shane has mentored numerous students whose work has been recognised in VCAA’s annual Season of Excellence: Top Class: Theatre Studies. His work in theatre education is dedicated to amplifying marginalised voices.
Image by: Jeff Andersen Jnr
When
-
Wednesday, 15 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Thursday, 16 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Friday, 17 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Saturday, 18 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Sunday, 19 July 2026 | 05:00 PM
- 07:00 PM
-
Wednesday, 22 July 2026 | 11:00 AM
- 01:00 PM
-
Wednesday, 22 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Thursday, 23 July 2026 | 11:00 AM
- 01:00 PM
-
Thursday, 23 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Friday, 24 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Saturday, 25 July 2026 | 07:30 PM
- 09:30 PM
-
Sunday, 26 July 2026 | 05:00 PM
- 07:00 PM
Location
Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre, 189 High Street, Northcote, 3070, View Map
-37.7744444,144.9975
189 High Street ,
Northcote 3070
Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre
189 High Street ,
Northcote 3070
Rabbit & Watson by Shane Woon