Sydney Theatre Company presents
The Suitcase Royale in
The Ballad of Backbone Joe

A dollar fight gone wrong, a classy Sheila with a mind for revenge and a private detective hot on her heels…

The Ballad of Backbone Joe tells a twisted tale of the apparent death, the murder no less, of a woman in a blood red dress. Set in the roaring carnival days of prewar Australia, in a small town’s abattoir and boxing emporium, the tale unfolds through jigsaw narrative, film, visual trickery, bone-crunching slapstick, dark humour and the unique Rag ‘n’ Bone music and junkyard aesthetic of Melbourne-based, internationally acclaimed, trio The Suitcase Royale. Contra bass, banjo, guitar, accordion, drums and the ghostly voice of a reddressed vixen carry this broken-down truck of a show down the windy road of revenge.

We’re delighted to welcome “the smoking hot hipster husbands of performance art” (ThreeThousand.com.au) to The Wharf (in fact, we like them so much we may never let them leave!).

Running time: 60 minutes, no interval

Photo: John O'Neil