The Department of Tourism and Culture’s Araluen Arts Centre presents the funny, and big-hearted Hello, Beautiful!, performed by one of Australia’s best-loved playwrights, Hannie Rayson.

“We are excited for Hannie Rayson to bring her one-woman show to Alice Springs,” Senior Director of the Department of Tourism and Culture’s Araluen Cultural Precinct, Dr Mark Crees said.

“Hello, Beautiful! is based on Rayson’s best-selling memoir and is a 60 minute piece of comic storytelling, written and performed in the style of David Sedaris, Nora Ephron and Spalding Gray - true stories from a life, spiced with wit, social observation, and intimacy.”

Rayson was inspired to put her story on stage after her 2015 book tour saw audience members from Perth all the way to Far North Queensland tell her ‘you should do your own show’.

The show takes you from Rayson’s childhood in East Brighton to the treacheries of Hollywood, from share-houses in Fitzroy to the beauties of rural Australia.

“Rayson’s life and writing has always been driven by her deep curiosity about contemporary Australian life: how we live and what matters to us – the political and ethical challenges we face,” Dr Crees said.

“The audience will be struck by how many ‘that happened to me’ moments they share with Rayson.”

Rayson trained as an actor at the Victorian College of the Arts and although she has spent her working life as a playwright, she found herself wanting to bring together the writer and performer in her own show.

Rayson says, “In writing the memoir, I imagined my audience, the reader, tucked up in bed, laughing out loud. I wrote as though I were talking to a friend".

Hello, Beautiful! opened to great acclaim in 2016 at the Malthouse Theatre under Artistic Director Matthew Lutton.

Hello, Beautiful by Hannie Rayson will be live onstage at the Araluen Arts Centre on Saturday 26 May at 8:00pm.                             

Ticket prices are $49.00 for adults, $45.00 for concession and $42.00 for Araluen Arts Centre Members.

Tickets are available online at www.araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au or from the Araluen Box Office on (08) 8951 1122.

Media interview
Araluen Cultural Precinct Senior Director, Dr Mark Crees 08 8951 1126