Heartland Festival

By National Theatre of Parramatta

Jun 25 — Jul 5, 2025

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About

Full of playful events and ground-breaking writing, the inaugural Heartland Festival is a celebration of the artists and communities that make the heartland of Sydney such a special place to make, create and share live theatre.

Officially launching with the full theatrical premiere of The Offering (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio) on Wednesday 25th June, an epic new performance work by multi-award-winning Australian author, poet, and rapper, Omar Musa (Since Ali Died) and renowned American cellist and composer Mariel Roberts Musa.

We have teamed up with re:group performance collective (Coil, UFO) to present their smash-hit show POV with a rotating cast of NTofP favourites. This hilarious and profound portrait examines what it means to negotiate difficult questions about parenting, agency, mental health, and how we speak to children about life’s difficult issues.

In two delicious evenings of entertainment the festival Supper Club, hosted by the magnificent Nancy Denis (Ma’p Boulé), showcases hot new works in two tasty variety nights.

Closing out the festival fortnight is Bars from the Heart, a special evening of spoken word that will playfully blur the line between poetry and performance making and will feature a host of Sydney’s finest new wordsmiths alongside award-winning UK writer/performer Azan Ahmed at the mic.

Check out the full festival program and join us for some big stories and big heart.

FULL PROGRAM

HEARTLAND FESTIVAL PROGRAM

WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE

THE OFFERING (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio) – 7:00pm OPENING NIGHT

THURSDAY 26 JUNE

THE OFFERING (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio) – 7:00pm

FRIDAY 27 JUNE

THE OFFERING (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio) – 7:00pm

SUPPER CLUB – 8:30pm

SATURDAY 28 JUNE

THE OFFERING (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio) – 2:30PM and 7:00pm

WEDNESDAY 2 JULY

POV – 7:00pm

THURSDAY 3 JULY

POV – 7:00pm

SUPPER CLUB – 8:30pm

FRIDAY 4 JULY

POV – 7:00pm

SATURDAY 5 JULY 

POV – 2:30pm and 7:00pm

BARS FROM THE HEART – 8:30pm

PROGRAMMER NOTE

We are thrilled to announce the line-up for our inaugural Heartland Festival here in Parramatta. The festival is a jam-packed two-weeks of new works, bursting with big stories and ground-breaking writing and will run from Wednesday 25 June to Saturday 5 July 2025.

Our handpicked festival program will showcase over 50 local and international artists and will feature world premieres, theatre, spoken word, comedy, artist development opportunities and some rather splendid catering.

Heartland Festival will celebrate our home by the river here in Parramatta, a truly unique meeting place for storytelling and live theatre. I’ll leave you with a quote from one of our festival artists, rapper and poet Omar Musa, who summed up why he was excited about coming to the festival:

In these dark times, we hope to shake up the spirit and take the audience on a journey through history and time, into the landscapes of jungles, oceans and the human heart.”

We hope you find something in the festival program that resonates with you and that you’ll join us on a journey into the heartland.

Cheers
Phil Spencer
NTofP Producer & Festival Programmer