Break of Day

Break of Day

Sometimes you get stuck with the cards you’ve been dealt, but Pam is determined to shuffle the deck for her daughter.

This show has now finished

Break of Day played Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse, Melbourne until 29 August 2026 and is no longer on sale. Discover similar shows on sale now, or subscribe and we'll tell you about future seasons and ticket offers.

About Break of Day

Out on the edge of a satellite city, is Burra Creek, home to the world’s largest online retail warehouse, and tonight Pam (Kat Stewart) is working the nightshift, while her daughter Rae, back home, is also pulling an all-nighter, for very different reasons.

City folks drive the highway to Burra Creek for the op-shops, Biryani and famous kebab, but for the kids, there’s not so much to do, except hang with someone who makes you laugh, dances with shopping trolleys, and who you wouldn’t mind kissing.

No one sees Pam, as she catches three buses to the warehouse while the rest of us sleep, but as her night unfolds, she sees a better life for her daughter, and she’ll stop at nothing to secure it. Sometimes you’ve got to break the rules to break the cycle. And while Rae is at the top of her class, it’s hard to climb the rungs of opportunity when you live in a place the NBN forgot.

Break of Day is a story where humour is armour, grit is generosity, and the universal struggle between a mum and her daughter, is everything.

Premiering at Malthouse Theatre after winning the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award and The Australian Writers Guild Prize for Playwriting, Steve Rodgers’ Break of Day also sees Sarah Goodes and Kat Stewart collaborate again after the success of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Red Stitch, Comedy Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company). This is a story that asks how far determination can go to change the course.

 

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