A Drive-Thru, A Deep-Fryer and A Family-Feast-Sized Bucket of Chaos: Canberra Youth Theatre’s Fast-Food Comedy 'Work, But This Time Like You Mean It'
“A madcap, skit-like experience full of joyful comedy." ~ Canberra City News
“A sharp-shooting shot at the employment of young people in the fast-food industry.” ~ Canberra Critics Circle
Venue: The Rebel Theatre
Address: Pier 2/3 Suite 2/13A Hickson Rd, Dawes Point NSW 2000
Date: 15 – 18 October 2025
Time: Wed 15 Oct, 7:30pm; Thu 16 Oct, 1pm & 7:30pm; Fri 17 Oct, 7:30pm; Sat 18 Oct, 7:30pm
Ticket: General Admission $35 | Groups 8+ $25
Buy / Ticket: https://canberrayouththeatre.com.au/production/work-but-2025/
Web: https://canberrayouththeatre.com.au/production/work-but-2025/
EMail: info@canberrayouththeatre.com.au
Call: 02 6248 5057
Address: Pier 2/3 Suite 2/13A Hickson Rd, Dawes Point NSW 2000
Date: 15 – 18 October 2025
Time: Wed 15 Oct, 7:30pm; Thu 16 Oct, 1pm & 7:30pm; Fri 17 Oct, 7:30pm; Sat 18 Oct, 7:30pm
Ticket: General Admission $35 | Groups 8+ $25
Buy / Ticket: https://canberrayouththeatre.com.au/production/work-but-2025/
Web: https://canberrayouththeatre.com.au/production/work-but-2025/
EMail: info@canberrayouththeatre.com.au
Call: 02 6248 5057
After wowing critics and audiences alike in its sell-out, debut Canberra season last year, Canberra Youth Theatre is thrilled to bring Australian playwright Honor Webster-Mannison's smash-hit comedy 'Work, But This Time Like You Mean It; to Sydney for a limited, one-week run at The Rebel Theatre, Walsh Bay from Wednesday 15th October to Saturday 18th October 2025.
Directed by Canberra Youth Theatre's Artistic Director and CEO, Luke Rogers, and featuring a stellar cast of eight emerging actors, Webster-Mannison's darkly surreal new work is an unhinged, deep-fryer dive into the lives of overworked, underpaid, teenage wage-slaves, trapped in a dystopian fried chicken time loop.
Neon lighting has dried out your eyeballs. The grease has permeated your sneakers. You think you can hear salt. A group of fast-food workers are just trying to get through another shift. They’re underpaid and overworked, and the customers keep coming and time is moving backwards, and they need to stop working.
Luke Rogers said, “We’re taking twelve artists to Sydney, many of whom will be touring a show for the first time, with an ambitious new work that challenges expectations for what theatre created by young people can achieve. Everyone remembers their first job ...seemingly wasting your young life away, one shift at a time, for significantly less than minimum wage. Work, But... is a completely unhinged, chaotic exploration of this universal rite of passage.”
Melbourne-based theatre-maker and 'Work, But...' playwright, Honor Webster-Mannison said, “A lot of what happens in this play is true. It is the culmination of a two-year creative journey informed by the thoughts and experiences of Canberra Youth Theatre’s emerging artists, conversations with friends about their first jobs, and Stuart Tannock’s exploration of exploitation in the working lives of young people. KFC Australia’s website states that ninety percent of team members are under the age of twenty-five. The junior wage is a stark example of the way society values young people’s labour less than adult labour. And although young workers are more likely to face wage theft and have their legal working conditions violated, they are far less likely to be in a union than workers above the age of twenty-five.”
'Work, But This Time Like You Mean It' is the winner of Canberra Youth Theatre’s 2022 Emerging Playwright Commission, an annual initiative supporting emerging Australian playwrights to bring brand-new, full-length works to the stage.
Chaotic and joyously unhinged, don’t miss the hottest, tastiest, existential-crisis-est show in town.
This tour is supported by the Australian Theatre for Young People and the ACT Government. Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission is supported by Holding Redlich.
Performance Warnings:
Suitable for ages 15+
Contains strong language
WRITTEN BY Honor Webster-Mannison, DIRECTED BY Luke Rogers CAST INCLUDES Georgie Bianchini, Hannah Cornelia, Kathleen Dunkerley, Quinn Goodwin, Matthew Hogan, Blue Hyslop, Sterling Notley and Emma Piva SET & COSTUME DESIGNER Kathleen Kershaw LIGHTING & VIDEO DESIGNER Ethan Hamill SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER Patrick Haesler STAGE MANAGER Rhiley Winnett
Directed by Canberra Youth Theatre's Artistic Director and CEO, Luke Rogers, and featuring a stellar cast of eight emerging actors, Webster-Mannison's darkly surreal new work is an unhinged, deep-fryer dive into the lives of overworked, underpaid, teenage wage-slaves, trapped in a dystopian fried chicken time loop.
Neon lighting has dried out your eyeballs. The grease has permeated your sneakers. You think you can hear salt. A group of fast-food workers are just trying to get through another shift. They’re underpaid and overworked, and the customers keep coming and time is moving backwards, and they need to stop working.
Luke Rogers said, “We’re taking twelve artists to Sydney, many of whom will be touring a show for the first time, with an ambitious new work that challenges expectations for what theatre created by young people can achieve. Everyone remembers their first job ...seemingly wasting your young life away, one shift at a time, for significantly less than minimum wage. Work, But... is a completely unhinged, chaotic exploration of this universal rite of passage.”
Melbourne-based theatre-maker and 'Work, But...' playwright, Honor Webster-Mannison said, “A lot of what happens in this play is true. It is the culmination of a two-year creative journey informed by the thoughts and experiences of Canberra Youth Theatre’s emerging artists, conversations with friends about their first jobs, and Stuart Tannock’s exploration of exploitation in the working lives of young people. KFC Australia’s website states that ninety percent of team members are under the age of twenty-five. The junior wage is a stark example of the way society values young people’s labour less than adult labour. And although young workers are more likely to face wage theft and have their legal working conditions violated, they are far less likely to be in a union than workers above the age of twenty-five.”
'Work, But This Time Like You Mean It' is the winner of Canberra Youth Theatre’s 2022 Emerging Playwright Commission, an annual initiative supporting emerging Australian playwrights to bring brand-new, full-length works to the stage.
Chaotic and joyously unhinged, don’t miss the hottest, tastiest, existential-crisis-est show in town.
This tour is supported by the Australian Theatre for Young People and the ACT Government. Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission is supported by Holding Redlich.
Performance Warnings:
Suitable for ages 15+
Contains strong language
WRITTEN BY Honor Webster-Mannison, DIRECTED BY Luke Rogers CAST INCLUDES Georgie Bianchini, Hannah Cornelia, Kathleen Dunkerley, Quinn Goodwin, Matthew Hogan, Blue Hyslop, Sterling Notley and Emma Piva SET & COSTUME DESIGNER Kathleen Kershaw LIGHTING & VIDEO DESIGNER Ethan Hamill SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER Patrick Haesler STAGE MANAGER Rhiley Winnett