Merrigong Theatre Company presents A Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre Production JULIA, Joanna Murray-Smith's stirring portrait of Australia’s first female prime minister

Published by: Merrigong Theatre Company | 18-Aug-2025
Following a sell-out, critically acclaimed premiere season in 2023 and a smash-hit national tour in 2024, one of Australia’s hottest pieces of theatre, Joanna Murray Smith’s political drama Julia, bursts onto the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre stage for an unmissable two-week season from 3rd to 13th September.
Venue: IMB Theatre – Illawarra Performing Arts Centre 
Address: 32 Burelli St, Wollongong NSW 2500 
Date: 3 – 13 September  
Time: Wed 3 Sep, 7:30pm; Thu 4 Sep, 6:30pm; Fri 5 Sep 7:30pm; Sat 6 Sep 1:30pm & 7:30pm; Mon 8 Sep, 6:30pm; Tue 9 Sep, 6:30pm; Wed 10 Sep, 6:30pm; Thu 11 Sep 11:00am & 6:30pm; Fri 12 Sep, 7:30pm; Sat 13 Sep, 1:30pm & 7:30pm.  
Ticket: Premium $119 | Adult $99 | Pension & Student $89 | Groups 8+ & Under 30s $84 
Buy / Ticket: https://merrigong.com.au/shows/julia/ 
Web: https://merrigong.com.au/shows/julia/ 
EMail: info@merrigong.com.au 
Call: 02 4224 5999 
JULIA
The final of three blockbuster productions in Merrigong’s 2025 season, screen and stage legend Justine Clarke steps into the shoes of Australia’s first, and only, female prime minister, delivering an “electrifying” (The Guardian), and “fearsomely brilliant” (TimeOut) performance, that will be remembered for generations to come.

In 2012, Julia Gillard gave a speech that sent shockwaves around the world.

Now, over a decade later, Australia’s finest theatre makers – playwright Joanna Murray Smith (Switzerland, Honour), Helpmann Award-winning director Sarah Goodes (Red Stitch & STC’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), designer Renée Mulder (STC’s The Importance of Being Earnest – have created a stirring and inspiring re-examination of that moment.

Julia is both a compelling insight into the person behind the mask, and a reflection on the experience of women in contemporary politics. In a thrilling coming together of history and art, this incredible dramatic imagining renders a powerful monologue that takes us through key moments in Prime Minister Gillard’s life, culminating in an electrifying verbatim performance of the ‘misogyny speech’.

Intoxicatingly powerful, this is Australian theatre at its best.

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