Picnic at Hanging Rock
23 October – 7 November 2026
ACT Hub, Kingston
Bookings at acthub.com.au
It is 1900. It is Saint Valentine’s Day. It is hot and sweltering. Three schoolgirls and their teacher vanish without a trace. As the search begins, the boundaries between memory, desire, country, and truth begin to blur. This October and November, the Australian classic Picnic at Hanging Rock unveils itself at ACT Hub in Tom Wright’s acclaimed and deeply provocative adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel.
Seared into Australia’s cultural consciousness by Peter Weir’s iconic film, Tom Wright’s adaptation sees five contemporary young women retell the entirety of this national myth, loose threads and all. As they swap between characters – playing the girls, school teacher, police and more – a story about memory, country, repression and colonial dread emerges. Wright’s adaptation strips the story back to its most unsettling elements, reminding us that before Hanging Rock there was Ngannelong, and providing a production that is just as much about how we tell this story, as it is about the story, the girls, and the picnic itself.
Chaika Theatre’s production brings together an all AFAB (assigned female at birth) cast and creative team, continuing producer Karen Vickery’s dedication to platforming emerging artists and presenting deeply feminist narratives. The cast features some of Canberra’s best actors, both emerging and established, reuniting early-career director Caitlin Baker with three of the cast from her award-winning production of You Can’t Tell Anyone – Breanna Kelly, Paris Scharkie and Jessi Gooding – who are joined by Karina Hudson and Thea Jade. With her work previously described as ‘a two-by-four to the face’, Picnic at Hanging Rock brings Baker back for her fourth Chaika show, and her third in the directing chair.
Caitlin Baker says: “Chaika’s production approaches the gothic not as a fear of the unknown, but as a way of looking directly at what has been buried in plain sight. The expectations placed on young women. The anxieties of a colonial society. The histories written over Country. The silences that surround what we cannot explain. Tom Wright’s script is a very tricky beast, and I think the audience should expect to be frightened, unsettled, and hopefully deeply provoked by this production.”
This Halloween, get ready for the Australian gothic like you’ve never seen before. With a backlog of critically acclaimed and socially conscious theatre (Mary Stuart, The Children, The House of Bernarda Alba, Julius Caesar, The Deep Blue Sea) Chaika is thrilled to be presenting Tom Wright’s acclaimed adaptation of this haunting classic.
For a short three week run at ACT Hub from 23 October to 7 November, embrace this chilling reflection of our contemporary world that asks what do we remember? What do we forget? Who gets to tell the story? And why, more than a century later, are we still so fascinated by the girls who walked up the Rock?
