'The Heartbreak Choir' set to win hearts

In my little hamlet of Eagle Point there’s a community hall – ancient, weather-beaten, hopelessly outdated alongside the multi-million dollar ‘hub’ down the road, yet still loved and used by the locals, and witness to countless dramas, tragedies and happy endings over the past near-century.

You’ll find an almost-identical building in literally every small community around Australia, which is one reason why a play like Aidan Fennessy’s The Heartbreak Choir resonates. The play, presented by Bairnsdale Production Line Theatre Company, opens at the Forge Theatre on Friday October 17^th for a two-week season, and promises to please locals hungry for something a little closer to home – literally and figuratively – than the usual fare of Melbourne-based theatre, which relies increasingly on modern pop culture to provide entertainment but precious little else.

The Heartbreak Choir is an unsentimental portrayal of a disparate bunch of Aussies who have walked out on their church-based choir and struck out on their own (for reasons that you’ll discover when you see it – no spoilers here). Their weekly gatherings in the old hall are an escape from the world and its challenges, but inevitably those challenges are brought into the open and dealt with, for better or worse.

It is, by turns, funny, uplifting and a little bit challenging, and director Susan Gibson has done a great job of balancing the humour and drama. It even, as the title suggests, has a little music thrown in, and the music is - perhaps surprisingly for a straight play - very professionally delivered under the guidance of choral directors Will Hardy and Etienne Goessens. And there’s a bonus: a star turn by combined local choirs The Phoenix Singers and The Alleycats. 

There are so many little and big surprises in The Heartbreak Choir that it’s unfair to go into too much detail, but suffice it to say there will be something in here for everyone. At the end of the day, it’s been described as “a warm-hearted hug of a play that will make you want to sing out loud”, and that’s not far from the truth.

Michelle McLean as Barbara, Jayne Baylis as Totty, Susan Hawton as Mack

Aleka Hutton as Savannah, C.J Stephens as Beau

The cast is uniformly strong, from the least to the most experienced. Michelle McLean, Susan Hawton and Jayne Baylis all have well-established credentials as comic actors with Production Line, to say nothing of their long histories in local musicals.

CJ Stephens and Aleka Hutton (a surprise package when she opens her mouth to sing) are amongst the raft of up-&-coming younger actors within the company, whilst Andy Parry and Simran Kaur have slotted into the company – and their roles – as if they were always there. In short, a neat ensemble that works well to deliver the goods.

Andy Parry as Peter, Simran Kaur as Aseni

The Heartbreak Choir has another layer of unintended poignancy. Its author, award-winning Melbourne playwright Aidan Fennessy, never lived to see it staged. It was due to open at the MTC in 2020, but the pandemic and lockdowns intervened, so all Fennessy saw was an early reading. It eventually opened two years after his death from cancer.

The Heartbreak Choir is a tribute to Fennessy, to every theatre company that presents it, and to the indomitable spirit of everyday Australians. It’s worth seeing for that alone.

The Heartbreak Choir will be performed at The Forge Theatre for six shows only, opening on Friday 17 October and closing with a final matinee on Sunday 26 October. 

Review written by Tony Porter.

Tony Porter has been a fixture on the East Gippsland theatre scene for the past 12 years, after retiring from a long professional career in acting and broadcast media. He was recently invited to a rehearsal of the upcoming play The Heartbreak Choir, and penned this review exclusively for the Gippsland Weekend.

More information is available on

• The Heartbreak Choir web page

• Production Line’s Facebook page

• The Forge Theatre box office

Book you tickets now