Eden Caceda

Walking into the newly built Rebel Theatre at Walsh Bay’s newly minted arts district in Pier 2/3 in for M.Rock is a theatrical experience unlike any other. Akin to entering a dark club in an Eastern European city, techno beats thrum through the darkened space as characters on-stage chat, laugh and dance. As guests take their seats, fighting the urge to join in on a boogie, red strobe lights illuminate the theatre. This revival by the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) immerses the audience from the get-go and prepares you for a whirlwind musical adventure with a surprising and heart-warming end. Returning eight years after its debut and penned by Lachlan Philpott, M.Rock tells the story of recently graduated young woman Tracey (Milena Barraclough Nesic) and her  “disappearance” while travelling around the world post-exams. Deciding to follow an attractive DJ to the techno clubs of Berlin on a whim instead of heading to the Africa leg of her trip, she causes a chain reaction that results in her Bankstown-based grandmother Mabel’s (Valerie Bader) own journey to find her granddaughter, which sees her encounter love, new skills and eventual fame in unexpected places. It’s a joyous ode to the power of self-discovery at any age.  Fortunately, this new production of the 2014 play is still as full of life and imagination as the original. Recent changes to Philpott’s script give a fresh touch, with references to the pandemic and the challenges young people face adding a contem