From Bondi to Brisbane

Who we are

Bump In Productions is an independent theatre company. A group of young comedic actors started it in Bondi in 2004.

We go looking for the shows most Australian producers pass on as too risky. Musicals with a dark streak, a strange premise or a real argument in them. We want you still talking about the show on the way home.

So far that’s taken us from a Roman farce at the Bondi Pavilion to a murder trial in the American South. Along the way came Sondheim’s Assassins, a musical about a town where you pay to pee, and three murder mysteries in Chatswood.

“Originally founded to bring musical theatre to a new audience, our mission has developed to stage daring, contemporary musical-theatre in an affronting thrust-theatre format.”

Act I Sydney

We opened with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Bondi Pavilion in July 2004. Three more musicals followed in 2005.

In 2010 we started the Zenith Theatre Murder Mysteries with the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood. The second one, The Mousetrap, sold out.

  1. 2004 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Bondi Pavilion Theatre
  2. 2005 I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change Bondi Pavilion Theatre
  3. 2005 Assassins Zenith Theatre, Chatswood
  4. 2005 Urinetown Bondi Pavilion Theatre
  5. 2007 Way Off Broadway Bar Me, Sydney
  6. 2010 Rope Zenith Theatre, Chatswood
  7. 2011 The Mousetrap Zenith Theatre, Chatswood
  8. 2011 And Then There Were None Zenith Theatre, Chatswood
A young woman with red curls and a man in a grey suit and blue jumper hold each other close, foreheads almost touching, on the guesthouse set of The Mousetrap.
Shannon Ashlyn and Brett O’Neill in The Mousetrap, Zenith Theatre, 2011. Photo: Natalie Boog.

Interval

Grab a drink. Act II opens in Brisbane.

Act II Brisbane

A man in a hat and tweed waistcoat gapes, a pencil in one hand and a red notebook in the other, as townspeople around him hold newspapers over their heads in Parade.
Parade, Ron Hurley Theatre, Seven Hills, 2025. Photo: Kenn Santos.

Matilda Awards 2025

  • Nominated for Best Musical or Cabaret
  • Matthew McKenzie, nominated for Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Independent Production) as Jim Conley
See the nominees

Parade ran at the Ron Hurley Theatre in Seven Hills from 18 July to 3 August 2025. Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s musical tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager accused of murdering a girl of 13 in Georgia in the early 1900s.

Johnny Peek directed a Brisbane cast, with musical direction by Michael Keen and choreography by Maureen Bowra.

  1. 2025 Parade Ron Hurley Theatre, Seven Hills

From the reviews

“The performances in this production are brilliant, to the point where I was wondering why most of the cast weren’t performing on the stages at QPAC”

Vicki Englund, The Blurb

“…the cast, musicians and production team have all encompassed the very heart and soul of the show with panache, vitality and conviction.”

Brian Adamson, Stage Whispers

“This is musical theatre at its most urgent and thought-provoking.”

Ken Hickson, Redland Bayside News
More about Parade

Act III Next

Our next season hasn’t been announced yet. Join the mailing list and we’ll tell you when it is.

Want to be on stage or behind it? Get in touch.

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