“Melbourne Playback completely amazed and thoroughly entertained the students and staff...XAVIER COLLEGE
Your students are the scriptwriters, and their real stories are the centre piece of this entertaining, empowering and moving show.
In collaboration with you, we tailor the show to cover topics of most relevance to your students - making space for students to share about big events like school camps, productions or sporting moments, meaningful moments particular to the cohort, and other milestones like moving on from primary to high school, finishing high school, and more.
This incursion celebrates the real experiences of your students this year, in a deeply memorable, hugely fun and magical way.
“Melbourne Playback completely amazed and thoroughly entertained the students and staff with their incredible ability to listen, empathise, interpret and improvise the stories shared by the boys. It was amazing for our students to experience this unique and professional type of theatre that created such a buzz amongst our boys. Some comments from our students:
“The actors were totally committed to honouring a story about you.”
“The music instigated everything and made it more detailed and entertaining.”
“The chemistry between the performers and musician was amazing, like they shared one brain.”
- Andrea Hamilton, Xavier College
A brilliant way to celebrate, debrief and process all the successes and challenges that 2025 has brought for your students, with live music, professional improvised theatre, and gentle, respectful, empowering audience interaction.
Melbourne Playback performances are a dynamic way to bring staff and/or students together to celebrate milestones like the end of the school year and have a laugh together.
The interactive nature of our work captures people’s attention and affirms the sense of team and community within your school. We open up empathy and the active listening and improvisation skills displayed by our professional performing ensemble are an inspiring example of teamwork at its best.
Through the sharing of participant’s stories, a Melbourne Playback performance creates a bridge which makes one person’s experience accessible to others. All perspectives are valued and often the person who rarely speaks will share a story. The process builds an understanding between students, staff, parents and the broader school community, providing a reflective forum where emerging themes can reveal to the community what lives at its heart.
The Details
We bring four professional improvising actors, a professional improvising musician and a highly skilled facilitator. (Hence the cost! But it's worth it, we promise.)
Each incursion is 60 minutes long, with optional Q&A and workshop add-ons, depending on your school’s timings and budget.
A classroom space works well for a group of up to 30 students. From 30-200 students, a space like a school hall or auditorium is ideal to ensure students and staff can see the performance comfortably.
Add-on Menu:
- Q&A: (10-20 mins, $200 + gst)
- Bringing your Stories to Life Workshop (30-60 mins, $100-200 + gst per 25 students): Small group workshops using fun drama techniques and deep listening to support students to build small pieces of theatre from their own and their peers’ stories.
Melbourne Playback performances tie in closely with:
- School wellbeing outcomes, including Respectful Relationships
- The Arts and English curriculum areas
- VELS Interpersonal Development, Communication and Civics & Citizenship domains
“The performances opened doors for further discussions and greater empathy and respect for each other.”
- Tracey King, Learning and Teaching Leader, Elisabeth Murdoch College
This incursion can be tailored to any time in the year, and is also a brilliant way to kick off 2026.
BOOKINGS
To make a booking or enquiry, simply press the GREEN Enquiry/Booking Request Button above right to directly contact the booking team. They will answer you promptly to discuss your booking including when payment will be required.
Shows for Schools not only gathers all the great available shows, it also makes booking easier!