THE IMPERIAL PANDA FESTIVAL 2011. 4-20 MARCH.
Check out our new website - www.theimperialpanda.com for the full program.

the suitcase royale's 'ballad of backbone joe'

SYDNEY - 302 Cleveland St, Surry Hills

Sat Feb 14 @ 9pm

Sun - Mon Feb 15-16 @ 5pm & 9pm



A dollar fight gone wrong, a classy Sheila with a mind for revenge and a private detective hot on her heels. The Ballad of Backbone Joe is an austere tale of the apparent murder of Messy Dimes Dan, the owner of the town’s abattoir and boxing emporium. This jigsaw-puzzle narrative is told through visual trickery, film, bone-crunching physical theatre and filmic lighting.
Set in the roaring carnival days of pre-war Australia, this tin pan alley opera features the unique Rag ‘n’ Bone music and junkyard aesthetic of Melbourne-based trio the Suitcase Royale. Contra bass, banjo, guitar, accordion, drums and the ghostly voice of a red-dressed vixen carry this broken-down truck of a musical down the windy road of revenge
From the creators of the acclaimed “Chronicles of a Sleepless Moon” and “The Ghosts of Ricketts Hill” comes a toe-biting junkyard opera to that will hold you in the cradle of suspense until the final red curtain is drawn.



The Suitcase Royale is a Rag n Bone band of three from Melbourne that has been creating and performing work since mid 2004, creating theatre out of the junk left on the kerb side, out of the refuge of the city dump and the carelessly placed materials of your local construction site.
The company have toured both nationally and internationally to great critical acclaim, selling out shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide as well as seasons in the Pittsburgh Arts Festival, Edinburgh fringe, Ruhrfestspiele festival, Germany, Dublin and the Soho theatre in London.

Winners, Golden Gibbo award
(Melbourne Comedy Festival 2008)


Winners, Best of the Melbourne Fringe Festival


‘***** Possibly one of the best shows I have ever seen ...
A wonderful bit of theatrical genius
that should not be missed'
- the Montreal Gazette.(2004)


"Visionary, emancipated and transformational...
The Suitcase Royale create works of theatre
achingly undiluted, joining the soul of
madcap anarchy found in the best
of the Marx Brothers to the self-sufficient
purity found in travelling tent shows”
Pittsburgh City Paper




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