Shoelace Chaser
By Madelaine Nunn
Directed by Liv Satchell
shoelace chaser
A brand-new comedy drama that will take over the Lawler from 9 May, before touring regional Victoria. Shoelace Chaser is a warm, funny and heart-hitting exploration of chasing your dreams, teenage friendship and caregiving – a celebration of the unsung ways we show up for one another every day.
Being 17 is hard enough – hormones, homework, the looming question of what comes next. Add caring for your mum to the mix, and Thea’s juggling act is nothing short of Olympic.
Smart, self-sufficient and secretly just holding it together, she’s spent the last two years keeping her life under wraps. No-one knows she’s a carer. Not even Syd, her endlessly chatty new running partner who pushes her to pursue a university athletics scholarship and dream of something more. But chasing that future means leaving her mum behind – and the last time Thea tried that, things didn’t quite go to plan.
Starring Leigh Lule (Trophy Boys) and Zoe Boesen (Abigail’s Party), Madelaine Nunn’s moving new play sensitively explores our responsibilities to those we love, the untold strength of care and the courage to know when to lean on others for help. Directed by award-winning theatre maker Liv Satchell (Ballkids), Shoelace Chaser is a warm and feel-good story for anyone who’s ever been a teenager.
9 — 27 May 2026
Southbank Theatre, The Lawler
cast and creatives
Producing Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
Playwright: Madelaine Nunn
Director: Liv Satchell
Costume & Set Designer: Bianca Pardo
Lighting Designer: Thomas Roach
Dramaturg: Zoey Dawson
Initial Dramaturg: Cathy Hunt
Cast
Thea: Leigh Lule
Fiona: Zoe Boesen
Syd: Elliot Wood
reviews
★★★★★ ‘Tender, funny and deeply human’ - The Scoop
★★★★ ‘bursts of cheeky humour, private moments of gravitas, subtle grace and sincere heart’ - Theatre Matters.
★★★★ ‘highlights another strong contemporary Australian voice in Madelaine Nunn’ - Australian Arts Review
★★★★ ‘A funny, engaging, thoughtful story’ - Yoothz
A spirited and triumphant production. - The Blurb
”A show full of heart” - Theatre First
“Shoelace Chaser does something rare: it tells a Young Carer story without reducing it to tragedy. Thea is not a victim. She is complicated and resilient and funny and exhausted and hopeful – all at once. That complexity is the truth.” Little Dreamers
