The housing crisis across Australia is the worst it’s been in decades.

Struggling to find a roof over one’s head, coughing up rising rent, and dealing with the greedy miscreance of agents and landlords is pushing renters to a breaking point. 

But this operetta is a comedy – or maybe a manic dance atop a societal volcano on the verge of financial eruption. Departures into magic realism are the only respites from a dire reality.

 This operetta is also about young people. The immediacy of a young cast (our VO emerging artists) portraying these characters makes profound sense to us and we were floored by how contemporary the young lovers of this piece feel. Their relationships are far from slick; these couples are awkward, confused, and full of romantic misfires – this could not be closer to the experience of the contemporary dater.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that the whimsical references of the original operetta to Moscow’s charming lanes and the overwhelming benevolence of Russian governance did not sit well with us to say the least. Whilst of course this piece was written before the Putin regime, we felt the glowing references to Soviet nostalgia would ultimately take away and distract from the core of the piece - the corruption of those in power in the housing market. So the publishers kindly permitted us to update references to contemporary Melbourne. And in updating these references we were shocked to see how easily ‘corrupt Soviet bureaucrat’ was replaced by ‘immoral Melbourne real estate agent’. 

 Our Melbourne, Cheremushki is a heightened Ren and Stimpy meets the Sex Pistols universe of rascals and ratbags making do and trying to have a good time in the midst of impending financial ruin.