What is the most quotable Australian movie of all time?

Mad Max would be up there – “Ya better bring a meat truck, Charlie’s copped a saucepan in the throat” – along with Muriel’s Wedding – “Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence” – and Puberty Blues – “wrong hole”.

But I don’t think anyone would deny there’s a good case to be made for The Castle, which fairly drips with iconic dialogue – “tell ’em he’s dreamin’”, “how’s the serenity”, “it’s the vibe”, “this is going straight to the pool room” –  and my personal favourite – “there’s only one show better than Hey Hey It’s Saturday and that’s The Best of Hey Hey It’s Saturday”.

While this 1997 comedy was the first feature film from the team at Working Dog – Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro and Jane Kennedy – they came to the project highly experienced, having done their 10,000 hours of practise with assorted theatre, radio and television shows.

The Castle remains a template on how Australian movies could and should be made – a simple yet universal story, contained production values, a tight script, a seasoned production team and a solid cast sprinkled with some recognisable names – Michael Caton and Bud Tingwell – rather than big stars.

The movie’s tremendous success did usher in, for a time, a boom in Australian comedies – Wog Boy, The Craic, Crackerjack, The Dish – until a few of them didn’t work and cost too much money, and we stopped making comedies altogether, which was, and continues to be, silly.

You might like

Review

Masterpiece still stings: Fresh lens on tragedy of Ancient Greek proportions

Festivals

Monster mash: Howling down the werewolf within

the film’s underlying message – that nothing is more important in Australia than real estate – is even more relevant today

You might like

Review

Masterpiece still stings: Fresh lens on tragedy of Ancient Greek proportions

Festivals

Monster mash: Howling down the werewolf within

Nonetheless, The Castle endures as a cultural touchstone, the story of the working class Kerrigan family trying to hang on to their house having struck a genuine chord among Australians. So many people I know still bring up the movie, saying “That’s my father/mother/cousin/lawyer/office”.

And, of course, the film’s underlying message – that nothing is more important in Australia than real estate – is even more relevant today. I was surprised Working Dog never turned The Castle into a television series but now, almost 30 years after the film debuted, it is about to become a stage play.

Michael Cassel Group and Working Dog recently announced that the film will be reimagined for the stage in a major new theatrical play set to premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre from March 2027, marking 30 years since the film’s original release. Hopefully, it will tour the country after that.

Most screen-to-stage adaptations in Australia tend to be musicals. Think Moulin Rouge, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, My Brilliant Career and Muriel’s Wedding. It’s less common for Australian films to be adapted as non-musical plays. I’m sure at some point it was proposed that the Kerrigans sing (after all, the movie features one song, We’re Going to Bonnie Doon), but Working Dog decided to play The Castle straight – well, as straight as a story involving jousting sticks can be.

Unlike Australia, Britain and the US have a long tradition of commercial theatrical managements adapting film scripts into straight plays. In recent years we’ve had theatre versions of movies Dr Strangelove, Point Break, Good Night and Good Luck, Fatal Attraction, Chariots of Fire, The 39 Steps, My Beautiful Laundrette, Withnail and I, The Lavender Hill Mob and Network.

Melbourne Theatre Company, in particular, has been presenting adaptations of films for a few years: North by Northwest (reworked by Australian writers), His Girl Friday and Shakespeare in Love. This possibly contributed to Working Dog’s decision to adapt The Castle.

the stage adaptation of The Castle is an exciting development in Australian theatre, because it’s a big fat commercial straight play

While there are obvious advantages to adapting a film for the stage – the story and characters are already established, there’s a pre-existing fan base – it’s still a tricky job. Stage plays can’t rely on things like cinematography, editing, close ups, and so on. It has to be the same, yet different. But how much the same? How different? How closely should the new cast resemble the original actors? How much of the old script do you keep? How much fan service do you provide?

If anyone can figure this out, Working Dog can. And the stage adaptation of The Castle is an exciting development in Australian theatre, because it’s a big fat commercial straight play, done by proper commercial producers (The Michael Cassell Group) that’s telling an Australian story.

This latter factor is very rare, as theatre managements in Australia traditionally prefer to import shows that have been road-tested and are thus (in theory) less risky. A lot of theatre managers also simply dislike Australian writing (this is never admitted publicly, but consistently demonstrated by what is programmed).

A successful stage version of The Castle could even kick off a trend of similar adaptations. Because when you think about it, there are numerous Australian movies and TV series that could work on stage – The Moodys, Top End Wedding, Fisk, Crackerjack, Puberty Blues, Babe, Colin from Accounts, Heartbreak High. Maybe not Mad Max Fury Road, but never say never.

I’ll go out on a limb here and predict the stage adaptation of The Castle will follow the path of the original film. It will be a hit and inspire a slew of imitators of varying quality, a few of them won’t work and will cost too much money, and we’ll stop making them altogether, which will be silly. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the ride – or, rather, the vibe.

The Castle plays Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, from March 23, 2027. Tickets are now on sale: hmt.com.au/the-castle