A woman with white hair in a cabaret costume holds a vintage microphone with a white gloved hand. The woman is tipping her military-style hat and is surrounded by theatrical smoke.

A female performer spreads her fingers wide on either side of a microphone. The female performer has a military style hat, white hair and red lips. Behind her is a red spotlight that frames her stance. She has her eyes closed and is singing.

A cabaret performer is gesturing a secret with her hand on her hip, whilst standing in front of a projection of a german female with Nazi troopers. The cabaret performer is wearing a top hat, golden bodice and trousers, and she has white hair and red lips.

The Reichstag Is Burning

Theatre and Physical Theatre • Cabaret

South Australia

A national emergency is declared. Civil liberties are restricted. Theatres and nightclubs - intellectual, artistic havens - are closing. A chanteuse takes to a smoky stage in musical defiance. A postmodern cabaret for a world on fire, inspired by the Weimar Kabarett tradition.

Written & Performed by Joanne Hartstone
Designed & Directed by Tom Kitney
Musical Direction by Emma Knights
Voice Over by Michael Morley
Associate Design by George Cort

WINNER: 2021 Adelaide Critics Circle Award
WINNER: 2021 Hollywood Fringe Encore Producer's Award

“Digital drama to the level of an art form in its own right” (LondonGrip.co.uk)
★★★★★ "Stunning... a must see" (Barefoot Review)
★★★★★ "A solo tour de force" (The Clothesline)
★★★★★ "Sublime" (Stage Whispers)
★★★★ "A beautifully crafted cabaret" (The Advertiser)

Schools Price of $40 per class. Category 1-4 School Price of $15 per class.
45 minute Q&A’s with the creatives may be available by request - $100 per class or $75 for category 1-4 school classes.

Presented by: Hartstone-Kitney Productions

Hartstone-Kitney Productions (HKP) is a multi-award winning theatre company and production house, specialising in hybrid-digital projects, live theatre & cabaret, and immersive/site-specific events. Formed in 2017, HKP is the collaborative work of prolific international arts-practitioners: Joanne Hartstone and Tom Kitney.

HKP curates ‘Black Box Live’ - a digital platform that makes and hosts livestream and on demand performances across arts genres. The fusion of theatre and broadcast technology has resulted in a new hybrid art form that creates bespoke, accessible theatrical experiences. Black Box Live won the 2021 John Chataway Award for Innovation and is nominated for the 2021 Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation by the Adelaide Critics Circle.

HKP proudly promotes the arts coming from South Australia, and presents sustainable shows for now, for Australia and for the world.

Loud noises, Smoke Effects, Strobe Lighting, Mild Occasional Sexual References

Reviews & Fringefeed Reacts

Joanne Hartstone as Iris London, top of the bill at Die Katakombes, gives a solo tour de force performance. - Adrian Miller, The Clothesline
Let's hear it for Hartstone and Kitney, pulling magical things out of a black box. - Ewart Shaw, Broadway World
The Reichstag is Burning is stunning - it elevates Fringe Festival artistry to heights that are infrequently seen... an indisputable triumph - Kym Clayton, The Barefoot Review
Made to be watched from a screen... conveying the atmosphere of an edgy, smoky Weimar cabaret...affording an uninterrupted view of the stage - Barbara Lewis, London Grip.co.uk
Joanne Hartstone and Tom Kitney have devised a beautifully crafted cabaret meditation on this dark time in modern history. - Peter Burdon, The Advertiser