Our history
The story behind Essence Theatre Productions
Founded by playwright and theatre‑maker Alaine Beek, Essence has grown through curiosity, risk‑taking and a commitment to telling real stories connected to place, people and lived experience.
What follows is the evolution of a creative practice built over time.
Beginnings: experimenting with form and connection
Essence began in the early 2000s with a desire to bring audiences closer to performance, physically and emotionally.
One of the earliest ventures was The Gourmet Concert, created by Alaine and her husband Bart under the banner of Essence Food Studio. These weekly events combined cooking, conversation and live performance, with actors performing excerpts of theatre — sometimes standing on coffee tables — between courses.
The concept was simple and bold: remove the distance between performer and audience and make theatre part of everyday life. The format ran for a decade and laid the groundwork for what would become a defining feature of Essence’s work — intimacy, immediacy and connection.
A turning point: What Was That and immersive theatre
In 2003, Alaine wrote and produced What Was That for Werribee Park Mansion. Originally conceived as a short trial run, the work was so enthusiastically embraced by audiences that it continued and has since become one of Essence’s most enduring productions.
Performed at night inside the mansion, the play combined history, humour and theatrical surprise, with audiences moving from room to room as the story unfolded around them. What began as an experiment grew into a long‑running immersive experience and established Essence’s distinctive approach to site‑specific storytelling.
Expanding the body of work
Following the success of What Was That Alaine and her collaborators focused on developing new original works across a range of formats and venues.
Over time, Essence has created a growing body of plays — some award‑winning, many toured — including works such as Down to Earth, A Good Coffee, Point of No Return, Jack and Millie and The Dress. Each project has been driven by writing first, shaped through collaboration, and grounded in research and lived experience.
While the scale and style of the productions have varied, the intent has remained consistent: to tell human stories with honesty, warmth and care.
Artistry shaped over time
From early experiments in kitchens and living rooms, to immersive theatre in heritage spaces, to contemporary works staged in theatres and cultural venues, Essence has evolved organically, shaped by place, people and the stories that needed to be told.
At every stage, the work has been led by writing: stories authored by Alaine Beek and developed through collaboration with artists, cultural leaders and communities.
This history is not static. It is the foundation on which new work continues to be created.
Young people and the community
In 2014, Alaine began working with young people through a drama program at Werribee Secondary College. This experience revealed a deep passion for youth engagement and led to the development of Say It Out Loud, a drama initiative that builds creative courage and resilience through the performing arts.
The program ran for several years and resulted in original devised work, including Testing Nothing, created from the participants’ own stories. This period reinforced Essence’s belief in theatre as a tool for building confidence, fostering connection, and fostering personal growth.
