I'm a theatre-maker and festival gigger based in Naarm / Melbourne, and sometimes I host musical comedy nights to test out my latest bops-in-progress.

Recently I've been touring interstate and overseas (UK and Ireland) with my mutli-award-winning one man musical Little Squirt.

Come join me online
or at my next gig

awards

2024 Green Room Awards, Outstanding Writing
2024 Green Room Awards, Outstanding Production
2023 Melbourne Fringe, Edinburgh Touring Award
2023 Melbourne Fringe, Best Cabaret
2013 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year: Multimedia and Arts

2025 Kingston Arts, Performing Arts Development Program
2023 Kingston Arts, New Musical Development Workshop
2022 Antipodes Theatre Company, Winter Lab
2020 & 2021 Hope. New Works, Show Development
2019 The MC Showroom Hatchery Sponsorship

labs & residencies

DARBY JAMES is an award-winning storyteller, songwriter and musical comedian born in Manchester UK, raised in Canberra (Ngunnawal country) and based in Naarm/Melbourne (Boonwurrung country).

His theatre writing includes Post: A New Musical (Something Blue Productions, 2019), Songs of the Northern River (The MC Showroom Hatchery Sponsorship 2019), Protein (Autonomous Inventions 2021-2023), and Little Squirt (previously “Spunk Daddy” Antipodes Winter Lab 2022, Autonomous Inventions 2023, Quiet RIOT 2024).

Darby hosts occasional musical comedy nights as a testing ground for new material.

ARTIST BIO