HEARTBREAK HOTEL

Presented by Luminato Festival

Thursday, June 11 – Sunday, June 14, 2026

The Fleck at Harbourfront Centre Theatre

Starting at $49

SUPPORTED BY

‘Heartbreak Hotel is one of the best productions I’ve seen this year. It’s a tender-hearted exemplar of what can be accomplished when creative stagecraft meets authentic, measured storytelling’ ★★★★★ — Time Out Melbourne

‘Slickly staged and sharply written…. as funny as it is wistful’ ★★★★ — The Stage UK 

‘An utterly devoted exploration…Go if you have been heartbroken, go if you haven’t (yet), just go, go, go!’ ★★★★★ — Everything Theatre London

The Show

A woman’s heart breaks. But what actually happens next — inside the body, inside the mind, inside the story we tell ourselves?

Straight from an Off-Broadway run, Heartbreak Hotel sees acclaimed New Zealand company EBKM (Yes Yes Yes) blend storytelling, science, and synth-driven music to explore heartbreak from the inside out. Part love story, part physiology lesson, the show follows one woman as she tries — earnestly, awkwardly, and often hilariously — to understand what it really means when love ends.

Directed by Eleanor Bishop and performed by Karin McCracken, with Simon Leary slipping between ex-lovers, best friends, and emotional ghosts, the journey moves through bad Tinder dates, club nights in Berlin, lo-fi breakup songs, and tentative new beginnings. Iconic tracks surface along the way — songs like I Can’t Make You Love Me, It's All Coming Back to Me, and Heartbreak Hotel itself — echoing the moments when words fall short and music says everything.

As she studies the chemistry of love, shrinking us down to a cellular level and taking a cool, clinical look at her own pain, one truth becomes clear: some feelings resist explanation — especially when you’re making tacos for one.

Funny, raw, and unexpectedly tender, Heartbreak Hotel is for anyone who’s loved deeply and lost painfully. A show for broken hearts, open hearts, and anyone who knows that connection — messy, fragile, and beautiful — is what makes us human.

Creator's Note:

Karin McCracken

“I wanted to create a show that touched on the almost universal issue of heartbreak. Eleanor and I were working with students from Victoria University, with the aim of making a new work for tertiary students about emotional resiliency. We realized that a lot of what we ended up discussing revolved around key relationships, conflict, and heartbreak. Which were the same things we were thinking about as people in our 30s, so we shifted focus to building something that would resonate with many age groups. We know from the research that connection with others helps when you’re heartbroken, as does having art and awe experiences. Making a show that brings people together so they can reflect on their own experiences of heartbreak while making them laugh at the same time felt socially useful and a fun way to explore something that most of us both go through and recover from.”

Run time: 75 minutes

Location: The Fleck at Harbourfront Centre Theatre 

Audience Advisory: Flashing lights, Smoke/Haze, The show is most suitable for ages 12+. 

Access Measures: An Access Guide and Venue Guide are available HERE 

To find out more information, please contact our Access Concierge, Emily Maxwell, at access@luminato.com

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