AUGUST
ONE THUMB OUT
By Tom MacLachlan, Director: Zoe Carides
The Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre
www.rocksurfers.org
Sunday 1st,
Monday 2nd August 2010 8.00pm
Ticket Prices:
Adult:$22 Concession:$15 BLS:$35
ONE THUMB OUT enjoyed a sellout season in Sydney in 2002 and resounding praise amongst critics – “It’s a ripper” (Sun Herald) and “this is a production that is meaty, muscular and moving” (Sydney Morning Herald). Directed by Zoe Carides and featuring a revered cast, this play is funny, touching and original.
BRONTE
By Polly Teale, Directed by Paige Rattray
ATYP Under the Wharf Season, Studio 1, The Wharf Pier 4/5 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay
www.brontetheplay.com
July 22- August 7 2010
$27/$22
Brontё is a play that transcends time and place to explore the lives, both real and imagined, of Charlotte, Emily & Anne Brontё; three of the most read authors in the English language. But this is no bonnet drama; instead it re-imagines the lives of these three women. It questions what inspired them to follow their passion in a world where their talent and ambition was so firmly discouraged, and examines what it means to succeed. It will challenge the audience to give into the imagination and to escape into the world of Charlotte, Emily & Anne
FATBOY
by John Clancy, directed by Scott Selkirk
New Directions Season, New Theatre
www.newtheatre.org
4 – 7 August
A satire on modern America’s insatiable appetites – whether gobbling up gigantic steaks or small nations – presented as a live-action Punch and Judy show. The brutish Fatboy, along with his monstrous wife, Queen Fudgie the First, is standing trial for war crimes. Despite overwhelming evidence the court refuses to convict and succumbs to Fatboy’s “persuasive” tactics. Inspired by Alfred Jarry’s absurdist masterpiece Ubu Roi this fast-moving, shocking, profane, dead-on indictment of the American hunger for power, violence and generally more of everything won the Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award in 2004.
ELECTRONIC CITY
by Falk Richter (trans. Marlene Norst), Directed by Ngaire O’Leary
New Directions Season, New Theatre
4 – 7 August
$22
Tom is a ‘consultant’; his only foothold is the porno channel in his hotel room, but wandering the corridors at 2am he’s no longer certain where he is: Berlin, London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore. Joy is a stand-in on the scanner till at an airport store; she dreams of George Clooney. But tonight the system has broken down; she panics; she remembers Tom. They fell in love fighting over the last place on a flight home to Berlin. Arrested and locked up together, it was the start of a great romance. Now her life has become reality television. This quirky fantasy is both a disturbing elegy on the modern-day electronic-media-riddled metropolis and a neo-romantic love story for the 21st century.
ANTIGONE
by Sophecles directed by Olivia Satchell
Sydney University Dramatioc Society, The Cellar Theatre
28 July- 7 August
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, disobeys the orders of Creon, king of Thebes, who forbids the burial of her brother Polyneices, a traitor to the city. After Antigone buries Polyneices, Creon condemns her to death and has her buried alive in a cave. Though warned by the prophet Tiresias, Creon sticks to his decree. Creon eventually yields and decides to free Antigone but he arrives at the cave too late — Antigone has hanged herself and is already dead. Creon’s son, Haemon, who had been engaged to marry Antigone, is enraged at his father and, failing to kill him, kills himself. Creon’s wife also commits suicide.
THE POSSIBILITIES
By Howard Barker, directed by Justine Campbell, Marcel Dorney, Travis Green, Fiona Hallenan-Barker
Sidetrack Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville
$25/$20
7- 28 August
The Possibilities are snap shots of global, sexual and domestic politics by legendary British writer Howard Barker that are biting, satirical and full of energy. Through 10 seductive and brilliantly written scenarios, Howard Barker (Victory, The Castle) offers us The Possibilities – that take us to the extremes of human experience. Be tempted into the world of torturers, prostitutes and murderers where no-one is safe from Barker’s caustic wit.
Justine Campbell, Marcel Dorney, Travis Green & Fiona Hallenan-Barker are a unique Directing Collaborate, and have come together to approach the challenges of Barker’s unique style. This collective, laboratory approach has evolved from working closely with renowned Melbourne-based writer/director Jenny Kemp.
Soundtrack by Tony Award-nominated Russell Goldsmith, lighting by Martin Kinnane, and designed by two of Melbourne’s youngest and most brilliant, Chloe Greaves and David Samuel. Programmed by Sidetrack Theatre’s Artistic Director Kate Gaul as the keystone of the inaugural season.
The Possibilities brings together the most exciting creative talent from Sydney and Melbourne in what promises to be a stand out theatrical event.
ALASKA
Written by DC Moore, Directed by Janice Muller
ATYP Under the Wharf Season, Studio 1, The Wharf Pier 4/5 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay
$29/$24
11 August – 28 August
www.atyp.com.au
Frank barely tolerates his job in a cinema kiosk. But when Mamta joins the staff and quickly becomes his boss – Frank is not pleased. How can a Paki tell him what to do?
THE GRIFFIN AWARD
Griffin Theatre, Stables Theatre, Nimrod Street, Kings Cross
17 August
www.griffintheatre.com.au
The Griffin Award is an annual $10,000 prize offered for an outstanding new Australian play or performance text. Now in its 13th year, the Griffin Award celebrates the bright future of Australian drama. More than 150 nominations were received from every state in 2009. This award is made possible by the generous ongoing support of PKF Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers.
DAMAGES
Griffin Theatre, Stables Theatre, Nimrod Street, Kings Cross
18 August
www.currency.com.au
As part of Griffin Theatre’s Housewarming week, Currency Press will be launching Damage, a collection of four plays by John Romeril, followed by a forum exploring the idea of a ‘lost’ repertoire in our theatre.
Join us for a discussion with playwrights John Romeril and Rebecca Clarke, theatre critic John McCallum and Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre, Sam Strong, on remembering, recognising and rejoicing in our theatrical repertoire.
WOYZECK
By Georg Buchner, directed by Netta Yashchin
B-Sharp, Belvoir St Theatre
5 August – 29 August
$32/$24
www.belvoir.com.au
Poor and desperately trying to provide for his wife and young child, Woyzeck agrees to take part in a military medical trial to top up his measly soldier’s pay. Subjected to bizarre medical experiments, the oppressive regime of the military and finally the infidelity of his wife, what sane action is left for Woyzeck to take?
THE SCHELLING POINT
by Ron Elisha, directed by Sarah Goodes
The Old Fitzroy Theatre
11 August – 11 September
$29/$21
www. rocksurfers.org
What happens when two parties are unable to communicate and reach a common ground? What happens when the stakes are so high the future of the world depends on it? Alls fair in love and war, or so they say. But when the players are John F Kennedy, Stanley Kubrick, Tom Schelling, Peter Sellers, Frank Sinatra and a Cuban Missile Crisis, the outcome is anything but expected.
THE HOUR WE KNEW NOTHING OF EACH OTHER
NIDA and LEGS ON THE WALL
by Peter Handke, translated by Meredith Oakes, directed by Patrick Nolan.
21 – 24 August 2010
Customs House Square, Circular Quay Sydney
Legs on the Wall is the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation Artist-in-Residence at NIDA in 2010. The residency has been designed to engage students across all disciplines in the practical exploration of physical theatre through workshops, culminating in a major out-door, site specific production. The play is a meditation on a city square, in which we bear witness to the lives of over four hundred characters as they come and go on their daily rounds. Tramps, firemen, hunters, queens, superheroes and babies are some of the multitude you will encounter in this remarkable play, in which so much is revealed but not a word is spoken. The forecourt of Customs House was specially chosen for this production as its history, like the play, carries the traces of the rich community of lives that have walked through it and lived upon it for the past forty thousand years or more. This is an outdoor performance. The sound will be broadcast through individual headsets.
AT THE DRIVE IN
Shopfront Theatre and Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
directed by TJ Eckleberg
27 – 29 August, 7.30pm
Free
www.shopfront.org.au
Hazlehurst Regional Gallery & Art Centre, 782 Kingsway Gymea
At the Drive-in is an original performance, featuring young and emerging artists, that blurs the lines between social commentary, film, dance, music and more. Zombies, Aliens and Humans unite in a unique peace initiative
BLUEPRINT RESIDENCY SHOWING
FraserStudios, 14 Kensington Street, Chippendale
28 August
www.queenstreetstudio.com
Queen Street Studio is excited to present a new residency program for emerging artists. Blueprint is an opportunity for performance-makers to create a devised site-specific work at FraserStudios in August 2010. Open to performers from all backgrounds and disciplines, Blueprint aims to provide emerging artists with time and space to develop their practise and artistic enquiry.
“Looking” in Studio 10
Scarlet McGlynn, Phil Spencer, Brooke Robinson, Gemma O’Nions, Glen Judd
“Have you ever Wanted?” in Studio 12
Huw Lewis & Jacqui O’Reilly
“Discarnate” in Studio 14
Megan Garrett-Jones and Amy Wilson
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JULY
UNDER MILK WOOD
By Dylan Thomas
Created by Vanessa Hughes and Zoe Norton Lodge
Bambina Borracha Productions
Sidetrack Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville
30 June- 18 July
www.bambinaborracha.com
In the tiny Welsh town of Llareggub everyone is brimming with a story and the walls trickle secrets to mingle with the sea air. It is glorious springtime and blind Captain Cat listens to the busy world from the curtained porthole of Schooner House. Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price smuggle letters of forbidden love up and down the street as lovely Polly Garter sings to her flock of babies.
Under Milk Wood is Dylan Thomas’ great love letter to the Welsh countryside that he wrote and left behind in a pub. Bambina Borracha Production’s new tilt on the classic play for voices rebuilds the village in Sydney with the same curiosity and ratbag humour. It speaks to life in a small town, where faces are familiar for countless reasons. Isolation and gentle interest in other people’s business creates an intricate community where everyone knows a little bit more than they probably should.
THE COLOUR BLIND SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL
Curated by Josipa Draisma and Stephanie Son
30th June- 10th July
The Colour Blind Project aims to nurture its talent and continue to create inclusive, innovative and provocative theatre for audiences across Australia. The Colour Blind Project festival 2010 will feature nine new Australian short works directed by nine directors featuring an ensemble of 17 talented multicultural and indigenous performers at The Tap Gallery Theatre, Darlinghurst, 30th June – 10th July.
LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
By Eugene O’Neill , Directed by Andrew Upton
Sydney Theatre
3rd July- 1st August
www.sydneytheatre.com.au
n this magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Eugene O’Neill (Mourning Becomes Electra, Desire Under The Elms) paints a vivid and disturbing portrait of a family tormented by the past and paralysed by the prospect of the future. Actor James Tyrone (William Hurt), his wife Mary (Robyn Nevin) and their two adult sons James and Edmund, have retreated to their Connecticut holiday house where they will be ensconced for the summer. During the course of the ‘long day’ of the play’s title this family battles to unearth, and conceal, a series of appalling truths.
CROOKED
By Catherine Trieschmann, directed by Nastassja Djalog
New Theatre 542 King Street, Newtown
14 – 17 July
$22
Fourteen-year-old Laney arrives in Oxford, Mississippi, with a twisted back, a mother in crisis and a burning desire to be a writer. When she befriends born-again Christian Maribel Purdy, a fervent believer in the power of Jesus Christ to save her from the humiliations of high school, Laney embarks on a hilarious spiritual and sexual journey that challenges her mother’s secular worldview and threatens to tear their fragile relationship apart. This gloriously funny play pokes fun at America’s Bible belt while also taking on the more serious issues of religion, mental health and Sapphic sexual awakening.
UNDERBELLY ARTS FESTIVAL
Fraser Studios
8th- 18th July
www.underbellyarts.com.au
Underbelly Arts returns this year bringing together 100 of Sydney’s brightest theatre-makers, film-makers, musicians, installation artists, puppeteers, sound artists, publishers and aerialists together to develop new work. It is a ten-day artist residency (The Lab) which has free daily public tours and a festival finale (The Festival), a ticketed event inviting you to an exhibition and celebration of the work developed throughout the Lab.
MACQUARIE
By Alex Buzo, Directed by Wayne Harrison
Lennox Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatre
17th July – 31 July 2010
www.alexbuzo.com.au
It’s MACQUARIE, Dad – but not as we know it…
What happens when internationally renowned director Wayne Harrison is given license to defy preconceptions towards a play about ‘The Father of Australia’ by the daughter and custodian of its late great Australian playwright? Trouble, most likely. And lots of fun. This contemporary and contentious re-imagining of Alex Buzo’s award-winning classic is the flagship performing arts event for the 200th anniversary of Macquarie’s leadership in 2010. Australian playwriting’s great stylist illuminates the rise and fall of Governor Macquarie ‘The Father of Australia’, a remarkable man whose foresight and enlightened policies gave Sydney some of its finest buildings and whose humanitarian policies dared to give convicts ‘a fair go’, transforming the colony of New South Wales from an outdoor gaol into a prosperous and free society.
LIKE A FISHBONE
By Anthony Weigh, directed by Tim Maddock
Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company
20th July- 7th August 2010
$15- $45
A single act of fury has left a small rural community in shock.
Months later, in an office many miles away, an architect prepares to present her plans for the memorial she has created in their honour. The unannounced arrival of a visitor interrupts proceedings; a grieving mother who wants to share a story of hope and faith so that her community can begin to live again.
IN STEREO
By Oleg Pupulic and Tara Clark, directed by Ian Zammit
Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre, Woolloomoolloo
www.rocksurfers.org
$25/$20
Two individual sources of music often clash awkwardly, rarely “click”. However, a careful listen, maybe some fine tuning, and something greater, and beautiful, can appear.
She thought she was going to marry him. He’s too shy to ask her out. She looks for love online. He’s a divorcee who can’t let go. He just wants to roundhouse kick a chick. But none of them can figure out why they just keep screwing it up.
DIRTY BUTTERFLY
By Debbie Tucker Green, directed by Wayne Blair
Bsharp & Arts Radar
www.belvoir.com.au
$32/$24
Wayne Blair (Ruben Guthrie, Jesus Hopped the A Train) returns to B Sharp in 2010 with an inspired interpretation of Debbie Tucker Green’s confronting exploration of voyeurism, power and guilt Dirty Butterfly. Trapped in a cycle of poverty and racial discrimination, Amelia and Jason cannot escape the dark and compelling world of their neighbour Jo, who in turn cannot seem to break from the reality of her own horrors. Linked by proximity and common misfortune, these three lives become entwined, separated only by the paper-thin walls of their tenement flats. Enthralling and intense, Dirty Butterfly plays out like a wonderfully unpredictable piece of music swinging from the lyrical to the discordant.
THE BIG ONE
By Dick Reichman, directed by Rosane McNamara
New Directions Season, New Theatre
www.newtheatre.org
$22
They called it ‘The Big One’. A few minutes after midnight on Good Friday, 24 March 1989, an environmental disaster occurred the consequences of which are still felt today. When an Exxon tanker spilled its cargo of crude oil off the coast of Valdez, Alaska, the devastation was catastrophic. This play – part docu-drama, part taut thriller – uncovers the complexity of the events to reveal the people behind the headlines, the grubby politics involved in protecting ‘Big Oil’ and the terrible impact on individuals and the wider community.
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JUNE
BUG
www.griffintheatre.com.au
Directed by Anthony Skuse, Written by Tracy Letts
15th May-5th June 2010
Agnes lives in a seedy motel on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Living a twilight existence, fueled by alcohol and drugs, she is haunted by the memory of her missing son. When a handsome stranger enters her world, he brings with him an unexpected infestation. Soon the motel room becomes a haven for forces out to destroy them both, and a half-open doorway becomes an entrance to hell. Bug is a comic thriller about paranoia and loss by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts (August: Osage County). Tapping into our anxieties about personal and political responsibility, it examines the fractures of broken trust.
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11 and 12
Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord
Directed by Peter Brook, adapted from the work of Amadou Hampaté Bâby Marie-Hélène Estienne
Thursday 3 to Sunday 13 June
Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/2010/add-ons/eleven-and-twelve
Tickets: $40 – $90
Peter Brook is widely regarded as the greatest theatre director of his time and his pioneering work at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris is the stuff of legend. His landmark production of The Mahabharata remains one of the greatest theatre works ever presented in Australia. In his last production as director of the Bouffes du Nord, he has brought together a brilliant company of actors from around the globe to explore an extraordinary conflict in West Africa under French occupation, based on the true story of Sufi mystic Tierno Bokar. Written by Amadou Hampaté Bâ about his real life teacher, it shows how a dispute over whether a certain prayer should be recited 11 or 12 times leads inexorably to hatred and massacres. The question of violence and the true place of tolerance make this epic story more than ever relevant today.
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THE SEAGULL
by Anton Chekhov in a new version by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Kate Gaul
Sidetrack Theatre,
www.sidetrack.com.au or www.sirentheatreco.com/the-seagull
Tuesday – Saturday 8pm;
Sundays 5pm until June 27th.
Tickets $30/$24
The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896 It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplov, and the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin.
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Creative Sydney
www.creativesydney.com.au
5-13 June 2010
Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay
FREE
Creative Sydney invites you to join outstanding entrepreneurs, creative practitioners and community campaigners to make Sydney a better place for creativity and commerce. Creative Sydney invites you to participate and celebrate; to be inspired by cross-disciplinary experiments; and to help shape the future of our city’s creative culture. A mix of discussions, presentations, performances and parties provide an opportunity to spark connections across the creative industries. Register here to attend one or more of our 20 free events or join us in the Festival Bar or at the Creative Sydney Block Party.
I’m seeing:
Creation & Curation- 5th June 2010
Creative/Commercial – 9th June 2010
Making It Happen- 11th June 2010
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W;T
written by Margaret Edson directed by Jane Eakin
New Theatre
10th June- 10th July 2010
$28/$22
www.newtheatre.org
Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English, has devoted her life to rigorous academic pursuits. In her 50s, unmarried, childless, without family, her life revolves around her study of the metaphysical 17th century poet John Donne. She is tough, demanding and uncompromising as both scholar and teacher. When Vivian is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer she determines to battle this illness using the same methodical and rational approach she uses in her work. In an attempt to beat the disease, Vivian embarks on a radical treatment program. The health professionals she encounters view her as little more than a medical experiment and she gradually realises that she would much prefer kindness and compassion to intellect. As she tries to reconcile mind and body, Vivian comes to appreciate what is truly valuable in her life. A subtle and intelligent play that asks us to question the way we live our lives, the choices we make and the relationships we form, W;t is that rare beast: art that engages both the heart and the mind.
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New Theatre Season Launch
28th June, 6pm- 7pm
The Bank Hotel, Newtown
Launching the season for the second half of 2010.
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Artslab Industry Feedback Night
Shopfront Theatre
88 Carlton Parade, Carlton, NSW
www.shopfront.org.au
A work in progress evening for Shopfront Theatre’s Artists in Residence:
Alice Cooper – writer, performer, director /Aslam Abdus-samad – performer, filmmaker, theatre-maker/ Clara MacDermott – writer, performer, director/ Sime Knezevic – writer, performer, theatre-maker/ Sybella Stevens – performer, theatre-maker, director. ArtsLab10 is an intensive arts laboratory and six month residency from April 27 – November 3 at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre. ArtsLab gives emerging artists (aged 18-25) from across Australia the space, resources, training, and industry connections to experiment, create work and prepare for a lifetime as an artist. Now in its fourth year, ArtsLab has launched new work created by a number of extraordinary emerging artists.
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MAY
Nyuntu Ngali (You We Two)
Writer and Director Scott Rankin
5th-14th May 2010 7pm
Wharf 2 Sydney Theatre Company
www.sydneytheatre.com.au/2010/add-ons/nyuntu-ngali
$25/$31
It is the 22nd century in central Australia. Everyday life is basic in this future world. The post climate change environment demands that skills for living return to the way they were for thousands of years before that fast-paced period of just 10 generations, which resulted in global warming and the near destruction of the planet. Eva and Roam have fallen in love and they face a life and death predicament as they run from an unseen enemy, because of their wrong-skin marriage. This moving and powerful story of survival in both English and Pitjanjatjara is interspersed with sand storytelling, choreography, video art, shadow play, weaving and a highly atmospheric musical score.
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Harmony from Heaven
The Sydney Symphony
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
13 May 2010
Starting from $35
In space, if you listen, you can hear the stars sing. Georges Lentz, with his profound musical vision and love of the night sky, brings that sound into the concert hall – pure and serene. We premiered Guyuhmgan in 2001, and for its return Lentz has added solos for two of our woodwind principals. The music’s soft tones find affinity in the delicate austerity of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, and Beethoven’s heroic tone-poem in miniature balances Sibelius’s most memorable symphony. Sibelius also claimed heavenly inspiration. Writing his Fifth Symphony, he said it was if God had thrown down mosaic pieces from heaven and asked him to put them back as they were – for Sibelius composing was like a celestial jigsaw puzzle, an aching mystery that even he didn’t fully understand. We may not understand the process either, but we recognise the result – invigorating and life-affirming. Featured non-Australian music: Sibelius, Stravinsky, Beethoven
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Waiting For Godot
Written by Samuel Beckett, Directed by Luke Rogers
New Theatre
29th April- 29th May 2010
www.newtheatre.org.au
$28/$22
Vladimir and Estragon wait on a desolate road for the arrival of someone – or something – named Godot. They pass the time with comical wordplay, philosophical debate and nonsensical arguments. Will Godot ever appear? Why are they waiting? What does it matter? This magical, absurdly funny allegory on our constant search for meaning raises more questions than answers. The action is all in the passing of time. When Beckett’s play exploded onto the stage 57 years ago, it helped redefine and change the very nature of theatre itself. “Waiting for Godot” has been recognised as the most significant play of the 20th century.
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Redemption
Written by Jonathan Ari Lander directed by Fiona Pulford
Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre, Cnr Catherdral and Dowling Streets Wooloomooloo
www.rocksurfers.org
18th May-12th June 2010
$29/$22
A plague ravaged world at the edge of time…One family has survived. Their daughter,blind, is showing symptoms of the sickness. They believe they are the last people alive on earth and that through their trust in God they will be saved and the world will be reborn. A storm begins to gather. A stranger arrives who offers to save them. Is he a savior or has he come to destroy them? Finally the raging, burning storm breaks, trapping all four inside. Forced together, suspicions and confrontations begin. Sexual inhibitions and boundaries start to collapse, fuelled by the escalating dreams and visions of the blind daughter.
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The Folding Wife
Written by Paschal Daantos Berry, directed by Deborah Pollard
19-22 May 2010
www.carriageworks.com.au/?page=Event&event=The-Folding-Wife
$30/$20
Integrating poetic text with the unique visual language of Manila-based Anino Shadowplay Collective, The Folding Wife is a physical theatre performance concerned with the stories of three generations of women and their one shared goal: to leave the poverty and uncertainty of their homeland for the promises of the First World. This deeply moving story explores the external and internal landscape that propels people to scatter across the face of the earth and the consequences it has for personal and cultural identity.
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Off The Shelf and Into the Fringe
FraserStudios, Kensington Street, Chippendale
www.queenstreetstudio.com/offtheshelf
30th May, 2010 2pm
Invitation Only
After the success of Off The Shelf in 2009, Queen Street Studio presents the third Off the Shelf – a residency for writers and directors interested in developing a script, potentially to be performed at the inaugural The Sydney Fringe. Off the Shelf is an opportunity for writers and directors to hothouse a script that is in the early stages of development. Off the Shelf is supported by the City of Sydney and aims to focus the skills of theatre practitioners on a previously unproduced script of their choice, whilst strengthening relationships between emerging writers and directors. This is a unique opportunity to explore a script which may have been “shelved”, or may be in a seed stage and needs a little bit of time, space and feedback to get to the next phase.
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APRIL
The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman: AKA Bob Dylan (A Lie) – A theatrical talking blues and glissendorf
Written by Benito Di Fonzo, Directed by Lucinda Gleeson
7 April – 24 April 2010
The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo
www.rocksurfers.org
Fresh from a critically acclaimed season at the Adelaide Fringe The Chronic Ills hits the Fitz! It’s is a hilarious surrealo-absudist theatrical reimagining of the life and (weird) times of folk-rock legend and pop cultural icon Bob Dylan. Brought to you by the The Tamarama Rock Surfers, the show is a reverent-but-playful homage to this notoriously enigmatic man.
GO TO http://www.rocksurfers.org/thechronicills for tickets
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Love Me Tender
Written by Tom Holloway, Directed by Matthew Lutton
18 March to 11 April 2010
Belvoir St Theatre/ Griffin Theatre
www.belvoir.com.au
$45/$36
On a simple stage – a dreamed-up version of the Australian backyard – five actors tease out the story of a father and his daughter. Blurring character and perspective, their fluid accounts morph seamlessly between observation and intention, postulation and provocation, cajolement and confession. By the story’s end, a dream of modern life has become a searing tragedy of leadership and sacrifice. Love Me Tender is formally inventive, rich in beauty and emotional power. Inspired by Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis, playwright Tom Holloway and director Matthew Lutton are two of Australia’s most exciting and original theatre artists. Griffin premiered their first highly acclaimed collaboration, Don’t Say The Words, back in 2008. This time we’ve teamed up with Company B Belvoir and ThinIce to present this audacious new work at the Belvoir St Theatre.
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Blood Wedding
Written by Federico Garcia Lorca , Directed by Aarne Neeme
13-17 April 2010
Cleveland Street Theatre, 199 Cleveland St, Sydney Central
http://www.actt.edu.au/current-productions-events
Tickets: $25 Full/ $15 Concession and Previews (10 & 12 April).
Blood Wedding is a story of love, lust and betrayal, inspired by a newspaper article about a young bride who escaped with her childhood sweetheart on the very day of her arranged marriage. Set against the turbulence of the Spanish Civil War in the early 1900’s, this story of ultimate passion soon spirals into treachery and bloodshed as the lovers are overcome by forces that they can neither control nor comprehend. One of the greatest dramatic poets of the 20th Century, Federico Garcia Lorca, has sculptured this true story into a rich, compelling and cathartic classic that stabs at the very heart of human nature. Enter the exotic and complex world of Lorca with renowned director Aaarne Neeme, internationally respected vocal coach Russell Smith, and the 2010 ACTT Graduates.
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Sydney Comedy Festival
Henry Rollins- Frequent Flyer Tour
Tom Green- Stand up World Tour
Dave Bloustein- A complete History of Western Philosophy
$Various
www.sydneycomedyfest.com.au
Welcome to the 2010 Sydney Comedy Festival – that time of year when the city asks itself whether chickens really do cross roads, how dogs smell when they have no nose, and what is it with airline food (am I right ladies)?
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Stockholm
Written by Bryony Lavery, Directors and Choreographers Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett
www.sydneytheatre.com.au
Sydney Theatre Company
Today is Todd’s birthday. Tomorrow he and Kali will fly to Stockholm to celebrate. They awoke this morning in each other’s arms, ate a late breakfast, drank coffee and watched an arthouse film. It was the perfect day. Now at home in their tastefully furnished kitchen, hidden away from the world, their families, friends and love rivals, they are at their happiest. However, as the meal is prepared the probability of them ever reaching the first course gradually decreases. Slowly and painfully these impossible lovers will consume one another. Groundbreaking British physical theatre company, Frantic Assembly, remount their lauded production of Bryony Lavery’s Stockholm with Sydney Theatre Company. Treading a fine line between fantasy and reality, this mesmerisingly powerful piece of dance-theatre reveals a relationship that is founded on co-dependency, obsession and abuse.
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Crave /Lot’s Wife
www.abitontheside.net
28th April- 8th May 2010
$25/$20
PACT Theatre, Erskineville
Crave- Written by Sarah Kane, directed by Felicity Nicol. Life is a series of moments. Moments of celebration, loss, love, and banality. But all are moments, and everything passes as quickly as it comes. But what happens if a moment doesn’t pass you by. What happens when the promise of something new is replaced with repetition. What happens when the world stops?
Lot’s Wife – Written and directed by Carolyn Eccles
“Escape for thy life; look not behind thee.” Genesis 19:17.
Lot’s Wife, a physical retelling of the biblical story, mixes classical images with modern themes of stagnancy, disconnection and the desperate plea behind the act of story-telling, to deliver one woman’s act of choosing to stand still. A world within one woman, stuck in the act of looking back. Lot’s Wife is a mixed text and movement piece that invites the audience gently to participate in an attempted releasing and acknowledgement of the sad heroism of defending stagnancy.
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Whatever Happened to the STC Actor’s Company?
Written by James Waites
Launch 28th April 2010- Currency House, Cleveland Street
$15 per copy
www.currencyhouse.org.au/pages/pp_issue_23
The Actors Company was the visionary initiative of Robyn Nevin, Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, who in 2004 persuaded NSW Premier, Bob Carr, to fund an experimental ensemble. It had been Nevin’s dream but her major responsibilities soon drew her away and left the group to the mercy of itinerant directors. Personal crises, accident and frustration dissipated the original ensemble; they became hostage to crippling costs and the demands of the mainstage.
It was formally disbanded in 2009 after The War of the Roses. It left the actors with mixed emotions, and the conviction that, with what they now know, they would do it all again.
James Waites is best known for his work as drama critic for the National Times in the 1980s and the Sydney Morning Herald in the 1990s. He has written widely on theatre and has his own theatre-based website, www.jameswaites.com.
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MARCH
Nigel Kennedy and Sydney Symphony Orchestra
www.sydneysymphony.com/seasons/2010/productions/
1st March
No one ever expects ordinary music-making at a Nigel Kennedy concert. He’s a serious musician who takes his fun seriously and breaks down the barriers at every turn.
On this visit Nigel and his friends will be putting the jazz into Bach and the art into the standards of Duke Ellington. Sure, he’ll stomp about the stage and he’ll talk to you like the others don’t, and you can be sure the concert won’t come out till late. But you can also bet on great music and great artistry all night long. Wicked. A unique mix of highlights from the music of Johann Sebastian BACH and Duke ELLINGTON
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Death in Bowengabbie
Written and Directed by Caleb Lewis
Starring Andrew Brackman
11 March-26 March
www.www.rocksurfers.org
Welcome to Bowengabbie where the elderly abound and meals-on-wheels is a boom-industry. The only thing bringing anyone back is a funeral.
Death in Bowengabbie follows Oscar, a young man called back to his old home-town to attend a series of increasingly bizarre funerals as the locals compete to throw Bowengabbie’s biggest ever send-off. Watch the uproarious plot unfold when Oscar arrives back to this Australian country town where all the young people have left and only the elderly remain in one of the most tender, enjoyable comedies to hit Australian theatres this year.
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Orestes 2.0
Written by Charles Mee, Directed by Kate Revz
www.griffintheatre.com.au
17 Feb-13 Mar
A thrilling channel surf between the ancient Greeks and American pop culture, Orestes 2.0 is a radical response to Euripides’ post-war tragedy.It is six days after the murder of Clytemnestra at the hands of her children, Orestes and Electra. The Furies haunt Orestes. Electra is in damage control. Veterans returned from the Trojan War find the nightmares, disorder and ruin of battle have followed them home. Charles Mee’s electrifying play slices together verbatim material from court transcripts, the poetry of Apollinaire, the TV Guide, autopsy reports and pop song lyrics to create a unique and blistering examination of State, Fate, War and Love.
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FEBRUARY
B-SHARP 2010 LAUNCH| Belvoir St Theatre
www.belvoir.com.au
1 February 2010
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GRIFFIN INDEPENDENT LAUNCH|Stables Theatre
www.griffintheatre.com.au
3 February 2010
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THAT FACE| Company B
www.belvoir.com.au
6 Feb- 14 March
Written by Polly Stenham
Directed by Lee Lewis
That Face is Gen Y’s revenge on the Baby Boomers. Stenham was 19 when she wrote it and 20 when it wowed audiences at London’s acclaimed Royal Court Theatre in 2007. She’s created a mesmerising eruption of humour and cruelty, wisdom and insolence. There’s a touch of the classic about this play – the age-old battle between parents and their children to own the future. And in Martha, the mother of the family, Stenham has written a captivating theatrical monster to compete with the best of them.
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FAITH NO MORE| Hordern Pavillion
22 February 2010
Faith No More has always stood out as a unique beast; part dog, part cat—its music almost as schizophrenic as the personalities of its members. Their chemistry is undeniable. 11 years after famously calling it a day in April 1998, Faith No More stunned the music world by announcing their reformation earlier this year. Their comeback shows have been met with unanimous rapture from fans and critics alike. A statement from Faith No More confirmed that they are “still young and strong enough to deliver a kickass set, with enthusiasm to not only revisit our past but possibly add something to the present. And so with this we’ve decided to hold our collective breaths and jump off this cliff…. BACK, GOD FORBID, INTO THE MONKEY CAGE!!!”
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JANUARY
THE PITCH | Darlinghurst Theatre
www.darlinghursttheatre.com
8-30 January
Written and performed by Peter Houghton
Directed by Anne Browning
The Pitch is a hilarious satire about the trials and tribulations of an Aussie trying to crack the big time in Hollywood. We watch as aspiring screenwriter Watler Weinerman desperately practices pitching his film concept to an all powerful Hollywood flim industry panel. In this hilarious panic stricken and desperate effort Walter demonstrates all the roles that he hopes will be played by Hollywood’s A-list actors, including a clenched teeth Clint Eastwood, a debonair Sir Anthony Hopkins and a scintillating Catherine Zeta Jones.
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SHOOT THE PLAYER LAUNCH | Carriageworks
www.shoottheplayer.com
8-30 January 2010
Shoot The Player is Amelia Tovey, Jonathan Wald and their friends.
Shoot the Player are a Sydney-based cult DIY film project. Their films feature well-known Australian and International artists in unpredictable and spontaneous performance scenarios. In every Shoot the Player film, the movements of both musician and filmmaker are raw and unplanned, with Sydney itself playing a key role as the musician interacts with the ever-changing city surrounds. Film and music come together to create a unique visual soundtrack of great music performed live on Sydney streets. Shoot the Player encourages audiences to see and hear in a completely new way, by putting great musicians in iconic locations where you’d never expect them to be-
Sarah Blasko in a tattoo parlour.
Amanda Palmer in her pyjamas.
Ben Lee at Rushcutters Bay.
Bob Evans at Bourke St Bakery.
Beach House at Tamarama.
Jack Ladder at the dog track.
Kaki King at the War Memorial.
Megan Washington at Woolloomooloo.
Reggie Watts at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels.
Cloud Control at Taylor Square.
St Vincent in an empty Spielgeltent.
Andrew Bird at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. And many more…
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MIDNITE | New Theatre
www.newtheatre.org.au
9 – 23 January 2010
Adapted by Richard Tulloch from the book by Randolph Stow:
“The Story of a Wild Colonial Boy’’
Directors Jennifer Monk and Jodine Muir
Midnite is a young, brave, not very handsome and not very bright 17 year old colonial boy. When his father dies, his five animal friends decide to look after him. Khat, his sleek, brave, very handsome and very bright Siamese, suggests he becomes a bushranger, and his proud and noble horse, Red Ned, offers to help. But bushranging isn’t very easy, especially when Trooper O’Grady keeps putting you in the great gray gaol by the sea …
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HAMLET| Schaubühne Berlin & Sydney Festival
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Theatre/Hamlet
8-16 January
By William Shakespeare
Director: Thomas Ostermeier
Translator: Marius von Mayenburg
Director Thomas Ostermeier’s audacious production finds new human revelations and fresh political insights in the centuries-old story of Denmark’s corrupt court – a system that has become a paranoid maze for Hamlet. Murder, betrayal, manipulation and sexuality are just some of the weapons he uses in his fight to preserve power.
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TROLLEY BOYS | TRS & Old Fitzroy Theatre
www.rocksurfers.org/trolleyboys
8-30 January
Written by Alex Cullen/ Directed by Michael Dahlstrom
Four trolley collectors embark on a life-changing journey across a suburban swamp filled with zombies and hepatitis. They discover that beyond the safety of the shopping centre car park lies a murderous, spleen-sucking world of terror and delight. BMX bandits, puppy-love, hocus-pocus and mums in Land Rovers, all in a days work for the Trolley Boys.
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THE FENCE| Urban Theatre Projects & Sydney Festival
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Theatre/The-Fence
January 14-30 at 8.30pm
Directed by Alicia Talbot
The Fence is an explosive story of love, belonging and dispossession. The performance takes place in a purpose-built family home in western Sydney. The story is of the resilience and wisdom of five middle-aged Australians, four of whom grew up in care as part of the Stolen Generations and Forgotten Australians.
Director Alicia Talbot, renowned for her collaborative and dialogue-driven approach, delivers a raw and poetic portrait of contemporary life.
The Fence was devised by a team of artists working in consultation with Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members with related experiences.
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SMOKE & MIRRORS | Sydney Festival
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Theatre/Smoke-Mirrors
13-31 January 2010
Director Craig Illot
In 2010, Sydney Festival and the producers of La Clique unveil a brand new show – Smoke & Mirrors. Leave everyday life behind, enter the seductive world of The Famous Spiegeltent and abandon yourself to a lavish and lyrical adventure of the fantastical kind. Part vaudeville, part fantasy, Smoke & Mirrors takes you on a journey across an illusory landscape, accompanied by some dangerously charismatic strangers and the extraordinary talents of iOTA (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).
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YAK RESIDENCY SHOWCASE | Shopfront Theatre
www.shopfront.org.au
16th January 2010
YAK Events is supporting groups and individuals the opportunity to develop new or existing work during a two week residency at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre. There are no restrictions on the style, genre or nature of the work you want to make. The YAK Summer
Residency is about giving artists the freedom to do as they please.
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SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR
www.sydneyfestival.org.au
20-31 January 2010
By Luigi Pirandello, In a new version by Rupert Goold & Ben Power
Director: Rupert Goold
Six strangers arrive unannounced during the editing of a docu-drama, adamant they are fictional characters in search of an author. As the compelling narrative unfolds, their story is filmed and becomes entwined with the footage already being edited.
Now updated and re-contextualised for the 21st century, Six Characters is a harrowing and witty play where reality and fiction become increasingly blurred. What unfolds is a sinister parable for a media-obsessed age and an exhilarating exploration of how we define ourselves and what we call ‘reality’.
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AUSTRALIAN ROCK SYMPHONY | State Theatre
http://www.zep.net.au/
25 January 2010
January, 2010 will see three of the most iconic rock acts Australia has ever produced come together in a unique, live on-stage event in Australian Rock Symphony! This inaugural phenomenon will see rock legends Chrissy Amphlett, Diesel and the Baby Animals raise the roof in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
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HAPPY AS LARRY | Shaun Parker + Co & Sydney Festival
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Theatre/Happy-as-Larry-Inner-West
27-30 January
What makes us happy? Nine remarkable performers with nine very distinctive personalities explore the elusive nature of human happiness in Shaun Parker’s latest dance theatre work, accompanied by a vibrant electro-acoustic score from Nick Wales and Bree van Reyk. The cast of characters is developed from the Enneagram, a psychological system that maps nine personality types: the Perfectionist, the Seducer, the Performer, the Tragic Romantic, the Observer, the Devil’s Advocate, the Optimist, the Boss and the Mediator – all rich inspiration for Parker’s insightful creativity.
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INDUSTRY SHOWCASE |Drop Bear Theatre
27 February 2010
www.dropbeartheatre.com
FraserStudios, Chippendale
Based across Melbourne and Sydney, we create performance experiences for families that are joyful, innovative, complex and witty.
Company philosophy We believe children are knowledgeable. Given the time to play and wonder, children can be artistic collaborators who explore and test their ideas of the world.
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THE SYDNEY FRINGE FESTIVAL LAUNCH
29 January 2010
www.thesydneyfringe.com.au
The Seymour Centre Courtyard
The Sydney Fringe will be bursting through Newtown from September 10 to 26, 2010. The Sydney Fringe will be over 17 days across the entertainment and live venues in Newtown, Enmore and Marrickville – from theatres such as Carriageworks and the Enmore through to the gallery spaces and the pubs and bars. It will be the large scale alternative arts festival that we feel Sydney really needs, with a range of events and activities to involve the local artists, residents and audiences from throughout Sydney, including concerts and theatre events, visual and digital arts and free outdoor events.
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OEDIPUS REX AND THE SYMPHONY OF PSALMS
www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Music/Oedipus-Rex-Symphony-of-Psalms/
28- 30 January
This rarely-performed double bill of Stravinsky masterworks features an epic staging by internationally acclaimed director Peter Sellars. Sellars’ production, created for a reconfigured Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, is brutally dramatic, visceral and starkly unadorned apart from seven magnificent thrones, created by Ethiopian artist Elias Sime to represent the main characters in the tragedy. Last staged in Sydney over 30 years ago, Oedipus Rex is musically dazzling from its first explosive chorus to its violent, predestined conclusion. This telling balances the bleakness of Oedipus’ death with the redemptive chorus of Symphony of Psalms, allowing the myth to end in transfiguration and peace. In her Australian debut, rising star Joana Carneiro conducts the Sydney Symphony, 120 members of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and a dynamic American/Australian cast of soloists including Rodrick Dixon, Ryan McKinny and Daniel Montenegro reprising their roles from the LA Philharmonic production, Yvonne Kenny as Jocasta, Paula Arundell as Antigone/Narrator and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Elma Kris as Ismene.