STC 2009
September 1st 2008 13:17
Sydney Theatre Company announces 2009 Main Stage Season
and launches inaugural Open Day for Saturday 25 October 2008
Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today announced their first Main Stage Season for Sydney Theatre Company, comprising 12 productions throughout 2009.
They also launched Sydney Theatre Company's first Open Day to be held at The Wharf on Saturday 25 October 2008, giving visitors a chance to step behind-the-scenes and explore the life of Company backstage.
They commented: "True to its' name, we want Sydney Theatre Company to have a place at the heart of our city. We hope plenty of variety, depth and humour can be found in the 2009 Main Stage Season and with our Open Day on 25 October, we welcome everyone in to discover ways to connect with and enjoy the Company."
The 2009 Main Stage Season includes five productions in Wharf 1 at the Company's home base at The Wharf on Sydney Harbour:
The hilarious but chilling Australian classic The Removalists by David Williamson directed by Wayne Blair and featuring Steve Bisley in this groundbreaking depiction of Australian society that still resonates almost forty years on.
Marion Potts directs Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson's The Wonderful World of Dissocia, a colourful, exuberant trip deep inside the mind of a young woman. Lisa (Justine Clarke) embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey to a topsy-turvy world to recover an hour she has lost in transit.
The heart-warming Elling, based on the very funny Norwegian novel of the same name and adapted by Britain's Simon Bent, is about people living on society's fringe attempting to come to terms with the real world. Directed by Pamela Rabe, it is presented in association with Ambassador Theatre Group, operators of Trafalgar Studios, where Sydney Theatre Company is an Associate Company.
Having been nurtured through the Company's Wharf 2LOUD program in 2008, Saturn's Return by Australian rising star Tommy Murphy will emerge fully formed for the Main Stage in 2009, again directed by David Berthold and featuring Leeanna Walsman as the complicated heroine.
Still under wraps as a major highlight of the Main Stage Season is a secret production, directed by Academy Award-winner Steven Soderbergh whose films include the Ocean's Eleven series, Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Solaris.
At the state-of-the-art Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay, managed year-round by Sydney Theatre Company, two Main Stage productions will be particular highlights:
Poor Boy, by Australian playwright Matt Cameron, inspired by and featuring new and existing songs by Tim Finn, is co-produced with Melbourne Theatre Company and directed by Simon Phillips. At once darkly atmospheric and incandescently comic and uplifting, the play focuses on two fractured families thrown together by a gripping, unfathomable mystery.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, is directed by the legendary Liv Ullmann and features Cate Blanchett as Blanche, Joel Edgerton as Stanley and Robin McLeavy as Stella. Following the Sydney season, this American masterpiece will also tour to New York and Washington.
Sydney Theatre Company is also Resident Drama Company at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, where it will present three outstanding plays from leading playwrights from the UK, Australia and France in 2009:
Tom Stoppard's comic masterpiece, Travesties, directed by Richard Cotterill, is set in Zurich in 1917 when James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin were all resident. Stoppard imagines their interactions, to hilarious effect, from the perspective of a
wholly unremarkable consular official, Henry Carr, played by the irrepressible Jonathan Biggins in a cast also featuring Leah Purcell and William Zappa.
The theatrical hit of the 2008 Adelaide Festival, When The Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell, is a deeply moving and thought-provoking new Australian drama spanning four generations of one family. Boasting design by visual artist Hossein Valamanesh, the show from Adelaide's Brink Productions is directed by Chris Drummond.
Gale Edwards makes a welcome return to the Company directing the Australian premiere of the brutally funny satire, God of Carnage, by France's Yasmina Reza (Art, Life x 3). Jeremy Sims is already confirmed as one of four terribly civilised parents who meet to discuss a playground fracas between their children that rapidly reveals they're no more evolved than their offspring.
Two other productions complete the Main Stage Season:
In the intimacy of Wharf 2, Benedict Andrews directs the exhilarating and mystery-filled play The City by Britain's Martin Crimp. With characteristic dark humour the play, featuring Belinda McClory, explores the angst looming ominously over the contemporary urban milieu.
The Mysteries: Genesis is a promenade performance at CarriageWorks, with direction by Andrew Upton, Tom Wright and Matt Lutton. Stories from the big dawn: the Creation, the Fall, the Expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel and Noah's Ark will be performed by the new incarnation of the STC Actors Company, to be known in 2009 as The Residents, in their first Main Stage outing.
Sydney Theatre Company's first Open Day will be held on Saturday 25 October at the Company's home base, The Wharf. Throughout the day, the Company will throw open its doors to reveal the backstage areas of theatre making and visitors will have opportunities to participate in workshops and forums. The event is part of the Company's new Back Stage strand, with Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett's aim to increase engagement with the life of the Company and reveal more of the processes that go into creating theatre.
Another major strand at Sydney Theatre Company is Next Stage, the Company's revitalised development arm to replace Wharf 2LOUD, where emerging, pioneering and
independent companies and artists will feature. The 2009 Next Stage program, geared towards offering different types of experiences for audiences will be announced in late October.
Early in 2009, Sydney Theatre Company's current permanent ensemble of performers, the STC Actors Company, completes its three year journey with the Company with the Sydney Festival and Perth International Arts Festival seasons of The War of The Roses. A new troupe of theatre makers will be formed with a revised brief focussing on core developmental work within the Company. To be known as The Residents, they will still be seen in Main Stage productions (in 2009 in Mysteries: Genesis), but they will also work at every level of the Company; Main Stage, Next Stage, Back Stage and Education, with a particular emphasis on the development of new Australian work. Further details regarding
The Residents will be available later in the year.
The Company's Education program remains a comprehensive commitment and source of pride. There will be four fully staged productions specifically for schools in 2009 and a new
innovation will be the development of theatre experiences for ages 3 - 8 years. The Company will also develop drama programs in partnership with primary schools aimed at increasing literacy, and a new Young Playwrights' Residency will be launched. Full details of the Education Program will be released in late October.
and launches inaugural Open Day for Saturday 25 October 2008
Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today announced their first Main Stage Season for Sydney Theatre Company, comprising 12 productions throughout 2009.
They also launched Sydney Theatre Company's first Open Day to be held at The Wharf on Saturday 25 October 2008, giving visitors a chance to step behind-the-scenes and explore the life of Company backstage.
They commented: "True to its' name, we want Sydney Theatre Company to have a place at the heart of our city. We hope plenty of variety, depth and humour can be found in the 2009 Main Stage Season and with our Open Day on 25 October, we welcome everyone in to discover ways to connect with and enjoy the Company."
The 2009 Main Stage Season includes five productions in Wharf 1 at the Company's home base at The Wharf on Sydney Harbour:
The hilarious but chilling Australian classic The Removalists by David Williamson directed by Wayne Blair and featuring Steve Bisley in this groundbreaking depiction of Australian society that still resonates almost forty years on.
Marion Potts directs Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson's The Wonderful World of Dissocia, a colourful, exuberant trip deep inside the mind of a young woman. Lisa (Justine Clarke) embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey to a topsy-turvy world to recover an hour she has lost in transit.
The heart-warming Elling, based on the very funny Norwegian novel of the same name and adapted by Britain's Simon Bent, is about people living on society's fringe attempting to come to terms with the real world. Directed by Pamela Rabe, it is presented in association with Ambassador Theatre Group, operators of Trafalgar Studios, where Sydney Theatre Company is an Associate Company.
Having been nurtured through the Company's Wharf 2LOUD program in 2008, Saturn's Return by Australian rising star Tommy Murphy will emerge fully formed for the Main Stage in 2009, again directed by David Berthold and featuring Leeanna Walsman as the complicated heroine.
Still under wraps as a major highlight of the Main Stage Season is a secret production, directed by Academy Award-winner Steven Soderbergh whose films include the Ocean's Eleven series, Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Solaris.
At the state-of-the-art Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay, managed year-round by Sydney Theatre Company, two Main Stage productions will be particular highlights:
Poor Boy, by Australian playwright Matt Cameron, inspired by and featuring new and existing songs by Tim Finn, is co-produced with Melbourne Theatre Company and directed by Simon Phillips. At once darkly atmospheric and incandescently comic and uplifting, the play focuses on two fractured families thrown together by a gripping, unfathomable mystery.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, is directed by the legendary Liv Ullmann and features Cate Blanchett as Blanche, Joel Edgerton as Stanley and Robin McLeavy as Stella. Following the Sydney season, this American masterpiece will also tour to New York and Washington.
Sydney Theatre Company is also Resident Drama Company at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, where it will present three outstanding plays from leading playwrights from the UK, Australia and France in 2009:
Tom Stoppard's comic masterpiece, Travesties, directed by Richard Cotterill, is set in Zurich in 1917 when James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin were all resident. Stoppard imagines their interactions, to hilarious effect, from the perspective of a
wholly unremarkable consular official, Henry Carr, played by the irrepressible Jonathan Biggins in a cast also featuring Leah Purcell and William Zappa.
The theatrical hit of the 2008 Adelaide Festival, When The Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell, is a deeply moving and thought-provoking new Australian drama spanning four generations of one family. Boasting design by visual artist Hossein Valamanesh, the show from Adelaide's Brink Productions is directed by Chris Drummond.
Gale Edwards makes a welcome return to the Company directing the Australian premiere of the brutally funny satire, God of Carnage, by France's Yasmina Reza (Art, Life x 3). Jeremy Sims is already confirmed as one of four terribly civilised parents who meet to discuss a playground fracas between their children that rapidly reveals they're no more evolved than their offspring.
Two other productions complete the Main Stage Season:
In the intimacy of Wharf 2, Benedict Andrews directs the exhilarating and mystery-filled play The City by Britain's Martin Crimp. With characteristic dark humour the play, featuring Belinda McClory, explores the angst looming ominously over the contemporary urban milieu.
The Mysteries: Genesis is a promenade performance at CarriageWorks, with direction by Andrew Upton, Tom Wright and Matt Lutton. Stories from the big dawn: the Creation, the Fall, the Expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel and Noah's Ark will be performed by the new incarnation of the STC Actors Company, to be known in 2009 as The Residents, in their first Main Stage outing.
Sydney Theatre Company's first Open Day will be held on Saturday 25 October at the Company's home base, The Wharf. Throughout the day, the Company will throw open its doors to reveal the backstage areas of theatre making and visitors will have opportunities to participate in workshops and forums. The event is part of the Company's new Back Stage strand, with Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett's aim to increase engagement with the life of the Company and reveal more of the processes that go into creating theatre.
Another major strand at Sydney Theatre Company is Next Stage, the Company's revitalised development arm to replace Wharf 2LOUD, where emerging, pioneering and
independent companies and artists will feature. The 2009 Next Stage program, geared towards offering different types of experiences for audiences will be announced in late October.
Early in 2009, Sydney Theatre Company's current permanent ensemble of performers, the STC Actors Company, completes its three year journey with the Company with the Sydney Festival and Perth International Arts Festival seasons of The War of The Roses. A new troupe of theatre makers will be formed with a revised brief focussing on core developmental work within the Company. To be known as The Residents, they will still be seen in Main Stage productions (in 2009 in Mysteries: Genesis), but they will also work at every level of the Company; Main Stage, Next Stage, Back Stage and Education, with a particular emphasis on the development of new Australian work. Further details regarding
The Residents will be available later in the year.
The Company's Education program remains a comprehensive commitment and source of pride. There will be four fully staged productions specifically for schools in 2009 and a new
innovation will be the development of theatre experiences for ages 3 - 8 years. The Company will also develop drama programs in partnership with primary schools aimed at increasing literacy, and a new Young Playwrights' Residency will be launched. Full details of the Education Program will be released in late October.
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