Turning on the TV is easy. Watching a movie, pretty easy. Opening a new book, simple. But going to the theatre can be demanding. Book the babysitter, pay the car parking, and maybe a dinner beforehand—and then sit, relax and participate in an experience that takes you into the moment, engaging and responding to the stage as they make you think, feel, cry and laugh.
State Theatre Company
The State Theatre Company's (STC) program for 2015 seeks to achieve all of this, and more, but they need us - their work is only complete when the audience participates and produces the truly interactive experience desired. Highlights of the 2015 Program are as follows.
State Theatre Company Program 2015
In conjunction with the Adelaide Festival, Samuel Beckett combines three theatrical gems together into one dreamlike experience featuring Paul Blackwell, Peter Carroll and Pamela Rabe—three of Australia's greatest actors.
Footfalls,
Eh Joe and
Krapp's Last Tape combine a ghost story with the bonds between a parent and child, the solitude of a lonely man, and a confessional reflection on past memories.
Beckett Triptych
After both conquering and falling in love with Adelaide during the 2014 season of Neighbourhood Watch, the irrepressible Miriam Margolyes comes back to Adelaide for a very special and entertaining show. With Miriam playing the characters that have made her famous, as well as her own fascinating insights into her love of great literature and theatre, this show will sellout, so book the tickets and babysitter early.
The Importance of Being Miriam
is a performance based on the life and times of adult entertainer Joseph Farrugia aka Madame Josephine, long time creative director and host of famous Adelaide strip club Crazy Horse Revue/Madame Josephine's. Part confessional, part documentary,
Madame charts Joseph's extraordinary personal story alongside the dramatic changes erotic entertainment has undergone in three decades.
Madame
Every summer for sixteen years, Barney and Roo have come back from Queensland to Melbourne to share their holidays with barmaids Nancy and Olive. One year on, the cycle is broken and each one of the four must face questions about the kind of life they really want and whether there is something vital to be found by the breaking of old patterns. For the first time in almost twenty years Ray Lawler's iconic Australian drama will grace the stage and evoke the sense of possibility in post-World War II Australia.
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Brought up on the wrong side, Chloe has had to develop a outer-shell to shield against daily bullying. Moving to a new town, Chloe has bleak hopes for her future until she meets Chris, the unpopular son of her English teacher. A bond is forged and the two outsiders begin to see the glimmer of new possibilities. Vivienne Walshe's
This is Where We Live is packed with vivid poetic language that is brimming with as much life and energy as its characters.
This is Where We Live
In a world of riddles and hidden treasure, Jack Hare is on a race against time to deliver a message of love from the Moon to the Sun. But when Jack's mission goes topsy-turvy, Joe and his mum come to the rescue, and the line between myth and reality becomes blurred forever. Masquerade is a new Australian play by awardwinning playwright Kate Mulvany, based on the iconic children's book by Kit Williams which has sold over two million copies.
Masquerade
It's 1977 and Emma is married to Robert. But for seven years, she's been having an affair with Jerry, Robert's best friend.
Betrayal begins after the end of the affair, and pursues a gripping journey back to its very beginning. In a brilliant device, time is turned upside down as the play charts significant events in reverse and mines the shadowy aspects of a love affair and its fallout to devastating effect.
Betrayal
Volpone is a wealthy con-artist, master of disguise and self-proclaimed ladies man. Armed with natural cunning and his wily sidekick Mosca, he tricks and swindles his way through the corrupt city of Venice. From flogging snake oil to feigning his own demise, no scheme is too despicable or too outlandish in Volpone's pursuit of trophy riches and trophy women.
Volpone
is a tragedy, crime thriller and contemporary morality play all rolled into one. It begins with a Mexican fable about death and ends in Sydney's Western suburbs. In-between it takes in the Sydney police force, Qantas, quinoa, Berlin, Nazi Germany, Krispy Kreme donuts, Coca Cola, public housing, a seventh birthday party, the property market and a body in our country's most famous Harbour.
Mortido
Shakespeare's greatest clowns—the rude mechanicals from A Midsummer Night's Dream— take centre-stage during this much adored comedy. Perhaps the most famous group of amateur thespians of all time, the cast of the play-within-a-play, Pyramus and Thisbe, bumble their way through rehearsals, misadventures and sheer idiocy in an hysterically funny mix of
verse, song and dance. Using snippets of the existing text of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the play exalts in its own roughness, and extravagance of expression in the nicest possible way.
The Popular Mechanicals
Adult prices vary between $58 and $89 with discounts available for concession holders, students and members. Venues used for the 2015 program include the STC Rehearsal Room, Dunstan Playhouse, Space Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre.
For further details on the STC and the 2015 program refer to the
STC website or their
facebook page.
