Bugle 2011
Image: Patrick Boland
B
Hello,
I’m beginning to understand why Neil Armfield was Artistic Director of this company for 17 years! It’s such a thrill; every day there is a new project to consider, or a rehearsal to watch, or a design presentation to attend. This is a company of enormous creative energy and talent. However, I’m also beginning to understand why Neil disappeared off to Patonga at regular intervals! Being an artist and the Artistic Director of a theatre company at the same time puts you in wonderful and surprisingly contradictory positions. My instinct is to devote all my energy to the particular projects at hand (at the moment the set designs for a secret future project and our upcoming production of The Seagull), but of course I cannot: There are shows opening and closing, websites being redesigned, playwrights and directors to meet and Bugle articles to be written! Thankfully I’m blessed with a saintly and eternally patient General Manager, Brenna Hobson, and the wonderful team to back us up. Looming over our heads is the eternal question, what will we do next year? Programming a season is a little like gardening: part science, part art, both philosophy and practise and a little bit mystical. We need to focus on the individual parts, and somehow keep
an eye on the overall effect. Do these seedlings, some only ideas at this stage, have the potential to grow into a thriving and balanced garden? Are there too many cauliflowers in 2012? We are all hard at work planning the garden at the moment. We are reading scripts, endlessly debating the balance of season, looking for forgotten gems and recording it all on a whiteboard that would have made Ros Kelly proud. Stay tuned. One thing that has really struck me since I started here is how engaged people like you are with this company – you talk to us and we love it. We were overwhelmed with kind letters about The Wild Duck (including one checking on the duck’s welfare; Bob’s now paddling her feet in retirement) and warmed by the sight of so many people sticking around to have a word to Uncle Jack Charles after his show. All of this is part of what makes this theatre so great and unique. We commune, actors and audience together in the same room, and then we talk, reflect, argue and laugh about it together afterwards. It’s a great thing. Now, back to programming that season... Ralph Myers
01
Meet Our Associate Artists
KYLIE FARMER
STEFAN GREGORY
Kylie (whose traditional name is Kaarljilba Kaardn) was born in Perth (whadjuk boodjar) and raised in the wheat-belt town of Pingelly (wilman boodjar). ‘Kylie’ means ‘boomerang’ or ‘small boomerang’ in Nyungar language. She has performed in numerous theatre production roles both locally and nationally. She played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet for the Australian Shakespeare Company and Kay in Belvoir’s revival of The Sapphires. Her screen credits include Rosalie’s Story, Sa Black Thing, Roll, Stone Bros and Main Actors (which she also co-wrote). Kylie has a been a presenter on the Marngrook Footy Show and is also the main presenter of Waabiny Time on NITV.
Stefan has toured Australia and overseas, performing, writing and recording with the band Faker. In theatre, he was composer and sound designer for Belvoir’s productions of Measure for Measure (for which he was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Score or Sound Design) and That Face, and performed as a guitarist in Peribanez. With B Sharp he has composed for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Arts Radar), Ladybird (Small Things Productions), 2,000 Feet Away (Frogbattleship) and Faustus (The Working Group). His other theatre credits include The War of the Roses and Frankenstein (Sydney Theatre Company) and King Lear, Hamlet and Othello (Bell Shakespeare).
This year sees Kylie make her debut as director of Windmill Baby in the Downstairs Theatre. She has recently worked on The Business as assistant director in the Upstairs Theatre.
Stefan was the composer and sound designer on this season’s first show, The Wild Duck, and you’ll hear more of his work in The Seagull, Neighbourhood Watch and As You Like It.
02
Our Associate Artists this year are four talented creatives whose work you’ve probably already seen at Belvoir. Kylie Farmer, Stefan Gregory, Frank Mainoo and Anne-Louise Sarks bring us their talents on a semi-permanent basis – providing us with access to their skills across a range of projects.
FRANK MAINOO
ANNE-LOUISE SARKS
Since completing a Bachelor of Creative Arts (University of Wollongong 2007), Frank has been a member of Team MESS (Killing Don and This Is It). Frank received a fellowship grant to attend Theaterformen (Braunschwieg, Germany 2010) and trained in children’s theatre at Campbelltown Arts Centre. He has regularly worked and toured with companies such as Urban Theatre Projects, Version 1.0, Belvoir, ICE (Information and Cultural Exchange) and PACT theatre in lighting design as well as technical and production management. Recent artistic works include his collaboration with Jeff Stein on The Raven Project (Under the Radar Festival) and his solo show Hit Me (Adelaide Fringe Festival). Frank also appeared with Rosie Dennis in her work Driven to New Pastures (Sydney Festival).
Anne-Louise has a BA Honours in Performance Studies from the University of Sydney and Bachelor of Dramatic Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts. She has completed a summer residency with the SITI Company at Columbia University. In 2010 she received the Besen Family Trust Scholarship for dramaturgy and worked as an emerging director for the Melbourne Theatre Company. As an actor her credits include 3 X Sisters (The Hayloft Project), The Only Child and The Suicide (B Sharp/The Hayloft Project), The Spook (Malthouse Theatre), YES and Five Kinds of Silence (OpticNerve Performance Group). For The Hayloft Project Anne-Louise co-wrote and directed The Nest (after Gorky), was director and dramaturg on Yuri Wells and dramaturg and assistant director on Thyestes (The Hayloft Project/Malthouse Theatre).
Frank will work as assistant director on As You Like It for Belvoir this year.
Anne-Louise was the assistant director on The Wild Duck. 03
Developing Neighbourhood Watch Playwright Lally Katz’s Neighbourhood Watch, which will premiere in the Upstairs Theatre 23 July, is a success story of Belvoir’s Creative Development program. Here she talks about the play and the creative process. I crossed the road and met Ana. Very quickly, I realised she was the inspiration for the character I would write for Robyn. I spent the next three years, often day and night, seven days a week, with Ana, going on her errands, listening to her stories, seeking her advice, getting yelled at by her. She became one of my best friends in the world. Lally Katz
What was the inspiration for Neighbourhood Watch? I had met the magnificent Robyn Nevin at a party almost five years ago. We discussed my writing a play for her. Needless to say, I was extremely excited by this prospect. I focused for some time on finding or creating a character to write for Robyn, but hadn’t been having any luck. Early one morning, I went out into my street in my pyjamas to see if the world looked hopeful. I heard a voice call out, in a Hungarian accent, ‘You, girl, come on my gate.’ I looked up, across the street, and behind a white picket fence was a small lady, with her white, golden-tinged hair piled up on her head, peering through her rose-tinted bifocals at me, as her huge doberman shepherd sat beside her, growling. I asked her, ‘Who me?’ She said, ‘Vhat you stupid? No von else on the street. Come girl. Over here.’ 04
Was the creative development process with Belvoir different to how you’ve worked in past? Before I’d written a word of the play and only had a synopsis, I met with Eamon [Flack, Associate Director – New Projects]. At our meeting I impersonated Ana the whole time, to give him a flavour of the character and the world. I left the synopsis with him. Soon after this meeting, Eamon put me in touch with Annette [Madden, at that time the Director of B Sharp], and again I spoke to her as Ana to give her an idea of it. At the end of our meeting she told me that Belvoir wanted to commission me to write the play. I was utterly ecstatic. I have loved the creative development process with Belvoir. I feel like everyone in the company has been completely invested in the script. It’s been a very long-term development, the longest that I have ever worked on a script for, and Belvoir has supported every step of the process.
How did last year’s workshop and reading affect the work?
on for the play – which will be extremely beneficial for the production.
The workshop with the full cast, Simon [Stone, Belvoir’s Resident Director, who will direct the play] and Eamon was extremely helpful as it showed us what the strong points of the play are and what the weak points were. The structure of the play dramatically changed after this workshop. Unnecessary characters, scenes and ideas were taken out, making the core characters and ideas stronger. I replaced the cut scenes with more theatrical versions, which in the end were more true to the heart of the play.
I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time with Simon and Eamon (who has also been a core part of the process from the beginning), going through the script. The three of us will read out the whole script together, playing all the roles between us, so we can get a feeling of each scene. It is not nearly as good as when Robyn is playing Ana – but it’s very helpful in terms of working on the script, and it is also quite fun!
The time with Robyn was amazing because it was obvious from the very first instant how perfectly she embodied the character of Ana and gave her life. Simon has brilliant theatrical instinct and knowledge, and used the workshop to really test and push the world of the play. This workshop was the first time Robyn, Simon and I had actually worked all together. This was extremely helpful in putting us on the same wavelength early
Trooper and Robyn Nevin. Image: Wilk.
Neighbourhood Watch will run in the Upstairs Theatre from 23 July to 28 August. Single tickets on sale from 13 June (one week earlier for subscribers).
Our Beloved Downstairs Space Enters a New Era Brenna Hobson, General Manager Twelve years ago, Geoffrey Rush led a naming competition for a new independent program in the Downstairs Theatre of Belvoir. If he had his way it would have been called The Boudoir, but less racy heads prevailed and it became B Sharp. Since that time Belvoir has had the opportunity to support over 100 independent productions, and seen the careers of over a thousand performers, creative artists and producers grow from their involvement with the space. The program has been led by two women of great passion and talent: Lyn Wallis and Annette Madden, and they have been ably supported by Sam Hawker and Tahli Corin, as well as a team of dedicated stage and technical managers too numerous to mention. The success of B Sharp has been clear in this year’s season: nine of the artists in the 2011 Belvoir season have come up from downstairs. Of the artists in the last few years of B Sharp, many have gone on to mainstage gigs. There have been numerous award-winners, several associates of major companies, and a couple of artistic directors. But always in the back of our minds was the problem that the artists and theatre-workers on these productions weren’t being paid anything like an award wage. That wasn’t the fault of the independent companies in question; there simply isn’t a way to earn enough income from an 80-seat theatre to pay people without investing heavily yourself.
06
When the program started there were very few independent theatre spaces in Sydney and the quality was varied. One of the great joys of the B Sharp program was watching the standard of work in the Downstairs Theatre and other small spaces in Sydney grow in quality and assuredness and increasingly produce work that rivalled that on Sydney mainstages. Ralph Myers’ commencement as Belvoir’s Artistic Director prompted all of us to look at everything here with fresh eyes; I’m sure you’ve noticed the new look but the changes aren’t just superficial. In the end we decided that the best thing that we can do for emerging and more established artists right now is to ensure that everyone who works in our theatre is paid above an award wage. We pooled our pennies and came up with enough money to fund four productions each year, and the Balnaves Foundation has kindly come on board to fund one Indigenous-led production in the Downstairs Theatre (and also one in the Upstairs). This year sees five shows downstairs. The season premiered in April with Sarah John’s production of Duncan Graham’s Cut, a one-woman show with Anita Hegh. The Kiss, Windmill Baby, And They Called Him Mr Glamour and The Dark Room offer up an extraordinary array of theatre. The Downstairs Theatre space is still about exploration, experimentation and finding new ways of telling stories,
and as such you will see that the majority of artists will be emerging ones. They will also be joined by some established performers because often that collaboration is the best way to grow a new director or writer. We’re thrilled with the range of work we have been able to develop this year and we already have more ideas than we can afford to stage for next year’s season. When we first set up B Sharp we had no idea of the energy and contribution that those artists would make to the theatrical landscape in Sydney. So it is with great excitement and expectation that we invite you to join us on this next journey.
Left to right: Catherine Davies, Steve Rodgers and Rita Kalnejais rehearse The Kiss, which premiered in the Downstairs Theatre in May. Image: Heidrun Löhr.
07
Left to right: John Leary, Julie Forsyth and Yael Stone in the 2009 production of The Book of Everything. Image: Heidrun Lรถhr.
08
The Book of Everything Returns: learning to become brave Cathy Hunt, Education Resources & Regional Access We are bringing back The Book of Everything, our much-loved coproduction with Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image. Before opening at the Seymour Centre in September, it will tour to Merrigong Theatre Company in Wollongong and Windmill Theatre in Adelaide (co-presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust). The tour has been made possible through the support of the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. This time around, the show has a focus on reaching children and young people – using the experience of seeing this magical production to raise awareness about violence within families. We will be running workshops with actors afterward to show young people how they, like Thomas, can become brave. As those of you who saw it will remember, the play asks a question that Thomas Klopper (aged 9, nearly 10) keeps puzzling over – ‘Where does happiness begin?’ The answer suggested by his wise and witchy neighbour, Mrs Van Amersfoort (the wonderful Julie Forsyth) is both simple and complicated: ‘With not being afraid any more.’ Thomas’ greatest ambition is to one day be happy (and brave!) but to start with he is fearful as anything of all the scary stuff he encounters: Mrs Van Amersfoort herself, the terrifying neighbourhood dog ‘The Bumbiter’, and the plagues of Egypt, which his overly religious Papa dwells on nightly.
Against these fears are the reassurance of: the random chats he has during grace with an ocker blue-eyed Jesus (John Leary), his secret liking for Eliza of the creaking leather leg, and the magical power of his own imaginings. When Thomas (the marvellous Matt Whittet) begins to be brave it leads him to all sorts of unexpected discoveries: inside the neighbouring witch’s lair, to confess his large and embarrassing liking for the lovely Eliza and to confront the wrong that is hidden within his own family – the horrible, not-spoken-about injustice of his Papa hitting his Mamma and himself. Most crucially of all, Thomas learns how to become brave. As each of his fears are triumphed over, the audience feels like shouting “Whacko the diddly-oh!” just as exuberantly as Mrs Van Amersfoort. By bringing young people to experience The Book of Everything from the whimsical imaginations of Neil Armfield and Kim Carpenter, we hope to communicate how fears can be conquered and resilience developed, as well as how to speak out and ask for help. Thomas, as he dances to the music of Louis Armstrong, learns that it really is a wonderful world. As well as being a fantastic show for young people, The Book of Everything is really a play for all ages; we encourage all grownups to book too. Tickets on sale now from each of the venues: merrigong.com.au (10-13 Aug) windmill.org.au (17-27 Aug) belvoir.com.au (20 Sept - 2 Oct) 09
Theatre Enrichment: Bringing Students to Belvoir An unbelievably high number of young people have never seen live professional theatre due to obstacles of cost, geography and culture. As part of the compulsory English HSC course, all students have to write about plays in the context of live performance – a daunting task with an increased degree of difficulty if professional theatre is something they’ve never been exposed to. Jane May, Belvoir’s Education Manager, having herself taught students in Western Sydney who’d never had the experience of being transfixed by a compelling performance, devised Belvoir’s Theatre Enrichment program to tackle this issue. Our Theatre Enrichment program brings secondary students to Belvoir who’ve never been inside a theatre before. Last year, through various funded programs, over 400 Drama and English students saw Tommy Murphy’s new Australian play Gwen in Purgatory.
Of these, some had an experience that extended far beyond simply seeing the play: students from regional NSW from Coffs Harbour Senior College, Braidwood Central School, Eden Marine, Temora and Kurri Kurri High Schools, and John Edmondson High School in Sydney’s Southwest, joined in a pre-show workshop at their school to prepare them for the play and the techniques used to create a live theatre production. They travelled to Sydney for the schools performance of Gwen in Purgatory at Belvoir St Theatre. Following this experience (a first for many) either an actor or the playwright visited them at their school to run an in-depth forum about the play. This year, students from regional and metropolitan schools will see Neighbourhood Watch, the new play by Lally Katz, and the Australian classic Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, directed by Neil Armfield.
‘This experience has truly inspired some of our students.’ Rachael Hulbert – John Edmondson High School
Students from John Edmondson High School with actors Nathaniel Dean and Pacharo Mzembe.
10
Sunday Forum ... you’re invited! The bigger picture, the story behind the show, the who’s who and the what’s what – Sunday Forum is your chance to get the inside story on each of our shows in the Upstairs Theatre. Our panels of performers, creatives, commentators and reviewers, will discuss the play and how it fits in the world at large.
The Sunday Forum is free. Bookings required. Upstairs Theatre. belvoir.com.au/sundayforum
Each Sunday Forum has its own theme and focus. Ever wanted to know how Ray Lawler felt about the 1954 production of The Doll? Or how Chekhov can change your life? Maybe you would like to hear an Australian theatre legend talk about how you know when you’ve created a classic? Sunday Forum is a free bonus insight that will add to your anticipation and appreciation of each show.
Human Interest Story 3pm 11 September
The Seagull 3pm 10 July Neighbourhood Watch 3pm 21 August
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll 3pm 6 November As You Like It 3pm 18 December
Image: Wilk
So come along to learn and question, and continue the conversation over a drink and free nibbles at the bar with Belvoir artists and staff.
11
Belvoir Diary
8 June
10 July
1 August
Opening Night The Seagull
Sunday Forum The Seagull
13 June
14 July
Single Tickets On Sale* And They Called Him Mr Glamour
Single Tickets On Sale* Neighbourhood Watch
Unwaged Performance The Seagull
Single Tickets On Sale* Windmill Baby
18 July Single Tickets On Sale* Human Interest Story
27 July Opening Night Neighbourhood Watch
29 July Opening Night Windmill Baby
15 August Single Tickets On Sale* Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
18 August Unwaged Performance Windmill Baby
21 August Sunday Forum Neighbourhood Watch
25 August Unwaged Performance Neighbourhood Watch
29 August Single Tickets On Sale* As You Like It Single Tickets On Sale* The Dark Room
12
2 September
4 November
18 December
Opening Night Human Interest Story
Opening Night The Dark Room
Sunday Forum As You Like It
11 September
6 November
22 December
Sunday Forum Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Unwaged Performance As You Like It
Sunday Forum Human Interest Story
15 September Unwaged Performance Human Interest Story
16 September Opening Night And They Called Him Mr Glamour
10 November Unwaged Performance Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
23 November
* Subscribers are able to purchase single tickets one week earlier than advertised on sale dates.
Opening Night As You Like It
28 September
Images: Brett Boardman and Wilk.
Opening Night Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
13
Challenging Interpretations, Modern Interrogations: Why We Program Classic Plays Eamon Flack, Associate Director – New Projects They come from the past but they belong in the present. They are often long plays with large casts. They contain roles that actors desperately want to play. They often contain more ‘bad’ people (killers, liars, excessive lovers, political extremists) and ‘evil’ acts (violence, excessive use of force, abuse of power, sexual manipulation, scheming, etc.) than most modern plays; their moral complexities are often more visible than ours, like they have been dyed with ink. In these plays, the known world is often ending. They are often about the ways that social turmoil or historical crisis make it difficult for people to love one another. In their time they were radical, shocking, cutting edge and extremely confronting; they often still are when we revive them today. There is also no ‘right’ way of putting them on. Part of their nature is that they cannot only handle manifold interpretations in manifold contexts, but they seem to demand such new attention. They are difficult to stage and directors must be brilliantly inventive to solve these difficulties, which can include such things as shipwrecks, forests, live animals, battles and the extremes of human desire. They are a group of plays that have fascinated audiences, actors, directors and theatrical producers for centuries. The classics are relevant in Australia, mainly because we don’t have very many of our own. For various reasons 14
– youth, isolation, fear – writing classic plays hasn’t been one of this country’s trademark pursuits. Back in the nineteenth century, for example, we put our innovative energies elsewhere – into the political organisation of our working lives, where we pioneered an impressive list of democratic rights and means. Our theatre, however, produced no Chekhov, no Ibsen. So when, as we often do, we suddenly find ourselves in the pull of some undefined sense of loss or wonder – some kind of intimation of both our pettiness and our glory – then we have a need of these great old foreign plays. To take a few examples from this year’s season, we turn to The Wild Duck to remind ourselves of the beauty and fragility of our essential needs. The Seagull is a kind of dream about our greatest individual ambitions and our shared time together on earth. As You Like It plays out the undying urge to run away and start again and get it gloriously right this time. Every time one of them is put on, one feels a need to put on another one, because each gives rise to magnificent new questions that can only be answered by continuing to work on such plays. They are unsolved riddles whose solutions alter with every new decade of history, indeed with every new production. We always have some need of them. This is all a bit grand, I know. Which brings me to the final virtue of the
Maeve Dermody in The Seagull, which will run in the Upstairs Theatre from 4 June to 17 July. Image: Wilk.
classics: they are human. Usually it’s just some person or other – Prince Hamlet or Antigone, perhaps – discovering something about themselves on our behalf. It is the refusal of grandeur that makes a good play a classic. The biggest blow-up in The Seagull, for example, has nothing grand about it whatsoever: in Benedict Andrews’ brilliant adaptation it’s a fight about the car keys. In the play, this is Nina’s observation on that argument: I thought that famous people would be more...unapproachable – like they’d have a kind of aura – some force-field around them – as if being a celebrity turned you into a different species – but here they are crying, fishing, reading magazines, getting stroppy like the rest of us. In her own way, Nina is a famous person – she’s one of the great roles for a female actor – but here she is, proof that even the most fascinating figures of all time are just like the rest of us: thoughtful, somewhat simple, yearning for some form of completion, and themselves searching the behaviour of yet other fascinating figures for a clue, but discovering only their essential sameness to everyone else – at which point a circle closes and we are brought back to ourselves. This loop of determined scrutiny in which a towering dramatic character from the past and a workaday modern audience encounter each other with baffled recognition – this is what, I think, makes a classic. 15
Windmill Baby Arrives in Sydney Associate Artist Kylie Farmer will be making her directorial debut with Belvoir later this year with Windmill Baby, which is part of our Indigenous programming. Here Kylie talks about what’s in store for audiences. In two months we begin rehearsals for Windmill Baby, and time is flying! It seems like yesterday that Ralph called to ask me if I was interested in directing; to which of course I replied (as coolly as possible)…‘YES!’ I’m very excited to have actor Roxanne McDonald on board to bring this one-woman show to life – a show that I have been associated with since its inception. I was working as Project Manager for the Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company when the writer, David Milroy, first began discussing his idea for this show. I was also lucky enough to travel to Fitzroy Crossing for the first development phase of writing the piece. So, my excitement and passion for Windmill Baby dates back to the year 2000. July 2011 will mark the first occasion where Maymay (played by Roxanne) shares her intimate story with Sydney audiences, though the story has already been successfully performed across the world and throughout Australia. This wonderful piece of storytelling will also mark my debut as a director of theatre, and what better theatre in the Eora nation to be associated with than
16
Roxanne McDonald. Image: Brett Boardman
Belvoir. Belvoir (with special credit to Neil Armfield) has a wonderful history of support and appreciation for Aboriginal theatre, and now I get to join the circle of passionate performers, designers, writers and directors who have individually played their part in Belvoir’s support of our wonderful stories. I have to admit I’m a tad nervous, but I know in my heart it’s going to be deadly! Windmill Baby will run in the Downstairs Theatre from 28 July to 21 August. Single tickets on sale from 13 June (one week earlier for subscribers).
The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Theatre at Belvoir, supported by The Balnaves Foundation
The Balnaves Foundation is a private philanthropic organisation that was established in 2006 by Neil Balnaves AO to support charitable enterprises across Australia. The Foundation supports eligible organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged and Indigenous communities. Belvoir has a long history of working with Indigenous directors, designers and actors and portraying unique Indigenous stories. This year, under Artistic Director Ralph Myers, we’ve renewed our commitment to presenting significant Indigenous works and engaging established Indigenous artists in the Upstairs Theatre.
In the Downstairs Theatre, we now also have the opportunity to invest in the next generation of Indigenous theatremakers. This is possible thanks to the generous support of The Balnaves Foundation which, over the next three years, will provide the financial underpinning for us to present two Indigenous works each year. This year, The Balnaves Foundation has supported the enormously popular Jack Charles v The Crown in the Upstairs Theatre. In July, thanks to The Balnaves Foundation, we will be presenting Windmill Baby (directed by Associate Artist Kylie Farmer) in the Downstairs Theatre. We look forward to bringing you more ground-breaking Indigenous productions over the next two years, with the support of The Balnaves Foundation.
Jack Charles in Jack Charles v The Crown at Belvoir earlier this year. Image: Heidrun LĂśhr.
17
25 Belvoir Street Robert Cousins
To mark and celebrate 25 years of theatre at Belvoir, we commissioned a stunning new book full of essays, memories and vivid photographs. This is 25 Belvoir Street. Hearing Company B described as one of the great companies of the world at the Dublin Theatre Festival, I thought, ‘Hang on, it’s only us putting on plays.’ - Alan John (composer)
This might have killed the place stone dead, except Belvoir set its own terms for the city’s embrace. It would remain magically and pig-headedly itself. - David Marr (writer and journalist)
In its little corner of Sydney’s Surry Hills, Belvoir St Theatre has been ‘putting on plays’ for 25 years. It began in 1984 when a syndicate of 600 theatre professionals and lovers, led with great cheek by Sue Hill and Chris Westwood, banded together to save the Nimrod Theatre building and former tomato sauce and salt factory from demolition. Tomato sauce and salt are the great democratisers of food; and Belvoir St Theatre has always been a wonderful level playing field for many of Australia’s finest actors, directors, designers, playwrights and audiences.
Landmark productions like Cloudstreet, The Diary of a Madman, The Blind Giant is Dancing, The Alchemist, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Gulpilil, Page 8, The Sapphires, Stuff Happens, Keating!, Conversations with the Dead, Exit the King, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Toy Symphony, Measure for Measure and The Book of Everything have cemented Belvoir’s reputation as a national treasure.
Sydney loves a winner. Somewhere along the way Belvoir St Theatre passed from being a Surry Hills upstart to an institution of the town.
18
Theatre exists in the moment. It happens in the shared space between the actors and the audience and then is gone. Ephemeral by nature, the only physical trace that theatre leaves is ephemera itself; ticket stubs as bookmarks, programs tucked away in boxes, maybe an empty Lester Lamb’s Amazing Vanilla
This page: David Wenham in Cosi, 1992. Image: Stuart Spence. Opposite left to right: The cover of 25 Belvoir Street; John Gaden and Kerry Walker in Signal Driver, 1985. Image: Regis Lansac; Jacek Koman in Splendids, 1995. Image: Heidrun Lรถhr.
19
25 Belvoir Street continued...
Double Cream Ice Cream cup collecting loose change by your bed. In 1995, Bill Marron designed a small passport-sized season brochure for Company B; playful, honest and a bit homemade, it had all the charm of Belvoir and Neil’s work in particular. I inherited this format when I began designing graphics for Belvoir the following year and it remained the standard for all of Belvoir’s brochures and programs up until last year. Lined up on a shelf today these little pocket books would stretch to over a hundred; a crude measure of the accumulated memories of wonderful productions and great performances. Now, many of these memories have been captured in hardcover. 25 Belvoir Street celebrates the first 25 years of this remarkable company. With a foreword by David Marr, this collection of essays traces the social
and political background from which Belvoir emerged and looks at the way the building itself has found a way into our imaginations. From its first mercurial decade when it teetered on the edge of oblivion on more than one occasion, through to the appointment of Neil Armfield as Artistic Director, and beyond to a new generation of theatremakers headed by Ralph Myers, this book provides an extraordinary and intimate record of a company that has been described simply as the ‘heart and soul of Australian Theatre.’ 25 Belvoir Street was launched on 30 May and is available for purchase from belvoir.com.au/book and from the box office and select bookstores. Robert Cousins, editor and designer of 25 Belvoir Street, was a graphic designer for Belvoir from 1996 to 2000. He has since designed sets for many Belvoir productions including Cloudstreet.
Left to right: Cate Blanchett in The Tempest by William Shakespeare, directed by Neil Armfield, 1995; Richard Roxburgh in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, directed by Neil Armfield, 1995. Images: Heidrun Löhr.
20
Leave it to Belvoir
‘I have no money. I’m an actress not a banker.’ Irina Arkadina, The Seagull Much has changed since Chekhov wrote The Seagull in 1895, but today the fact remains that in the world of theatre, money is tight. In June this year at Belvoir, a group of extraordinary Australian actors directed by Benedict Andrews will bring Chekhov’s great masterpiece to life once more. At Belvoir, we are in it for the long haul. We want to ensure that future generations of artists and audiences alike can share the magic that is created on our unique corner stage. You can help us to do this. When the time is right for you to make a will, we hope you will remember us and leave a gift to Belvoir. In doing so, you will make a dramatic contribution to the long-term future of the theatre. If you have any questions or you would like further information about making a bequest to Belvoir, please contact our Philanthropy Coordinator, Shauna Wolifson, on 02 8396 6219 or email shauna@belvoir.com.au. All enquiries will be handled with the utmost confidentiality.
21
Belvoir Donors We give our heartfelt thanks to all our donors for their loyal and generous support.
Foundation Donors The measure of any great theatre is its capacity to provide a strong foundation for its longterm renewal. The following major donors have made a significant financial investment in the Belvoir Creative Development Fund, which supports artistic development beyond the demands of our annual season and budget. Neil Armfield AO Anne Britton Rob Brookman & Verity Laughton Andrew Cameron Janet & Trefor Clayton Anne & Michael Coleman Hartley & Sharon Cook Leon Fink Gail Hambly Anne Harley Hal Herron Clark Butler & Louise Herron Victoria Holthouse Helen Lynch Frank Macindoe Ann Sherry & Michael Hogan Mary Vallentine AO Kim Williams AM Chair’s Group This group provides special support for the creative development of Indigenous theatre at Belvoir and opportunities for many Indigenous artists. Members of the 2010 Chair’s Group are: Anonymous (3) Antoinette Albert Jillian Broadbent AO Louana Butler Jan Chapman Louise Christie Warren Coleman & Therese Kenyon Kathleen & Danny Gilbert
22
Marion Heathcote & Brian Burfitt HLA Management Pty Ltd Belinda Hutchinson AM The Jarzabek Family Cassandra Kelly Hilary Linstead Wendy McCarthy AO A.O. Redmond Jillian Segal AM Ann Sherry AO Victoria Taylor Penny Ward Kim Williams AM Catherine Yuncken B Keepers B Keepers are a unique group of individuals whose financial support, often over many years, is a reflection of their passion for and commitment to Belvoir. Income received from B Keepers underpins all of our activities. Our 2010 B Keepers are: Corporate B Keepers Sterling Mail Order Macquarie Group Foundation B Keepers Anonymous (6) Robert & Libby Albert Gil Appleton John Sharpe & Claire Armstrong Berg Family Foundation Bev & Phil Birnbaum Max Bonnell Mary Jo & Lloyd Capps Brian T. Carey Elaine Chia Jane Christensen Louise Christie Peter Cudlipp & Barbara Schmidt Suzanne & Michael Daniel Carmel Dwyer & Charles Leedman Chris & Bob Ernst
Jeanne Eve Peter Fay Margaret Fink Peter Graves David & Kathryn Groves David Haertsch Diane Hague Wendy & Andrew Hamlin Beth Harpley John Head Marion Heathcote & Brian Burfitt Michael & Doris Hobbs Peter & Jessie Ingle Rosemary & Adam Ingle Anita Jacoby The Jarzabek Family Avril Jeans Rosemarie & Kevin Jeffers-Palmer Margaret Johnston Rob & Corinne Johnston Phil Kachoyan Colleen Kane A le Marchant Jennifer Ledgar & Bob Lim Stephanie Lee Atul Lele Hilary Linstead A & R Maxwell Prof. Elizabeth More AM Dr David Nguyen D & L Parsonage Timothy & Eva Pascoe Richard & Heather Rasker Greg Roger Geoffrey Rush Peter and Jan Shuttleworth Edward Simpson Judith & Howard Smith Rob & Julie Smith Chris & Bea Sochan Victoria Taylor Sue Thomson Brian Thomson & Budi Hernowibowo Dr Orli Wargon Alison M Wearn Paul & Jennifer Winch Iain & Judy Wyatt
Education Donors Thank you to our Education donors who help us to provide opportunities for young people throughout NSW to access Belvoir’s unique work.
General Donations over $100 We thank our patrons, who, through general donations to Belvoir, provide valuable support to the projects most in need throughout the year.
Anonymous (12) Alexander Belford Jan Burnswoods Richard Cogswell The Rev. Cannon Warren Croft Sandra Gross Sophie Guest Julie Hannaford Jan Harland John Harrison Michael & Doris Hobbs Paul & Melissa Hobbs Dorothy Hoddinott Susan Hyde Shirley Jarzabek Stewart & Jillian Kellie Jacqueline Kott Robyn Kremer Jennifer Ledgar & Bob Lim Ken Leonhardt Peter Levett Ross Littlewood Jim & Michael McAlary Julie Mills Elizabeth Meyer Patricia Novikoff Craig Pearce Louise Roxburgh Janet Ryan Sandra See Peter & Janet Shuttleworth Kerry Stubbs Jennifer Symons Victoria Taylor Shirley Treloar Carolyn Wright Jane Westbrook Peter White Murray Wilcox
Anonymous (22) Annette Adair Carolyn Allen N. Allen Rosemary Allen Jes Anderson Gil Appleton Ross Armfield Sandra Lim & Phillip Arnold Dr Damariss Bairstow Ian Barnett Prof. Marie Bashir AC CVO Dianne Beale Susan Bennett Baiba Berzins Peter Best Linden Birch John Blattman Jennifer Bott Kathy & David Bradley Susan Braham Denise & Neil Buchanan Siena Dune & Ian Buchanan Mary Burchell Andrew Cameron Stephen Center Colleen & Michael Chesterman Tracey Clancy Victor Cohen Dayn Cooper Colleen & Tony Cordato Bryony & Tim Cox Sandra Csenderits Alan & Catherine Cunningham Jennifer Darin Dr Susan Davenport Vivianne De Vahl Davis Jane Diamond Catherine Dovey Dr Anne Duggan Bruce Dunbar Diane Dunlop Margaret Dunlop David Eager
Sol Encel Elaine Evans Carole Ferrier Celine Fitzgerald Dr Ronald Lee Gaudreau Geoffrey & Patricia Gemmell Eva Gerber Robyn Godlee Thelma Gravenor Helen Thwaites & Peter Gray Regina Graycar Priscilla A. M. Guest Sophie Guest Bronwyn Haddock Regina Hall Louise Hamshere Julie Hannaford Jan Harland Dr. Juliet Harper Anthony Harris Virginia Hart Libby Higgin Harrison & Kate Higgs James Hill Ailsa Hocking Dorothy Hoddinott AO Malcolm Holmes Simon Hopkinson Clyth Hoult Aletha Hoy Vernon & Margaret Ireland Robert Jackson Robert Jenssen Colin & Connie Jessup Carol Johnson Gordon Johnson Judith & Arthur Johnson Gloria Jones Richard T. Jones Roger Jowett Despina Kallinikos Michael & Silvia Kantor Bob Kijurina Lois Knight Jann Kohlman Jacqueline Kott Robyn & Andrew Kremer Carol Lack Terry O’Neill & Mark Lalor Andrew Lampe
23
Belvoir Donors continued...
Elizabeth & Colin Laverty Sarah Lawrence Maralyn Lawson John Lewis Ross Littlewood Sally Lomax Catherine L’Estrange & Louise-Anne Louw Andrew Lumsden Liz Macfie Wailyn Mar Phil & Jenny Marchionni David & Vasantha Martin Melissa McGregor Ingrid Storm & Kevin McCreton Irene Miller Sarah Miller David Millons Jo Millyard Cynthia Mitchell Ruth Moore Frances Morris Jill Morrison Peter Murray Dr Peter & June Musgrove Alison Nation Christopher Nelson Patricia Novikoff Kevin O’Connor Anne O’Driscoll Peter Oitmaa
Janette Parkinson & Roy Fernandez Geoff & Judy Patterson Ian Pettit Kerrie Piper Jocelyn Plate Ron Postle Matthew & Rebecca Ramaley Angela Raymond David Rolph Dr. Andrew Rosenberg Bertram Rosenberg Shefali Rovik Louise Roxburgh Pamela Ryan Katherine Samaras Mark Sampson Beverley Sarvay JC Savage David Shillington Andrew Sims Catriona Simson Agnes E Sinclair Eileen Slarke Jean Smail Diana & John Smythe Beverley & Colin Spinks Kathryn Stitt Ingrid Storm Deborah Stow Kerry Stubbs Augusta Supple
Lee Tanabe Carmel Taylor Prof. Chris Tennant Diane & Axel Tennie Janet Tepper John Thacker Helen Thompson Judy Thomson Douglas Trengove Ted Van Bronswijk Hermi Vari Louise & Steve Verrier Chelsea Albert & Chris Vik Ariadne Vromen Edwina Waddy Sarah Walters John & Gail Ward Michael Ward Lynne Watkins & Nicholas Harding David Watson Ellen Waugh Elizabeth Webby Sam & Judy Weiss Harold & Gwenda Welsh Anne Whaite Stephen White Margaret Whiting Neil & Jill Wilson Carolyn Wright Patricia Wright Jane Wynter
We would like to acknowledge long-time subscriber Cajetan Mula. Cajetan will always be remembered for his generosity to Belvoir. Belvoir is very grateful to accept all donations. Donations over $2 are tax deductible. If you would like to make a donation, or would like further information about any of our donor programs please call our Philanthropy Coordinator, Shauna Wolifson, on 02 8396 6219 or email development@belvoir.com.au.
24
Belvoir Thanks
Corporate Partner
IT Projects Partner
Supporters
Major Sponsors
Indigenous Theatre at Belvoir supported by The Balnaves Foundation
Associate Sponsors
Event Sponsors
Bird Cow Fish One Earth Foods
Coca-Cola Australia Foundation Gandevia Foundation The Greatorex Foundation Media Tree Thomas Creative Teen Spirit Foundation managed by Perpetual Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
Government Partners
Silver Spoon Caterers Coopers
For more information on partnership opportunities please contact our Development Manager Katy Wood on (02) 8396 6224 or email katy@belvoir.com.au
corporate partner
25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 Email mail@belvoir.com.au Web www.belvoir.com.au Administration (02) 9698 3344 Fax (02) 9319 3165 Box Office (02) 9699 3444 Design: Alphabet Studio Printing: Mascot Printing Z Cover: Maeve Dermody in The Seagull. Photo: Brett Boardman.