Picnic at Hanging Rock Program

26 Feb – 20 Mar

Season 2016

26 Feb – 20 MAR Merlyn Theatre

The themes Lindsay deals with are so large and ageless … an enduring classic. – The Age

A new play by / Tom Wright adapted from Joan Lindsay’s novel Direction / Matthew Lutton Cast includes / Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Arielle Gray, Amber McMahon, Elizabeth Nabben, Nikki Shiels Set & Costume Design / Zoë Atkinson Lighting Design / Paul Jackson Composition / Ash Gibson Greig Sound Design / J. David Franzke Stage Manager / Tia Clark Assistant Stage Manager / Lyndie Li Wan Po Monash Placement, Sound Design / Matt Alden Monash Placement, Directing / Leticia Brennan-Steers Besen Placement, Lighting Design / Claire Springett Besen Placement, Set & Costume Design / Aseel Tayah

A co-production with

Supported by

——> pg 2

#picnicathangingrock

Season 2016

A note from the Director

This production of Joan Lindsay’s novel is told by five schoolgirls.

They know the myth as if they were there in 1900, as if they are schoolgirls trapped in the wrong time. They have access to the mystery, and will play for us the moments we might be able to understand.

Mrs Appleyard, insists on more vigilant teachings of restraint to help Australia “mature”. The young English visitor, Michael, sheds his “Englishness” because of an obsession with Miranda, a girl with golden locks, whom he saw only for a moment, hanging in the air, leaping across a creek.

The production begins with a recitation of the fateful day in 1900 when Miranda, Irma, Marion and Miss McGraw disappeared.

They speak about the malleability of time, of crossing creeks and sleep, and of colonialism, of the white Australian ignorance of what surrounds them, the land we are foreigners in, the land we fail to listen to, the land we have tried to tame with “Englishness” and “naming”.

The central character of Picnic at Hanging Rock however is nature. It releases and disturbs all the characters. There is no literal representation of the Rock in this production; it is a presence, frequently evoked by language. But sometimes we see nature thinking in the sign over the stage, or glimpse a physical manifestation hanging in the shadows, or sense its infiltrating presence in the darkness.

The disappearance of the girls is a horror beyond comprehension for the community at Appleyard College. It is a trauma that all respond to. The girl from the orphanage, Sara, her body contorts from the horror of being left behind. The Headmistress,

Malthouse Theatre invites you into the Australian myth of Hanging Rock, one that has been in our national imaginations for decades, and one that will undoubtedly be retold for many decades to come.

#picnicathangingrock

A note from Matthew Lutton on the retelling of an enduring Australian myth

——> pg 1

Season 2016

If Picnic wasn’t written, we would have had to invent it.

——> pg 2

A note from the Writer

St Valentine’s Day, 2016. A day of portals, of opening the heart to love, of new affairs, of secret ones, of opening delicate lace cards like doors, to find enigmatic poems written within.

A pair of university students, far from Osaka, are meandering up Hanging Rock. For some reason, ludicrous parasols are daintily propped on their shoulders. One stops, pouts, mock-coquette; the other takes out her phone and starts filming. The girl further up the Rock turns to profile, stares into a very dark shadow, and trills “Miranda! … Miranda!”

She vanishes into the cool dark. The girl with the camera giggles self-consciously.

“Miranda” she softly repeats as she checks the screen.

——— Why do some tales mutate into myths? Since it came to light in 1966 Picnic at Hanging Rock has hung in the collective mind. Mention it casually and people frown, say, “They went missing didn’t they?”

The news that the whole story is an invention is greeted with perplexed surprise. “No, no, I was sure it really happened…”

———

A country of lost children.

Waifs weeping in McCubbins.

Children moving silently through bush that never changes until they vanish utterly. From the beginning the white experience of the land was one of trepidation; it seemed nature would take our innocents ... if we didn’t watch them. Maybe there was suspicion in the ether that this land needed to be watched too, that it changed, did odd things when unobserved. This lonely continent, which would alter itself when your back was turned…

——— But this land isn’t empty, and never was. It wasn’t unknown to human minds, in fact minds had concentrated so hard on it for so long that a complex web of myths, rites, songs, wisdoms had been spun, so dense the crossover space between human body and land became blurred, unfocussed, itself a song…

——— In this case, not lost children but lost adolescents, in the liminal space between girlhood and womanhood. The country that will not grow up, cannot grow up, trapped in a landscape which it cannot comprehend. Europeans crawling over it like ants. Taxonomy, endless taxonomy. Every species, every stone, every dot on the map, labelled. New words for new things.

——> pg 3

If Picnic wasn’t written we would have had to invent it.

#picnicathangingrock

A series of meditations from Tom Wright, whose chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s original novel you are about to witness

A note from the Writer Season 2016

But in the end only the things that could be seen could be named.

There was no name for the things that could not be seen. And there was no time against which things might be measured. No temporal landmarks, no key dates of history; what is a hundred, a thousand, a million years when there’s no history?

In England everything had been done before: quite often by one’s own ancestors, over and over again.

But here? What did ‘Time’ mean when yesterday and tomorrow seemed to collude against the present?

Irma climbs the Rock, wading through a morass of verdure in the heat: Whoever invented female fashions For nineteen hundred Should be made to walk through bracken In three layers of petticoats.

She isn’t of nineteen hundred, she is of now. She is watching herself.

In the Rock’s terms, 1900 and 2016 are the same. It dreams in millions not split fractions. It is hanging – in time, in space. (Maybe it is also the Hanging Rock, a place of killing, of removal from the world? After all, why is that coachman staring at the girls’ calves, gently wetting his lips? Nature is cruel, very cruel…)

——— Oh, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!

——> pg 4

Exclaims Miranda, but a different Miranda, in a different story of exile and dreams. A story of the sea of love, where Mrs Appleyard dreams of her late husband’s caresses, where Michael FitzHubert

dreams of mermaids and gentle laughing female voices.

Miranda, whose name means wonder.

Miranda, who has been kept from herself, who is secreted away in a cave, deep in a rock.

Miranda, the beauty that does not know her beauty for lack of any culture with which to compare herself.

Miranda, the European who knows nothing of Europe.

Miranda, enchantress.

Miranda, the naïf.

Oh, what a wonderful new world, that has such people in it!

——— In Picnic at Hanging Rock, Miranda has transmuted again. Now she is a cipher.

The girls yearn for her return when she will redeem their suffering. Sara the orphan carries a devotional icon in her underwear. When the girls in their gym class transmogrify into maenads, one girl prays to Saint Valentine: Let them leave Irma alone, for Miranda’s sake, for Miranda’s sake…

Miranda starts to fade from real life, become myth; her hair more golden with every memory, her smile more beatific.

Miranda the spirit guide, who jumps down from the cart and opens the gate into the Hanging Rock picnic area, ushering them all in, like a pied piper.

Or, Miranda as Australia. The emotional intuitive. Not necessarily anti-intellectual but definitely not intellectual. Pulchritudinous,

A note from the Writer

Or, Miranda as a conduit. A lightning conductor. She magnetises air, things are drawn to her, animal vegetable, mineral. Maybe she precipitates time, and events as well…

——— Names for things that have not been named, no names for things that were once named. The Kulin name for Hanging Rock is lost. The Kulin wisdom of the Rock has no role in Lindsay’s text. In fact the only indigenous figure is a tracker, brought in to find the girls, then dismissed with all the other failed search methods. But under the text, secreted between the words, there are presences. The thick bush on the Rock is described as having no tracks; Or if there have been tracks, they are long since obliterated.

As if Miranda, Marion, Irma, are remaking some lost path, finding some lost sequence of events that unlock a key, a song, a rite.

The Kulin treated the Rock with reverence. It was a site for male initiation, so making it female space.

Young people that came here for thousands of years went up children and came down adults. It has always been a zone of metamorphosis.

Sexual, physical, social, and more…

———

This is, of course, only a story. But history treats it as if it happened.

We have a habit of doing this…

——— What is this Rock? A portal to other worlds, if only you have the password, the key, the combination? Maybe the characters who do pass through have some capacity to glimpse the noumenal: Miss McCraw, who sees the world through calculus as a study of Change; Marion, who can grasp the abstract idea of Time; Miranda, who feels, and loves.

Those rejected: Edith, a materialist who lacks the imagination to inhabit a bigger world; Michael, who is unreconciled to the land and himself; Irma, who is worldly, not other-worldly.

——> pg 5

When Major Mitchell first started the drawing of white lines on the black map, he passed through these volcanic ghosts. It was 1836. He climbed Geburhh, and glimpsed Port

Phillip. In a cerebral game of fevered word-association he renamed the mountain Macedon, after another Phillip’s homeland. And radiating out, a pattern of classicism darkened and spread; Mount Alexander for Alexander the Great, Phillip’s son; a river Campaspe for Alexander’s concubine. And our little mamelon of trachyte, brooding on the plain? Some years later Robert Hoddle scribbled Mount Diogenes on his map, in keeping with the Major’s fancy, named for the philosopher of cynicism, conscience of Alexander’s age. It was said that when the Great Man came across the cynic, the philosopher was staring attentively at a skeleton. The emperor stood above, the thinker squatted below. “And what are you doing?’ Alexander asked finally. “I am searching for the bones of your father. But the trouble is, I cannot tell them apart from the bones of a slave.”

#picnicathangingrock

in an Australian idiom; like the land, beautiful, but impassive.

Difficult to read, destined to be endlessly discussed.

A note from the Writer Season 2016

——— What is this Rock? A site of transformation, a magic box in which objects can be made to disappear, or turn into something else? An antipodean monster park of Bomarzo, a sort of anti-Eden, where Nature is littered with grotesqueries and grottoes, caverns where the living may speak to spirits, and sometimes, if the mood is right, the spirits may whisper back?

——— Joan Lindsay possessed the remarkable ability to stop time. Or, more precisely, she claimed her presence caused watches to halt. For her time was not linear but like an oddly-hued cloud which hung all around her. She didn’t have a physicist’s understanding, it was an artist’s sense; felt, not calculated with a pencil on a white sheet. Time changed shape and mood depending on circumstances and, of course, place.

——> pg 6

Her novel is one of these places; time is elastic, or compressed. No-one is sure how long they are on the Rock; what feels like a sweep of seasons in Woodend is only moments up high.

The Rock’s warping and vibrating of time increases as you near it until it resonates like a million cicadas. Like the zone in the Strugatsky Brothers’ Roadside Picnic (1971). Perhaps this is another way of understanding our weird fable; in this novel the picnic is an analogy. It is suggested that there are certain places where something not of this universe has visited. The best way to understand these visitations is to imagine a picnic.

Perhaps a group of girls have arrived, eaten, gossiped, sung, snoozed, then packed up and left. But behind them, the residue; crumbs, hairpins, a pair

of spectacles, a book of equations, a tea spoon, a silk stocking. Once the girls leave, timid creatures come from their burrows. They investigate, crawl over the objects left behind but can never comprehend their purpose.

The little animals are Western rational humans who stray into the picnic’s residue, finding that the world has changed in a way incomprehensible.

Maybe the other entities have never noticed humans, any more than humans notice lizards and ants and spiders during their picnics. We are small animals, caterpillars, centipedes, moths. And we will never understand.

——— St Valentine’s Day, 1900.

A liminal year, between one century and another, between a Victorian era of colonisation and the era of nationhood, of wrestling with whom we really are. Are we in that time still? Or are we now in some new liminal time?

——— The two students from Osaka are coming back down the mountain.

Their faces give nothing away. Have they found what they came for, up there, up on the rock ledge? What was this strange pilgrimage they were on? What exactly did they think they might find up there, among rocks dripping slowly back into the earth?

They sit on a fallen tree; one of them has worn completely inappropriate shoes. I understand nothing of what they say; it is melodious and beautiful.

Girlish, songlike. But one word is clear; “Miranda … Miranda …

Miranda … Miranda…”

#picnicathangingrock #picnicathangingrock

What is this Rock?

A site of transformation, a magic box in which objects can be made to disappear, or turn into something else? ——> pg 7

Season 2016

In the Rock’s terms, 1900 and 2016 are the same. It dreams in millions not split fractions.

It is hanging – in time, in space.

——> pg 8

Cast & Creative Bios #picnicathangingrock

Matthew Lutton Director

Harriet Gordon-Anderson Cast

Tom has written a number of awardwinning plays and adaptations, including The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The War of the Roses, The Lost Echo, Lorilei, Medea, Babes in the Wood, Baal, Optimism, On the Misconception of Oedipus, The Histrionic, and Black Diggers. He was Associate Director of Sydney Theatre Company [STC] from 2004 to 2012, and has worked as an actor and director at Playbox (now Malthouse), Melbourne Theatre Company [MTC], State Theatre Company SA [STCSA], La Mama, Company B (now Belvoir), Anthill, Gilgul, Mene Mene, Bell Shakespeare, Chunky Move, Black Swan, and Chamber Made Opera.

Matthew is Malthouse Theatre’s Artistic Director. Prior to this, he was Malthouse’s Associate Director, and the director of Perth theatre company ThinIce [TI]. For Malthouse, he has directed I Am a Miracle, Night on Bald Mountain, The Bloody Chamber, Dance of Death, Pompeii, L.A., On the Misconception of Oedipus, Die Winterreise, The Trial, and Tartuffe.

Other directing credits include The Mysteries: Genesis (STC), The Duel (STC/TI), and Love Me Tender (Belvoir/ TI). His opera directing credits include Make No Noise (Bavarian State Opera), Elektra (West Australian Opera/TI/Opera Australia), and The Flying Dutchman (NZ Opera).

Picnic at Hanging Rock is Harriet’s Malthouse debut. Her other theatre credits include Moving On Inc. (Perth Fringe), Never Hurt Anyone (Griffin), The Staffroom (Sydney Fringe).

Her West Australian Academy of Performing Arts [WAAPA] credits include Tender Napalm, All My Sons, Pride and Prejudice, Measure for Measure, and The Grapes of Wrath.

Her screen credits include Little Girl Lost; Your Mob, Our Mob; Swiss Avalanche; and Splendours of a Mind.

Harriet won the 2015 WAAPA Leslie Anderson Award for Excellence in Acting, a Speech and Drama Teachers Poetry Recital Award, and is a Deadly Award nominee.

Arielle Gray Cast

Amber McMahon Cast

Elizabeth Nabben Cast

Arielle Gray is a performer, theatremaker, puppeteer, improviser and co-founder of theatre company The Last Great Hunt. Arielle cocreated and performs in Helpmann nominated It’s Dark Outside (ArtsHub Critics’ Choice Award winner) and Falling Through Clouds (Sydney Festival). Other recent shows include All That Glitters, Old Love, Yoshi’s Castle, Monroe & Associates (FringeWorld Martin Sims Best New WA Work), Minnie & Mona Play Dead (FringeWorld Martin Sims Best New WA Work), and many more.

Amber trained at Flinders Uni Drama Centre and won the Adele Koh Scholarship to study at the Stella Adler Company & SITI Company in NYC. Her theatre credits include Optimism (Malthouse), North by Northwest (MTC/Kay & McLean), Angels in America (Belvoir), STCSA and Windmill’s Girl Asleep, and School Dance (Helpmann winner for Best Supporting Actress in a Play). She was also a founding member of STC’s Actors Ensemble, appearing in several productions including The War of the Roses, Season at Sarsaparilla, and The Lost Echo. Amber’s screen credits include Girl Asleep, The Hamster Wheel, Yes We Canberra, and various short films.

Elizabeth is a 2010 graduate of the VCA. Her theatre credits include Antigone and ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore for Malthouse, Dance Better at Parties (STC; nominated for Sydney Theatre Award for Best Newcomer), and The Crucible (MTC), as well as Triangle and The Trouble with Harry for MKA. In 2014, Elizabeth was nominated for a Green Room Award for Female Performer for her title role in TheatreWorks’ Therese Raquin.

Elizabeth’s screen credits include Childhood’s End, Winners and Losers, Neighbours, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, and the US feature film Truth.

——> pg 9

Tom Wright Writer

Cast & Creative Bios Season 2016 ——> pg 10

Nikki Shiels Cast

Zoë Atkinson Set & Costume Designer

Tia Clark Stage Manager

A graduate of the VCA, Nikki’s Malthouse credits include Night on Bald Mountain, The Dragon, and Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman.

Her other theatre credits include The Cherry Orchard, True Minds, Top Girls, and Don Parties On for MTC; The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (Griffin/MKA/La Mama); The Dream (Bell Shakespeare); M + M (Melbourne Festival); and The Dollhouse and Peer Gynt for Daniel Schlusser Ensemble, of which she is a core member. Her screen credits include Neighbours, Perfect Pair, Childhood’s End, The Greatest Love of All, and Little Acorns. She was a recipient of the 2015 Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, and is a twotime Green Room Award nominee.

Zoe studied scenography at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, The International Institute of Figurative Theatre (Czech Republic), and at the Institut Internationale de la Marrionette (France). For Malthouse she has designed costumes for The Odyssey (2006 Helpmann Award Best Costume Design), and On the Misconception of Oedipus. Other work with Matt Lutton includes the operas Elektra and The Flying Dutchman. Zoe has most recently been working as Artistic Associate and Designer for the 2016 PIAF opening event HOME, with director Nigel Jamieson.

Since graduating from WAAPA in 2009, Tia has worked as a Stage Manager in various sectors across the entertainment industry.

Selected Malthouse shows include I Am a Miracle; Timeshare; Hello, Goodbye and Happy Birthday; Walking into the Bigness; Ugly Mugs; The Government Inspector; The Bloody Chamber; and Dance of Death. Tia has also worked on Grease (Gordon Frost Organisation [GFO]), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (GFO) and various live events both in Melbourne and around Australia.

J. David Franzke Sound Designer

Ash Gibson Greig Composer

Lyndie Li Wan Po Assistant Stage Manager

David is a composer and sound designer whose work spans film, theatre, visual art installation, and album production. His Malthouse credits include Night on Bald Mountain (Green Room Award winner for Composition & Sound Design; Helpmann-nominated) and Pompeii, L.A.. David’s other recent theatre credits include Song, Intimacy, and Holiday for Ranters Theatre; The Beast, Australia Day, and The Joy of Text for MTC; and The Wonderful World of Dissocia (STC). He has collaborated extensively with visual artist David Rosetzky, and with composer Bernd Friedmann on various album projects.

Ash has composed the music for over 50 plays, over 100 hours of TV, and in many other mediums.

Ash last worked with Matt Lutton at Malthouse on The Trial. Recent theatre work includes The Red Balloon with Black Swan, and Falling Through Clouds with The Last Great Hunt; recent screen work includes Frackman, Who Do You Think You Are, and The War That Changed Us. Ash has won an AACTA Award (eight further nominations), an APRA/AGSC Award (two further nominations), and six WA Screen Awards.

Lyndie has worked in stage management in theatre and live events both internationally and across Australia. Selected Malthouse shows include The Good Person of Szechuan, Timeshare, I Am a Miracle, and Blak Cabaret.

Lyndie has also stage managed Grug (Windmill, Shanghai 2015), Separation Street (Polyglot, 2015) and production managed for The Rivers of China (Theatre Works, 2015). In 2012, she was the recipient of the Daryl Wilkinson Encouragement Award.

#picnicathangingrock

Paul Jackson Lighting Designer Paul has designed for most of Australia’s major and independent performing arts companies. Recent designs for Malthouse include Love and Information, Night on Bald Mountain, Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid, and I Am a Miracle. He has taught at Melbourne University, RMIT University and VCA, and his work has featured in festivals and programmes in the United States, Asia, Europe and the UK. Paul was listed in the Smart 100 in 2004, is a Churchill Fellow and was an Artistic Associate at Malthouse from 20072013. He has received four Green Room Awards, a Helpmann Award and a Sydney Theatre Award.

——> pg 11

About Malthouse Theatre Season 2016

At Malthouse Theatre, our vision is to captivate audiences with theatre that pushes boundaries. We collaborate with local and international artists, to create theatre that puts provocative, entertaining and authentic human experiences onstage.

We champion artistic and cultural diversity; we advocate for alternate points of view.

——> pg 12

Each year we employ 300 passionate and dedicated people, not just the artists on the stage, but professionals including set builders, costume makers, writers, producers, designers and directors.

We have 35 permanent members of staff to help realise and deliver these theatrical experiences.

The theatre we produce explores Melbourne and Australia, personally, socially and politically, and sparks complex conversations about our place in the world. We believe theatre can be – and should be – an agent of change.

Welcome to Malthouse Theatre.

Yours sincerely, Matthew Lutton / Artistic Director & co-CEO Sarah Neal / Executive Producer & co-CEO

Our Partners

Venue Partner

Education Partner

#picnicathangingrock

Government Partners

Major Partner

Accommodation Partner

Corporate Partners

Media Partner

Industry Partner

Trusts and Foundations

Our supporters URANIA—Muse of the Stars—$25,000+ Michele Levine , Mary-Ruth & Peter McLennan, Craig Reeves, Maureen & Tony Wheeler CLIO—Muse of History—$10,000+ Annamila Fund, John & Lorraine Bates, Debbie Dadon THALIA—Muse of Comedy—$5,000+ Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen AO, Colin Golvan SC, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Janine Tai, Anonymous (2) MELPOMENE—Muse of Tragedy—$2,500+ David Bardas, Sian Fairbank, D.L. & G.S. Gjergja, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, Val Johnstone, Sue Kirkham, James Penlidis & Fiona McGauchie, Elizabeth & John Schiller, Jenny Schwarz, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins QC, Jon Webster, Anonymous (1)

TERPSICHORE—Muse of Dance—$500+ Michael Arnold, Ingrid Ashford, Rowland Ball, Sandra Beanham, David & Rhonda Black, Jennifer Bourke, Right Lane Consulting, Ros Casey, Marisa Cesario, Min Li Chong, Mark & Jo Davey, Taleen Gaidzkar, Brian Goddard, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Irene Irvine, Irene Kearsey, Ian McRae, Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, Robert Peters, Katherine

Rehearsal Photos / Pia Johnson

Sampson, Thea & Hayden Snow, John Thomas, Pinky Watson, Phil & Heather Wilson, Anonymous (4) ERATO—Muse of Love—$250+ Simon Abrahams, Graham & Anita Anderson, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Siu Chan, Chris Clough, Jason Craig, Tania de Jong AM, Carolyn Floyd, Orla & Rachel, Joanne Griffiths, Peggy Hayton, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, David & Mira Kolieb, Robyn Lansdowne, Kim Lowndes, Ian Manning & Alice De Jonge, John Millard, Paul Natoli, Tony Oliver, James Ostroburski, Wendy Poulton, Gerard Powell, Gavin Roach, Michael & Jenny Rozen, Robert Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Jill Sewell, Lisl Singer, Toby Sullivan, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte, Henry Winters, Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Barbara Yuncken Volunteers Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the generous and ongoing support of our dedicated volunteers.

Design / Hours After

——> pg 13

Cover Photo / Andrew Gough

EUTERPE—Muse of Music—$1,000+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Daniel & Danielle Besen, John & Sally Bourne, Sally Browne, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Robin & Neil Collier, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson AC, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, Michael Kingston, Rachel Petchesky, Rosemary & Roger Redston, Maria Solà, Gina & Paul Stuart, Rosemary Walls, Jenny Werbeloff, Jan Williams, Anonymous (1)

What’s up next Season 2016

A poignant and hilarious play … about depression.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING 8 – 20 Mar

Every Brilliant Thing / charts the lengths we go to for those we love.

With his mother in hospital, a young boy constructs a list of things to help her find a way to be happy.

Performed by British comedian Jonny Donahoe, and following critically acclaimed seasons in Edinburgh and New York, Melbourne audiences will have the chance to construct – along with a little help from Jonny – their own list of all the brilliant things / worth living for.

—Limelight ——> pg 14

Written by / Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe Direction / George Perrin Performed by / Jonny Donahoe A Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre Company production in association with Jersey Arts Trust and Nabokov.

Hungry for more?

1

2

3

The Glass Menagerie

Edward II

War and Peace

18 May – 5 Jun

Winner of the 2015 Helpmann Award for Best Play.

29 Jul – 21 Aug

The demise of a king who mixes too much pleasure with business.

#picnicathangingrock

We hope you enjoy Picnic at Hanging Rock, our new take on an old classic. We think you might also revel in these other unexpected and courageous productions of Season 2016. Why not see all three and save big when you book a Mini Malty, your three show pass to Season 2016.

18 – 30 October

Fiction and reality unfold in a collision of surveillance and live action.

——> pg 15

Find out more at malthousetheatre.com.au

Season 2016

Black Swan is Western Australia’s state theatre company, committed to creating exceptional theatre that nurtures Western Australian audiences and artists and promotes our artists within the state, nationally and internationally.

In our 25th anniversary year, the Black Swan team is thrilled to be partnering with Malthouse Theatre to co-produce Picnic at Hanging Rock. We wish Malthouse all the best for their season, and look forward to the show coming to Perth from 1 to 17 April.

FOUNDING PATRON Janet Holmes à Court AC PATRON Sam Walsh AO CHAIR Mark Barnaba AM DEPUTY CHAIR Kate O’Hara TREASURER Craig Yaxley DIRECTORS Alan Cransberg Nicola Forrest Andrew Harding Rob McKenzie Vicki Robinson Linda Savage PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEE Michela Fini Rachel Huber Garrod Keightley Gina Lisle Sallie-Anne Manford Sue McDonald Fred Nagle Mimi Packer Chris Ungar

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Kate Cherry GENERAL MANAGER Natalie Jenkins ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS Jeffrey Jay Fowler & Stuart Halusz LITERARY DIRECTOR Polly Low ARTISTIC COORDINATOR Jessica Knight FINANCE MANAGER Amanda Luke PRODUCTION MANAGER Garry Ferguson TECHNICAL MANAGER Alex Fisher WARDROBE MANAGER Lynn Ferguson CUTTER Mandy Elmitt

WARDROBE ASSISTANT Marie NitschkeMcGregor PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER Monique Beaudoire PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR Jordan Nix PHILANTHROPY MANAGER Andree McIntyre PHILANTHROPY OFFICER Amber Craike MARKETING & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Maria Sioulas MARKETING COORDINATOR Kerry Miller TICKETING & SUBSCRIPTION OFFICER Amy Welsh

PUBLICITY Irene Jarzabek EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ACCESS MANAGER Alena Tompkins EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ACCESS ASSISTANT Goya Zheng 2016 INTERNS Samuel Cox Madeleine Jolly-Fuentes Scott McArdle Harry McGrath OVERSEAS REPRESENTATIVES London Diana Franklin Yolande Bird New York Stuart Thompson

——> pg 16

#picnicathangingrock

Th e Cu llen – Prahran, Melbourne Th e O lsen – south Yarra, Melbourne The Bl aCk M an – st kilda Road, Melbourne Th e waTsO n – walkerville, adelaide

Or stay inspired at our studio hotels: Th e l aRwI ll sT u D I O – Parkville, Melbourne Th e sChalleR sT u D I O – Bendigo, Victoria

——> pg 17

artserieshotels.com.au 1800 278 468

#picnicathangingrock

scene & heard

Coordinating the quick scene changes in pitch black took hours of practice. The cast rehearsed with their eyes closed, and our backstage crew wear night vision googles during the performance.

——> pg 19

© Malthouse Theatre 2016. All rights reserved.

Season 2016 ——> pg 20

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