The Wild Duck Program

THE WILD DUCK FEBRUARY 17 - MARCH 17

Malthouse Theatre presents

THE WILD DUCK A Belvoir Production Written by Simon Stone with Chris Ryan after Henrik Ibsen Directed by Simon Stone Set Designer Ralph Myers Costume Designer Tess Schofield Lighting Designer Niklas Pajanti Composer & Sound Designer Stefan Gregory Assistant Director Anne-Louise Sarks Dramaturg Eamon Flack Performed by John Gaden, Anita Hegh, Ewen Leslie, Eloise Mignon, Anthony Phelan & Toby Schmitz Production Manager Glenn Dulihanty Stage Manager Lisa Osborn Assistant Stage Manager Amy Morcom Technical Manager & Lighting Design Associate Teegan Lee Head of Sound Caitlin Porter Photographer Heidrun Löhr The Wild Duck opened in the Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse, on Tuesday 21st February, 2012 MERLYN THEATRE FEBRUARY 17 – MARCH 17, 2012

DIRECTOR’S NOTES The greater part of our life is largely uneventful. Tragedy is uncommon. It is a unique event, experienced a few times over the course of a lifetime, wholly memorable in its scarcity. Part of what makes tragedy so unbearable is our not having expected it, our inability to comprehend that it has actually happened and to us. When we present tragedies on the stage we are therefore being very selective in our representation of life. We are not showing the audience a slice of everyday reality. We are very consciously choosing the one moment in our characters’ lives where everything went wrong. This is an inherently manipulative authorial act and one that must be predicated on the awareness that life is not usually like this for these characters.

The advent of realism on the modern stage brought with it some misleading notions about tragedy. While the innovation of the early realist writers and directors was to move theatre away from palaces and battlefields and into the drawing room, to assume that they were presenting a realistic view of everyday life is misguided. Ibsen’s plays of this period are not examinations of the quotidian; they are dramas of fate and consequence. They present humanity in extremis. In A Doll’s House we do not see Nora’s life before Krogstad turns up to blackmail her, we do not see the happy early years of Ellida’s marriage to Dr Wangel before the stranger arrives in The Lady from the Sea, nor do we see Solness’ long career as a successful and acclaimed architect in The Master Builder. We meet these characters in the days preceding the breakdown of their marriage, their hour of greatest weakness, or their death. Those theatre-goers of the late nineteenth century who were well-versed in Ibsen’s oeuvre would have come to each new offering of his with a sense of foreboding, knowing that inevitably the author would have chosen these characters, this location, this time, with the express intention of examining a cataclysmic moment in their lives. His plays are an inquest into the darkest hours of human experience.

In a post-cinematic context Ibsen’s naturalistic framework does more to undermine the realism of his plays than support it. Due to the restrictions of naturalistic set design, the major players of his drama are required to congregate conveniently in the same drawing room or study over the space of a few days, each taking their turn to arrive just on time for their moment of revelation or exposition. Ibsen was a master of plotting and remains to this day one of the most insightful playwrights in the canon, but there is only so much coincidence and happenstance one can squeeze into this limited set of times and locations. While Chekhov was able to make use of unity of time and place to exquisitely evoke his characters’ claustrophobia, there are times when you sense Ibsen straining to break through the walls of his realistic settings and timescales. Indeed, he was to do just that in the final act of his second last play John Gabriel Borkman.

For the first three acts the play proceeds in typical Ibsenian fashion: the action takes place in two rooms of the Borkman house, one upstairs and one downstairs. At the end of the third act we see John Gabriel Borkman, who has shut himself in the upstairs room for eight years since being released from prison, break free of his self-imposed exile and rush madly into the snowstorm raging outside. In the fourth act we witness Borkman scaling a mountain, through the driving snow, to meet his death in a forest clearing. It is as if Ibsen, at the end of his career, is tearing down the walls of the realism he himself pioneered to find a greater truth out in the wilderness.

So I suppose I take my cue from Ibsen when I wrest The Wild Duck free of its five-act narrative and realistic location. This version of The Wild Duck removes the need to justify the fact that all the events of the play are conveniently taking place in one or two locations over only a few days. Instead of forcing the significant actions of its characters into a single drawing-room, the play travels like an unchained camera to these events. It exposes the spine of the plot and acknowledges the fundamental

artifice of the theatre’s presentation of dramatic events. We see one tragic week in the lives of six people. The events of the story take place in a void space – everywhere and nowhere. All that remains are the characters’ interactions with each other. We see a series of realistic moments in a very unrealistic setting. The plot declares its own hand and liberates the characters from their need to arrive on time and reveal the right information, so that they can be completely themselves in their own struggle.

We use a framework that is voyeuristic but also forensic. We are anatomising a tragedy. We follow, without being able to intervene, the extraordinary set of events that lead to the most unthinkable conclusion. We bear witness to how uncommon tragedy is, how more often than not we can avoid it, and how terribly crippling it is that time it happens to us.

SIMON STONE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is the second play Chris Ryan has collaborated with me on.

He has an acute dramatic insight, a wonderful sense of humour and is always an extraordinary foil and inspiration to me. I thank him for his invaluable contribution. Anne-Louise Sarks, my assistant director, and Eamon Flack, my dramaturg, provided me with essential feedback and support in the development of the script and production. To Ralph Myers, the artistic director who took the leap of faith to hire me and program The Wild Duck as the first work of the new Belvoir, the set designer who solved the problem of our new text consummately, the friend and collaborator, my utmost thanks. Thanks also to: all my extremely talented and hard-working creatives, Stefan Gregory, Niklas Pajanti and Tess Schofield; the terrific stage management combos of Luke McGettigan and Amy Morcom in Sydney and now Lisa Osborn and Amy in Melbourne; and Brenna, Tahni and everyone at Belvoir who worked their arses off getting it to happen. Ultimately, there were six people who carried the responsibility of creating the piece and keeping it alive from night to night throughout the season and each of them did in exemplary fashion. You are seldomly blessed with a cast as gifted, technically brilliant, generous, rigorous and downright friendly as the outstanding ensemble of John Gaden, Anita Hegh, Eloise Mignon, Ewen Leslie, Anthony Phelan and Toby Schmitz. It is certain this play would be a mere shadow of what you see tonight without them.

SIMON STONE

SIMON STONE

CHRIS RYAN

WRITER AND DIRECTOR

CO-WRITER

Simon is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2007 he founded the independent ensemble The Hayloft Project. For Hayloft he co-wrote and directed Thyestes, which was commissioned by and originally produced at Malthouse Theatre (winner of 2010 Green Room Awards for Best Production, Best Adaptation and Best Ensemble), co-wrote and directed The Only Child (with B Sharp, winner of Sydney Theatre Award for Best Independent Production), adapted and directed The Suicide, Spring Awakening (both with B Sharp) and Platonov, was one third of the multi-director project 3xSisters, and directed Rita Kalnejais’ B.C. In 2009 Simon directed The Promise for Belvoir and in 2011 he became the company’s Resident Director. In his first year in the role, Simon wrote and directed The Wild Duck after Ibsen (winner of three 2011 Helpmann Awards, including Best Play; winner of four 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards, including Best Production and Best Direction) and directed Neighbourhood Watch (four 2011 Sydney Theatre Award nominations, including Best Production). For Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre, Simon co-translated and directed Baal (winner of two 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards).

This year, Simon has again directed Thyestes for Belvoir. As an actor, Simon performed in Belvoir’s 2007 production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and appeared in the films Jindabyne, Kokoda, Balibo, Blame and Eye of the Storm. Simon was the 2008 recipient of the biennial George Fairfax Memorial Award.

Later in 2012, Simon will be writing and directing Strange Interlude (after Eugene O’Neill) and directing Death of a Salesman for Belvoir, as well as a stage version of Ingmar Bergman’s film Face to Face for Sydney Theatre Company.

Chris also co-wrote Thyestes, which was commissioned by and originally produced at Malthouse Theatre in 2010, and which is part of Belvoir’s 2012 Season. As an actor Chris’ theatre credits include Thyestes, Measure for Measure and The Promise for Belvoir; Gross und Klein (Sydney Theatre Company); Baal, Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Elizabeth (Malthouse Theatre); Concussion (Sydney Theatre Company/ Griffin Theatre Company); The Hypocrite (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Call (Griffin Theatre Company); Hamlet, Othello (Bell Shakespeare); The Man With the September Face (Full Tilt); Thyestes and Platonov (The Hayloft Project). Chris also co-wrote and acted in the short film Skeletons and featured in the short film Numurkah, which screened at FedFest 2009. Chris received a Sydney Theatre Award nomination for Best Newcomer for his role in Othello and Green Room Award nominations for Best Male Performance for Thyestes and Platonov. Thyestes won 2010 Green Room Awards for Best Production, Best Adaptation and Best Ensemble. The Wild Duck won Best Play at the 2011 Helpmann Awards.

RALPH MYERS SET DESIGNER Ralph is Belvoir’s Artistic Director. For Belvoir he has designed Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, The Seagull, The Wild Duck, Measure for Measure, Toy Symphony, Parramatta Girls, Ray’s Tempest, The Spook, The Fever, Conversations with the Dead and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union. Ralph’s other credits include The City, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blackbird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Kind of Alaska/Reunion, The Lost Echo, Mother Courage and Her Children, Boy Gets Girl, This Little Piggy, Far Away, Morph, Endgame, The 7 Stages of Grieving and Frankenstein, which he also directed (Sydney Theatre Company); Enlightenment, Cruel and Tender,

Dinner, Frozen (Melbourne Theatre Company); Othello (Bell Shakespeare); Wonderlands (Griffin Theatre Company/Hothouse Theatre Company); Borderlines and Sweet Phoebe (Griffin Theatre Company); Eora Crossing (Legs on the Wall/Sydney Festival); Peter Grimes, Così fan tutte (Opera Australia); La Bohème (New Zealand Opera); and Two Faced Bastard (Chunky Move).

In 2012 Ralph will be directing Private Lives for Belvoir, featuring Toby Schmitz.

TESS SCHOFIELD COSTUME DESIGNER Tess graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1986 and has worked in theatre, film and opera. She has designed for numerous Belvoir productions apart from The Wild Duck, including The Diary of a Madman (2010 & 1989 productions), Namatjira (with Big hART), Toy Symphony, The Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom, Ray’s Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Waiting for Godot, Cloudstreet, Suddenly Last Summer, As You Like It, The Judas Kiss, The Governor’s Family, The Seagull, Night on Bald Mountain, Hamlet, The Cockroach Opera, Knuckle Dusters, Les Enfants du Paradis, Gertrude Stein and Companion and A Lie of the Mind. Her other theatre credits include A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Tot Mom, A Streetcar Named Desire, Elling, The Wonderful World of Dissocia, The Convict’s Opera, The Serpent’s Teeth, The Great, Riflemind, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Art Of War, Mother Courage and Her Children, Woman in Mind, Far Away, Victory, Love for Love, The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus and The Government Inspector for the Sydney Theatre Company where she was Resident Designer from 2006 – 2009. Her opera credits include Peter Grimes (Houston Grand Opera), Sweeney Todd (Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Royal Opera); The Triple Bill – The Prisoner/ Berio Folk Songs/La Strada (English National Opera); and Peter Grimes, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, Jenufa, Whitsunday (Opera Australia). Musicals include Spring Awakening, Shane Warne the Musical and Chess. Tess’ film credits include The Sapphires,

Dirty Deeds, Bootmen, Spotswood, Unfolding Florence, Radiance, Mr Reliable, Cosi, In Search of Bony and Subterano. Tess received Australian Film Institute Awards for her costumes in the feature films Dirty Deeds, Bootmen and Spotswood, and Green Room Awards for her designs for Cloudstreet and Lady Macbeth of Mtensk.

NIKLAS PAJANTI LIGHTING DESIGNER For Belvoir, Nik’s lighting designs include Babyteeth, The Wild Duck, The Promise, Baghdad Wedding, Yibiyung, The Pillowman and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Other credits include Spring Awakening (Sydney Theatre Company); When the Rain Stops Falling (Brink Productions/ Sydney Theatre Company); Kitten (Jenny Kemp/Malthouse Theatre), Not Like Beckett (Malthouse Theatre); Holiday, Affection (Ranters Theatre); Endgame, Othello, The Winter’s Tale, King John, The Crucible (The Eleventh Hour); Axeman Lullaby (BalletLab); Black Marrow, I Want to Dance Better at Parties, Singularity, Tense Dave, Three’s a Crowd (Chunky Move); Spicks and Specktacular-The Finale, Good Evening, Frank Woodley-Possessed, Lano and WoodleyGoodbye (Token Events); Star Voyager-Exploring Space On Screen, Dreams Come True-The Art Of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales, Tim Burton The Exhibition-Melbourne Winter Masterpieces (Australian Centre for the Moving Image); The Eye of the Storm (Fred Schepisi feature film). Nik is principal lighting designer for trafficlight, an independent specialist design and management studio based in Melbourne.

STEFAN GREGORY COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER Stefan was an associate artist at Belvoir in 2011, and has been composer and sound designer of Belvoir’s productions of Thyestes, As You Like It, Neighbourhood Watch (in which he also played the chemist), The Seagull, The Wild Duck, Measure for Measure and That Face, and per-

formed as a guitarist in Peribanez. He also composed and performed in The War of the Roses and Frankenstein (Sydney Theatre Company). Other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (B Sharp/Bob Presents/Arts Radar); Ladybird (B Sharp/Small Things Productions); Baal (Malthouse Theatre/ Sydney Theatre Company); Thyestes, The Suicide, B.C. (The Hayloft Project); Silent Disco, The Call (Griffin Theatre Company); King Lear, Hamlet and Othello (Bell Shakespeare Company).

Stefan has been nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Score or Sound Design for Baal and Measure for Measure, and a Helpmann Award for Baal. His work with the band Faker has earned him a Jack Award, a platinum single and several ARIA nominations.

ANNE-LOUISE SARKS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Anne-Louise has a BA Honours in Performance Studies from The University of Sydney and a BDA from the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2011, she was director in residence at Malthouse and a Belvoir associate artist.

Anne-Louise is Artistic Director of The Hayloft Project. In 2012 she will direct The Seed at Melbourne Theatre Company and a new production of Medea at Belvoir. For The Hayloft Project, Anne-Louise co-wrote and directed The Nest (after Gorky), was director and dramaturg on Yuri Wells, and was dramaturg and assistant director on Thyestes. As an actor her credits include Return to Earth (Melbourne Theatre Company), 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).

EAMON FLACK DRAMATURG

Eamon is Associate Director – New Projects at Belvoir. He graduated from the acting course at WAAPA in 2003 and has since worked as a director, actor, writer and dramaturg for Belvoir, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare’s Mind’s Eye, ThinIce, Perth Interna-

tional Arts Festival, Darwin Festival, Griffin Stablemates, PlayWriting Australia, ArtRage, Deckchair and various other companies.

For Belvoir he has directed Babyteeth, As You Like It and The End (which toured to Malthouse in 2011). In 2011 he directed Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui for Darwin Festival and his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream toured nationally. In 2010 Eamon was a special guest at the Alberta Theatre Projects’ Enbridge PlayRites Festival in Calgary, Canada. In 2009, Eamon adapted and directed Gorky’s Summerfolk for Bob Presents and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Bob Presents, Arts Radar and B Sharp; his adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone was directed by Matthew Lutton for ThinIce and the Perth International Arts Festival; and he was assistant director to Neil Armfield on The Book of Everything for Belvoir and Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image.

As dramaturg, Eamon has also worked on Belvoir’s Neighbourhood Watch, The Wild Duck, Gwen in Purgatory and The Book of Everything. He is series editor of Currency Press’ Currency Classics, and his adaptation of Antigone has been published.

JOHN GADEN WERLE John has enjoyed an illustrious career in theatre that has spanned over 45 years. For Belvoir he has appeared in The Seagull, The Wild Duck, Stuff Happens, The Fever, Waiting for Godot, The Unexpected Man, Cloudstreet (the original 1998 production and 2001 return season), Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Scandals and Belvoir’s first production Signal Driver. Among John’s other extensive theatre credits are The Trial (Malthouse Theatre/ThinIce/Sydney Theatre Company); Mother Courage and Her Children, The Lost Echo, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Sydney Theatre Company’s Actors Company); No Man’s Land, The Cherry Orchard, Democracy, The Miser, Copenhagen, Victory, The White Devil, Love for Love, As You Like It, Arcadia, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Saint Joan, Death and the Maiden, The Secret Rapture (Sydney Theatre Company); Pericles, Henry IV (Bell Shakespeare); King Lear, A Hard God, Dreams in an Empty City, The Real Thing, Wild Honey, Shepherd

on the Rocks, The Winter’s Tale, Hedda Gabler, Ring Around the Moon (State Theatre Company of South Australia); and Hysteria, Uncle Vanya, Racing Demon, Present Laughter, The Tempest (Melbourne Theatre Company). His operatic and musical credits include Ariadne Auf Naxos (The Australian Opera) and The Wizard of Oz (Victoria State Opera). John’s film credits include The Eye of the Storm, Right Here Right Now, Willful, A Little Bit of Soul, Thank God He Met Lizzie, Children of the Revolution, On Our Selection, Muriel’s Wedding and Caddie. For television his credits include Rake, Tracey McBean, Halifax f.p., Over the Hill and Mother and Son.

ANITA HEGH GINA Anita is a graduate of NIDA. Her theatre credits include The Seagull, Cut, The Wild Duck (Belvoir); Beyond the Neck (B Sharp/Bambina Borracha Productions); Killer Joe (B Sharp); Gross und Klein (Big and Small), Our Town, Like a Fishbone, The City, King Lear, Three Tall Women, As You Like It, Pygmalion (Sydney Theatre Company); Don’s Party, A Single Act, Dumb Show, The Rover, Fred, The Duchess of Malfi (Melbourne Theatre Company); King Tide, The Emperor Of Sydney, Honour (Griffin Theatre Company); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Bell Shakespeare); Phedra (Queensland Theatre Company); and Yellow Wallpaper (The Store Room/Malthouse Theatre). For television Anita has appeared in Rescue Special Ops, My Place, False Witness, The Informant, McLeod’s Daughters, Valentine’s Day, MDA, Last Man Standing, Holly’s Heroes, Peregrine – Loot, Stingers, Water Rats, Wildside, State Coroner and Return To Jupiter. Her film credits include The Last Ride, The Forest and Paradise Road. Anita received a Sydney Theatre Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The City, an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Guest/Supporting Actress in Television for MDA. For The Wild Duck, Anita won both the 2011 Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play and the 2011 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role of a Mainstage Production.

EWEN LESLIE HJALMAR For Belvoir Ewen previously performed in Paul and The Promise, directed by Simon Stone. His other theatre credits include Richard III (Melbourne Theatre Company), The Trial (Malthouse Theatre/ThinIce/Sydney Theatre Company); The War of the Roses, Gallipoli, The Serpent’s Teeth (Sydney Theatre Company’s Actors Company); Riflemind (Sydney Theatre Company); Dead Caesar (Sydney Theatre Company/ Push Productions); Shakespearealism (The Naked Theatre Company); Cross Sections (Tamarama Rock Surfers); and This Blasted Earth (Old Fitzroy Theatre). Ewen’s film credits include Dead Europe, Sleeping Beauty, Three Blind Mice, Katoomba, Kokoda and Jewboy. His television credits include Lockie Leonard, Love My Way (Series 2), The Junction Boys, All Saints, The Road From Coorain, Wild Kat, Bush Patrol, The Gift and Ship To Shore (Series 1 and 2). Ewen was nominated for an Australian Film Institute award in 2005 for his performance in Jewboy. He won the 2009 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in The War of the Roses, the 2009 Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The War of the Roses and the 2010 Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a play for Richard III as well as the Green Room Award for Theatre - Best Male Actor for Richard III. For The Wild Duck, Ewen was nominated for a 2011 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role of a Mainstage Production.

ELOISE MIGNON HEDVIG Eloise has appeared on stage in The Wild Duck (Belvoir), Return to Earth (Melbourne Theatre Company), The Grenade (Melbourne Theatre Company/Sydney Theatre Company); In a Dark Dark House (Red Stitch Theatre Company); Rubeville (The Black Lung Theatre and Whaling Company); and The Jaundice Table, As I Like You, The Desert, Entrails (Oubykh Theatre). For television Eloise has been a regular

in Neighbours, Silversun, The Legacy of the Silver Shadow and had a guest role in City Homicide. She also appeared in the feature film Three Blind Mice. In 2012, Eloise will feature in Every Breath at Belvoir, written and directed by Benedict Andrews.

ANTHONY PHELAN EKDAL Anthony has previously appeared in The Wild Duck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Laramie Project and Lost Lagoon at Belvoir. His other theatre credits include King Lear (Bell Shakespeare); The White Earth, Mirandolina, Occupations, The Runaway Man, The Legend of King O’Malley, Dickinson, Venetian Twins, Angel City (La Boite Theatre Company); Strangers In Between, Marvellous Boy, The Simple Truth, Wolf Lullaby (Griffin Theatre Company); Female of the Species, The Shaughraun, Fuente Ovenjuna, A Cheery Soul, The Game of Love and Chance, Essington Lewis: I Am Work, A Month in the Country, Top Silk, The Recruiting Officer, The Hard Times, Life Of Galileo (Queensland Theatre Company); Uncle Vanya, Julius Caesar, Holy Day, The Tempest, The Three Sisters, Fireface, Seneca’s Oedipus, The Herbal Bed, Mourning Becomes Electra, Blackrock, Corolanus, Antony and Cleopatra (Sydney Theatre Company); The Popular Mechanicals, Too Young For Ghosts, Design For Living, Private Lives, True West (TN! Theatre Company) and The Mikado, Gilgamesh (Grin&Tonic). His television credits include Underbelly, Two Twisted, Love My Way, Home and Away, White Collar Blue, Postcard Bandit, All Saints, Backberner, 13 Gantry Row, Big Sky, Murder Call and Water Rats. For film he has appeared in X, Griff The Invisible, Nim’s Island, Acolytes, Black Balloon, Happy Feet, Dark Love Story, Danny Deckchair, Starwars Episode II, Babe: Pig in the City, Wanted, Heaven’s Burning, Jack Bukowski – Death is Blue, Redheads. He has also appeared in the short films Mongrel’s Creed, Katoomba, The Mechanicals, Grammar School, Great Falls and A Parachute Falling in Siberia for which he was awarded Best Actor at the 2010 Toronto Short Film Festival. For The Wild Duck, Anthony won both the 2011 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play and the 2011 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role of a Mainstage Production.

TOBY SCHMITZ GREGERS Toby graduated from NIDA in 1999. He acts, writes and directs for theatre, film and television.

For Belvoir he has appeared in The Wild Duck, Measure for Measure and Ruben Guthrie. His other theatre credits include The Lonesome West (B Sharp/Arts Asia Pacific); Ruben Guthrie (B Sharp/murri fulla films); dreamalittledreamalittle (B Sharp); The Importance of Being Earnest (Melbourne Theatre Company); Hamlet (La Boite Theatre Company); Travesties, Rabbit, The Great, Self Esteem, Major Barbara, Hanging Man, The School for Scandal, The Great Man (Sydney Theatre Company); The Emperor of Sydney, The Marvelous Boy, The Woman with Dog’s Eyes (Griffin Theatre Company); and Cunt Pi, Fifteen and then some, One Thumb Out, Men (Tamarama Rock Surfers). Toby’s film credits are Griff the Invisible, Three Blind Mice, Somersault, The Rage in Placid Lake, Solo, Emulsion, and for television Crownies, Cleo, Underbelly – The Man that Got Away, The Jesters, City Homicide, The Cooks, The Heartbreak Tour, White Collar Blue, Home and Away, Fat Cow Motel, Water Rats, The Pacific and McLeod’s Daughters. Toby has written a number of plays including dreamalittledreamalittle, Chicks Will Dig You!, Pan (B Sharp); Lucky (Australian Theatre for Young People/La Mama); Fifteen and then some (NIDA/TRS); This Blasted Earth: A Christmas Miracle with Music (TRS with Travis Cotton and Tim Minchin); Cunt Pi, Capture the Flag (TRS); and Grazing the Phosphorous (NIDA). He has adapted Kinky Friedman’s novel A Case of Lone Star into a screenplay with Matthew Newton. Toby has directed Boy’s Life (Sydney Fringe Festival); This Is How It Goes (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); and Work In Progress, Capture the Flag (TRS). He won the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award in 2002 for his play Lucky and was the recipient of the 2004 New Dramatists Award. Toby’s screenplay Right Here Right Now won Best Film at Rebelfest Film Festival in Toronto in 2006. In 2010 Toby was nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a play for Ruben Guthrie. In 2012 Toby will be featuring in Private Lives at Belvoir, directed by Ralph Myers.

LISA OSBORN STAGE MANAGER Lisa works as a freelance Stage Manager and Production Manager in theatre and on arts events. Her Stage Management credits include The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself, Baal and Sappho…in 9 Fragments for Malthouse Theatre; The Trilogy Presentation (Amplification, Miracle and Above) for BalletLab at MONA FOMA; When The Rain Stops Falling for Brink Productions; Me and My Shadow for Patch Theatre Company: Man Covets Bird for Slingsby Theatre Company; G, Devolution and Ignition for Australian Dance Theatre; Three Sisters, Metro Street, Attempts on Her Life, The Female of the Species, Triple Threat, Noises Off and The Government Inspector for State Theatre Company SA; Cake for Ladykillers; Boom Bah!, Afternoon of the Elves, Two Weeks with the Queen and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge for Windmill Performing Arts. Lisa has also worked in a range of roles on events including WOMADelaide, The Helpmann Awards, and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 Cultural Festival.

AMY MORCOM ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Amy received a Bachelor of Arts (Communication – Theatre/Media) (Honours Class I) from Charles Sturt University in 2010. She has worked with Belvoir as assistant stage manager on The Wild Duck, That Face and Page 8. Amy produced Woyzeck for B Sharp and Arts Radar in 2010 and supported its tour to Brisbane Festival’s UNDER THE RADAR in 2011. Her recent credits include touring stage manager for Joan Rivers, head stage manager at Sleaze Ball (New Mardi Gras); stage manager for World AIDS Day Elton John Tribute Concert (ACON); The Nutcracker (Free Association); and Brilliant Traces (Phat Sandwich Productions). Other credits include production manager for Velvet Shackles, workshop supervisor/set design for Arcadia, production coordinator for

Sprung Festival (CYCLE Productions), and event management work for New Year’s Eve on the Cahill Expressway, the Australian Event Awards, and the Helpmann Awards (The Epic Team).

gratefully acknowledges its supporters GOVERNMENT PARTNERS Malthouse Theatre is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

MAJOR PARTNER

PRODUCTION PARTNERS

CORPORATE PARTNERS

MEDIA PARTNER

CORPORATE ASSOCIATES

COMPANY SUPPORTERS

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Slome-Topol Family Charitable Trust Australian Communities Foundation Spanish Cultural Co-operation Program PROGRAM PARTNERS

EDUCATION & YOUTH ACCESS PROGRAM

REGIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

ARTIST PROGRAM

WOMEN DIRECTOR’S INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Danielle & Daniel Besen COMPANY IN RESIDENCE

NEW AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION & PRODUCTION

MALTHOUSE REGIONAL PERFORMANCE PROJECTS

Annamila Pty Ltd ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Jeanne Pratt AC Rae Rothfield Sue Nattrass AO THE KENN BRODZIAK ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Tom Kantor Fund INDIGENOUS THEATRE PROGRAM

MUSE DONOR PROGRAM We extend our heartfelt thanks to the following donors:

URANIA (MUSE OF THE STARS) Annamila Pty Ltd, The Dara Foundation

CLIO (MUSE OF HISTORY)

Berry Liberman & Daniel Almagor, John & Lorraine Bates, Michele Levine, Anonymous (1)

THALIA (MUSE OF COMEDY)

Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Betty Amsden OAM, Daniel & Danielle Besen, Eva Besen AO & Marc Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson AC, Neilma Gantner, Colin Golvan SC, Peter & Anne Laver, Richard Leonard, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Philanthropy Squared, Trawalla Foundation, Anonymous (1)

MELPOMENE (MUSE OF TRAGEDY)

Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Terry Cutler, D.L & G.S Gjergja, Ian Hocking & Rosemary Forbes, Peter McLennan, Simon Westcott & Dr. Ben Keith, Tom Wright, Anonymous (1)

EUTERPE (MUSE OF MUSIC)

Ingrid Ashford, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Dominic Dirupo & Natalie Dwyer, Carolyn Floyd, William J Forrest AM, John & Helen Gibbins, Brian Goddard, Scott Herron, Valerie Johnstone, Michael Kingston, Naomi Milgrom AO, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE, Rae Rothfield, Tim & Lynne Sherwood, Neil & Barbara Smart, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Jason Waple, Phil & Heather Wilson, Angelika & Pete Zangmeister

TERPSICHORE (MUSE OF DANCE)

Roger Blythman, Sally Browne, Diana Burleigh, David Byrne, Min Li Chong, Sieglind D’Arcy, Rev. Fr Michael Elligate, Taleen Gaidzkar, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Graeme & Joan Johnson, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, K & J Lindsay, Pamela McLure, Sir Gustav Nossal AC CBE & Lady Nossal, Robert Peters, Karen Russell, Ernie Schwartz, Dr. Jenny Schwarz, Gina Stuart, Fiona Sweet & Paul Newcombe, Joanne & Dr. Niv Tadmore, Anonymous(2)

ERATO (MUSE OF LOVE)

Stephen Alley, Graham & Anita Anderson, Amanda Bede, Sandra Beanham, John Carruthers, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Dianne Clark, Patricia Coutts, Mary Crean AM, Tania de Jong AM, Doreen Dempster, Paul Gardner, Charles Gillies & Penny Allen, Peggy Hayton, Shirley Hickey, Roberta Holmes, Susan Humphries, Irene Irvine, Vas Katos, Irene Kearsey, Patricia Keith, Ruth Krawat, Gael & Ian McRae, Brad Martin, Robyn & John Morris, Dr. Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, David O’Connell & Jarrod Haberfield, Tony Oliver, Irene Purcell, John & Margot Rogers, Maria Sola, Thea & Hadyn Snow, John Thomas, Ann Tonks, Rosemary Walls, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte, Henry Winters, Dr. Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Angharad Wynne-Jones, Barbara Yuncken, Anonymous (13)

To find out more about the Malthouse Theatre Muse program, please contact Philanthropy Manager Tamara Harrison on 03 9685 5162 / tharrison@malthousetheatre.com.au.

Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.

at The Malthouse - 113 Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006 Box Office +61 3 9685 5111 Administration +61 3 9685 5100 Facsimile +61 3 9685 5112 Email admin@malthousetheatre.com.au Web www.malthousetheatre.com.au

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Simon Westcott (Chair), Frankie Airey, John Daley, Michele Levine, Ian McRae, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary.

Artistic Director Executive Producer

Marion Potts Jo Porter

Associate Artist – Design Paul Jackson Associate Artist – Direction M atthew Lutton Associate Artist – Writing Van Badham Director in Residence Adena Jacobs Company Managers Nina Bonacci &

Marc Psaila Associate Producer Josh Wright Administrator Narda Shanley Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni Finance Administrator Liz White Connie Stella Finance Assistant Marketing and Communications Manager Emma Calverley Philanthropy Manager Tamara Harrison Digital Strategy & Marketing Coordinator Carl Nilsson-Polias Development Manager J aclyn Birtchnell Media Manager Maria O’Dwyer Ticketing Manager Emma Howard Ticketing Assistant Lauren White Youth and Education Program Clare Watson Executive Assistant Carla Di Stefano Audience Development Consultant Jason Tamiru Building Manager Peter Mandersloot Bar Manager Cherry Rivers Front of House Managers Tristan Watson

& Sean Ladhams

Production Manager David Miller Technical Manager Baird McKenna Operations Manager Dexter Varley Production Coordinator Lucy Birkinshaw Head Electricians Michele Bauer & Stewart Birkinshaw Campbell Head Mechanist Andy Moore Head of Wardrobe Amanda Carr Wardrobe Assistant Chloe Greaves Workshop Supervisor David Craig Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli Scenic Artist Patrick Jones Props Master Ross Murray (lifetime recognition) FRONT OF HOUSE/BAR STAFF Matt Adair, Michelle Baginski, Claire Beynon, Rebecca Bower, Jacqui Brown, Ben Carollo, Tom Dent, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Eden Gery, Kate Golding, Chloe Greaves, Kate Gregory, Simon Jeanes, Gabrielle Lowe, Bridie McCarthy, Anna Nalpantidis, Daniel Newell, Ruby Nolan, Kliment Poposki, Felix Preval, Beck Rafferty, Claire Richardson, Caleb Shea, Mimosa Schmidt, Kathryn Stuckey, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold, Pete Walker, Janine Watson.

BOX OFFICE STAFF Liz Bastian, Paul Buckley, Mark Byrne, Sonja Fea, Rachael Dyson-McGregor, Dan Giovanni, Kate Gregory, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Fiona Wiseman, Janine Watson, Liz White.

Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

Malthouse Theatre, Christopher Green, Julia Holt and Melbourne International Comedy Festival present

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

AURIEL ANDREW

MAR 21 - APR 14 113 STURT STREET SOUTHBANK

BOOKINGS malthousetheatre.com.au