The Seymour Centre’s Artistic Director Tim Jones launched its 2017 season at a function held in the Everest Theatre on Tuesday November 15.
Its motto for the 2017 season is ‘Expect More’, and this is illustrated with a rabbit popping out of a Magritte like hat on its publicity material.
Seymour’s seventh Reginald program presents great performances from some of Australia’s leading small and independent arts companies all in the intimate surrounds of the Reginald Theatre.
The 2017 Reginald Season begins with a new production of The Trouble with Harry by Lachlan Philpott, presented by Seymour Centre in partnership with Siren Theatre and Mardi Gras. The Trouble with Harry re-imagines the true case of Eugenia Falleni AKA Harry Crawford, a father, husband and alleged murderer that scandalised 1920s Sydney exploring ideas of gender, perversion and complicity.
There are few Australian plays in recent times that have been marked equally by great success and controversy as Nick Enright’s Blackrock. Relative to students and adults, we’re looking forward to this Australian classic arriving in March.
Our resident company, Sport for Jove Theatre, are back in 2017 with a number of fabulous productions, including a collaboration with She Said Theatre, Fallen. Inspired by the history of Urania Cottage, a home for “fallen” women founded by Charles Dickens, this imaginative new Australian work asks what happens when the promise of a clean slate is built on the suppression of the past.
From the company that brought you the award-winning production Of Mice and Men, comes another American classic, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? plunges us with hypnotic energy into a dark and violent world where people are readily exploited for the pennies that they might bring in from a viewing audience.
Featuring as part of the 2017 Reginald Season in September, The Nether by Jennifer Haley is one of the most provocative plays in recent times. An intricate crime drama and a haunting thriller set in the not too distant future, The Nether follows an investigation into the complicated morality of identity in the digital world.
To end our Reginald Season for 2017 is Howard Barker’s No End of Blame – a sublimely playful, dangerous and pertinent political masterpiece. Presented by Sport for Jove Theatre, this brutal and savagely funny play could not be more relevant to our modern world and its new brand of war, journalism and self-expression.
The second part of the 2017 season consists of the GREAT IDEAS performance series. Leading National and International arts companies will be engaging with pressing issues through performances and post show Q and A’s.
The Great Ideas Performance Series is Seymour’s signature program, presenting performances that engage with significant issues of our time, provoking thought and public discourse around big contemporary questions.
This program embraces the Centre’s role as the University of Sydney’s performing arts venue, developing and presenting performances in partnership with academics both in the creation of new work and by complementing productions with expert commentary inspired by the ideas explored by artists within the Series.
The Great Ideas Performance Series believes that both the head and the heart can be stirred to make compelling theatre, deeply relevant to the world in which we live and, on occasion, inspiring change.
The 2017 events in the Great Ideas season are -Julie Taymor’s production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream- screening April 1, 2071 – which runs from 26 May to 10 June, Best Festival Ever – 31 May to 3 June, Prince Bettliegend – 7 to 10 August, Grace Under Pressure- 25 to 28 October, and Give Me Your Love- 31 October – 4 November.
If you subscribe before January 31, 2017 you receive a 20% discount using the Code ‘Seymour2017’.
Full program details – http://www.seymourcentre.com
Featured image- Seymour Centre Artistic Director- Tim Jones.
All images by Ben Apfelbaum (c).