Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES ITS 2020 SEASON

Looking to the future and prefacing his remarks by talking about the emerging talents from the Sydney Theatre Company’s Resident Artists program, Artistic Director Kip Williams also announced an ending.

The Wharf Revue, a popular perennial feature since 2000, will have its last hurrah in the 2020 season, entitled Goodnight and Goodluck and is co-directed by Jonathon Biggins and Drew Forsythe.This is at the behest of the Revue team and  their departure was lamented by Williams.

Williams also reflected on memory stating that it usually extends back to one’s grandparents.

Accordingly Williams scheduled a number of plays from the mid 20th century including  Terrence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea, Arthur Miller’s View From The Bridge and Home, I’m Darling  which references the 1950’s through a current lens.

The Deep Blue Sea, directed by Paige Rattray, marks the return of Marta Dusseldorp to the STC stage after a decade’s absence. The play by Terrence Rattigan is about a married woman who has pushed the boundaries of constrained fifties society by having an affair.

Arthur Miller’s View From The Bridge, directed by Kip Williams, brings together real life partners Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne for the first time in a tragic classic of the 1950’s involving love, desire, betrayal and the disjointedness and alienation of the migrant experience.

Andrea Demetriades stars in Home, I’m Darling, directed by Jessica Arthur, the new Resident Director at the Sydney Theatre Company, which looks at women’s dilemmas when they wholeheartedly embrace the nostalgia of the 1950’s.

Williams stated that he always liked a classic to be included and in the coming year he has nominated the 1995 play The Seven Stages Of Grieving written by Deborah Mailman and Wesley Enoch as that classic. It stars Elaine Crombie and with Shari Sebbens, the current Richard Wherrett Fellow in her directorial debut.

Stretching back to the first decade of the last century Wonnangatta by Angus Cerini has its world premiere production directed by Jessica Arthur. It stars Hugo Weaving and Wayne Blair as two men looking for their friend Jim Barclay . Unable to find him at Wonnangatta  station they set off looking for him on an arduous journey through the arid and unforgiving Australian terrain  whilst unpicking the myths of masculinity and mateship.

Delving into the 19th century  the STC will present Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Eryn Jean Norvill stars in an innovative adaptation by director Kip Williams which demonstrates the play’s relevance to today’s obsession with youth, physical perfection, and the malevolent  influence of the selfie.

The Writer by Ella Hickson, directed by Jessica Arthur, in an Australian premiere features Emily Barclay, Charmaine Bingwa and Toby Schmitz in a metaphoric clash of the critic and the creator, the compromises made in creating art and in the cancerous infection of patriarchal  power.

On a lighter note Triple X, written by and starring Glace Chase, along with  Josh McConville , Contessa Treffone and Christen O’Leary is a humorous, unconventional love story  between a Wall Street banker and a trans drag performer and the ripples that the relationship creates with the banker’s immediate family. The production is directed by Paige Rattray.

More humour is to be found in a new adaptation by Marieke Hardy of Darian Fo’s Can’t Pay Won’t Pay entitled No Pay? No Way! featuring Helen Thomsen, Catherine Van-Davies, Glenn Hazeldine and Rahel Romahn, directed by Sarah Giles in a farce about inflationary prices in a supermarket  leading to anarchic behaviour by two shoplifting wives trying to evade the police and hoodwink their husbands.

Following the STC’s hugely successful  Muriel’s Wedding The Musical comes the Tony award winning musical Fun Home  which also stars the original Maggie McKenna. Based on a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by Lisa Kron it tells the story pf Alison’s attempt to deal with the death of her father whilst on the cusp of self discovery. Shifting between the past and present day the young Alison is played by Maggie McKenna and today’s Alison is played by Lisa McCune, Dean Bryant directs with a stellar ensemble including Ryan Gonzalez, Lucy Maunder, Adam Murphy and Chloe Zuel.

Leading up to Christmas comes Sam Holcroft’s Rules For Living with yet another STC directorial debut by Susanna Dowling in a play about a Christmas family gathering going inevitably and hilariously wrong. The ensemble cast includes Heather Mitchell and Michelle Lim Davidson.

The twelve play season ranges over four venues- the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay, the Drama and Playhouse Theatres at the Sydney Opera House, and the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta.

For existing Season Ticket Holders, season tickets go on sale on Tuesday 10th September. For new Season Ticket Holders, season tickets go on sale Friday 4th October, 2019.

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborlang. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, United States, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.