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LATEST NEWS AND MEDIA RELEASES TRACY SET TO BLOW AWAY TOP END AUDIENCES IN MAY
Late May is normally well past the cyclone season in the Top End but theatre goers will have to hang on to their hats when a new play about Cyclone Tracy hits the stage on May 27. The play, simply titled TRACY, is the creation of the Darwin ensemble, Business Unusual and is co-produced with Darwin Theatre Company. It will tour far north Queensland following its premiere season in Darwin. The production brings together the creative team that staged the entrancing puppet and mask masterpiece The Pearler, which played to packed houses in 2006. Once again the innovative use of puppetry and masks with the dance, circus and physical theatre skills of the cast, combine to bring an exhilarating experience to the theatre. Set in Darwin, Borroloola, and Devon in the UK, Tracy tells the story of two young girls leading very different lives who suffer displacement and loss twice over and find themselves in the centre of the most frightening storm ever to hit the coast of Australia. Based on fact with elements of fiction, this meticulously researched drama follows the real life stories of the two performers. Business Unusual’s Co-artistic Director, Nicky Fearn, is cast in an autobiographical role, which depicts her idyllic life in rural England brought to an abrupt halt by the crimes and misdemeanours of her somewhat delusional father. Fleeing the chaos he has brought to the family home, they arrive in Darwin only months before the cyclone Tracy hits. Meanwhile Darwin dancer Samantha Chalmers brings the story of her grandmother Hilda Muir to life, telling the intriguing story of her journey to Darwin from Borroloola after a murder takes place on her traditional homelands. She grows up in the notorious Kahlin Compound, home for the stolen generation, and finds herself disconnected from her people and destined for a life in Darwin until Tracy comes and shatters her very existence. Director Sarah Cathcart saw the seeds of this play when she was in Darwin working on the production of The Pearler. “Hearing the stories of Nicky’s arrival in Darwin and finding out about Samantha’s grandmother just spoke volumes to me in terms of drama,” she said. “Seeing how well they worked together on stage, I just thought there has got to be a show in this, and Cyclone Tracy hasn’t really been done in theatre.” After three years in development, this horrowing story of loss and survival is a powerful tribute to all those who lived through Tracy. Focussing as it does, on the intimate stories of two girls growing up amidst very different forms of chaos, the play attempts to answer the question of how a place becomes a home. It’s about finding a foothold and adapting to the aftermath of disaster. This production brings together the best of local talent combined with the skills of top level national theatre practitioners including Designer Louise McCarthy, Composer Kim Baston, Puppet Maker Sophie Buttner and acting as dramaturge, the well-known playwright Hannie Rayson.
When: 27th may - 1st June & 4th - 8th Jun Times: Tue- Sat 7:30 pm Fri 11am Sun 5pm Tickets: $13 - $26 bookings Ph:08 89 803333/ www.darwinentertainment.com.au
FUTZ When: Wed 9th - Sat 12th 8pm Where: Browns Mart, crn. Smilth St & Harry Chan Ave. Lust, dirty hearts, crazy evil Cyrus Futz, a simple farmer with a big heart, is unlucky in love until he falls truly, madly, deeply and permanently for Amanda. The only snag is, she’s of a different species. She's a pig. And Cyrus’s God-fearing, all-American neighbours are only waiting for a pretext to enforce the ‘natural’ order. Then, horribly, they find it . . . Avoiding the explicit, director Karen Gibb taps the resources of a talented cast to conjure images of intense, sometimes savage, emotion. The play fizzes with wry wit, and the fevered fantasies of love, lust and lovelessness. Tropic Sun honours the original productions by presenting FUTZ as integrated theatre with live music and soundscape, and a strong emphasis on the outlandish humour of the work. “It’s not for maiden aunts,” says Karen Gibb, “Unless they are out for a provocative and stimulating evening of theatre.” Award-winning playwright and poet, Rochelle Owens, wrote FUTZ during the Cold War. As the Guantanamo Bay internees go to court, the issues of hypocrisy and prejudice raised in FUTZ are newly pertinent, and the words of the (New York) Saturday Post just as applicable:
Bollywood comes to Darwin GODS OF SPICY THINGS – A Divine Comedy When: 12 – 16 March Leela, a magazine writer seeking exotic adventures and Chris, a slick London advertising guru visiting his Indian homeland to scatter his mother’s ashes are thrown together by the gods and taken on an unexpected journey. What this creates is a colorful, mystical romp through India with all the elements of a Bollywood hit movie – romance, fate, family, a hint of pathos and a good dose of singing and dancing. Bollywood – it’s gottabegood!
ANTON CHEKOV'S "THREE SISTERS" – A LANDMARK PLAY. No, it’s not that mountains are moving from Sydney to Darwin (Three Sisters in Katoomba?), but that a mountain of dramatic history began with this play, ‘Three Sisters’. Anton Chekov, the Russian playwright whose works helped inspire the Method Acting movement all over the world writes such perfectly drawn characters. These will be seen this Saturday at the Wesley Chapel in the Botannical Gardens at the Darwin Theatre Company playreading of ‘Three Sisters’. Bob Scheer, director, and Head of Arts at St John’s College says; “We don't always need to find connections between texts and our situation but Three Sisters contains some of the longings that are still 'of our age - the fact we stand on the brink of a new century just as Chekov's characters do and we wonder at the future to be faced”. Audiences will laugh in recognition and in sympathy at these beautifully written characters brought to life by a talented cast of 10 actors.
Three Sisters – Darwin Theatre Company Playreading DATE: Saturday 29th September 3.00pm VENUE: Wesleyan Church, George Brown Botannical Gardens near Gardens Hill Road ent. COST: $5.00 More info, Contact: Bob Scheer - Mobile: 0400 948 529, Work: 8982-2225/ 237
"CONSTANCE DRINKWATER AND THE FINAL DAYS OF SOMERSET" HOMECOMING FESTIVAL SEASON FOR AWARD WINNING PLAYWRIGHT Former Darwin actor and playwright Stephen Carleton will bring his award winning melodrama “Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset” home for an NT premier season at the Darwin Festival in August. The play, described as “unashamedly gothic with the plot of a thriller,” won the 2005 Patrick White Award for Carleton as well as the New York Dramatists Award and was a finalist in the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. It has played to sold-out houses in Brisbane for the Queensland Theatre Company and in Sydney for Griffin Theatre Company...
PLAY READING AUDITIONS FOR MEDEA
AUDITIONS FOR BACHELOR OF CIRCUS ARTS 2008 On 2nd October 2007, NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts) will be conducting auditions in Darwin for Bachelor of Circus Arts for 2008. NICA encourages applications from talented young people with a background in circus, sport, dance, gymnastic, Xtremesport or physical theatre. Remote area applicants unable to reach an audition venue can submit a video/dvd application. Contact NICA for criteria on (03) 9214 6975, or visit their website at www.nica.com.au.
RELOCATION AND CONTACT DETAILS Darwin Theatre Company has now relocated to our new office in Brown's Mart. Our new contact details are as follows: Office Space: Brown's Mart Cnr Smith & Harry Chan Ave Darwin Rehearsal Space: Harbour View Plaza Cnr Bennett & McMinn Sts Darwin Postal Address: PO Box 1028 Darwin, NT, 0801 Tel: (08) 8942 0166 Fax: (08) 8942 0177
OTHELLO STARRING TOM E. LEWIS TRAVELS TO QUEENSLAND Darwin Theatre Company's 2006 production of Othello was such a success that it has gone on to a June season in Townsville, in co-production with Tropic Sun Theatre. Performances will be “under the stars” in Queens Gardens, North Ward, from Wednesday 20th – Saturday 30th June.
In preparation, the Old Magistrates Court Theatre in Townsville is filled with the sounds of meetings of state, languid love and clashes of titans as fifteen actors come together for the rehearsals of Shakespeare’s Othello. In Venice, the young Desdemona falls deeply in love with a famous army general, the Moor, Othello and travels with him to the island of Cyprus continue an idyllic time together. Jealous eyes and sick minds follow them and. Before too long the ugliest of whispers echo in Othello’s ears like approaching thunder… When the storm breaks over their Island of dreams, nothing will stand it its path. Nobody falls like a great man in love… MEET TOM E. LEWIS WHO PLAYS OTHELLO He is such a dynamic and charming personality, Tom E. Lewis, and strikingly young for his years; he will admit he’s been looking forward to the role of Othello since he was 22 – must be, what, about 20 years ago? But what gives particular freshness to his interpretation is that he is an accomplished practitioner in other art forms; in music including classical (from Bach through Chopin to Japanese and even the most ‘difficult’ - Chinese music). At the same time Tom’s active participation in film, both as performer and writer, as well as in puppetry, keep his creativity bubbling away on a front burner. ‘It is all really medicine’, says Tom, ‘and by working a lot it keeps the medicine going’.
Tom was born in Ngukurr in the Roper Valley; eventually a series of jobs took him to Melbourne where he became an apprentice motor mechanic. Then one day film-maker, Fred Schepisi, happened to pass by, spotted Tom, and managed to persuade him to start in the title role of The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith. Tom is widely traveled but perhaps spending longer in France than anywhere, he learned to speak French and, incidentally, was taught the guitar by no less than Francois Bernard, the renowned composer of modern music. ‘I’ve been a lone wolf all my life, but I am fortunate in having met good people and that’s what’s guided me’. For his part, Tom likes to help out kids from remote areas. Currently he is busy writing a couple of films - one is musical and based on stories of the Rainbow, the other is a feature film on Palm Island – with all the local stories. As we parted, Tom left me with this image:
Hear Tom on Radio National… 2006 ANNUAL REPORT Darwin Theatre Company's 2006 Annual report has now been released. A copy of this in PDF format can be found here. PAST MEDIA RELEASES April 2007 - NOT LIKE BECKETT - A TERRITORY PLAY WITH NATIONAL CRED Download a PDF version of the media release here Download a JPG image to accompany this media release by clicking the thumbnails below:
17th April 2007 - RUN, RABBIT, RUN - ALL THE WAY TO ALICE Download a PDF version of the media release here 13th April 2007 - HAUNTED RABBIT LOSES LUCKY FOOT Download a PDF version of the media release here January 2007 - HISTORIC THEATRE COMPANY CUT ADRIFT! Download a PDF version of the media release here NEWSLETTERS
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