Red Stitch Season One, 2008

In the six years of its operation, Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre has built a solid and deserved reputation as an exciting and independent player in the world of Melbourne theatre, not only through its enduring ensemble ethos, but also through its emphasis on the staging of new works from local and international writers. Their 2008 Season One, launched this week, looks set to further cement their status, with an intriguing line-up of new works on offer for audiences prepared to look beyond the Arts Centre spire.
In an aptly synergystic arrangement, Chapel Street’s Red Vault Bar, within ‘bravo’ distance of Red Stitch’s discreet theatre on Dandenong Rd, was the venue for Monday evening’s Season One Launch. Antipastos and free wine ably prepared the gathered well-wishers, patrons and contributors for Ensemble Director David Whitely’s witty and faux-awkward announcement of what looks to be a promising line-up of material for the coming year.
First out of the red stable in February is Neil Labute’s The Mercy Seat, the playwright’s immediate response to the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Debuting in 2002, the play tells of a WTC office worker whose family believes he was killed in the attacks, but who was instead in the company of his lover - who also happens to be his boss. The two contemplate using the tragedy as a pretext for running away and establishing a new life together - after all, not everyone can be a hero. A sell-out run on its opening in 2002 saw the play acheive critical and commercial success, and Whitely believes that the play stands stronger as a result of its distance from the events of that day. This Australian premiere of The Mercy Seat opens February 6th, and will run until March 8th.
Jez Butterworth’s The Winterling is the third offering from the British playwright, and is set in a burnt-out farmhouse in Dartmoor. West, the lord of this questionable manor, is visited by two old associates from the city, and their dubious histories are allowed to unravel in an extension of the style first put forth by Butterworth in his debut play Mojo. Inspired in large part by the submerged menace of Pinter, Butterworth has created a ‘darkly comic drama’ that has its Australian premiere through Red Stitch. The Winterling opens on the 19th of March, and runs until April 19th.
Between these offerings, something completely different. Red Stitch and comedian CJ Fortuna present The Angry Pinata Unstitched, a Comedy Festival Special. This blend of ‘inspired comedy, multi-media and self-abuse’ runs from March 24 to April 8.
The Pain and the Itch, by American writer Bruce Norris, seeks to lacerate the bourgeois pretensions of the liberal intelligentsia. A family reunites over Thanksgiving dinner in an unnamed city, setting the scene for these well-educated, savvy, urban dwellers to reveal themselves in all their hypocrisy and well-intentioned ignorance. The enigma of the bite-marks in the avocado and Kayla’s mysterious itch are just the icing on the cake… This able social satire opens at Red Stitch on the 30th of April, and is again an Australian first. It runs until the 31st of May.
The last show announced of Red Stitch’s Season One is in many ways the most interesting. Michael Gurr, author of Sex Diary of an Infidel, approached the Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre two years ago suggesting he would like to write a play for the ensemble. In a first for the company, funds from the Australia Council enabled Red Stitch to commission Gurr to write such a play, and the result is his latest work, Intelligence. Set in an interrogation training facility, the play delves into a world of secrets and paranoia, as the training centre itself becomes the subject of governmental scrutiny. What happens when the watchers become the watched? Intelligence promises to be an intriguing investigation into the politics of fear, and has its world premiere via Red Stitch, opening on June the 11th and running through to the 5th of July.
Also announced at the launch were two other exciting developments - the Graduate program, which will see two graduates from the Victorian College of the Arts and Swinburne Performing Arts invited to join the ensemble for a year, where they’ll pick up valuable experience and exposure - and the further development of the writer-in-residence program ‘Red Stitch Writers’. Lachlan Philpott, former artistic director of Tantrum Theatre in Newcastle, and Tom Holloway, will work alongside the ensemble and dramaturg/director Sam Strong in the development of new work. These programs should prove an exciting avenue for those interested in the furthering of Australian theatre, and again show the commitment of the Red Stitch team towards this end.
BOOKINGS
Ticket and free subscriber bookings available online at redstitch.net
Phone bookings and enquiries 9533 8083
Adult $30 Conc $20 Student $18 (booking fees may apply)
Group discounts for 10 or more
All shows Wed-Sat at 8pm, Sundays at 6.30pm.
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