A Belvoir production

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

by Ray Lawler

The iconic play re-imagined by an iconic director.

Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, is quite simply the moment when Australian theatre found its voice.

Every summer, Barney and Roo come back from the Queensland cane fields to the Carlton house they share with Nancy and Olive for their annual season of leisure. This year though, Nancy's gone and got married, and Pearl's taking her place...

After 17 years as artistic director at Belvoir, the legendary Neil Armfield (Keating!) directs the play about how, after 17 years, all good things must come to an end. Timeless since its debut in 1955, The Doll is about regeneration; about sloughing off the shell of habit and delusion, and finding life anew.

Every Australian deserves the chance to experience a great version of The Doll, and with Armfield directing a stellar cast headed up by Robyn Nevin, this is yours.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 15 MARCH

Steve Le Marquand & Helen Thomson Photo: Marcel Aucar

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The Traverse Theatre Company production of

Midsummer

{ a play with songs }

by David Greig & Gordon McIntyre

Australian tour produced by merrigong theatre co. and richard jordan productions

Two people walk into a bar...

It's a midsummer's weekend in Edinburgh. It's raining. Two thirtysomethings are sitting in a bar waiting for something to turn up.

He's a failing car salesman on the fringes of the city's underworld and she's a high powered divorce lawyer with a taste for other people's husbands. She's out of his league and he's not her type at all. They absolutely should not sleep together. Ever. Ever.

Which is why they do.

Midsummer {a play with songs} is the story of Bob and Helena and a great lost weekend of bridge burning, car chases, wedding bust-ups, bondage miscalculations, midnight trysts and horrible hungover self loathing misery.

Direct from Edinburgh's acclaimed Traverse Theatre Company, and featuring the award winning overseas cast, Midsummer {a play with songs} is by one of the UK's leading playwrights, David Greig and top Scottish singer/songwriter, Gordon McIntyre. Originally premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this quirky, charming, rom-com with songs has become a phenomenon, playing to rapturous sold-out crowds around the world, from London to Washington to Vancouver, and now Australia.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 29 MARCH

Cora Bissett & Matthew Pidgeon Photo: Euan Myles

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Bell shakespeare

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

"Things without all remedy. Should be without regard; what's done is done."

Lady Macbeth

The Macbeths are the picture of privileged nobility – happy, successful, going places. Then Macbeth happens upon three witches who predict he will soon be King – a prophecy he distrusts but which his wife becomes utterly seduced by.

Bell Shakespeare's associate director Peter Evans fulfills a long awaited collaboration with Dan Spielman in the title role and Kate Mulvany who plays his highly erotic wife. This season's Macbeth reveals what the lure of power can do to a man, and the devastation it can wreak on a marriage and a nation.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A TUESDAY 22 MAY

Kate Mulvany & Dan Spielman Photo: Chris Ireland

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SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY

The Land of Yes &
The Land of No

Exquisite movement and irresistable intensity...

Beautifully wrought from the world of signs and symbols in our everyday lives, artistic director Rafael Bonachela's production, The Land of Yes & The Land of No, premiered at the Ludwigsburg Festival, Germany in 2009 and has toured the world since then, garnering critical and audience acclaim.

Instantly recognised by audiences and critics as "a giant leap... imaginatively, musically and choreographically", Canberra audiences now get to see this sensuous award-winning work.

Every exquisite movement leaps out with the irresistible intensity of Ezio Bosso's score, as the Company's magnificent dancers perform on a set of neon tubes and rich, constantly changing colours.

Designed by leading British team Alan MacDonald (production), Guy Hoare (lighting) and Theo Clinkard (costumes), this is a production which delivers all the physical precision and enthralling dance that has dazzled the Company's audiences from Shanghai to Venice.

FREE PRE-SHOW FORUM WITH RAFAEL BONACHELA THURSDAY
28 JUNE

Photo: Jez Smith

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OPERA AUSTRALIA'S OZ OPERA PRESENTS MOZART'S

Don Giovanni

LOVE. BETRAYAL. PASSION. REVENGE.

He's stolen kisses and broken hearts, but has opera's great Casanova gone a step too far? Find out in this exciting new production of Mozart's classic masterpiece, directed by Michael Gow (Away).

The Don spends his days in the company of gorgeous women, fine food and the best champagne, and he's ready to add more women to his catalogue of conquests but this time his dalliances are not going entirely to plan. The abandoned Elvira is trying to track him down, Donna Anna wants to avenge the death of her father (which Giovanni may have had something to do with), and Zerlina just wants to get married without the Don's amorous interference... or does she?

But something more sinister is waiting just around the corner. Is opera's favourite bad boy about to meet his match?

Be swept up in the stylishly sexy decadence straight out of La Dolce Vita in Oz Opera's new production of Mozart's classic opera. Our smouldering Don is about to seduce audiences all around Australia–watch out ladies!

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A big hart production

Ngapartji Ngapartji
{ one }

Written and Directed by Scott Rankin created for and with trevor jamieson

One man, alone on stage, one huge story, and he alone can tell it.

Fresh from the sell-out national tour of Namatjira, and in the lead-up to the Centenary of Canberra Big hART brings you the second of three works, Ngapartji Ngapartji {one}, from one of Australia's foremost creative teams, writer/director Scott Rankin & actor Trevor Jamieson.

The phrase Ngapartji Ngapartji loosely translates as 'I give you something, you give me something' and captures the spirit of this generous and virtuosic piece of theatre.

From the shelter of an isolated and timeless existence in Australia's vast desert centre, to a confrontation with the strange new world of non-indigenous Australia, Jamieson traces his family's story through the 20th Century.

With a gentle touch, Trevor invites us into his family's epic story, sharing this journey through word, song, movement and film of his family's almost unbelievable encounters with the non-indigenous world, from first white contact, to their confrontation with the Cold War, and his own walk between two cultures today, Trevor narrates our journey towards hope.

The Ngapartji Ngapartji project began in Alice Springs eight years ago and has evolved over the years, inspiring audiences and receiving critical acclaim. More than a great night at the theatre, Ngapartji Ngapartji continues to galvanize audiences, encouraging positive exchange nationally.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 26 JULY

Trevor Jamieson Photo: Heidrun Lohr

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SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY AND MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY

Australia Day

BY JONATHAN BIGGINS

Sizzling drama, overcooked local politics and sausages!

Australia Day: a day off work, an excuse to fire up the barbie, an opportunity to drink copious amounts of beer and, most importantly, a celebration of our national identity... whatever that is.

For the members of the Australia Day committee in the small country town of Coriole, the issue of cultural identity is prickly to say the least. If they could agree on what kind of Australia they are celebrating, they might be able to tackle the really big questions: is a sausage sizzle too monocultural? And should the special needs kids be forced to perform their dance routine on the national day?

Suffice to say that with a committee comprising of an ambitious Liberal Mayor, a Greens Councillor, a bigoted builder, an Australian born Vietnamese school teacher and a member of the CWA, rolling out the Australia Day celebrations will be as complex and controversial as carbon pricing.

This wickedly funny new play from the stalwart of political satire, Jonathan Biggins, was inspired by his own experiences as an Australia Day Ambassador. Comic genius and director, Richard Cottrell, and an all star cast complete this satirical delight.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 30 AUGUST

Geoff Morrell Photo: Earl Carter

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BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE

Terrain

An acclaimed talent returns with an amazing new work.

Terrain, is a new story told through music, theatre and dance by acclaimed choreographer and longtime member of the Bangarra family, Frances Rings.

Inspired by the landscape of one of our greatest natural wonders, this work explores the metamorphosis and timeless beauty of Lake Eyre. Tracing through the erosions of time we face the challenges of man in a struggle for survival amongst the delicate ecology and the search for the rare phenomenon that is Australia's inland sea. Beyond the ancient vastness we travel through drought and deluge to witness this ephemeral transformation of place.

Described by choreographer Frances Rings as a "Hymn to Country" this powerful, evocative new work transports us to the scorching arid desert plains where nature delivers in abundance and promises all, but guarantees nothing.

FREE PRE-SHOW FORUM THURSDAY 13 SEPTEMBER

Deborah Brown Photo: Jeff Busby

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bell shakespeare

The School for Wives

By Molière translated by Justin Fleming

The perfect wife, or is she?

Falling in love is never easy. Take our hero for instance. Now here's a guy who wants desperately to get married but is afraid that a smart woman will cheat on him. His ingenious solution? Enlist the help of a local convent to raise a girl so stupidly innocent that she won't know the first thing about cheating – let alone the last. In his mind she will be ever-faithful. The perfect wife. Or will she?

Following on from her success with Twelfth Night, director Lee Lewis joins us again to direct this fresh new translation from Justin Fleming of Molière's comedic train-wreck of a love story that tangles innocence with arrogance – and the other way around.

Photo: Chris Ireland

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Arts Projects Australia present Sasha Regan's

The Pirates of Penzance

by W.S. GILBERT & A. SULLIVAN

A modern twist honouring an all time favourite.

Described as "a delight from start to finish" Sasha Regan's Pirates is a very new take on one of the most popular and loved works of Gilbert and Sullivan today.

Far from being museum pieces, Gilbert and Sullivan were the Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart of their day, constantly updating their work with satirical, social and political references.

Regan's extraordinary all-male production of this musical classic continues this tradition of G&S as living theatre. Exquisitely funny, this show is a must-see for fans of all things musical, comedy and high camp!

An international hit, Sasha Regan's Pirates is a G&S extravaganza and this award-winning version is a loving recreation with a twist that makes it as relevant today as ever.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 11 OCTOBER

Photo: Kay Young

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sydney theatre company

The Wharf Revue 2012

Written and created by Jonathan Biggins, drew forsythe & phillip scott

When you don't know whether to laugh or cry...choose laughter!

The talented trio behind The Wharf Revue – Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott – will return to the Canberra Theatre Centre in 2012 to take another comic swipe at the politics and popular culture dominating the Australian landscape.

Nothing and no one will be spared – and that's just the way we like it! Featuring a cast of familiar characters and set to a boisterous score, a night with The Wharf Revue is a guaranteed lark.

Once more, you can be sure the Revue will be packed full of its trademark up-to-the-second satire of contemporary politics and popular culture, which has made the show such a hit year after year.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER

Photo: Tracey Schramm

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ANDREW KAY & ASSOCIATES PRESENTS

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

The original and the best – direct from New York.

The fabulous, award-winning Trocks make their triumphant return to Australia.

Founded in 1974 in New York by a group of dancers aspiring to present a playful, entertaining view of classical ballet in parody form, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo first performed in the late-late shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts and are now treasured all around the world.

Affectionately known as The Trocks, this company of professional male dancers presents an inspired blend of their loving knowledge of classical ballet, a brilliant comic approach, and the astounding fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces!

Dancing a fine line between high art and high camp and always with a wicked sense of fun and mastery of technique, these darlings of the ballet world will appeal to dance aficionados and complete novices alike.

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A belvoir production

Private Lives

By NOËL COWARD

"Very few people are normal really, deep down in their private lives."

Excerpt from Private Lives

Having delighted us in Much Ado About Nothing, the highly engaging Toby Schmitz stars in Noël Coward's comedy classic about love and marriage.

A divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, and their new spouses, Victor and Sybil, meet by chance while on honeymoon at the same hotel. Old passions begin to simmer and Amanda and Elyot rediscover why they fell in love in the first place... and then what drove them apart. What ensues is the unstitching and stitching up of marriages, proving that... we never really choose who we fall in love with.

The censors did their best to ban the play when Coward wrote it in 1930 (as a vehicle for himself) and it has been refusing to behave for 80 years now. Its wit is definitive, its plotting almost perfect, and its critique of modernity dazzling. The great theatrical adventurer Ralph Myers finally gives himself a directing gig and his task is almost ridiculously pleasurable: to direct Toby Schmitz in Private Lives.

FREE POST SHOW Q&A THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER

Toby Schmitz Photo: Michael Corridore

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