Queensland Theatre Company 2015 Season

 

Boston Marriage – 24 January – 15 February

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By David Mamet

 

The erudite Anna and Claire dwell together on the fringes of the Boston elite, but to keep themselves in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed, Anna has been accepting expensive presents from a wealthy married man who’s become besotted by her. Claire, meanwhile, is aging disgracefully and is set on seducing a much younger woman, and wants not only Anna’s blessing but her help.

Boston Marriage is a quick-fire comedy riddled with the wicked wit of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer behind Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow, David Mamet. With sarcasm and ribald banter it chips away at the pretensions and proprieties of high society and blows apart class distinction, while exploring the compromise needed to keep a marriage alive.

Boston Marriage is directed by Andrea Moor, who delighted audiences and critics alike and won a Matilda Award for 2013’s Venus in Fur.

 

 

“One of Mamet’s most satisfying and accomplished plays, and one of the funniest American comedies in years.”
-New York Post

* On tour to ten Regional Queensland venues
17 February – 27 March

Cast Includes: Helen Cassidy, Rachel Gordon and Amanda Muggleton

Director: Andrea Moor

Designer: Stephen Curtis

Lighting Designer: David Walters

Composer/Sound Designer: Phil Hagstrom

 

 

 

Mother & Son – 18 February – 15 March – Playhouse, QPAC

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by Geoffery Atherden

 

Geoffrey Atherden penned the first episodes of Mother & Son in 1984 creating an instant classic!

Now 30 years later he has done it again. From the creator of the hit TV series comes a brand new stage comedy featuring everyone’s favourite forgetful mum in this trip down loss-of-memory lane!

Long-suffering second son Arthur, who has sacrificed so much to care for his mother Maggie, would just like a few weeks’ holiday with his new flame Anita. His philandering dentist brother Robert is no help, and manipulative Maggie is out to sabotage Arthur’s chances.

Vague but vicious and more arsenic than old lace, Maggie would have Arthur tied to her apron strings for life, if she could just remember where she put the apron …

Fresh from the world premiere season at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre, Mother & Son brings up to date a treasured Australian comedy icon with Atherden’s distinctive brand of acerbic wit.

Cast Includes: Noeline Brown, Darren Gilshenan, Rob Carlton, Nicki Wendt, Rachael Beck, Robyn Arthur and Sharon Davis.

 

 

“These two much-loved characters are reincarnated live on stage by Noeline Brown (Maggie) and Darren Gilshenan (Arthur), whose consummate comic skills do justice to these treasured characters …”
-Herald Sun

 

Director: Roger Hodgman

Set Designer: Shaun Gurton

Costume Designer: Esther Marie Hayes

Lighting Designer: Nigel Levings

 

 

 

The 7 Stages Of Grieving – 17 March – 28 March Bille Brown Studio, QTC

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by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman

 

Remaining a vital masterwork 20 years after it was penned by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, The 7 Stages of Grieving is a wise and powerful play about the grief of Aboriginal people and the hope of reconciliation. In this one-everywoman show, Chenoa Deemal (Mother Courage and Her Children) spins poignant stories of different people from different mobs – tear-streaked tales of tragedy go hand-in-hand with jubilant celebrations of simple survival.

Funny, devastatingly sad, politically relevant and culturally profound as it traverses the phases of Aboriginal history, The 7 Stages of Grieving is an invitation to face hard truths, to join hands and grieve. It shares true and personal stories that need to keep being told. And perhaps most importantly, it opens a dialogue about the issues that separate and unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

“Watching that hit such an emotional chord, it stayed with me for years. Seeing a visual representation of a beautiful and established culture suddenly wiped clear with the stroke of a hand was emotionally jarring and brought to my attention how powerful theatre can be.” Chenoa Deemal

 

“… The 7 Stages of Grieving still speaks to us. Wise, honest, tender, funny and eloquent …”
-Australian Stage

Director: Jason Klarwein

Cast: Chenoa Deemal

 

 

Brisbane – 11 April – 3 May Playhouse, QPAC

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by Matthew Ryan

 

Brisbane, 1942: a big country town jumping at shadows, never knowing if that buzz in the air is a cicada or a squadron of merciless Japanese Zeroes. World War II took the city’s innocence, and that of 14-year-old Danny Fisher.

Danny’s dashing pilot brother has been killed in the Bombing of Darwin. As Danny’s devastated family unravels, the teen finds a surrogate sibling in Andy, one of the Americans stationed in Brisbane. The American pilot takes Danny under his wing, and as the tension begins to rise between the Yank and Aussie servicemen, Danny hatches a reckless revenge plan against those who took his brother.

A QTC world premiere drawing on true stories from the leafy streets of Brisbane in the middle of wartime, Matthew Ryan’s Brisbane is a life-affirming coming-of-age tale, with moments of sublime comedy amid a heartfelt tale of a family fragmented by tragedy. A living, breathing picture postcard from a time that could have been the making or breaking of a city.

Cast Includes: Matthew Backer, Conrad Coleby, Lucy Goleby, Dash Kruck, Daniel Murphy, Hugh Parker, Hayden Spencer and Melanie Zanetti

Director: Iain Sinclair

 

 

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