The Pillowman

"A great man once said ‘The first duty of a storyteller is to tell a story'. Or was it ‘The only duty of a storyteller is to tell a story'? ..."

In a nameless totalitarian state, a writer finds himself the subject of interrogation over a series of gruesome child-murders that seem to mirror the plots of his own stories. As the investigation delves deeper, shocking truths are revealed when the writer's twisted tales begin to come to life, blurring the line between fiction and fact.

The Pillowman is a suspenseful and wickedly funny psychological thriller that explores the dark corners of the human imagination and the thrilling power - and danger - of storytelling itself.

This viciously funny and seriously disturbing play from Martin McDonagh - award-winning playwright (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lieutenant of Inishmore) and filmmaker (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths) - walks the very fine line between comedy and cruelty. The Pillowman is as black as comedy gets.

New Theatre is very pleased to welcome back Luke Rogers (Waiting for Godot), after graduating from the NIDA Directing course in 2012, to take charge of this production.

“In a totalitarian dictatorship, the seemingly innocent act of telling a story is never that simple. The play explores the nature, freedom and responsibility of artists and asks to what extent is an artist responsible for the actions of others in response to their work”, says Luke.

“It’s the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction, comedy and violence, that make this a fascinating and gripping piece of theatre. The Pillowman weaves an extraordinary range of images into its theatrical vocabulary: from a gritty police-cell drama to Brothers Grimm-style fantasy."

"It’s a violent comedy of manipulation, misinformation and miscommunication where art itself is under interrogation and the legacy of what we leave behind is under threat.”

“Ultimately, this play is about the power of storytelling and our need to find meaning and answers within the worlds we create for ourselves. Sometimes there are many, often there are none."

"As Katurian says: ‘It’s puzzle without a solution’. Herein lies the suspense, the intrigue and the imaginative wonder of The Pillowman, where the sheer innocence of the words ʻOnce Upon A Time…ʼ become something so much more powerful, dangerous and threatening.

“I am delighted to be returning to New Theatre to work with a dynamic team of artists, to create an exciting new production of this fantastic play for this stage.”

The Pillowman
Season: 16 March - 13 April 2013
Venue: New Theatre
Address: 542 King St, Newtown NSW
Bookings: 1300 347 205 or online at: www.newtheatre.org.au
Image: Bob Seary

For more information, visit: www.newtheatre.org.au for details.
 

I Love Todd Sampson

I Love Todd Sampson is a multi-disciplinary theatre work integrating architecture, music, light and performance. The work encompasses the creative involvement of more than nine professional architectural teams including nine registered architects, three university architectural teams, jazz composers, sound designers, installation artists, choreographers and performers.

The central character to the story is an incessantly lonely, middle-aged woman named Laura, supported by the “friends” who live inside her. Laura’s “friends” have manifested from paintings, furniture and walls to help her overcome traumatic childhood experiences, forming the anchors, which ultimately bring her back from taking her life over the edge.

In search of a new comfort, Laura immerses herself in the life of Todd Sampson (CEO of Leo Burnett Australia, co-creator of the Earth Hour initiative and commentator on The Gruen Transfer and The Project).

The reassuring and charming voice of the Canadian-born ad-man is played throughout the performance, the sound of which consumes Laura as she pieces together fragments of his life to construct her relationship with him.

The experiential nature of the work has the audience physically following Laura through the set as her “friends” seek to bring her back from her perilous obsession with Todd Sampson.

The Pier 2/3 setting at Walsh Bay was specifically selected due to its historic beauty and disquieting nature, which also becomes a metaphor for the lead character’s state of mind. The audience literally travels through her reality across two floors of this immense and haunted space.

Written, directed and performed by Michelle St. Anne, founder of The Living Room Theatre, I Love Todd Sampson is a sensory-rich play that deals with the community issues of mental health and loneliness in an engaging and unexpected way.

“Our work gives a voice to those vulnerable in our community. It’s about framing the everyday into beautiful artistic works so we can allow others to see into this world through a less confronting platform" says St. Anne.

“In I Love Todd Sampson, the audience becomes a part of the action – as they enter rooms to explore and discover images, atmospheric sounds and repeated moments. And yes, Todd Sampson does know about it."

I Love Todd Sampson
Season: 28 February - 10 March 2013
Venue: Pier 2 / 3
Address: Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, Sydney
Bookings: www.moshtix.com.au

For more information, visit: www.livingroomtheatre.org for details.

Blow Up this Mardi Gras

It is 35 years since the first Mardi Gras blow up happened. This queer liberation protest rally would go on to radically reshape the social, cultural and political landscape of this nation. Over time it has become a highly valued defining annual event, and has opened awareness about a love that once dared not speak it’s name.

Blow Up brings together the work of leading queer emerging and established Australian artists, working across the generations of Mardi Gras existence, who use photography or photography methodology or photographic material to create their work.

Curated by guest artist Travis de Jonk, Blow Up features work by William Yang, Alison Bennett, Matto Lucas, Ross Brownsdon, Brenton Parry, Jeffrey Smith and George Popov.

These critically acclaimed artists are a snapshot of our current evolving social and cultural awareness, and an expression of the relevance of queer content and queer practitioners. Their thought provoking work challenges expectations, definitions of identity and sexual politics.

They challenge the way images are created, question what they mean and what they symbolize. Unashamedly fusing the personal and the political, their work explores burning issues encapsulated within the now and the digital age, fueled by the history of the time they grew up in.

Mardi Gras is still here and so are queer artists. Blow Up aims to shed some light on the role of queer artists in society and help answer the riddle of why the queer perspective still needs to be shared.

Blow Up
Exhibition: 19 February - 5 March 2013
Venue: Platform 72
Address: 72 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW
Image: Travis de Jonk

For more information, visit: www.platform72.com.au for details.

The History Boys

Alan Bennett's hit comedy The History Boys returns to Sydney for a strictly limited season at the Sydney Opera House.

Set in a fictional boys' grammar school in the north of England in the early 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations under the guidance of three teachers (Hector, Irwin and Lintott).

It's a thought provoking play that has played to sold-out houses around the world and won multiple awards, including the 2005 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and the 2006 Tony Award for Best Play and was turned into a feature film.

Acting veteran John Wood will play Hector - a teacher whose intellect, enthusiasm and flair will create a world of brilliance, madness and wonderful comedy. Combine this with 8 bright, unruly boys - concentrated on sex, sport, and getting into a good university (generally in that order!).

Australian film luminary Paul Goddard (The Matrix) will play The Headmaster, whose stuffy sensibilities contrast wickedly with the eccentric, borderline teaching style of the brilliant Hector.

Heather Mitchell will round off this unstoppable theatrical trio as the sharp-witted matriarchal Mrs Lintott - the history teacher who has probably been working at the same private school for too long.

This sharp witted, high energy production is full of gusto and youth, and will be directed by young theatre director Jesse Peach, who has worked extensively through Australasia, directing work including this year's New Zealand season of Death of a Salesman.

Jesse has directed The History Boys in Auckland, and was praised for the vibrant, youthful energy which resonated through the show.

The History Boys
Season: 13 February - 2 March 2013
Venue: The Playhouse - Sydney Opera House
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or online at: www.sydneyoperahouse.com

For more information, visit: www.historyboys.com.au for details.

Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor has created some of the world’s most ambitious and recognisable contemporary artworks, including, Orbit (2012), a 115-metre-high tower created for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Leviathan (2011) for the Grand Palais in Paris, Cloud Gate (2004) in Millennium Park, Chicago, Sky Mirror (2006) for the Rockefeller Centre in New York and Marsyas (2002) for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern.

See the first major exhibition in Australia by celebrated artist Anish Kapoor this summer as part of the Sydney International Art Series. In this selection of key works across two floors of the Museum, you can encounter Kapoor’s powerful artworks up close and in-depth.

Highlights include 1000 Names (1979-80), his early powdered pigment geometric sculptures; Void (1989), a large deep blue sculpture that changes from a convex to a concave form depending on your position.

 

One of the artist’s most ambitious works, the 24-ton Memory (2008) which completely fills one of the MCA’s spacious galleries as if squeezed between the white walls; and the monumental My Red Homeland (2003), which replicates the role of the artist. In this enormous circular sculpture, a large motorised steel blade slowly cuts a course through 25 tons of red wax, endlessly dissecting and re-shaping it into new forms.

Influenced by both his Indian heritage and western philosophy, in particular metaphysics, Kapoor’s artworks seek to understand what it is to be human. Explore Kapoor’s interest in the relationship between the contrasting forces of light and dark and see how he uses colour, form, size and medium to challenge perception, developing immersive and sometimes unsettling experiences.

Discover how Kapoor’s continual experimentation with structure and medium has led him to work with a wide variety of materials from clay, fibreglass and paint pigment, to steel and wax, creating beautiful, strange and intriguing works that counter conventional ideas of art.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see these impressive works by one of the world’s leading artists, in Sydney for a limited time.

Anish Kapoor
Exhibition: continues to 1 April 2013
Venue: Museum Of Contemporary Art
Address: 140 George St, The Rocks, Sydney
Entry fees apply

For more information, visit: www.mca.com.au for details.

 

Image: Anish Kapoor, Sky Mirror, 2006, MCA installation view 2012-13, stainless steel, courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Alex Davies

Rubber Duck at Darling Harbour

Internationally-acclaimed artist Florentijn Hofman isn't high-brow or elitist when it comes to his urban sculptures - he wants to astonish audiences and give them a new perspective on public spaces. His sculptures are big, very big, and Rubber Duck is no exception.

 

Hofman takes great care in finding a suitable habitat for his larger-than-life works. Rubber Duck, he says, doesn't discriminate and has no political connotation. "It relieves everyday tensions, as well as defining them. Its purpose is to do no more than amaze."

 

The bright yellow inflatable is five storeys high and five storeys wide and has been popping up in various cities around the world since 2007. Surprising, whimsical and a whole lot of fun for no apparent reason.

 

Rubber Duck

Season: continues to 23 January 2013
Venue: Darling Harbour, Sydney

For more information, visit: www.sydneyfestival.com.au for details.

 

Rubber Duck is presented as part of the 2013 Sydney Festival.

The Small Poppies

It's Clint's first day of school and he doesn't want to be there. His best friend Maria has moved away and Shane is a bully. Theo is obsessed with kangaroos and Lep's lunchbox smells.

The Small Poppies is a funny, playful look at the rite of passage of starting "big school" through the eyes of a five year old. With the innocence and clear-sighted wisdom of children, Clint and his friends show how, with a little tolerance and understanding, we can all get along in our multicultural society, and that who you are matters so much more than what you are.

 

New Theatre is pleased to welcome NIDA graduate Felicity Nicol to direct The Small Poppies in her first production for the Company.

“I’ve wanted to direct this play  ever since I saw the production with Geoffrey Rush at Belvoir St 12 years’ ago when I was a teenager,” says Felicity.

 

“It made the strongest impression on me. Never had I seen such a celebration of imagination on stage before.  So I was thrilled when New Theatre offered me the opportunity to bring it to life."

 

This delightful classic of Australian children's theatre is a treat for the whole family. Suitable for ages 5 and up.

 

The Small Poppies

Season: 17 - 26 January 2013
Venue: New Theatre

Address: 542 King St, Newtown

Bookings: 1300 347 205 or online at: www.newtheatre.org.au 

Image: Peter Gahan 

 

For more information, visit: www.newtheatre.org.au for details.