At quite an impressive launch held Friday 27 September 2013, the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s Artistic Director, Geordie Brookman announced the Company’s even more impressive line up for its 2014 season.
With themes covering our need for love, connectivity and community; plays consisting of classics, new Australian works and works daring to push the envelope; and a line up of local, interstate and even international talent (actors and directors), next year’s season promises to be quite exciting with a little something for everyone.
Adelaide raised stage and film actor, Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Bait, Anonymous) returns to star opposite Rosalba Clemente (in her long awaited stage return) in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, newly adapted by Hilary Bell. Also featuring such actors as Paul Blackwell, Terence Crawford and Renato Musolino, and directed by Brookman, the production will be part of the Adelaide Festival and performed in the Company’s Scenic Workshop.
Other highlights to watch out for are: BAFTA Award winning actress (and now an Australian citizen), Miriam Margolyes (Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter movies, and recently seen on the Dunstan Playhouse stage in Dickens’ Women) starring in Neighbourhood Watch by Lally Katz in May (pictured); Nicki Bloom’s new work, Little Bird written especially for Paul Capsis and featuring songs by Cameron Goodall and Quentin Grant (You, Me and the Bloody Sea) for June’s Cabaret Festival; Nancye Hayes (Metro Street) as Lady Bracknell and Nathan O’Keefe (The Comedy Of Errors, Hedda Gabler) as Algernon, in Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy of manners, The Importance Of Being Earnest (July/August); and the exclusive Australian premiere of acclaimed, ground-breaking director Peter Brook’s latest production, The Suit in October.
The rest of 2014 will see the State Theatre Company producing or involved in: Kryptonite, a new Australian play by Sue Smith (Brides Of Christ, Mabo and Bastard Boys) (Oct/Nov); William Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Nescha Jelk (Random) and featuring Hazem Shammas as Othello and Renato Musolino as Iago (Nov); Phillip Kavanagh’s Jesikah featuring Kate Cheel (Brief Encounter, Hedda Gabler) as an ‘online’ teenager for the State Ed program (4 performances only in May); the Sydney Theatre Company and Australian Department of Defence production of The Long Way Home, written by Australian playwright, Daniel Keene, directed by British director Stephen Rayne, and featuring actual military personnel working alongside professional actors (for six performances only in April); and , as part of the State Umbrella program, Ian Meadows’ Between Two Waves, directed by Corey McMahon (That Face), featuring excellent young Adelaide actor Matt Crook (That Face, Grug, Baby Teeth), to be performed at the Bakehouse Theatre in October 2014.
With such an eclectic and promising list of productions, actors, writers and directors, one can hardly wait for 2014 to begin.
by Brian Godfrey