Theatre Season

April	The Seed - Kate Mulvany	Company B Belvoir Street
May	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Queensland Ballet
June	Baby Boomer Blues - Alan Becher	Perth Theatre Company
	Menopause the Musical - Jeanie Linders	Hit Productions
	Lotte's Gift - David Williamson	Christine Dunstan Productions
July	The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare	Bell Shakespeare Company
	The Michael Nyman Band with William Barton
August	Madame Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini	Oz Opera
	The Kursk - Sasha Janowicz	Matrix Theatre
	The Queensland Orchestra
October	Dealer's Choice - Patrick Marber	Albedo Theatre
	The Dance Makers	Expressions Dance Company

The Seed - Kate Mulvany

Wednesday 29 April, 8pm
Thursday 30 April, 8pm

It has been a while since Company B has toured to Townsville but the wait has been worthwhile as this gem opens the 2009 Theatre Season.

‘Dad, I need to write a play. Can I ask you a few questions?' This is how the writing process for The Seed began — a Sunday phone call from a slightly nervous daughter to her Vietnam veteran father. Kate Mulvany had been commissioned by Company B to write the story of her father’s life, a ten-pound-Pom conscripted to fight for Australia in Vietnam.

Journalist, Rose Maloney (Kate Mulvany) is on a personal quest to trace and document her family’s history. She travels with her father, Danny (Pip Miller), from regional Western Australia to Nottingham for a reunion with her grandfather, Brian (Ralph Cotterill), who was once a member of the Provisional IRA. The three generations unite to celebrate their collective birthday which coincidentally falls on Guy Fawkes Day, 5 November. The infamous foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament over 400 years ago provides a fiery backdrop.

Father and Son have not seen each other for thirty years. ‘Even at 80 [Brian] still thinks of himself as on active service, a sleeper cell in the heart of England ready to be woken up at any time. That Danny didn’t take up arms against the Brits is a source of shame. That he fought for Queen and country — even as a conscript in the Australian Army — is unforgivable’. The lines between truth and lies, war and peace, and family and foe become increasingly blurred, and the Maloney’s home turns into an explosive battle ground.

…a beautiful work from a burgeoning writer that shines a pure light on war. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

top

A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Queensland Ballet

Tuesday 26 May, 7.30pm

Queensland Ballet’s lavish production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a magical tale of gods and fairies, mischief and misadventures, and the confusing path of true love.

Oberon, the King of the Fairies, seeks revenge on his Queen Titania following a quarrel but the mischievous Puck is not one to be trusted with a love potion, particularly, when four star-crossed lovers are involved — Hermia and Lysander, and Demetrius and Helena.

Choreographer, François Klaus says, "Shakespeare’s plays translate well into dance because of the powerful universal archetypes he used — love, jealousy, revenge can be expressed through dance with ease."

Klaus has selected a different style of music for each of the three worlds depicted in the ballet. John Metcalf’s evocative Paradise Haunts perfectly suits the realm of the gods and fairies; Mendelssohn’s incidental music is used for the aristocrats and lovers; while the mechanicals dance to popular works for the accordion.

Full of action, humour and drama this is a delightful journey into a mythical world.

The design is opulent and sophisticated. The costumes are lavish…the woodland set is magical in an art noveau style. DANCE AUSTRALIA

top

Baby Boomer Blues - Alan Becher

Wednesday 10 June, 8pm
Thursday 11 June, 8pm

Perth Theatre Company has been regularly featured in past Theatre Seasons — the daring Skin Tight, The Shadow of the Eagle and Soulmates were all directed by the late Alan Becher, co-founder of Perth Theatre Company.

Becher wrote Baby Boomer Blues which is the story of married couple Bob and Carol who, as the title implies, are Baby Boomers. They are facing major change in their lives. Bob’s business has failed and Carol has become the main breadwinner. This unexpected role reversal has surprising results.

Bob re-evaluates his life and looks for a new direction and Carol, working in a bookshop is desperate for an exotic holiday.

It is a tale that is being echoed around the country with so many people facing upheaval resulting from the current fiscal climate. The verbal crossfire is delivered with great comedic timing and the dialogue at times is a little too close to home.

This is a hilarious tongue-in-cheek look at a couple’s search for fulfilment.

Original and exceptionally funny. Beautifully written and delivered…THEATRE AUSTRALIA

top

Menopause the Musical - Jeanie Linders

Saturday 13 June, 8pm
Sunday 14 June, 3pm

Menopause the Musical, created by Jeanie Linders after a bottle of wine and a ‘hot flush’, celebrates ‘The Change’.

Using parodies of hits from the 60’s and 70’s this musical pokes fun at memory loss, mood swings, night sweats, chocolate binges, hot flushes, wrinkles — the Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive becomes Stayin’ Awake; The Lion Sleeps Tonight is now My Husband Sleeps Tonight; Irving Berlin’s Heat Wave is re-titled to Tropical Hot Flush and the revamped favourite My Guy is called My Thighs.

A chance meeting of four women in the lingerie department of Myers is the backdrop for this riotous comedy. They come from very different backgrounds — Earth Mother, Career Woman, fading Soap Star and a Dubbo housewife but they all have one thing in common, menopause!

Don’t miss this opportunity to see what has already attracted 500,000 Australians to an hilarious night of theatre. It will be memorable and you will leave feeling exhilarated and empowered!

It’s impossible not to laugh. NEW YORK TIMES

top

Lotte’s Gift - David Williamson

Friday 26 June, 8pm
Saturday 27 June, 8pm

Townsville audiences last heard internationally acclaimed guitarist Karin Schaupp at the Townsville Civic Theatre as part of the dynamic guitar quartet Saffire in 2006.

Karin returns in Lotte’s Gift which combines her remarkable musicianship and acting ability in this one-woman play written by renowned Australian playwright, David Williamson. It is the story of Lieselotte Reinke, Karin’s grandmother.

Researching the play Williamson spent many hours interviewing Lotte and was allowed access to her written recollections. He said ‘It was a very special privilege — Lotte is a wonderful, dramatic, optimistic and resilient character…which Karin brings to life on stage’.

It is a fascinating journey which begins in war-torn Germany. Lotte is blessed with a wonderful singing voice and the world at her feet, until her career was cut short because of pressure from a dominant husband, a difficult mother-in-law, the repressive times she lived in and the inherent social obligation it required. Determined that Karin’s talent not be thwarted, Lotte gave Karin her first guitar at the age of four and she has been a source of warmth, encouragement and inspiration ever since.

The text is sensitively punctuated with guitar interludes of music that signposts the lives of Lotte, Isolde (Karin’s mother) and Karin.

This is a remarkable tale, incredibly personal but one that is uplifting and inspiring.

intimate and moving theatre…every time Karin picks up the guitar it is a treat…exceptionally beautiful. THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

top

The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare

Tuesday 14 July, 8pm
Wednesday 15 July, 6.30pm

The Bell Shakespeare Company returns with one of the Bard’s most popular works The Taming of the Shrew. During the sixteenth century it was common for male actors to play all roles regardless of gender now Director, Marion Potts turns the tables with an all-female cast.

Lucentio and Petruchio are two men in search of learning and love. Baptista is a wealthy merchant in Padua whose two daughters are yet to wed, however he will not let anyone marry the young, gentle and sweet Bianca until someone agrees to take the hand of the older badtempered Kate.

When Lucentio fixes his gaze upon Bianca he immediately falls in love. Petruchio hears of Bianca’s wanton and wild sister, Kate and vows to tame her and teach her to be an agreeable wife.

There have been many contemporary re-tellings of The Taming of the Shrew but this new production transcends expectation, taking the politics of marriage to ludicrous new heights. Vibrant, energetic and packed with female punch, this is the perfect night out for anyone who has ever fallen in love and managed to survive.

top

The Michael Nyman Band with William Barton

Thursday 30 July, 8pm

Michael Nyman is well-known for his film scores such as The Piano directed by Jane Campion and Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract, The Cook, The Thief, his Wife and her Lover and Prospero’s Books.

The Michael Nyman Band evolved over many years — the original group was formed to play arrangements from the eighteenth century for a production of Goldoni’s Il Campiello at the National Theatre. The instrumentation was loud — rebecs, sackbuts and shawms combined with bass drum, soprano saxophone and piano. At the end of the season the musicians wanted to stay together and so Nyman began writing for this eclectic collection of instruments. The Band continued its metamorphosis and the medieval component was gradually replaced with violins, alto and baritone saxophones, piccolo and bass guitar.

For over three decades the group has been the laboratory for much of Nyman’s inventive and experimental compositions. The sound is distinctive with his combination of certain rhythmic patterns and instrumental colours.

His music ‘is highly charged and persistently pushes the musicians to virtually impossible limits of technique, which they respond to with rare dedication, offering original, imaginative solutions’. They perform ‘with almost dangerous abandon within, paradoxically, a situation of phenomenal control’.

Complementing Nyman’s popular repertoire is a work commissioned by the Queensland Music Festival — a collaboration between Michael Nyman and Australia’s finest didgeridoo player, William Barton.

The concert will be energetic, dynamic, evocative, brilliant and flawless and is the only opportunity for music lovers to experience The Michael Nyman Band live!

top

Madame Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini

Tuesday 4 August, 8pm
Wednesday 5 August, 8pm

OzOpera returns to Townsville with the tragic love story Madame Butterfly. Directed by founder of The Bell Shakespeare Company, John Bell, this popular opera is set immediately after the conclusion of the Second World War in Nagasaki.

US Navy Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton is set to marry his procured bride Madame Butterfly, Cio-Cio-San. The philandering Pinkerton espouses his carefree philosophy to roam the world in search of pleasure but one day will take a ‘real’ American wife. However for the moment he is enchanted with his fragile Cio-Cio-San and is happy to wed.

Three years on and Butterfly is still waiting for her beloved husband to return. Sharpless, the American Consul arrives with a letter from Pinkerton but Cio-Cio-San bombards him with questions whilst all the time he is trying to tell her that Pinkerton will never step foot on Japanese soil again. She proudly shows Sharpless her child and keeps insisting that as soon as Pinkerton knows of his son he will surely come back? Moved by her devotion and lacking the heart to tell her of the lieutenant’s marriage, Sharpless leaves.

On hearing a cannon Cio-Cio-San watches Pinkerton’s ship entering the harbour and is delirious with joy but her visitor is Kate, Pinkerton’s wife asking Cio-Cio-San to give up her child. She agrees and then takes the dagger with which her father committed suicide choosing to die with honour. In the distance Pinkerton anxiously shouts ‘Butterfly! Butterfly!’

An eleven-piece chamber orchestra is conducted by Simon Kenway. Puccini’s score is evocative and passionate, and the ending is made even more heart-wrenching by his use of rich instrumental colours.

Madame Butterfly is one of those operas that is a must see.

Sung in English

top

The Kursk - Sasha Janowicz

Sunday 16 August, 6.30pm

The Kursk is a most unusual offering, being based on a maritime disaster which many may recall, as it unfolded over nine days to world-wide publicity. This prompted Brisbanebased playwright and actor Sasha Janowicz to write the play, a task that took several years to complete and was first performed in 2007.

Kursk, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, disappeared after a massive explosion during a naval exercise in the Barents Sea on Saturday 12 August, 2000; 16 hours later it was located lying some 350 feet deep. Twenty-three of the 118-man crew had survived but international assistance was at first refused; what started as a rescue mission culminated in the sacrifice of those lives. Tragedy turned to catastrophe for the trapped men. The enormity of the event was revealed when British and Norwegian divers opened the hatch on 21 August.

Controversy, both local and international, over the circumstances of the accident and its aftermath continued. In 2001 a Dutch consortium raised the submarine, recovering the bodies for interment in Russia.

Our performance is only five days away from the ninth anniversary of the opening of the Kursk’s hatch. This is a unique opportunity for Townsville to commemorate this tragic but heroic event.

A gripping theatrical performance. AUSTRALIAN STAGE ONLINE

top

Northern Tour 2009
The Queensland Orchestra

Monday 17 August, 7.30pm

The Queensland Orchestra is bringing a sumptuous and romantic programme to Townsville — Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 and the fourth symphony of Brahms.

Interestingly both composers premiered their own works. Brahms conducted his last symphony in Meiningen on 25 October 1833 just eighteen months before his death and Beethoven played the concerto on 22 December 1808 in Vienna. The concert lasted four hours which also featured two of his symphonies plus excerpts from the Mass in C minor as well as the Fantasia for piano.

Pianist Gerard Willems, Senior Lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium is a leading Beethoven scholar and said of this fiendishly difficult concerto ‘there are some passages that you literally have to trust your fingers that they have memorised it well because your mind can’t work as fast as your fingers can when they are playing prestissimo.’

The Orchestra will be conducted by Marco Zuccarini who is making his second appearance in North Queensland after last year’s successful tour.

Don’t miss the sound of over sixty musicians playing this dramatic and passionate music.

A great orchestra uplifts the sounds of the everyday, beckoning people to share the exaltation of great music. JOHANNES FRITZSCH, Chief Conductor, The Queensland Orchestra

top

Dealer’s Choice - Patrick Marber

Friday 23 October, 8pm
Saturday 24 October, 8pm

Award-winning playwright Patrick Marber has written Dealer’s Choice from first hand experience. He was a member of Gambler’s Anonymous by the time he was twenty-three. The title is derived from a specific type of card-play — ‘as the deal passes clockwise around the table, each player chooses a variant [such as Draw Poker, Stud Poker] which is either played just for the current hand or the entire round’.

Marber’s skilful dialogue explores the father-son relationship, male bravado and opens a secret window into the world of men.

The ritual at the end of service on a Sunday night in Stephen’s restaurant is a game of poker. Two of his waiters, the cook and his compulsive son, Carl, are the regulars. Carl owes a considerable amount of money to his poker mentor, Ash. Through an agreed subterfuge between Carl and Ash, Ash joins the game. This seeming stranger wins hand after hand wanting to claim his debt but the outcome is nothing short of explosive. The tension is palpable.

Dealer’s Choice crackles with scalding wit and edge-of-your seat suspense as the stakes are driven to an almost unbearable knife-edge.

Dealer’s Choice couldn’t have been done any better. It provides the perfect mix of actors, a strong script, wonderful direction and a perfect night of entertainment. BROADWAY AUSTRALIA

top

The Dance Makers

Saturday 31 October, 8pm

It has been several years since Expressions Dance Company has been part of the Theatre Season and their return is timely with the recent appointment of Townsville born and bred Natalie Weir as Artistic Director. This is a natural progression for Weir considering her long and close association with the Company. She was a founding member and received her first choreographic commission from the then Artistic Director Maggi Sietsma AM at the age of eighteen.

The programme, entitled The Dance Makers, comprises three new works from three daring and unique Australian choreographers at differing stages of their creative careers.

Emerging artist, Timothy Brown, further explores his distinctive and quirky style and thrilling creator Csaba Buday, who worked with Leigh Warren and Dancers for five years and is now Lecturer in Contemporary Dance at Queensland University of Technology, completes his first ballet for Expressions. Concluding the evening is a one-act work from Natalie herself.

These innovative and gifted choreographers share with the audience the art of dance in the making.

top