Artistic Director Lee Lewis has announced her inaugural season for Griffin Theatre Company. The bold and exciting offering reflects Lewis’s passion for the diversity of voices writing for the Australian stage.
It features three world premieres of new Australian writing, a brash new interpretation of an Australian classic, and several new adventures that take Griffin’s work to new locations and audiences.
“Our 2014 season is a shameless celebration of the depth and breadth of Australian playwriting culture” says Lee Lewis.
“Breadth in terms of the diversity of voices and stories, combined with remarkable depth of quality.”
The year begins with Donna Abela’s 2013 Griffin Award winning play Jump for Jordan, which addresses the personal and social challenges faced by second-generation Australians, told with a wry sense of humour and directed by Iain Sinclair.
Next, Declan Greene blends his trademark sardonic wit with a nuanced meditation on romance and loneliness in the digital age with Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography, directed by Lee Lewis.
In Ugly Mugs, Peta Brady tackles the persistent vulnerability of women to sexual violence in even our most populous city streets and neighbourhoods. Brady will also perform in this co-production with Malthouse Theatre, directed by Marion Potts.
Finally, three decades after it was written, David Williamson’s comic masterpiece Emerald City is revived on the SBW Stables stage under the direction of Lee Lewis, featuring Marcus Graham.
“You can’t talk about Australian playwriting without talking about David Williamson,” says Lewis.
“our playwriting is no longer a teenager on the world stage; we’re an adult and have the potential to become a leader in great new writing. This is because we stand on the shoulders of people like Williamson, and we should be proud of this.”
Lewis also launched two special projects for 2014. Part of the 2014 Sydney Festival, The Serpent’s Table is a theatrical and culinary experience that takes place in a multi-sensory environment installed at Carriageworks.
This innovative new work features some of our most inventive cooks and restaurateurs, including Adam Liaw and Pauline Nguyen. The show is directed by Darren Yap and Lee Lewis, and co-produced with the Asian-Australian performance company Performance 4a.
“This is a rare theatrical jewel” says Lewis, “an extremely ephemeral piece delivered to an audience of just thirty people. Its inclusion in Sydney Festival says – without hesitation – that theatre reflecting our cultural diversity belongs at the centre of Australia’s main stage.”
The second new adventure for Griffin is a distinctly Australian staging of Roald Dahl’s classic The Witches, which runs throughout the September school holidays. Guy Edmonds delivers a virtuosic solo physical performance, with Lucas Jervies directing Griffin’s first foray into theatre for families and young people.
In addition to its Main Season, Griffin supports the work of some of Australia’s most talented independent producers. The 2014 Griffin Independent Season also features great new Australian stories, complemented with a work by one of the UK’s most popular contemporary writers.
The season includes: Simon Stephens’s On the Shore of the Wide World, directed by Anthony Skuse and produced by pantsguys; Jane Bodie’s Music, directed by Corey McMahon and produced by Stories Like These; Finegan Kruckemeyer’s The Violent Outburst That Drew Me To You, directed by Kate Gaul and produced by Siren Theatre Co; and Campion Decent’s Unholy Ghosts, directed by Kim Hardwick and produced by White Box Theatre.
To celebrate the launch of the 2014 season, Griffin has released a limited Earlybird offer, whereby subscribers can purchase the four Main Season shows for $120, or all eight Main and Independent shows for $220 until 23 September.
Griffin subscribers also have exclusive access to an allocation of tickets to The Serpent’s Table before they go on sale to the public through Sydney Festival.
For more information, visit: www.griffintheatre.com.au for details.
Image: Adam Liaw in The Serpent’s Table – photo by Brett Boardman
