Set against a back-drop of an LA apartment, 80’s cocaine culture, cruelty and deceit, four Hollywood players try desperately to find meaning and connection.
Hurlyburly is the darkly comedic story of Casting Directors Eddie (Anthony Scundi), Mickey (Will Atkinson) and their entourage, actor Phil (William Prescott) and producer Artie (Kostas Ilias). Nose deep in cocaine, they pretend to care about women.
They use them and pass them around as ‘care packages’ or assets, and they treat each other just as badly. We should hate these characters, but we don’t, because in the middle of their mess, their bad behaviour, their humanity emerges and we begin to see ourselves.
“This play pulls no punches,” says actor William Prescott. “You will be shocked, you will laugh, you will cry. You will wonder what in God’s name you have just seen and heard and ask yourself for days to come, why can’t I stop thinking about this play?”
David Rabe is an American playwright and screenwriter. He won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1972 for Sticks and Bones, and also received Tony award nominations for Best Play for his plays In the Boom Boom Room, Streamers and Hurlyburly. Recent works include: An Early History of Fire, Good for Otto, and Visiting Edna. His Screenplay Casualties of War was nominated for an Academy Award.
First staged in 1984, HurlyBurly was adapted for the screen in 1998, attracting many talented actors, including Sean Penn, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Kevin Spacey, Sigourney Weaver and Cynthia .
“A powerful permanent contribution to American drama…Riveting, disturbing, fearsomely funny… This deeply felt play deserves as wide an audience as possible.” – Newsweek
Director: Gabriella Rose-Carter Featuring: Will Atkinson, Amelia Bishop, Kostas Ilias, Erin Marshall, Nicole Melloy, William Prescott, Anthony Scundi
Hurlyburly
Q44 Theatre, 1st Floor, 550 Swan St, Richmond
Season: 2 – 21 May 2017
Information and Bookings: www.q44.com.au
Image: Hurlyburly Cast – photo by Ben Johnson