Love

Darlinghurst Theatre Co LoveAn unapologetic, passionate and searing exploration of love, Darlinghurst Theatre Company presents the Sydney main-stage premiere of Love by Patricia Cornelius at the Eternity Playhouse this November.

Tanya, Annie and Lorenzo desperately seek love in a loveless world. Shackled by grinding poverty and substance abuse they’re difficult to like, let alone love. They’ve been abused. They’re abusive. But it is love in all its distorted and mutated forms that holds them together.

Annie and Tanya make a pact; their love will protect them from an unloving world and it will endure. Even the dreadful and charming Lorenzo will not threaten it. Only doubt in each other’s love can put a wedge between them.

Patricia Cornelius is one of Australia’s most awarded and innovative playwrights. In 2004 Love won the Wal Cherry Award for Play of the Year and in 2006 an Awgie Award for Stage. Love is one of Cornelius’ earlier plays, it’s uncompromising and raw. It contains the hallmarks Cornelius is revered for – her astounding lyricism, unsentimental characters, and a world that is unceremoniously real.

“To write about those who are forsaken, those we cross the street to avoid meeting, those we find ugly and loud and uncouth, those we call trash and miserable, and those who do terrible things interests me,” says Cornelius. “To write these characters without sentimentality and without judgement, above all to place them in the world that has created them, is a challenge.”

“As it is to capture the yearning, the excruciating desire for something else, something better, something kinder, pleasurable even, in these characters who don’t have the words, or peace of mind.”

Director Rachel Chant (Chrysalis, The Village Bike) leads a stellar cast including Rose Riley (Book Week, Mystery Road), Anna Samson (Wake in Fright) and Hoa Xuande (Jasper Jones, Black Comedy). The creative team features Ella Butler (design), Sian James-Holland (lighting) and Nate Edmondson (sound).

“Cornelius is one of our most awarded playwrights however her plays rarely receive professional productions,” said Glenn Terry, Darlinghurst Theatre Company Artistic Director & CEO. “With an iconic body of work, her plays are astutely Australian and deserve to be seen by audiences all over the country.”

Director: Rachel Chant Featuring: Rose Riley, Anna Samson, Hoa Xuande Assistant Director: Hannah Goodwin Production Designer: Ella Butler Lighting Designer: Sian James-Holland Sound Designer: Nate Edmondson Stage Manager: Ryan Tate Playwright: Patricia Cornelius


Love
Eternity Playhouse, 39 Burton Street, Darlinghurst
Season: 21 November – 9 December 2018 (previews: 17 – 20 November)
Information and Bookings: www.darlinghursttheatre.com

Image: Darlinghurst Theatre Company presents LoveE (supplied)