Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre has announced it has commissioned playwrights Jean Tong, Jane Harrison and Tom Holloway to create a series of monologues based around life in the current pandemic.
Made possible with support from the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the three writers will research and interview Melburnians from all walks of life who have uncanny, humorous, strange, personal and political stories to share – creating a time capsule of these six months in Melbourne. Malthouse Theatre’s Director in Residence, Bridget Balodis will direct the project, with Mark Pritchard as dramaturg.
“We are enormously appreciative of the support of the Malcolm Robertson Foundation,” said Artistic Director, Matthew Lutton. “The foundation has allowed us to commission two emerging playwrights every year since 2004 and it has now, in a time of great need, offered us additional support to work with even more playwrights.”
The support of the Foundation allows Malthouse Theatre to employ three playwrights and nine actors over the coming months. We could not afford the creation of The Lockdown Monologues without it,” said Mr Lutton.
Once each playwright has written three 5-minute monologues, Malthouse Theatre will begin casting local actors to perform in the nine monologues. The nine monologues will be presented in three episodes with three monologues per episode.
“The writers are uncovering a range of experiences, from people who have had direct, frontline contact with the virus to those who are feeling the unexpected ripples,” said Director Bridget Balodis. “It’s a combination of voices – those you might expect to hear from and those who audiences may not have considered yet.”
“People are hungry to connect at the moment and we hope that The Lockdown Monologues will give audiences the sense of community that we’re all lacking right now. We also think it’s essential that we capture this moment in time – how people are feeling and what they’re thinking – as a record for our future selves.”
The Lockdown Monologues will be live streamed on Wednesday 3 June, Wednesday 17 June and Friday 3 July 2020. The monologues will be free to watch, but audiences will need to register via www.malthousetheatre.com.au to receive the streaming link to watch.
Image: The Lockdown Monologues – courtesy of Malthouse Theatre