This January and February, Belvoir will present Daniel Keene’s intensely moving and profoundly thought-provoking play, Mother, written for and starring Noni Hazlehurst (A Place to Call Home). Belvoir will present the production’s first mainstage theatre season following a very successful tour of regional Australia.
Mother tells the story of Christie, a homeless woman in a world that is detached, unforgiving and destructive. She is something of a celebrity. Attracting the curiosity of the locals, she’s not shy of an audience and amuses herself with telling anyone who will listen to the story of her colourful, yet troubled life.
Written with Daniel Keene’s characteristic lyricism, Mother is a solo performance wrought with tenderness, violence and loneliness in equal measure. It gives a voice to the fallen and dispossessed, to those who exist at the edge of safety, at the point of being undone.
Mother was nominated for two Helpmann Awards in 2016: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Play and Best Regional Touring Production. The production was also a finalist in the 2016 APACA Tour of the Year Awards.
“Noni Hazlehurst has been touring Mother for over two years and everywhere it goes audiences are swept away,” says Belvoir Artistic Director, Eamon Flack. “It’s a moving and powerful play by one of our great writers, written specifically for one of our great actors.”
Daniel Keene has written for the theatre since 1979. He has won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama (twice), the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Drama (three times), the Adelaide Festival Award for Literature, the Wal Cherry Play of the Year Award, the Sumner Locke Elliott Prize (New York), the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award. He has also been awarded the Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts for his contribution to Australian theatre.
His work has been presented at the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide International Arts Festivals and at the Melbourne Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. Since 2000 over 80 productions of his work have been presented in Europe, predominantly in France. In 2016 Daniel was appointed to the rank of Chevalier de I’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.
“Audiences around the country should jump at the chance to see Hazlehurst perform in this haunted, confronting work.” – The Age
Director: Matt Scholten Starring: Noni Hazlehurst Set, Costume & Props Designer: Kat Chan Lighting Designer: Tom Willis Sound Designer: Darius Kedros Stage Manager: Isabella Kerdijk
Mother
Upstairs Theatre – Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills
Season: 24 January – 11 February 2018
Information and Bookings: www.belvoir.com.au
Image: Noni Hazlehurst – photo by Serena Ryan