Presented as part of the Black Swan Lab in the intimate Studio Underground, comes the World Premiere of the taut, psychological thriller The House on The Lake from award-winning playwright Aidan Fennessy for a limited season from Friday 6 June 2014.
We are all liars. Little white lies dot our lives, and big ones can change our lives. We tell them to our spouses, our families, our lovers, our children, our friends, our parents.
And we don’t stop there – we tell lies to colleagues, bosses, acquaintances, police, shop attendants, even doctors. To survive today you have to be very good at two things: lying and deciphering the lies. Knowing when you are being lied to is an essential survival skill.
From award-winning playwright Aidan Fennessy comes a taut psychological thriller where truth and memory are scattered like broken glass.
David Rail, a prominent lawyer, awakes in a hospital room with no idea of how he got there. Dr Alice Lowe scrambles to piece together the mystery because in fifteen minutes time he’ll forget everything all over again. The House on The Lake is a labyrinthine mystery that hides at its dark heart a hideous crime.
“I am sure you all know Stuart Halusz, who has graced the stage for Black Swan many times in the last five years, but you may not know that he has also been devising work and assisting behind the footlights,” says Artistic Director, Kate Cherry.
“We are delighted that Stuart is making his professional directing debut with us, bringing to life Aidan Fennessy’s fascinating mystery. Stuart is assembling a great team of old and new faces, and I look forward to the journey their collaboration takes us on.” Kate Cherry
Aidan Fennessy is an award-winning writer, director and dramaturg. His plays have been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, HotHouse, Playbox, Black Swan State Theatre Company and many more.
His play Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee won the Wal Cherry Award and was short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, while his work, The Trade won the prestigious Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and. His play, Brutopia won the 2010 Griffin Award and National Interest won the People’s Choice Award at the 2012 Victorian Premiers Literary Awards.
Aidan was a founding member of Chameleon Theatre, a member of the Artistic Directorate of HotHouse Theatre and Artistic Director of the Store Room Theatre Workshop. He is currently working on a number of new projects and his next play The Way Things Work will premier later this year at the Bondi Pavilion in Sydney with the Rock Surfers Theatre Company.
“My interest in writing this play was not to raise some kind of moral outrage about this but to look at lying from the viewpoint of survival,” says Aidan Fennessy.
“To survive in this era means you have to be very good at two things… Lying and then working out when you are being lied to.”
Director: Stuart Halusz Cast: Kenneth Ransom, Marthe Rovik Set & Costume Designer: India Mehta Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest Sound Designer: Brett Smith Stage Manager: Hugo Aguilar Lopez
The House on The Lake
Studio Underground – State Theatre Centre of WA, 182 William Street, Perth
Season: 6 – 22 June 2014
Bookings: 1300 795 012 or online at: www.ticketek.com.au
For more information, visit: www.bsstc.com.au for details.
Image: Kenneth Ransom – photo by Robert Frith