Waking Up Dead

Waking Up Dead_editorialInspired by a number of true stories, Trudy Hellier’s Waking Up Dead is raw and potent theatre, playing at fortyfivedownstairs for a limited season from 4 September.

Waking Up Dead looks at the untold story; the personal cost of the media frenzy that surrounds horrific crimes; and examines the complexity of betrayal in long-term relationships with inherently deep histories and innumerable chapters.

When a woman loses her husband in shocking circumstances that simultaneously expose his elaborate double life on the swingers scene, the impact is inconceivable. With the use of a giant drawing-board, in a beautifully rendered, intimate atmosphere, the woman recreates key memories of their lost relationship, grappling with the complex nature of love, identity and betrayal.

Trudy Hellier explains that Waking Up Dead shows a woman reflecting her experiences and examines who we are in relation to our past, “If your past was to be reinterpreted, re-examined in the light of a massive betrayal, would that have any impact on who you are or who you believe yourself to be?”

Waking Up Dead is both visually and aurally dynamic featuring a design by Callum Morton – one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists; lit by this years Greenroom Award winning lighting designer, Andy Turner.

A specialist in music composition, sound designer Ian Moorhead will be present on stage, interacting with performer Caroline Lee, creating a complex canvas to share the story and explore the emotional terrain of the text.  Lee has received a number of Green Room Awards and is well-known for her outstanding performances in one-woman shows including alias Grace, Stripped and A Kind Of Fabulous Hatred.

Director Susie Dee has a formidable reputation as a director in the theatre, with over thirty years experience on numerous productions with a wide range of companies. She has very successful working relationships with a number of leading Australian playwrights, including Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves and Angus Cerini. Susie has received numerous industry awards – most recently for Savages by Patricia Cornelius.

Waking Up Dead is a highly suspenseful, raw performance work that contains moments of great joy, sexuality and honesty as it examines love, and hate, in all their complexities.

Waking Up Dead
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Season: 4 – 14 September 2014
Bookings: (03) 9662 9966 or online at: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com.au

For more information, visit: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com.au for details.

Image: Caroline Lee in Waking Up Dead – by Callum Morton & Kim Hellier