Melbourne’s newest performance warehouse, The Grange will be transformed into America’s West to host Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, this site-specific production of this classic American play will redefine the experience of theatre.
Told in three acts and set in the gritty American West, A Lie of the Mind sees young married couple, Jake and Beth, return to their families in the aftermath of a horrific act of violence. Heartbreaking and humorous, this much-loved play explores each family as they struggle to come to terms with Jake’s actions.
In his theatrical directorial debut, Caleb Rixon has combined the creative talents of world renown sound artist Leah Barclay and the in demand lighting designer Travis Macfarlane with the acting talents of established and emerging actors.
Theatre stalwarts Kaarin Fairfax (who originally played Beth in the Australian Premier at Sydney’s Belvoir St) and Peter Hardy play Beth’s parents and Shayne Francis as the imitable mother of Jake star alongside the emerging talents of Alice Cavanagh, Zack Anthony Curran, Alex Duncan, Lauren-Anne Kempster and Ashley McKenzie.
Sam Shepard was born in 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He moved to New York from California just as the off-Broadway theatre scene was emerging. He has written more than forty plays including Buried Child, The Late Henry Moss, Simpatico, Curse of the Starving Class, True West, Fool for Love, A Lie of the Mind, and States of Shock.
His screenplay for Paris, Texas won the Golden Pa lm Award at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival and he directed his own screenplay, Far North in 1988. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Shepard received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy in 1992, and in 1994 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
A Lie of the Mind
The Grange, Grange Place (off McKenzie Street), Melbourne
Season: 14 August – 13 September 2014
Bookings: www.stickytickets.com.au/lie
For more information, visit: www.lieofthemind.com for details.
Image: Zack Anthony Curran (Jake) and Alice Cavanagh (Beth) feature in A Lie of the Mind