A no-holds-barred, biting satire set in the intoxicating world of investment banking, The Street Theatre presents Melissa Bubnic’s furiously funny Boys Will Be Boys in a limited season until 11 November 2017.
Boys Will Be Boys takes a hard look at issues of gender inequality and the subsequent power struggles that are still rife today. To succeed, what do we have to sacrifice and who truly has the control?
Astrid Wentworth is a woman in a man’s world. Smashing the ‘glass ceiling’, she’s always playing to win – whether on the trading floor, in the boardroom or schmoozing clients in bars and strip clubs. She’s played the game and made it to the top of the cut-throat finance industry.
But, at what cost? When the young and ambitious Priya applies for a junior position on the trading floor, Astrid decides to play mentor. But, in the self-serving world of the trade floor, every favour has a price.
Staged with stylistic cheekiness under the direction of Caroline Stacey Boys Will Be Boys features an all-woman ensemble. In her first appearance at The Street Theatre, Pippa Grandison takes on the unapologetic and powerful stockbroker Astrid Wentworth. Grandison has performed on stage and screen throughout her career in Australia and overseas, recently winning unanimous critical praise for her dramatic and vocal performance in Georgy Girl – The Seekers Musical.
Boys will be Boys mixes music with four-letter words. When Astrid bares her soul in martini-soaked soliloquys and singing heart-breaking songs – she is accompanied by instrumentalist Stuart King. Isha Menon plays Astrid’s protégé, Priya and with Dianna Nixon, Joanna Richards and Kiki Skountzos bringing the play’s male and female characters to life.
Melissa Bubnic is a writer for stage and screen. Boys Will Be Boys was commissioned and premiered by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2015 and has since been produced by Headlong and the Bush Theatre in London, and by Auckland’s Silo Theatre Company. Her play Beached won the 2010 Patrick White Award from the Sydney Theatre Company, and has been staged at Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney, the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and Soho Theatre in London.
In 2010 Melissa completed a Masters in Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is currently writing commissioned plays for the Orange Tree Theatre through the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Bursary, and for Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, and Griffin Theatre Company.
In 2011 she graduated from the Channel 4 Screenwriting Programme and has written for TV series Shameless, Hollyoaks, and Crackanory. She is developing TV projects with Bandit TV, and Slam Films. She is currently writing two feature film screenplays: one, an adaptation of Jamaica by Malcolm Knox for Black Milk Productions and director Robert Connolly, and & Mrs – an original for Who’s On First Productions.
Director: Caroline Stacey Featuring: Pippa Grandison, Isha Menon, Dianna Nixon, Joanna Richards, Kiki Skountzos Musical Composition and Direction: Jess Green Instrumentalist: Stuart King Movement Direction: Emma Strapps Design: Imogen Keen Lighting Design: Niklas Pajanti Sound Design: Kimmo Vennonen
Boys Will Be Boys
The Street Theatre, 15 Childers Street, Canberra City West
Season continues to Saturday 11 November 2017
Information and Bookings: www.thestreet.org.au
Image: Pippa Grandison stars as Astrid Wentworth in Boys Will Be Boys – photo by Shelly Higgs