Mara KORPER

TW-Mara-KORPER-photo-by-Stu-BrownOne of Melbourne’s most innovative independent theatre companies, Citizen Theatre, return this May, with their latest offering, Mara KORPER, after highly successful productions, When The Light Leaves (nominated for a Green Room Award) and Forgotten Places (supported by Kingston and Stonnington Councils).

Mara KORPER is a feminist sci-fi spectacle that follows in the footsteps of dystopian classics such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World and 1984. In true Citizen Theatre style, Mara KORPER interrogates the zeitgeist with a feminist lens, echoing and challenging those who came before.

Artistic Director and writer/director of Mara KORPER, Jayde Kirchert, believes “extremist systems beget extremist responses. Mara KORPER encourages us to come up with something better, more inclusive and something more joyful. That’s what feminist theatre looks like for me.”

Mara KORPER is set in a futuristic, dystopian world where gender is obsolete, the flesh must remain whole, and bodies are owned by the government. This brilliant and terrifying new theatrical work explores themes of extremism, corruption, gender and body image.

Mara KORPER is staged in a non-traditional way, seating audiences in the round in private perspex boxes. Fusing the latest sound technology with absurdist expressionism, Mara KORPER is truly on the cutting edge of experimental feminist theatre.

The cast of Mara KORPER will feature some of Melbourne’s most inventive performers, including Emily Carr (QUEENZ, nominated for Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe Festival), Freya Pragt (The 91-Storey Treehouse), Jordan Barr (RAW Comedy State Finalist, nominated for Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe Festival), Shamita Siva (Let Men Tremble), Kayla Hamill (Forgotten Places) and an ensemble of emerging performers Asha Khamis, Erin McIntosh and Ursula Searle.

Since 2013, Citizen Theatre has combined music and theatre in innovative ways, creating thought provoking works that transport audiences to a new world. Artistic Director Jayde Kirchert has a Post Graduate Diploma in Anthropology, and has a keen interest in the body, music theatre and feminism. She is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Victorian College of the Arts.

Writer / Director: Jayde Kirchert Featuring: Jordan Barr, Emily Carr, Kayla Hamill, Asha Khamis, Erin McIntosh, Freya Pragt, Ursula Searle, Shamita Siva Composer: Anthony Lyons Music Director: Imogen Cygler Designer, Producer & Photographer: Stu Brown Lighting Designer: Clare Springett Costume Designer: Aislinn Naughton Assistant Director & Associate Producer: Steph Clare-Cover Theatre Works Production Associate: Kate Speakman Stage Manager: Teri Steer


Mara KORPER
Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda
Season continues to 22 May 2021
Bookings: www.theatreworks.org.au

For more information, visit: www.citizentheatre.com.au or www.marakorper.com

Image: Mara KORPER – photo by Stu Brown