From the unique imagination of Lally Katz springs a world of wonderfully neurotic, painfully recognisable characters in Neighbourhood Watch at the Dunstan Playhouse for a limited season from 2 May 2014.
A delightful odd-couple tale, Neighbourhood Watch tells the story of a young woman, Catherine, and her surprising friendship with her neighbour Ana, an 80 year old Hungarian-Australian widow. Ana is an irritable force of nature, bent but not broken by the harsh cards life has dealt her.
Catherine is a young, scatter-brained aspiring actress. Around them swirls all the mess of contemporary life, absent boyfriends, annoying housemates and acquaintances that just won’t take a hint. As their relationship develops and deepens, they gain a new understanding from each other of how they might relate to the world and its pesky inhabitants.
BAFTA Award winning star Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter movies, Dickens’ Women) joins State Theatre Company for the first time in this glorious new Australian comedy about hope, death and pets, under the guidance of Helpmann Award-winning director Julian Meyrick (Doubt).
Born in New Jersey and moving to Australia when she was young, Lally Katz is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, has studied playwriting at London’s Royal Court Theatre and was a Churchill Fellow in 2010. Following its premiere season at Belvoir in Sydney, Neighbourhood Watch went on to be nominated for four Sydney Theatre Awards, an AWGIE, a Helpmann and a NSW Premier’s Literary Award. Katz is currently adapting it for film with Gillian Armstrong.
Her other plays include Stories I Want to Tell You in Person (Belvoir and Malthouse), A Golem Story (Malthouse), Return to Earth (MTC), Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart, Frankenstein (STC), The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy (MTC / Melbourne Festival), The Mysteries: Genesis (STC), Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd, Starchaser (Arena Theatre), and The Eisteddfod (Malthouse / Belvoir / New York Fringe).
Katz won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for A Golem Story, and Return to Earth was nominated for a 2013 NSW Premier’s Literary Award. Katz is currently an Associate Artist (Writing) at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre and the inaugural recipient of an Australian Writers’ Foundation Fellowship (2013).
Director: Julian Meyrick Cast: Nic English, Eugenia Fragos, Carmel Johnson, Miriam Margolyes, Ben Roberts, Eleanor Stankiewicz, James Smith Designer: Louise McCarthy Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham Composer: Quentin Grant Assistant Director: Sarah Dunn
Neighbourhood Watch
Dunstan Playhouse – Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Street, Adelaide
Season: 2 – 24 May 2014
Bookings: 13 12 46 or online at: www.bass.net.au
For more information, visit: www.statetheatrecompany.com.au for details.
Image: Miriam Margolyes by James Hartley