Shrine

Black Swan State Theatre Company Shrine 31 August to 15 Sept 2013 John Howard Image by Robert FrithFrom the pre-eminent Australian novelist of his generation, Shrine is Tim Winton’s third play for Black Swan State Theatre Company, after Rising Water and Signs of Life – about the iconic Western Australian landscape and its inhabitants.

Shrine is set above the rocky headlands of the South Coast of Western Australia, between a forest and the sea. It’s wine country, and a privileged young man, Jack, has been killed driving friends back to Perth from his parents’ beach house.

Jack leaves in his wake a wreck of a father, a shadow of a mother, and the promise of a love affair that never quite happened.

A year later, Jack’s father Adam meets the small town girl, June, who shared a strange and life changing night with Jack hours before he died. Domestic heartbreak transcends into mythology in a landscape inhabited by ghosts.

Tim Winton’s awards are too numerous to list. He is the only author to have won the Miles Franklin Award four times and was shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize. Shrine is also the second Tim Winton play featuring Silver Logie Award winner John Howard.

“Anyone who has floated in the sea at night, when the water and the horizon become one, will understand the power and promise of Shrine,” says Black Swan State TheatreCompany’s Artistic Director, Kate Cherry.

“Exquisitely wrought, this play excavates the perils and joys of being young and beautiful, and the possibility of finding solace in the most unlikely of people.”

Director: Kate Cherry  Cast: Paul Ashcroft, John Howard, Luke McMahon, Will McNeill, Sarah McNeill, Whitney Richards  Assistant Director: Emily McLean  Set & Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest  Costume Designer: Fiona Bruce  Sound Designer: Ben Collins  Movement Director: Chrissie Parrott

Shrine
Heath Ledger Theatre – 174 William St, Perth
Season: 31 August – 15 September 2013
Bookings: 13 28 49 or online at: www.bsstc.com.au

for more information, visit: www.bsstc.com.au for details.

Image: John Howard by Robert Frith