A lovingly irreverent, contemporary and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Stupid F**king Bird scoops up the classic tale of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and lost dreams and sets it down squarely in the commotion of 21st century life.
Dev loves Mash who loves Con who loves Nina who loves Trig who loves Emma – no one seems happy but everyone’s giving life a damn good crack. An aspiring young director rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A young nubile actress wrestles with an ageing Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art and growing up can be.
Written by award-winning US playwright and director, Aaron Posner as a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all, Stupid F**king Bird (SFB) won the 2014 Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical. The play promises to tickle and tantalise audiences as it considers how art, love and revolution fuel our pursuit of happiness.
“I read SFB in one voracious sitting: it’s a wise, funny, heartbreaking and relevant piece of storytelling,” says Director Peter Blackburn. “More than anything though, it’s pure theatre: it couldn’t be told in another medium. It respects its audience, challengers its players and asks us all to evolve our thinking and feelings slightly. All this without skimping on the laughs. It’s a rare bird indeed.”
Aaron Posner is a Helen Hayes and Barrymore Award-winning director and playwright from Washington DC. His adaptations include: Chaim Potok’s The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev (the latter ran for ten months off-Broadway in 2012-2013 and won both the Outer Circle Critics Award for Best New off-Broadway play and the John Gassner Award).
Additional credits include: Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion, Mark Twain’s A Murder, A Mystery, and a Marriage, an adaptation of three Kurt Vonnegut short stories, entitled Who Am I This Time? (and other conundrums of love). Stupid F**king Bird received eight Helen Hayes nominations in addition to the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical.
“sharply contemporary and brashly funny…makes us view the original with fresh, startled eyes.” – New York Times (USA)
Director: Peter Blackburn Featuring: Michael Mack, Cait Spiker, Carla Bonner, Nathan Sapsford, Hannah Greenwood, Dylan Watson, David Ross Paterson Written by: Aaron Posner, based on Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull
Stupid F**king Bird
Mechanics Institute, 270 Sydney Road, Brunswick
Season: 8 – 26 February 2017
Information and Bookings: www.metanoiatheatre.com
Image: Cait Spiker, Carla Bonner, Nathan Sapsford, Michael Mack, David Ross Paterson, Dylan Watson and Hannah Claire Greenwood feature in Stupid F**king Bird – photo by Sarah Walker Photography