A bold program of thirteen shows across four venues which will inspire, challenge and entertain audiences, Sydney Theatre Company has reveals its 2019 Season – Kip Williams’ second as Artistic Director.
Among the highlights, Rebel Wilson, Mia Wasikowska, Celia Pacquola and Patrick Jhanur make their STC mainstage debuts, featuring alongside a host of STC audience favourites including Hugo Weaving, Pamela Rabe, Helen Thomson, Caroline Brazier, Michelle Lim Davidson, Zahra Newman, Amber McMahon, Rahel Romahn, Hunter Page-Lochard, Geraldine Hakewill and Toby Schmitz.
Directors such as Sarah Goodes, Priscilla Jackman, Simon Phillips, Anne-Louise Sarks, and Clare Watson as well STC’s own Kip Williams, Jessica Arthur (STC Directing Associate), Paige Rattray (STC Associate Director) and Imara Savage (STC Resident Director) will bring these shows to life.
Fresh explorations of classics by Tom Stoppard, Louis Nowra, Oriel Gray and Tennessee Williams, are showcased next to international contemporary works by Lucy Kirkwood and Martin McDonagh, alongside exciting new Australian writing by Van Badham, Nakkiah Lui and Anchuli Felicia King.
With The Wharf enjoying a much-needed renovation, STC will welcome audiences to the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, titanic feats of performance at Roslyn Packer Theatre, and fresh new work at Riverside Parramatta and The Studio, Sydney Opera House.
“In 2018 our season looked at leadership and social responsibility in all its forms. In 2019 we continue this exploration with a series of stories that examine the various ways we battle for political power,” said Artistic Director, Kip Williams. “We also bring the focus inward, examining perhaps the most personal political institution of all: the family. Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, sisters and brothers. It’s a look at how we live together, and the moral ambit of our society.”
“The Season is jam-packed with your favourite artists breathing new life into work by some of the world’s best writers. Greats like Tennessee Williams and Tom Stoppard are joined by a cohort of innovative Australian playwrights with stories that reflect the world around us today. 2019 will bring you lots of laughs, thought-provoking conversation and plenty to sink your teeth into.”
In 2019, Sydney Theatre Company is the only place you can see the phenomenal Hugo Weaving and Pamela Rabe team up in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, whilst Nakkiah Lui follows her recent success with a new comedy that turns politics on its head with How to Rule the World.
Anita Hegh and Mandy McElhinney make an extraordinary duo in Lucy Kirkwood’s latest hit, Mosquitoes – the Australian premiere of Lucy Kirkwood’s international hit is a spellbinding tale of sibling rivalry set against a backdrop of cutting-edge scientific discovery.
One of history’s great rivalries played by two masterful actors as Caroline Brazier and Helen Thomson go head to head in the royal drama Mary Stuart – in this gripping new adaptation by Kate Mulvany (The Harp in the South), playwright Friedrich Schiller’s 200-year-old masterpiece is given new vitality.
Inspired by the ideas-driven comedies of George Bernard Shaw, Oriel Gray’s The Torrents is a delightful newsroom comedy set in the 1890s. Award-winning comedian and actor Celia Pacquola will put the spotlight back on a rarely seen Aussie classic, while from the pen of Australian playwright and social commentator Van Badham comes a hilariously explicit new comedy, Banging Denmark.
Simon Phillips returns to direct an irresistible cast in this hugely entertaining and deeply affecting modern classic about the search for real love in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and fresh from winning a Helpmann Award for The Children, former STC Resident Director, Sarah Goodes, brings Louis Nowra’s heartwarming and hilarious Australian comedy, Cosi to STC for the first time.
Two of Australia’s most exciting young screen actors return from America to make their main stage debuts at STC: International comedic force Rebel Wilson in the masterpiece The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and the acclaimed Mia Wasikowska in a new interpretation of Lord of the Flies.
Julia Leigh’s riveting, emotionally honest and exceptionally moving account of a profound and widespread experience is laid bare in Avalanche: A Love Story, Anchuli Felicia King’s new Australian work, White Pearl is a ruthlessly entertaining look at what happens when a video goes viral for all the wrong reasons, and the all-singing, all-dancing, side-splittingly funny solution to all the world’s problems, The Wharf Revue returns for another year of satirical genius.
Season Tickets are now available. Single tickets go on sale for Mary Stuart, How to Rule the World, Mosquitoes, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Torrents go on sale Monday 3 December 2018. Single tickets go on sale for Lord of the Flies, Banging Denmark, Avalanche: A Love Story, The Real Thing and The Wharf Revue go on sale Monday 4 February. Single tickets go on sale for White Pearl, Così and The Beauty Queen of Leenane go on sale Monday 18 February 2019.
For more information, visit: www.sydneytheatre.com.au for details.
Image: Mia Wasikowska stars in Lord of the Flies – photo by Rene Vaile