The Lonely Wolf (or an incomplete guide for the unadvanced soul)

The Lonely WolfAn irreverent and anarchic dance-theatre production, The Lonely Wolf (or an incomplete guide for the unadvanced soul) by Gary Abrahams and Dirty Pretty Theatre will be presented as part of MTC’S NEON Festival at The Lawler Theatre from 12 June 2015.

Harry Haller has two natures; a human and a wolfish one. Each exists solely to harm the other. The wolf is hungry. The wolf is insatiable. The wolf won’t be tamed. The man cannot win. Then Harry meets the enigmatic Hermine and is given a task. Obey her at all costs and lighten the hell up. After all, we’ve had over a hundred years of psychotherapy and people are just getting worse. Why fight for sanity in a sick and dying world?

Set in a place of nightmares and daydreams, of Goethe and Jung, of karaoke and dance-clubs, The Lonely Wolf presents Harry’s absurd battle with the suicidal monster within.

Inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf and the writings of American philosopher and psychoanalyst James Hillman, The Lonely Wolf (or an incomplete guide for the unadvanced soul) is an irreverent dance-theatre production that chews up Hesse’s surrealist story and spits out an anarchic work about madness and love.

“People who are familiar with the novel will see evidence of the novel of course, but we’re also trying to veer away from it as much as we can,” says Director Gary Abrahams. “I wanted to set it over one evening, sort of like Alice in Wonderland, where a character has a set of experiences and is spat out at the other end.”

Led by writer and director Gary Abrahams, Dirty Pretty Theatre is an award-winning Melbourne-based independent theatre company committed to presenting evocative narrative theatre based on literary works created with a highly theatrical aesthetic.

Dirty Pretty Theatre was created in 2010 in the staging of two critically acclaimed works, Acts of Deceit (Between Strangers in a Room) and Something Natural But Very Childish. The key collaborators and creatives regrouped in early 2014 to present the works The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant and Thérèse Raquin.

Director: Gary Abrahams  Cast: Georgia Bettens, Christopher Brown, Sarah Bruce, Simon Corfield, Emily Goddard, Luisa Hastings Edge, Ellya Sam, Matt Whitty  Set Designer: Jacob Battista  Costume Designer: Chloe Greaves  Lighting Designer: Katie Sfetkidis  Composer: Daniel Nixon  Production Manager: Hayley Toth  Stage Manager: Jennifer Speirs  Assistant Stage Manager: Joey Burford  Producer: Corey Reynolds

The Lonely Wolf (or an incomplete guide for the unadvanced soul)
The Lawler – Southbank Theatre, 140 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank
Season: 12 – 21 June 2015
Bookings: (03 8688 0800) or online at: www.mtc.com.au

For more information, visit: www.mtc.com.au for details.

Image: courtesy of Dirty Pretty Theatre

Note: This production contains nudity, coarse language, drug references, gunshot & explosion sound effects, smoking and themes regarding suicide and depression.