Volpone (or The Fox)

STCSA_VolponeFeaturing Emily Steel’s brand new adaptation of Ben Jonson’s outrageous comedy Volpone (or The Fox), State Theatre Company continues its recent tradition of brash comedy in winter with a dose of theatrical mayhem at the Dunstan Playhouse from 25 August 2015.

First performed in 1605, Jonson’s play is a savage satire of avarice and lust and ranks amongst the finest of Jacobean comedies. It follows the unraveling of Volpone’s greatest con and shows the extent that obsessive greed can corrupt the filthy rich.

Armed with natural cunning and his wily sidekick Mosca, Volpone swindles his way through the corrupt city of Venice. From flogging snake oil to feigning his own demise, no scheme is too despicable or too outlandish in his pursuit of trinkets and trophies.

Volpone is a grotesque and wicked comedy that exposes the ugly world of Big Men with Big Money and the lengths to which they will go to in order to get more of it,” says Director Nescha Jelk (Othello, Jesikah, Random). “As it turns out, not much has changed 400 years on; Volpone is as relevant now as it ever was.”

The extraordinary imaginations of Jonathan Oxlade, designer of the 2014 Helpmann Award-winning production of Pinocchio, and writer Emily Steel (Man in a Bag, Sepia) will combine to create a shiny bright new world for Volpone to live in – one that might just bear a striking likeness to our own.

Starring local legend and master clown Paul Blackwell (Vere, When The Rain Stops Falling, The Hypochondriac) as a wealthy master of disguise and self-proclaimed ladies’ man, Volpone promises to be gutsy, merciless in its mockery and full of inventive wit.

Director: Nescha Jelk  Featuring: Paul Blackwell, Matt Crook, Patrick Graham, Elizabeth Hay, Edwin Hodgeman, Carmel Johnson, Caroline Mignone, Geoff Revell, James Smith  Designer: Jonathon Oxlade  Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham  Composer: Will Spartalis  Fight Choreography: Duncan Maxwell

Volpone (or The Fox)
Dunstan Playhouse – Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Season: 25 August – 12 September 2015 (previews: 21 – 24 August)
Bookings: 13 12 46 or online at: www.bass.net.au

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

Image: Paul Blackwell as Volpone