A moving and witty story about a young woman navigating the treacherous world of adulthood and her complicated world of fantasy, Red Stitch Actors Theatre presents the Australian premiere of You Got Older by US playwright Clare Barron, from 3 September 2016.
Freshly dumped, unemployed, and stricken with a nasty rash, Mae temporarily moves back to her childhood home to support her ailing father. You Got Older is a black comedy about how you remain standing when everything you know comes crashing down around you.
“In all my experience of viewing theatre and participating in theatre making, I’ve never encountered a play quite like You Got Older, says director, Brett Cousins. “I’ve never spent time with characters like these – so completely and wonderfully unique and yet so instantly recognisable.”
Brett has previously directed Paddy Campbell’s award-winning play, Wet House for Red Stitch Theatre, and has performed in dozens of roles with the company including: Out Of The Water, The Aliens, Stockholm, Creditors, Farragut North, Motortown, This Is How It Goes, The Shape Of Things, and Some Voices.
Clare Barron?is a playwright and actor from Washington. Her plays include?: I’ll Never Love Again; Baby Screams Miracle?; ?Dirty Crusty?; and Dance Nation – which recently co-won the inaugural Relentless Award established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman. She is the recipient of the 2014 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship and the Paula Vogel Award at the Vineyard.
She is also a member of New Dramatists and Youngblood at EST, an Affiliated Artist with Target Margin, an alumni of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and is currently pursuing her MFA at Brooklyn College. As an actor, Clare appeared in the world premiere of Heidi Schreck’s The Consultant (Long Wharf), and travelled to Beirut to play Mae in an Arabic-English production of María Irene Fornés’ Mud.
You Got Older won the Obie Award for Playwriting and Performance for the 2014 Page 73 Production. It was also a finalist for the 2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and 4 Drama Desk awards nominations, including Outstanding Play.
“… offers a hilarious and painfully affecting blend of oddball dialogue, beautifully observed family dynamics, and a preoccupation with the weird ways of the body.” – The New Yorker.
Director: Brett Cousins Featuring: Lee Beckhurst, Emily Goddard, Francis Greenslade, Penny Harpham, Eva Seymour, Mark Yeates Set: Sophie Woodward Costume: Matilda Woodroofe Lighting: Clare Springett Sound: Daniel Nixon & Chris Wenn Assistant Director: Joanne Booth Stage Manager: Hannah Bullen Assistant Stage Manager: Anthony Torouno
You Got Older
Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Rear 2 Chapel Street, St. Kilda
Season: 3 September – 2 October 2016
Information and Bookings: www.redstitch.net
Image: courtesy of Red Stitch Actors Theatre