Fresh, Invigorating and Globally Relevant: Malthouse Announces 2012 Season, Melbourne

 This week, the Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne) announced its 2012 season featuring a mix of Malthouse Theatre’s signature engagement with cutting-edge contemporary dance and theatre, alongside companies and genres rarely seen on the company’s stages.

 This week, the Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne) announced its 2012 season featuring a mix of Malthouse Theatre’s signature engagement with cutting-edge contemporary dance and theatre, alongside companies and genres rarely seen on the company’s stages. The company have re-jigged their season structure to present a series of works which reflect the breadth and vivacity of Australian contemporary performance across its three stages. Drawing artists and ideas from all over the world, the twelve mainstage productions in the 2012 line up include six world premieres, five Melbourne premieres and five new commissions.  Artistic Director Marion Potts will direct a production of Lorca’s passionate Blood Wedding, in a new bilingual adaptation by Raimondo Cortese to be performed in both Spanish and English.  Circus and family theatre – not previously seen in Malthouse Theatre seasons – are featured in the 2012 program with the Brisbane-based contemporary circus company Circa, and Windmill Theatre Company’s musical for families, Pinocchio. “Circa and Windmill Theatre are two companies that have earned our national pride as internationally-renowned artists, and will now give our audiences an unprecedented experience of theatrical form: Circa’s contemporary circus language is unique, and Windmill Theatre Company is a benchmark in children’s theatre. Add to that works such as Vicki Van Hout’s ground-breaking Indigenous dance vocabulary in Briwyant, and the 2012 Malthouse Theatre season is fresh, invigorating and globally relevant”, said Potts. Thomas Bernhard’s comedy The Histrionic (Der Theatermacher), directed by Daniel Schlusser, will feature two Australian stage legends Bille Brown and Barry Otto. Tom Wright has translated Bernhard’s play, drawing out the gallows humour common to both Austrian and Australian culture. The Histrionic reveals the ingenious capacity of humans to create personas for ourselves and inhabit them like skin. Continuing its commitment to new Australian writing for the stage, Associate Artist, Matthew Lutton, will direct two world premieres: a reconstruction of classical mythology in On the Misconception of Oedipus, and the hedonistic ride of Pompeii, L.A., playwright Declan Greene’s Merlyn Theatre debut.  Also, Malthouse Theatre favourite Paul Capsis returns with his deeply personal exploration of his Maltese heritage in Angela’s Kitchen. Capsis’ voyage begins at a kitchen table but plunges into his sprawling family history and offers a fitting tribute to a much-loved matriarch.
The 2012 Company in Residence will be the dynamic Four Larks, who will dance until they drop in The Plague Dances. Four Larks has wowed Melbourne audiences with its playful and unique aesthetic, lush visual assemblages and mesmerising original live scores. This new production offers a danse macabre with a contagious undercurrent. The Beckett Theatre will be stripped of its seating, to be replaced by some comfy sofas for Opera XS, complete with mulled wine for custom-made, intimate opera experiences.  A snippet of the Opera XS program (full program released in early 2012): 

• Another Lament by Rawcus and Chamber Made Opera
• Redfern, a work-in-progress by Deborah Cheetham and Short Black Opera Company.
• One-on-one madrigals
• An open-mike night 
• A few improvised operas, conducted by Victorian Opera’s charismatic Richard Gill.

 Also in the Beckett Theatre, country music celebrity and global icon for peace, Tina C is on a mission in Tina C Solves the Aboriginal Crisis. She knows the relationship between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people is rife with tension. She knows it goes back a long way, and with her tongue firmly in cheek, Tina C plans to realise reconciliation, alongside Auriel Andrew, by singing original classics such as ‘You Built A Rabbit Proof Fence Around Your Heart’. Finally, building upon the critical successes of this year’s 90-seat black-box studio space the Tower Theatre, Malthouse Theatre is presenting Helium, an opportunity for independent artists or ensembles to present new works within a compact season July through to November 2012. “Independent artists are often at the forefront of the artistic zeitgeist and we want to assist them and their work with the profile and exposure they deserve. Helium is designed to offer juicy opportunities for contemporary performances which are made independently from Malthouse Theatre, but which have a strong affinity with our creative visions and aspirations. These artists will be able to tap our practical and artistic resources to further their creative and cultural careers”, said Artistic Director, Marion Potts.  The call for expressions of interest from artists is now open, and Helium season details will be announced in March 2012.