Categories: News

Israeli play comes to ATYP – Games in the Backyard

Games in the Backyard, one of Israel’s best known and most successful plays, will make its Australian debut through atyp’s Under the Wharf program in November.

Set in 1988 Kibbutz Shomrat, Israel, and based on a horrifying true story, the play explores the rape of a 14 year old girl by a group of teenage boys, and the explosive trial that followed in Israeli courts. Dramatic and chilling, the emotionally-charged play is designed to leave its audience questioning their judgment, asking the question “can anything be truly black and white?”

The play has proved a strong success in Israel. Written by Edna Mazya, one of Israel’s most celebrated playwrights, Games in the Backyard has been running on the Israeli stage since 1993. There have been over 600 performances and it has been seen by approximately a quarter of a million people. It has been critically acclaimed in all its foreign markets thus far, including  through Europe and the US, and has been embraced by Israeli youth.

Netta Yaschin, who most recently enjoyed a sold-out season of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s I Came Only to Use the Phone at Darlinghurst Theatre, will direct. The cast features Carl Batchelor, Joseph Del Re, Jessica Palyga, Michael Rebetzke, and Dorje Swallow.

This independent theatre production is realised by atyp, Australia’s leading youth theatre company, and their Under the Wharf season, which is an initiative designed to develop and promote new theatre companies within Australia.

atyp Studio 1, The Wharf, Pier 4/5 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Preview 16 November
Opening Night 17 November
Season 18 November – 3 December 
Performance Times Tuesday – Saturday 7.30pm, matinees Saturday at 2.30pm & Sundays at 5pm
Adults $30 Concessions & Students $26 Under 21 & Groups of 6+ $21
Cheap Tuesdays – all tickets $21
Bookings www.atyp.com.au or 02 9270 2400

Cassie Tongue

Cassie is a theatre critic and arts writer in Sydney, and was the deputy editor of AussieTheatre. She has written for The Guardian, Time Out Sydney, Daily Review, and BroadwayWorld Australia. She is a voter for the Sydney Theatre Awards.

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