Lally Katz returns to Earth and lands at the MTC

Lally Katz has been one of the most talked about female playwrights this year, and the MTC will be bringing one of her imaginative works to life this November.
Return to Earth marks Katz’s MTC mainstage debut, and the play delivers a fantastical world steeped in autobiographical detail; a bitter-sweet comedy about a young lady who returns home only to discover a foreign country.

Directed by MTC Associate Director Aidan Fennessy and starring Kim Gyngell, Julie Forsyth and daughter of Jean-Pierre, Eloise Mignon, Return to Earth opens Wednesday 9 November 2011 at 8pm at the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio.

For Lally Katz lateral thinking is like breathing. She apparently cannot help but apply it to everything that falls under her keen eye, transforming our world of mundane phenomena into hers of strangeness and estrangement. – MTC Artistic Director Simon Phillips.

Described by The Age as a ‘prodigiously talented playwright’, Lally Katz’s works include, Criminology (co-written with Tom Wright, for Arena Theatre Company and the Malthouse),Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart (premiered in New York).

Katz is a core member of independent theatre group Stuck Pigs Squealing, for which she’s written The Black Swan of Trespass, The Eisteddfod, Lally Katz and the Terrible Mysteries of the Volcano and Apocalypse Bear Trilogy, which was featured in the 2009 MTC Lawler Studio Season. Many of Katz’s works have toured extensively and she has won several awards including the Victorian Premiers’ Award for Drama. Return to Earth was nominated for the 2010 Griffin Award. 2011 has been a bumper year for Katz with her plays being performed around the country – Malthouse Theatre (The Golem Story), Belvoir St Theatre (Neighbourhood Watch) and Griffin Theatre (Smashed).

Return To Earth will transport the audience to the fresh and off-centre world of award-winning playwright Lally Katz, looking deeply to the strangeness within.

Directed by Aidan Fennessy with set & costume besigner Claude Marcos, Return To Earth is playing a limited season. Book through the MTC Box Office 03 8688 0800 or the Arts Centre Box Office 1300 182 183.

Lighting Designer Lisa Mibus
Composer/Sound Designer Kelly Ryall
Assistant Director Patrick McCarthy
Cast: Anthony Ahern (Theo), Julie Forsyth (Wendy Waster), Kim Gyngell (Cleveland Waster), Eloise Mignon (Alice Waster), Tim Ross (Tom Waster) and Anne-Louise Sarks (Jeanie)
Return to Earth

The Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
Season Dates 4 November to 17 December 2011
Opening Night Wednesday 9 November 2011 at 8pm
Tickets From $61.10 ($30 Under 30s)
Booking Details:
The MTC Theatre Box Office 03 8688 0800 or mtc.com.au
The Arts Centre Box Office 1300 182 183 or theartscentre.com.au

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