Malthouse announces Part 2 of it’s 2022 season
Malthouse Theatre today unveiled the final three works in its Season 2022 line up, which include the world premieres of Anna K starring Caroline Craig(Underbelly, Blue Heelers), an offbeat comedy by Ra Chapman who is making her mainstage debut with K-BOX, plus Monsters, a co-production with Stephanie Lake Company starring Pamela Rabe, which was originally slated for 2021.
Tickets to all three productions on presale now to Malthouse Supporter Community, and on sale to general public at 10am, Wednesday 8 June at malthousetheatre.com.au.
Commissioned by Malthouse Theatre and written by award winning Austrian playwright Susie Miller (Prima Facie) Anna K weaves a breakneck story of romance, love, power and justice.
ANNA K: 12 Aug– 4 Sep 2022
Anna Kay – a top rating television journalist, mother and wife – is now a news subject herself, and the haters are piling on. After taking a lifetime to build a successful career with integrity, it has taken one simple tweet to completely unravel it – and the haters are now piing on. She soon discovers that no amount of credibility makes you impervious to the institutions that maintain the status quo. Truth at all costs, but best stay in your lane.
Directed by Carissa Licciardello and starring Caroline Craig (Underbelly, Blue Heelers) with Callan Colley (This Time, Maybe) and Louisa Mignone (Wentworth), Anna K will have its world premiere in the Merlyn Theatre in August.
Director Carissa Licciardello:
Suzie has such a knack for bringing these bold, complex, contemporary women to the stage—she’s really on fire right now—and Anna Karenina is the perfect heroine for her to tackle next. Alongside an excellent creative team, I’m very excited to work with the much-loved Caroline Craig to bring Anna to life opposite stellar up-and-comer Callan Colley.
K-BOX: 2-18 Sept 2022
Ra Chapman, Malthouse Theatre’s 2018/2019 writers in residence makes her mainstage theatre debut with K-Box, a comical new play about a 30-something year old Korean adoptee who brings guts and hard truths to the suburban family dinner table.
Lucy hasn’t been home in a while. But she’s quit her job, dumped her boyfriend, and turned up on her adoptive parents’ doorstep needing somewhere to crash. And nothing seems quite as she left it.
George and Shirley don’t know what to do with their daughter. She’s depressed, she’s a mess, and she’s stumbled across an old cardboard box that was once full of childhood memories but is now completely empty.
Lucy and her parents haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, but when a K-Pop star who mysteriously wanders into their lives, asking dangerous questions about her Korean roots, new fault lines are exposed in the family unit that become impossible to hide.
Under the direction of Director in Residence Bridget Balodis (Stay Woke, Because The Night and The Lockdown Monologues), K-BOX will star acclaimed actor and burlesque favourite Maude along with Syd Brisbane (Because The Night) and newcomers Susanna Qian and JeffreyLiu. K-BOX opens in the Becket Theatre from September.
Writer and Malthouse Artist in Residence, Ra Chapman:
As a transracial adoptee my relationship with my identity can be best described as a tumultuous rollercoaster ride, which is still ongoing. K-BOX was inspired by the collective and palpable grief, desire for connection, and deep love that exists within the Australian adoptee community and extended community overseas.
I want to share with audiences the joy and devastation and the impossible choices you are faced with, when you attempt to find something you’ve lost, while still wanting to hold onto what you have.
MONSTERS: 24 Nov – 11 Dec 2022
From November, the premiere of Monsters sees Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director, Matthew Lutton collaborates with choreographer Stephanie Lake, and Sydney-based writer Emme Hoy to create a chilling adventure into the darkness featuring stage and screen star Pamela Rabe The Testament of Mary, Wentworth) and Stephanie Lake Company dancers.
Over four brief adrenalin filled acts, Pamela Rabe portrays a woman who goes searching for her sister in a chasm that has opened in a city. Conjuring the journey deep into the cavern through haunting text, she encounters metaphoric monsters and a literal monster on the way down.
Three dancers—Samantha Hines, Josie Weise, Kimball Wong—move in and out of the set, a dark and gaping cave, as they evoke images of what she sees in the dark below the earth.
Monsters takes the stage in Malthouse’s Merlyn Theatre in November.
Director and Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director, Matthew Lutton:
I have been waiting and hoping to co-create a production with StephanieLake ever since I moved to Melbourne. The idea tocreate a suspenseful and Gothic-like story drew us all together, and a passion to bring actors and dancers together in a way that makes you feel like you are dreaming while awake.
‘We want to welcome audiences back to a live experience that causes the hair to lift on the back of your neck, and the joy of imagining what you see in the dark when the lights are turned off.’
Choreographer and Stephanie Lake Company Artistic Director, Stephanie Lake:
What a thrill to be co-creating Monsters with Matthew Lutton and this brilliant team of performers and collaborators. I’ve been a long-time admirer of Matt’s work and after years of dreaming and scheming, it’s such a joy to finally bring this showto the stage. ‘With its fusion of choreography, text, soundand design, Monsters is a work that is bodily,visceral and frightening with a ripping story and magnificent dancing.
Season Details
Name: Anna K
Venue: Merlyn Theatre
Date: 12 Aug– 4 Sep 2022
Name: K-BOX
Venue: Beckett Theatre
Date: 2 – 18 Sept 2022
Name: Monsters
Venue: Merlyn Theatre
Date: 24 Nov– 11 Dec 2022
For more information click HERE
