Renovations at Stables complete

Renovations at the SBW Stables Theatre in Sydney are complete, and audiences are almost about to get the opportunity to experience the new look with Quack opening on September 1.

Renovations at the SBW Stables Theatre in Sydney are almost complete, and audiences are about to get the opportunity to experience the new look with Quack opening on September 1.

In a small town in middle Australia, people are sick and looking for someone to blame. Fanny wants to get the hell out – it’s a hick mining dump. But when the dashing and visionary Doctor Waterman turns up, Fanny might just have a reason to stay. Despite some early triumphs, though, the townsfolk are getting sick, really sick – in fact, the moaning and shuffling half-dead are even starting to eat the living. Will Fanny get out alive?

Blisteringly funny and provocative in equal measure, Quack is a mash-up of A Country Practice, Deadwood and Shaun of the Dead – a romantic historical western drama noir exploitation comedy. With zombies.

Quack is playwright Ian Wilding’s riotous follow-up to the hugely acclaimed October (Griffin, 2007). Wilding is at the forefront of Australian playwriting and has won the prestigious Patrick White Playwrights Award twice; first in 2002 for Even Amongst Dogs and again last year for Forever Seven. Wilding’s latest work will be directed by Chris Mead whose most recent play for Griffin, The Modern International Dead by Damien Millar, won Best New Play at the Sydney Theatre Critics’ Awards and was shortlisted for the NSW, Victorian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

Griffin Theatre Company’s newly appointed Artistic Director Sam Strong said: “We’re looking forward to the potent cocktail of two of the country’s leading new writing talents. Chris is a great champion of new work and we’re thrilled to welcome him back to direct after the theatrical flair he displayed on The Modern International Dead. Even more thrilling will be the combination of Chris’ irreverence and Ian’s unique writing gifts: his visceral language, his risqué humour, and his ability to transform dark and nasty content into a riotous night in the theatre.”

Quack will be the first production to be staged in the historic SBW Stables Theatre following its extensive renovations. There will be a series of other events at the Stables, with the umbrella title ‘Between the Lines’, to complement the season of Quack, including post-show screenings of classic cult Zombie movies Shaun of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead; an all day marathon screening of the Deadwood television series; an exclusive screening of episodes of A Country Practice and a post-show artists talk.

Quack previews from August 27 and opens on September 1.

Bookings: (02) 8002 4772.