STC launches 2011 Next Stage season

Next Stage, Sydney Theatre Company’s artform development strand presented in Wharf 2 throughout 2011, features the work of emerging artists and offers distinctly different experiences to the Company’s Main Stage program.

Next Stage, Sydney Theatre Company’s artform development strand presented in Wharf 2 throughout 2011, features the work of emerging artists and offers distinctly different experiences to the Company’s Main Stage program.

This year’s season of four productions begins with German play Before / After directed by Cristabel Sved, in its first Englishlanguage production.

An exploration of the nature of competition and the business of being the best comes from performance collective, post, in Who’s The Best?.

The inventive hit, Africa, features broken toys, puppets and inspired performances from My Darling Patricia, while Money Shots includes six fifteen-minute plays on the theme of money from a diverse range of emerging writers and devisers.

Also as part of Next Stage, the regular Rough Drafts (week-long creative developments followed by free showings) return, giving audiences opportunities to see work in development in its earliest stages.

BEFORE / AFTER by Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translated from the German by Dr Marlene J Norst
4 – 19 February 2011.

In 51 short scenes, discreet fragments of the lives of more than 30 characters are revealed. A woman is embarking on a sordid affair. Elsewhere in the same hotel a man is transported into a classical painting. At the same time two handymen are contemplating their place in the universe, while a couple argue about the intricate lives of Hollywood screen sirens … Simultaneously weaving the mundane and the banal with the bizarre and the extraordinary
in a seductive portrait of modern life, Before/After is directed by Cristabel Sved. Performers include STC Residents Zindzi Okenyo, Richard Pyros, Sophie Ross and Tahki Saul alongside Annie Byron, Justin Stewart Cotta, Johanna Puglisi and Graeme Rhodes.

WHO’S THE BEST? Devised and performed by post
17 June – 2 July 2011.

Created by the acclaimed contemporary performance collective post (Zoe Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor and Natalie Rose) and guest artist Eden Falk, Who’s The Best? has been developed through STC’s Backstage With The Residents and Rough Drafts programs. Post’s previous works include the darkly comic Gifted and Talented and Shamelessly Glitzy Work and recent collaboration with Version 1.0 on A Distressing Scenario. Drawing on stand-up
comedy, visual arts practice and physical theatre, in Who’s The Best, the trio examine the nature of competition and the business of becoming the best.

AFRICA by My Darling Patricia
1 – 17 September 2011.

Africa was a roaring hit when it premiered at Melbourne’s Malthouse in 2009. Its creators – the collective My Darling Patricia – have gained a reputation for their unique approach to design and performance. Inspired by the true story of two German children who attempted to elope, Africa focuses on a young boy and girl who fantasize that the exotic continent offers an escape from Australian suburbia. Using puppetry, broken toys and performance,
the show transports the audiences to an imaginary paradise. Where an adult might see abandon and chaos, a child discovers escape and delight; this is the world created in Africa.

MONEY SHOTS
30 September – 15 October 2011.

An evening comprised of six short new works all on the theme of money from a diverse range of emerging writers and devisers. Performed by The Residents, directed by STC’s new Richard Wherrett Fellow Sarah Giles and designed by Resident Designer Alice Babidge this is a smorgasbord of new theatrical talent, intended to give a taste of the writers and theatre makers tipped for the top. Currently in development are possible contributions from Tahli Corin, Duncan Graham, Angus Cerini, Rita Kalnejais, The Suitcase Royale and Zoe Pepper.

ROUGH DRAFTS
Rough Draft #9 Saturday 26 February at 5pm
Rough Draft #10 Saturday 11 June at 5pm
Rough Draft #11 Saturday 16 July at 5pm
Rough Draft #12 Saturday 29 October at 5pm

Rough Drafts are week-long creative developments which give theatre makers the opportunity to try out new ideas, ways of working and collaborations, with the emphasis of the exercise being on process rather than product. At the end of each week there is a free showing for an audience to come along and see something of what has been developed.

For dates and details of Rough Drafts, sign up for STC’s email newsletter at sydneytheatre.com.au/signup or visit nextstage2011.com.au.