MTC 09 Season

Sydney's Ensemble Theatre, which has a history going back just over 50 years, which can justifiablty claim to be Sydney's oldest theatre company, and which has been in its current home by Kirribilli's Careening Cove since 1960, has announced its program for the 2009 season:

From the best-selling novel by Mitch Albom comes a tender, uplifting comedy about a life-altering friendship. Mitch Albom’s favourite teacher was his college professor Morrie Schwartz but nearly twenty years have passed since he last saw him. When Mitch catches Morrie on a television interview talking about having Lou Gehrig’s Disease (Motor Neurone Disease) he decides to visit his old professor one last time. One visit quickly becomes another and another until ultimately Mitch realizes that he is taking one final lesson ... in how to live. Cast: Glenn Hazeldine, Warren Mitchell. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Designer: Brian Nickless. Lighting Designer: Peter Neufeld. Opens: 18 December 2008.

An astonishingly true account of one of the world’s greatest writers and his love affair with a young actress thirty years his junior. Charles Dickens fell in love with the young actress Nelly Ternan. He was at the height of his success, happily married, one of the best loved authors in the world, England’s most respected moralist, and yet he had this desire that potentially could have ruined him. Only when Nelly’s son, Geoffrey, resolves to uncover the truth do we find out what really happened. Simon Gray’s beautifully written and seductive play examines the nature of affairs, wealth, fame and the legacy for the children left behind. This is part love story, part detective story, but all true. Cast: Gary Baxter, Katie Fitchett, Lee Jones, Olivera Jovanoska, Mark Lee, Drayton Morley. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Designer: Brian Nickless. Lighting Designer: Peter Neufeld. Opens: 29 January 2009.

A sparkling, maliciously poison-toothed satire about keeping up with the neighbours. Beverly and Laurence entertain their new neighbours, Angela and Tony, with drinks and snacks. Another neighbour, Susan, is also invited because her teenage daughter, Abigail, is having a party a few doors away and mums are definitely not welcome. Beverly wants to have fun, dance, drink. Laurence wants to have serious conversation about art, music, Dickens. Small talk, bad music and awkward dances follow in this hilarious, dark and biting comedy from the master of human foibles, Mike Leigh. Cast: Ben Ager, Julie Hudspeth, Brian Meegan, Tara Morice, Queenie van de Zandt. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Designer: Graham Maclean. Opens: 19 March 2009.

This brand new David Williamson, with trade-mark comedy bite, asks what happens when people of widely different political views are forced to co-exist. Toby, a maker of hard hitting documentaries, flees Sydney in shame when the press finds out he had inadvertently used a bogus witness in his latest film. He convinces his reluctant wife Ros to travel north with him to a haven in Queensland, fondly remembered from visits in his youth. Problem is it has now moved from a simple fishing village to a chic, upmarket, manicured playground of the wealthy and privileged. Ros meets an old school friend, Natasha, who is married to Ron, a hugely wealthy property developer. Ros and Natasha had little in common even at school and to say Toby and Ron are like chalk and cheese would be understating it. The connection between the two couples seems destined to be brief and acrimonious save for one thing. Power lawyer Emma, the daughter of Natasha, and drop out musician Rick, son of Ros, happen to meet. And then, in typical Williamson fashion, it’s on for young and old. Cast includes: Georgie Parker, Kate Raison, William Zappa. Director: Sandra Bates. Opens 7 May 2009.

A fairy tale of glamour, love and truth — Hollywood-style. Diane is a hard-bitten agent determined to see her client, award-winning actor and rising star, Mitchell Green, make the big time and will do anything to obtain the script that will get him there. The trouble is, apart from Mitchell having everything he needs to be a star, he also has a ‘slight recurring case of homosexuality’. When Mitchell falls for Alex, a charming young rent boy with a girlfriend, things start to get complicated. Can Mitchell and Alex have their happy ending or will Diane have to weave a little Hollywood magic of her own? Cast includes: Alexandra Fowler, James Millar. Director: Andrew Doyle. Lighting Designer: Bernie Tan. Opens 9 July 2009.

Jack doesn’t like the cracks in the pavement. Joan wanted the Olympics to be forever. Jim hates his wife but loves her mother. Mary has a fear of being lethargic and would do something about it. If she could be bothered. Gus wants to be faithful…but leeeeerves women… Barnaby Johnson doesn’t pretend to have all the answers but he is very good at asking the right questions. His clients confess, accuse, make promises and Barnaby listens the whole day long and then listens some more. What keeps him sane? He loves his job and more importantly he loves other people’s problems because then he doesn’t have to deal with his own. Twenty-three patients, one counsellor and only three actors in this new comedy drama looking at the man who sits in the therapist’s chair and the clients he meets. Cast: Catherine Moore, Jamie Oxenbould, Michael Ross. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Lighting Designer: Bernie Tan. Opens 30 July 2009.

A gloriously funny examination of love, relationships and why the grass is never greener. Five sets of characters, five crucial moments; Jonathan and Wendy are on a blind date and hope their bad taste is only in their clothing and not in a prospective partner; Barrie is gay and Janet wishes he wasn’t; William and Diana want a theatre award but really need each other; Shelley and Bobby are divorcing on a holiday in Spain but drunk on emotion; Angela is about to marry for the third time and brother Toby hates the dress, the groom, the party and only wants the best for her—really. All played by two actors in a fast, furious and hilarious tribute to humankind. If you like Neil Simon – you’ll love this! Cast: Noeline Brown, Barry Creyton. Director: Sandra Bates. Lighting Designer: Bernie Tan. Opens: 20 August 2009.

Henry loves Ruby. Ruby is cute, clever and brave and lives in her Aunt Lois’s barn. She has also invented a new fangled thing called television. Henry likes to listen to Ruby talk about television. In fact, Henry just likes to hear Ruby talk. Fast forward to a television studio in 1952 and top writer Tad Rose is hoping to find a new play for his show. It needs to be different, bold, funny and compelling. Enter Lulu, feisty, sexy and ambitious with a story he might like: the story of her mother Ruby – unknown inventor of television. One condition—Lulu has to have script approval. From the birth of television to the McCarthy era’s censorship, The Ruby Sunrise, charts the phenomenon of television, its ability to tell great stories, distort them and give them happy endings. Cast includes: Catherine McGraffin, Amanda Muggleton, Jonathan Prescott. Director: Sandra Bates. Opens: 8 October.

A compelling and powerful play about compassion, faith and the value of life. Award-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy’s (No Country for Old Men, All the Pretty Horses) powerful, thrilling new play about two men trying to figure out the reason we live the way we live. A man has thrown himself in front of a train. Another man saves him. One man is black. The other white. Why did the white man try to kill himself? Why is the black man helping him? And ultimately who is saving who? Inspired by real life events the play asks the age old question: To be – or not to be? Cast includes: Mark Kilmurry. Director: Jennifer Don. Opens: 22 October 2009.

A classic comedy of manners, class and kitchen sinks from Britain’s master of satire. Alan Ayckbourn’s hilarious, irresistible, dark comedy classic concerning three married couples over three Christmas Eves. The social-climbing Hopcrofts in their gadget filled kitchen; the relationship troubled Jackson’s in their neglected fourth floor flat; and the laconic Brewster-Wright’s in their Victorian style home. Add a mad dog, a faulty oven and some inappropriate party games and the result is classic Ayckbourn at his very best. Cast includes: Mark Owen-Taylor. Director: Andrew Doyle. Opens: 26 November 2009.

For further details or to subscribe, phone 02 9929 0644 or visit Ensemble Theatre.

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