Griffin 09 Season

New Theatre's productions and staged readings forr January–July 2009 encompass family shows, the Mardi Gras festival and a selection of contemporary and classic Australian and international plays being studied by students of HSC English and Drama that will also appeal to a wider audience.

Highlights include the Sydney premiere of the 2003 Tony Award winner for Best Play Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg, and a revival of one of the best-loved of all Australian plays, Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

Following the success of their 2007 production of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, New Theatre will be presenting this scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven-year-old boy who has a run-in with some real-life witches!

In fairy tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about real witches. Real witches dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs. That is why they are so hard to catch. Witches, as our hero learns, hate children. With the help of a friend and his somewhat-magical grandmother, our hero sets out to expose the witches before they dispose of him! 10–24 January.

§ Take Me Out, by Richard Greenberg

Presented in association with 2009 New Mardi Gras Festival, this is the Sydney Premiere of the 2003 Tony Award winner for ‘Best Play.

’When the New York Empires' star centre fielder comes out at a press conference, the tight-knit macho world of professional baseball is thrown into chaos. His business manager is horrified; the fans are staggered; the team bosses go into damage control; and his team-mates are confused, angry and hostile.

Set entirely in a locker-room over the course of one season, this funny, sexy, touching and ultimately tragic play examines themes of masculinity and identity and throws a spotlight on the homophobia, racism and class warfare that lurks under the shiny veneer of America's most popular sport. 5 February–7 March.

§ The Herbal Bed, by Peter Whelan

The Herbal Bed is a brilliant re-telling of a scandal involving Shakespeare’s eldest daughter, the upstanding and virtuous Susanna Hall. This passionate human drama, inspired by the few documented facts available, explores the clash between the desire for personal freedom and the need to conform in order to survive in a judgemental and oppressive society. The play is recognised as a modern masterpiece of the theatre due to its imaginative mix of romantic and literary traditions within a contemporary post-modern style. 19 March–11 April.

§ Cosi, by Louis Nowra

Cosi is the touching and hilarious story of Lewis, a fresh-faced theatre director, in his first job: leading a group of patients at a Melbourne mental asylum in a production of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte. But he’s got a little problem: no one involved, including ringleader Roy, can either sing or speak Italian. Meanwhile, the pressure on Lewis from his university friends to organise Australia’s largest Vietnam War protest makes him question where true madness lies: inside or outside the asylum. 23 April–16 May.

§ Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, by Ray Lawler

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was the first Australian play to be acclaimed overseas, specifically in London’s West End in 1957, where it received the Evening Standard's Play of the Year award. It is recognised as both a masterpiece of Australian theatre and as a turning point in our country’s cultural history. It was stylistically new and different, with working-class characters, colloquial language and controversial subject matter, which resulted in mixed reactions from audiences. Today, The Doll is universally beloved and admired. Its iconic place in the Australian theatre canon is unassailable, the themes and issues still relevant 50 years on. 4 June–4 July.

§ Staged Readings

A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen: Tuesday 24 February @ 6.30pm.

The Country Wife, by William Wycherley: Tuesday 24 March @ 6.30pm

Diving for Pearls by Katherine Thomson: Tuesday 7 April @ 6.30pm

A Man with Five Children, by Nick Enright: Tuesday 5 May @ 6.30pm

Educating Rita, by Willy Russell: Tuesday 19 May @ 6.30pm

*Based on media release issued by New Theatre.