new theatre Home & Forthcoming productions
In this Southern gothic fantasia, writer Alana Valentine uses the life of famed American novelist Carson McCullers, author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding, friend of Tennessee Williams and dinner companion of Marilyn Monroe, to weave a tale of individuality battling the constraints and prejudices of small town conservatism.
Loosely biographical, the play follows Carson's journey through Southern freak shows, New York drag bars and Parisian cemeteries, as she explores her identity, creativity and sexuality. SINGING THE LONELY HEART is a humorous and poignant study of sacrifice and triumph, told in a compelling magic realist production style.(Poster Photography by Waded, Production Photograph Bob Seary).
SX News Interview about the play and production with the writer Alana Valentine
"This is theatre as good as it gets; ready for any major stage, here or overseas. ... Moving, compassionate, tough, taut and terrific!" Brad Syke, Sydney Stage Online
"Transports us with something theatrical and magical ... one of the most artistically polished and consistent productions I've seen at the New" Martin Portus, Sydney Star Observer
20 July to 5 August 2006
"One of the more courageous productions to appear at the New ...Director Damien Millar engineers a rigorously simple, visually interesting production and draws out performances that are direct and subtle ... Shows us a world that is by turns both funny and tragic." Jason Blake, SMH - Read the full review
In a sterile hospital room, an ensemble of actors playing both doctors and patients presents a stream of people with a variety of neurological disorders stemming from damage to the frontal lobes: the part of the brain that controls emotions and determines personality.
These individual and very personal stories reveal with humility and simplicity themes of memory, recognition and identity, examining the connections between neurological, psychological and philosophical views of 'existence' and questioning the relationship between 'the brain' and 'the mind'. Written by one of the 20th century's greatest theatrical innovators and based on the book by the trail-blazing English neurologist, THE MAN WHO challenges the audience to explore the health of their own perceptions of 'truth' and 'reality'.
Cast: David Ritchie, Gertraud Ingeborg, Kath Perry,Alo Ammounchi, Natasha McNamara, Tom O'Sullivan, Kaen Vickery, Johann Walraven, Jared Morgan
10 - 26 August 2006The Man Who is an official event as part of National Science Week www.scienceweek.info.au
"a play that takes true grit to the stage ... a remarkable ensemble of actors" Brad Syke, Sydney Stage Online
"The New Theatre production of Family Stories doesn't waste any time plunging the audience deep into the troubled heart of this remarkable play" Drum Media
A war is over. Or maybe not?
There are demonstrations on the streets, politicians are publishing self-help books, and children are left unsupervised in concrete playgrounds. From this chaos, parroting the ways of adults as observed by the uncritical and receptive hearts of children, springs a game called FAMILY STORIES.
Four adult actors play children who in turn play mums, dads, sons and daughters in a cyclical family saga spanning a decade of civil war. Every scene is a metaphor for the fear that results from living in a society without free media or civil liberties under a government at war with itself.
FAMILY STORIES is a game of 'playing house' that becomes a thrilling, hilarious, devastating allegory of a post-war society.
For more about Family Stories see - Lost In Translation, by Nicholas Pickard, Arts Hub Australia, Monday, August 28, 2006
"Shock of the New" - SX News Interview with Damien Millar (Director of the Man Who) and and Nicholas Pickard (Director of Family Stories).
"A Serbian South Park, with extra bite" SydneyStageOnline Read full review
"Family Stories is exciting new theatre that does not apologise" Read Joanna Erskine's Full Review, AussieTheatre.com
"Packs a powerful punch." SX News. Read Veronica Hannon's full review.
31 August - 16 September 2006