Sydney Theatre Company 2010 season

 

Taking it to the next level

While their first "full" season at the helm might not have been an entirely unqualified success, the Sydney Theatre Company's joint artistic directors, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, have set their seal firmly on Sydney's flagship theatre company. It's clear from their 2010 selection that the pair are aiming to have the STC transcend merely being a local or even national institution, and become a player on the international theatre scene; in much the same vein as London's Royal Court Theatre or the Manhattan Theatre Club.

The line-up of "heavy hitters" in the 2010 season is impressive to say the least, and the scope of the season is both ambitious and enticing.

Tom Wright starts proceedings by transforming Voltaire’s classic satire of enlightened insanity, Candide, into a cutting commentary on the no-worries bravura of the Australian swagger under the title Optimism (Jan 12 - Feb 14). Just like Candide, this rambunctious production from director Michael Kantor, has travelled the globe: since its debut at Malthouse Melbourne it has been performed at Edinburgh International Festival, where actor-comedian Frank Woodley won a Herald Angel Award for his performance as the criminally cheerful Candide.

With an exceptional score ranging from power ballads to grunge anthems that capture the spine-tingling highs and lows of youthful desire, Spring Awakening (Feb 9 - 28) has all the energy of a rock concert and all the power of a great drama. A new generation of performers, cast from open auditions, will take to the stage to realise this Tony Award-winning musical. It may be set in 1891, but the STC promises that when these singers burst into song, they express electric inner worlds that will be instantly recognisable to anyone who is – or ever was – a teenager.

Groundbreaking British physical theatre company, Frantic Assembly (in collaboration with the STC), will remount their lauded production of Bryony Lavery’s Stockholm (Mar 17 - Apr 24). Featuring Australian actors Socratis Otto and Leeanna Walsman, this powerful piece of theatre uses a unique approach that draws on dance, music and text to dramatise a relationship that is founded on co-dependency, obsession and abuse.

The tale is a familiar one – it’s Nero and Poppea, Clinton and Lewinski - yet Joanna Murray-Smith imbues it with freshness and insight in Honour (Apr 22 - May 23). With extraordinary wit and great compassion, she questions the very nature of love: does it inevitably erode over time? Can it endure the terrible dichotomy between passion and perseverance? Wendy Hughes and William Zappa return to STC to perform the roles of Honor and George in this revival of a modern Australian classic.

A momentous trilogy of Greek tragedies, adapted and directed by Tom Wright, has been condensed into one heart-stopping evening of theatre as Oresteia (Jun 5 - 27). The STC's permanent ensemble of actors – known as The Residents – will excavate Aeschylus’ powerful tale of justice and revenge, injecting new life into one of the bedrocks of Western theatrical tradition.

Rarely staged in Australia but frequently considered O’Neill’s major masterpiece, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Jul 3 - Aug 1), is a largely autobiographical work of gut-wrenching honesty and astonishing beauty. In celebration of the play’s enormous thematic and emotional landscape, this production will unfold on the grand stage of Sydney Theatre before transferring to Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

Hailed by critics as the great American play of our time, August: Osage County (Aug 17 - Sep 19) is a rare gem of a drama. In the tradition of Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, playwright Tracy Letts tells a story of grand scale that is at once entertaining, funny and deeply moving. By showing us this family in meltdown Letts’ play holds a magnifying glass up to American society today, revealing its tragic dysfunction and lost idealism.

Even more excitingly, the STC will host the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre, arguably the finest ensemble company in the US, with their originating production of this internationally renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

The indefinable, elusive and mysterious power of Franz Kafka’s writing is captured in Louise Fox’s brand new adaptation of his landmark novel The Trial (Sep 14 - Oct 16). Revelling in Kafka’s wit, clowning, farce and obsession with the erotic, this production, directed by Matthew Lutton, marks the company's second collaboration with his celebrated Perth-based company ThinIce, and features John Gaden and Ewen Leslie.

Sliding between the past, the present and the future, we follow George and Emily – one of the most winsome couples in theatrical history – as they grow up, fall in love, marry and start their own family in Our Town (Sep 18 - Oct 23). Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1938 makes an affecting philosophical case for relishing life in the here and now. Heart-warming and humorous, Our Town celebrates the everyday and is a powerful call to appreciate life while we are in it.

In this deliciously dark play of duality, Sam Shepard takes a long, hard look at America in his seminal True West (Nov 2 - Dec 12). From the romanticised West to the tranquillity of picket-fenced suburbia, Shepard suggests that a nation obsessed with fantasy will find its illusions fiercely pursued by disappointing reality. Philip Seymour Hoffman returns to the STC to direct Wayne Blair in this ferociously funny play.

A play for our times, The Grenade (Nov 9 - Dec 12) is the latest hilarious romp from indomitable comic playwright, Tony McNamara (The Great, The Give and Take). This whodunnit comedy of fidelity, marriage and inter-generational relationships mercilessly satirises our national obsession with security. It will feature the indomitable Garry McDonald in the lead role.

Finally, the season wraps with a classic, Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Gliding effortlessly between comedy and tragedy, this treasured classic from Chekhov lays bare the fruitlessness of human endeavour with exceptional warmth, humour and insight. The play will feature a mini who's-who of Australian talent with John Bell, Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving.

Shows at the STC are notoriously well-subscribed, with those featuring "name" stars selling out even quicker; so it's wise to get in early to avoid disappointment. Subscription packages are now available. Check out the STC website for more details.

David Edwards