Interval 2013
Choto: Brett Boardman P
Hello friends,
Welcome to our new-look, rebadged annual journal, Interval. Pretty spiffy, hey?! If all you knew about Belvoir came from reading the introductory notes in this august publication you would think that we were perpetually on tour somewhere. And, if truth be told, that’s not that far from the case. Last year I wrote from New York where Neil Armfield’s beautiful production of The Book of Everything was playing at the New Victory Theater. Now I’m writing this in France en route to Austria where our production of The Wild Duck will play at the Vienna Festival. And from there we’re moving on to Amsterdam for the Holland Festival. So exciting! And that’s not the end of it. I’m thrilled to bits that we’re returning to the New Victory in October with our production of Peter Pan. Meanwhile, back at Surry Hills in the laboratory that is Belvoir St Theatre we’re busy cooking up new shows and serving them up to our loving and loyal audience at home. What fun! So happy reading, and see you in a foyer (somewhere in the world) soon, I hope. Ralph Artistic Director
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Meet Our Associate Director EAMON FLACK is our Associate Director – New Projects here at Belvoir. He’s also been at the helm of a few of our shows of late, directing Babyteeth and As You Like It, co-adapting Don’t Take Your Love to Town, and now directing Angels in America, which has just opened in our Upstairs Theatre. Eamon, can you tell us a little about your work at Belvoir? I started out as Literary Manager seven years ago. I was a pup, 26, not long out of drama school and very green. The goal back then was to find new blood: the writers and directors who would kick up the next big fuss. I think we did that, it’s been quite wonderful – something like a dozen directors graduated from B Sharp to main stages around the country, and many of them are now resident and associate and even artistic directors. Now I think the goal’s shifted – I’m not so interested in the generational thing anymore. I want more of the world on our stages. It’s all still very homogenous, really, the theatre in Australia. This is not an aesthetic question, it has nothing to do with form and design and everything to do with the reality of the times we live in, which are big and varied and, well, to put it bluntly, not very white. I guess that’s what the ‘new projects’ in my title means. Where next? How do we learn as a company to open up the scope of our work? These questions aren’t new but in practice they remain unanswered. I’d quite like us to find some answers – no more nice intentions, just the hard bloody work and a lot of giving over. I’m particularly excited by a bunch of Indigenous artists who are making really interesting
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work – bold, original, fearless, young artists who are putting their necks on the line, like Nakkiah Lui, Jada Alberts, Jason de Santis… And I think anyone who saw Leah Purcell in Don’t Take Your Love to Town will know that Leah is a true powerhouse. What’s your typical day consist of? I don’t know what you’re talking about! I read, I sit under the window and think, have lots of conversations with colleagues and artists, spend a lot of time thinking out loud in the company of others, repeating myself, seeing what sticks and what doesn’t. I listen out for little bits of information from all over the country to see if any patterns are emerging that might congeal into the stuff of a show. This way I gradually refine ideas for future shows, for shows that are in rehearsal now, for plays in development. I pursue my little agendas, quietly and gently, testing out this and that with various people and watching to see what will take and what won’t. It if takes, we’ll keep following it up; if it doesn’t, I might try it out on someone else, or I’ll wait another year or two or four and see if circumstances are favourable yet… If that sounds enigmatic, that’s because it is. I did try to write a job description once, but after six pages I gave up. →
Photo: Brett Boardman
What inspires you to make theatre here in Sydney? Sydney has the best audiences in the country. Adventurous, canny, big, patient… But increasingly I’m wanting to go elsewhere to make theatre that I can bring back to Sydney. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few years in the Northern Territory; there’s a whole world up there which I’d love to see on stage – enormous stories about exile, survival, diaspora, about the oldest ways of life side-by-side with these massive forces of geological engineering. I’d like to spend more time out in western Sydney too, and perhaps it’s time we began to visit places overseas which are already part of our story and which are only going to become more so. Angels in America – not one but two big plays! It premiered over 20 years ago and is set in the mid-80s at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the US. What drew you to Angels and what do you think it has to say to Belvoir audiences in 2013? Like all the best plays it’s not really about what it seems to be about. It’s not really about AIDS; it’s actually about living through times of enormous change and trying to join the best and truest wave of that, of trying to catch the line of history in all the cacophony which will prolong the life of the things you love most in this society. How do we imagine what happens next, both for ourselves and for our society? How do we continually adapt ourselves to the maelstrom? How do we try and adapt the maelstrom to ourselves? These are excellent questions, and they’re never going to be answered definitively, despite the dogmatic claims of religion, and despite the dogmatic claims of neo-liberalism (which is really just religion in disguise).
These questions are living questions, and we need to ask them constantly. That’s the BIG idea in Angels. But there’s something else, which is that this American play about the last years of the Cold War is actually a play about the beginning of the era we’re now in the thick of. All the strange millennial politics, the weird latter-day economic ideology, the sense of imminent collapse, the totalisation of identity and religion and politics and the planet itself into one vast global battlefield – all that really came into play in the 80s. So this double play of Kushner’s is a kind of secular bible for our epoch, really, a modern mystery play. Being humans, we tend to need to anchor ourselves in a big picture, in a cosmology or a theory of history or a world view or a religion or an economic imperative. So if everything is up for grabs in this wild new millennium, then what should a good and useful world view look like? Angels in America has some very interesting answers to that question. Plus it’s a love story. We live for each other. That’s always worth restaging. Do you regard Angels as one epic play in two parts, or do you see the two parts as distinct from one another? Excellent question! I’d love to direct it as one big play, but really it’s two plays – the first of which is unfinished without the other, and the second of which is not possible without the first… We’re finding it quite helpful to think of it as a miniseries: six episodes and one classic denouement at the end. Both parts of Angels in America play at Belvoir St Theatre until 14 July then transfer to Theatre Royal from 18 July.
Education on Location Rooty Hill High School ‘I have trouble with endings.’ ‘Do you base your characters on people you know?’ ‘How do you stop your writing becoming clichéd?’ When playwright Nakkiah Lui (This Heaven) visited a Year 11 Drama class at Rooty Hill High School, three students told her they were writing their own plays – and their questions for Nakkiah revealed just how engaged they were with the process. They were taking part in one of our theatre access programs, which gives senior students at government high schools in Western Sydney the opportunity to attend a Belvoir schools performance free of charge, then a member of the cast or artistic team visits their school for a follow-up forum. It’s an interesting experience for a playwright to spend an hour with her audience, and it’s great for the Education team to leave administration behind, get on a train, travel out to a suburban high school and feel the real impact Belvoir’s work has on our schools audiences. As for Year 11 Drama at Rooty Hill High School – their teacher said that after seeing This Heaven and meeting Nakkiah the students are more confident with experimenting with their own work, using complex or shocking plotlines. They’re also keen to experiment with creating theatre in small theatre spaces.
Kandos High School hello belvoir, i am contacting you because i enjoyed the workshop and we were told about Sara West who had to shave her head for a play i was wondering what that play was called? thanks. p.s. the workshop was the best When Sara West played Milla, a 14-year-old girl dying of cancer, in Babyteeth (Belvoir 2012 Season) she couldn’t have foreseen that roughly a year later she would be standing in front of students from Kandos High School, teaching them about developing character through action. An hour out of Bathurst, at the foot of the Great Dividing Range, Kandos students from Year 9 to Year 12 improvised situations as familiar as squabbling with a sibling over the TV remote control and as unfamiliar as being a millionaire drinking orange juice from the fridge. Belvoir took eight workshops to five schools around Bathurst and Orange in April, reaching 150 students. We ran workshops at all kinds of schools, both government and independent. Teachers expressed gratitude that Belvoir travelled to them, while students described the workshops as ‘awesome’, ‘fun’, ‘unexpected’ and ‘cool’. Best of all, some wrote that it opened their minds – giving them skills they needed for the HSC and couldn’t really get otherwise.
Sara West with Kandos students.
Let’s Get This Show on the Road! Michael Mohammed Ahmad in I’m Your Man. Photo: Heidrun Löhr.
National and international touring is increasingly a significant part of Belvoir’s annual operations. Shows already slated to hit the road this year include Peter Pan, The Wild Duck, Food, I’m Your Man and The Book of Everything. Three Belvoir staff members key to our touring activities, BRENNA HOBSON (General Manager), JOHN WOODLAND (Artistic Administrator) and TODD WILSON (Touring & Downstairs Theatre Production Manager) shine some light on the process. Why is it important for Belvoir to tour our productions? BRENNA: Theatre happens in the here and now; you can’t broadcast it and expect it to be the same experience, so if you want to share it with people outside your home city you have to go to them. For the company it extends the employment of our artists and crews and gives us the opportunity to engage with audiences outside our home base. It’s about building the next generation of audiences and arts professionals. One of our staff members grew up in Launceston and he has a vivid memory of the first time he saw Bell Shakespeare – that made him want to work in theatre. Internationally I think Australian art and artists are extraordinary ambassadors of our culture; they break through the stereotype of sun and sport.
What kinds of things determine which shows to send on tour? BRENNA: Above all it has to be good! For a regional Australian tour you generally need a smallish cast, tourable set, reasonably accessible venues and a company that is prepared to travel for a while. Nationally it is often about choosing shows that can sustain a long run, presented with another company who has judged that the piece will work for their audience. In America you usually need a star to capture people’s imaginations. Touring text-based work into Europe generally means you are targeting festivals, so the work needs to be distinctive – The Wild Duck is a good example of a piece that can work really well there. In the UK the playwright is god, so you need to bear that in mind when you are pitching work. In Asia you need to think about the language barrier, so musicals and works that are for young audiences without too much text are worth considering. How often is the cast of a touring show different to the original? JOHN: At the time of casting a Belvoir production we often don’t know that it will tour. When tour dates do become known we find that not all the original cast members are available because they have already signed up for other projects. In the case of
some co-productions, performers don’t get cast if they can’t do the touring dates because the co-producers insist from the outset that the original cast members perform in all seasons. At other times our co-producers are happy to accept proposed cast changes – as long as they don’t have to pay rerehearsal costs! How do the venues differ? TODD: If we’ve done our job correctly you shouldn’t notice a difference in the meaning or content of a show no matter where you see it. When we deal with theatre companies we are often forming part of their season, which means they have a lot of people with specific theatre skills, so we can potentially send a more complex show to that space with fewer staff. On the other hand, when we go to a presenting venue we need to be completely self-sufficient. You never know who you might get to help you. Once I had day-release prisoners as crew – no joke! Nice enough guys, but they had never built a show in their lives. Do you need to build some parts of a set when you arrive? TODD: Rarely. The main aim when we take a show on the road is to design and engineer the set to be as adaptable as possible, while still providing a consistent space for the actors to work in. I like to approach the process by trying to ensure we take into account a common footprint during the design stage, and work from there. Of course this approach can change when touring internationally, as it’s often more cost effective to rebuild the set on location than to freight the show. What are the key challenges for you when touring shows? BRENNA: Money is always tricky. Creating theatre is pretty resource-heavy to start with and when you have to move 20-plus people around the country,
or the world, it does get expensive. Momentum is incredibly important – Belvoir’s starting to get some significant recognition internationally so it’s up to me to keep that momentum going. JOHN: Lead time. Presenters often want confirmation of the cast and creative team up to a year in advance for inclusion in their marketing material. Sometimes we haven’t finished casting, and often actors don’t want to commit to more than the Belvoir season, in case a film or TV series comes their way. International presenters want to know many, many details, like passport numbers and flight arrivals and departures, so that they can arrange local union clearances and visas. TODD: Managing the personalities. While from the outside a tour sometimes looks like a fantastic holiday in an exotic location, it is in fact a lot of work for all involved. The touring company also has to live with each other for weeks without a break, and that is the real challenge. A favourite touring anecdote? BRENNA: We arrived at our hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, with The Threepenny Opera, and actor Terry Serio came back down to the lobby looking ashen – he’d found a bullet hole in his window with a sprinkling of glass underneath. That tour became legend, with the theatre blacking out mid-show, actors getting sick and mechanists performing, a stolen passport, and a musician who was kidnapped for half an hour until his captors decided he was so nice they’d give him back!
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Small and Tired In September a new play opens in our Downstairs Theatre with the quietly evocative title of Small and Tired. Playwright KIT BROOKMAN is a former Belvoir associate playwright and won the 2012 Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award. He will direct this premiere production of his new work featuring Tom Conroy and Luke Mullins. What was it about the Greek myth of Orestes, Electra and their parents Agamemnon and Clytemnestra that resonated with you enough to use that story as your framework for a contemporary family setting? This play didn’t start with the myth; the first things I wrote were just a few discrete moments – a scene between a brother and sister who hadn’t seen each other for a long time – and over time the play seemed to build itself around the structure of the myth. I should probably say that this play is not a new version of The Oresteia or Electra; it’s a new play that uses some of the same characters and premises of those plays. The myth chimes with a number of things I tend to be a bit preoccupied with in my writing: the difficulty of returning home, and reconciling a past that’s locked in time to a future that demands change or transformation. What to you are the basic human instincts and the resulting stories that don’t essentially change across thousands of years and generations of families? Many of those Ancient Greek plays portray a protagonist who’s trying to find the best course of action through a deeply compromised situation; someone struggling to decide what is the right thing to do, and then struggling to do it. I think perhaps this has something to do with balancing
our hopes for ourselves with the expectations others have of us. One of the constant struggles with family is to avoid seeing one’s family members only through the prism of your shared history rather than seeing each other as the people you are today. We all want to be singularly ourselves, and yet we all want to belong to something, and it’s a difficult balancing act. In their own ways, each of the characters in the play actually do feel small and tired from the weight of their own personal situations and their pasts. Without giving too much away, what do you feel is at stake for the key characters? I think what’s at stake for them is whether they as individuals and as a family will continue to be governed by the difficult and compromised aspects of their past whilst ignoring the truth about it, or whether they’ll be able to transcend it. You’ll be directing this play as well as having written it. What inspires you to direct your own work and what will be the key challenges do you think? I’ve always written for the theatre, but I trained as an actor, so it’s been a roundabout journey to working as a director! I began directing my plays basically out of necessity – a number of projects that I was working on with directors fell over. I found
myself with a play that was going on and had no one to direct it, so I just jumped in and happened to find it a really rewarding process! I wouldn’t want to direct every play that I write, but occasionally I write something and have a strong intuitive sense of how it should live in a space. The key challenge is making sure that the separate processes of writing and directing don’t intrude too much on each other – when I’m writing the piece not to get ahead of myself in terms of imagining the production, and when I’m in the rehearsal room to focus absolutely on what’s happening on the floor. And finally, Kit, do you recommend audiences brush up on their Greek mythology before coming to see Small and Tired? No, it’s not at all necessary to have read any of the originals in order to understand and enjoy this play. Hopefully for audience members already familiar with the myths there will be some enjoyable resonances of them in this version, but my aim has always been to create a play that stands independently from previous takes on the story. We keep encountering these characters throughout the entirety of Western theatrical history, from the Ancient Greek authors who originated them through to the present day, so I think by now they’re part of our shared cultural history. We know them better than we think. Small and Tired previews from 26 September. Non-subscription tickets go on sale to subscribers on 8 July. Photo: Brett Boardman
News Bites
Back issue programs Ever get home from one of our shows and think: I’d love to know more about that actor... I wonder why the director staged the play in that particular way… I’d like to read the script … I wish I’d bought a program! Well, don’t worry – we sell back issue programs for our past Upstairs productions so you can catch up on all of that and more. And copies of our Downstairs programs are freely available on our website. Also, for all new plays or adapted works we publish the script with the program in conjunction with Currency Press. See what’s available at belvoir.com.au/programs Get mobile with our website We hope by now you’re familiar with the brand new Belvoir website we launched in September last year. We were also very proud of the fact that our mobile website was one of the first for a Sydney arts organisation. So if you’re on a mobile phone or a tablet, our website will automatically take you to our mobile site, allowing you to buy tickets and browse our entire site in a mobile-friendly way. Get on, take a look and follow us via our social networking links while you’re there – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more: belvoir.com.au
Unwaged performances Unfortunately not everyone in the community can afford to attend theatre on a regular basis. For this reason, for the last 20 years Belvoir has provided a free-of-charge Thursday matinee performance to unwaged people, of each Upstairs production. Our Corporate Partner, Optus, has been sponsoring this program since 2006. Our unwaged performances have a very enthusiastic following, with queues for tickets often weaving all the way down Belvoir St! Find out more at belvoir.com.au/unwagedprogram Accessibility Our mobile captioning program is going strong and there’s a couple more captioned performances coming up this year. And thanks to a City of Sydney grant, we now have a number of iPod Touches for our patrons to use during the performance if you don’t have your own smart phone or tablet. The Go Theatrical! app provides the captions during the performance. So if you have a hearing impairment and would like to book into one of these captioned performances, please talk to our box office: Miss Julie – 2pm, 28 September Hamlet – 2pm, 23 November For audience members with vision impairment, we also have one more audio-described performance this year: Miss Julie – 2pm, 21 September More about access at Belvoir: belvoir.com.au/access
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Dates for your diary
If you haven’t subscribed to all the remaining shows in our 2013 Season, we have some productions coming up that you won’t want to miss. Non-subscription tickets for Persona go on sale to subscribers on Monday 3 June, and Monday 10 June for everyone else. Non-subscription tickets for all other remaining shows go on sale Monday 8 July for subscribers, and Monday 15 July for everyone else. Need some convincing? Read on… Persona The consummate theatrical close-up, based on one of Ingmar Bergman’s finest films. It’s directed by one of Belvoir’s new Resident Directors, Adena Jacobs, and was conceived by Adena, Dayna Morrissey and Danny Pettingill. Plays 24 July – 18 August The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe Sold-out just to subscribers and we had to extend the season so get in quick – there are only tickets available to one more week. A celebration of women, human rights, laughter and resilience. With a bit of sage advice on hair care! Plays 15 August – 15 September Miss Julie Did you catch our terrifying production of The Dark Room in the Downstairs Theatre in 2011, directed by Leticia Cáceres and featuring Brendan Cowell? Now, Leticia and Brendan are joining forces with Simon Stone to realise an unmissable new production of Miss Julie. Simon is adapting the work from August Strindberg’s original, and Leticia will direct Brendan as Jean alongside Taylor Ferguson as Julie. Plays 24 August – 6 October Small and Tired A beautiful, small play, which echoes large. Read our interview with writer/ director Kit Brookman on pp8-9 of this issue of Interval. Plays 26 September – 20 October
Hamlet Loyal and long-time Belvoir audiences will remember Neil Armfield’s stunning 1994 production of the Bard’s best-loved play, featuring Richard Roxburgh and Jacqui McKenzie. It’s time we revisited this beautiful work – Simon Stone directs Toby Schmitz as the procrastinating Danish prince this time round. Don’t delay in securing your tickets. Plays 12 October – 1 December The Cake Man Regarded as the play that laid the foundations of Australia’s contemporary Indigenous theatre, The Cake Man will be a co-production to round off our Downstairs season this year. Directed by Kyle J. Morrison of Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company. Read Cathy Hunt’s article about Robert J. Merritt and the National Black Theatre on pp14-15 of this issue of Interval. Plays 14 November – 8 December Coranderrk This special co-pro with our friends at ILBIJERRI Theatre Company revives the voices of all those, black and white, who fought for a better compact between the country’s oldest and newest inhabitants. It’s a definitive story from our neglected Indigenous history and will close our Upstairs season this year. Plays 7 December – 5 January 2014
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Belvoir Diary
1 June Opening Night Angels in America Part One & Part Two
10 June Non-subscription tickets on sale* Persona * Subscribers are able to purchase nonsubscription tickets one week earlier than this date.
3 July
7 August
Wednesday Matinee Angels in America Part One
Wednesday Matinee Persona
7 July
Sunday Forum Persona
Sunday Forum Angels in America
11 July Unwaged Performance Angels in America Part One
15 July Non-subscription tickets on sale* Miss Julie Small and Tired Hamlet The Cake Man Coranderrk
26 July Opening Night Persona
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11 August
15 August Unwaged Performance Persona
17 August Opening Night The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe
28 August Opening Night Miss Julie
Photos: Gary Heery
21 September
16 November
5 December
Audio-described Performance Miss Julie
Opening Night The Cake Man
Unwaged Performance The Cake Man
25 September
20 November
11 December
Wednesday Matinee Hamlet
Opening Night Coranderrk
23 November
22 December
Captioned Performance Hamlet
Sunday Forum Coranderrk
24 November
2 January 2014
Sunday Forum Hamlet
Unwaged Performance Coranderrk
Wednesday Matinee Miss Julie
28 September Captioned Performance Miss Julie Opening Night Small and Tired
29 September Sunday Forum Miss Julie
28 November Unwaged Performance Hamlet
3 October Unwaged Performance Miss Julie
16 October Opening Night Hamlet
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The Cake Man Reignited It’s been almost 40 years since Robert J. Merritt’s The Cake Man was first staged by Redfern’s National Black Theatre. Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company and Belvoir are joining forces for a new co-production of this revolutionary work. CATHY HUNT (Belvoir Education) writes. 1972 was a huge year – the Aboriginal Tent Embassy went up on the lawn of Parliament House, Aboriginal land rights demonstrators filled Sydney streets as part of the national Moratorium for Black Rights, and the National Black Theatre in Redfern really got going when Bob Maza moved up from Melbourne to help out. Maza’s house at 181 Regent St, Redfern, became headquarters for the embryonic theatre group; gatherings, rehearsals, home to about 13 people – everything happened there. No-one involved was a trained actor or an experienced writer so street theatre was proposed, and the group, including Gary Foley, Lester Bostock, Bronwyn Penrith and Louise Aileen Corpus, sat round the kitchen table nutting out how to present their own experiences as entertaining sketches.
Australia needed a mirror to reflect all those things that were happening in this society. And Koori Australians were the ones that were going to have to say it. Bob Maza A few years before, in 1970, Maza went as a delegate to the third Pan African Conference in the US. Experiencing work made by African Americans and Native Americans charged him with an awareness of the political impact of theatre to tell his mob’s stories. With mate Jack Charles he established Nindethana Theatre Company in 14
Melbourne and produced a show called Jack Charles is Up and Fighting – it gave Maza insights into making theatre, getting it funded and seen. The very first National Black Theatre performances were at land rights rallies. One performance saw an Aboriginal activist ‘bashed’ and arrested by Aboriginal actors dressed as police, prompting a lawyer to frantically phone the Aboriginal Legal Service with advice on securing the release of that person. When the Tent Embassy was forcibly removed, the National Black Theatre took the struggle onstage, performing a symbolic re-erection of the Embassy in a dance portraying the history of conflict between Aboriginal people and European settlers. With Bob Maza on board, the group collaborated with the Nimrod Theatre Company to produce Basically Black, a collection of satirical sketches premiering on the pivotal Whitlam election night, 2 December 1972. Basically Black toured the east coast in 1973 and was televised by the ABC. Its success tipped the balance and the group secured funding in 1974, using it to rent a warehouse in Redfern, which became the theatre.
I must have talked to thousands of people from the political platform, but I never felt I was getting through so well as I am at the Nimrod Theatre. Gary Foley
Bob Maza and company preparing for the 1975 production. Photo: Robert Walker. The Cake Man, Currency Press, 1983.
Wiradjuri man Robert J. Merritt wrote The Cake Man while in isolation in Bathurst jail. The story goes that the play was smuggled out of jail by the prison Education Officer to the Australian National Playwrights’ Conference; Katharine Brisbane and Philip Parsons showed it to Bob Maza who decided to direct it with his own daughter in the role of Pumpkinhead. On opening night in January 1975 the warehouse was full to overflowing, with an audience avid to see their own stories on stage. On that opening night eight-yearold Lisa Maza, as the youngest cast member, was given the job of presenting Merritt with a cake on stage. But she was frightened when she saw the playwright in handcuffs, flanked by police guards, out from Long Bay for the night to see the premiere performance of his play. Surely only bad men went to jail and wore handcuffs? Merritt later described incarceration as an alternate form of initiation for Aboriginal men. Breaking the law was an inescapable part of declaring one’s Aboriginality, both as a protest and a refusal to submit to the society that dehumanised Aboriginal people. His first offence had been nicking a bottle of lemonade from a racecourse bar with his brother and two other boys.
The Cake Man was a triumph for the National Black Theatre – it was televised, given a second production at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre in 1977, and toured internationally to the 1982 World Theatre Festival in Denver, Colorado. There, audience appreciation of The Cake Man was shown in standing ovations, giving the cast and writer a sense of exactly what they had achieved. Robert Merritt wrote about what this meant for the company: ‘brought up in the shadow of 200 years of repression, for the first time value our own worth.’ Though the National Black Theatre ceased in 1977 its spirit persisted; in the community confidence it had built, the sense of empowerment through theatre it had generated. Robert Merritt went on to found the Eora Centre in Redfern in 1984, and it operates to this day as an arts training organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. With thanks to Rachael Maza. The Cake Man, directed by Kyle J. Morrison, previews in the Downstairs Theatre from 14 November. Non-subscription tickets go on sale to subscribers on 8 July. 15
Making a Difference at Belvoir Our imagination is limitless, unfortunately our resources are not. At Belvoir we rely on generous support from our donors. We’ve been running our bequests program, Leave It to Belvoir, for some time now, and this year we’re excited to announce two brand new funding initiatives: The Belvoir Foundation and The Hive. The Belvoir Foundation To ensure that we continue our tradition of artistic excellence and creativity, The Belvoir Foundation has been recently created and was launched at our AGM on 26 May. The foundation is open to donations of all types (cash, shares, property) as well as bequests, and donors have the opportunity to select where the funds are to be directed: to the foundation in general or to specific areas such as international touring, new Australian work or education. Belvoir’s Artistic Director, Ralph Myers, notes: ‘The foundation is an exciting way to continue the Belvoir legacy of innovative theatre for future artists and audiences alike.’ The first donation to this new initiative was made by Andrew Cameron, Chair of the Belvoir Board. Andrew and his wife Cathy are donating $100,000 per year for the next three years to support international touring specifically. ‘My personal interest and mission is about enabling projects to start and tours to happen, especially where they may not otherwise occur,’ says Andrew. He hopes their gift will inspire many others to donate. We invite you to join Andrew and others in making a donation to The Belvoir Foundation. With your support we can fulfil our vision and reach our goals to enable worldwide international touring engagements, commissions of new Australian 16
works and development and support of emerging writers, directors and actors. All donations are tax deductible and donors who pledge at least $1,000 are acknowledged in all foundation materials. To donate, or for more information, visit belvoir.com.au/foundation or email us at foundation@belvoir.com.au. The Hive This new collective of like-minded, committed philanthropists makes annual contributions to help actors, writers, directors and other creatives strike out on new adventures in content and form. The Hive is a collaboration with Playwriting Australia (PWA) and directs funding towards one Downstairs production of a new Australian play each season, and one PWA Resident Playwright and seed commission each year. Membership of The Hive is $2,500 per pair. You have the opportunity to participate in a number of networking opportunities hosted by Belvoir, and are invited to Playwriting Australia’s exclusive supporter events throughout the year to discover the country’s red-hot new plays as they take shape! You’ll also be acknowledged in our production programs during the calendar year in which the donation is made.
Leave It to Belvoir Leaving a gift to Belvoir in your will is a wonderful way to help to secure the long-term future of our company, ensuring the coming generations of artists and audiences alike can experience the magic that is created on Belvoir’s unique corner stage. A bequest, large or small, is a unique and meaningful way of sharing your enjoyment of our work. Joining the Leave it to Belvoir program by advising us of your intention to leave a bequest enables us to build a stronger connection with you, so we can keep you up to date and include you in any interesting developments or appropriate occasions. You can talk to us about specific areas you’d like your bequest to support and of course we will treat your information with respect and privacy.
Creative Development Fund Supports emerging directors, script development, longer rehearsal periods and touring. Education program Provides a wide range of opportunities for students and teachers, including socially and geographically disadvantaged young people, to engage with Belvoir’s productions and artists. To donate to any of our programs, or for more information, please contact the Development team on 02 8396 6209, email us at development@belvoir.com.au or visit belvoir.com.au/support
We recommend that you seek professional advice in arranging a bequest to Belvoir but we can provide you with guidance to start and are happy to discuss your intention in confidence. You can access our detailed information sheet, including sample wording for inclusion in your will, on our website at: belvoir.com.au/bequests. Development at a glance Do you know about the myriad of other donor programs we run here at Belvoir? Here’s a snapshot guide… B Keepers Provides a reliable, ongoing source of financial support that underpins all of Belvoir’s activities. Chair’s Group Gives emerging Indigenous artists the opportunity to develop their voices, ensuring that new Indigenous stories are told.
Lally Katz in Stories I Want to Tell You in Person. Photo: Heidrun Löhr.
Where the Dollars Come From Based on our 2012 results, this graphic represents an approximate breakdown of Belvoir’s sources of income. As you can see, our box office takings only cover approximately 39% of what it takes to put our shows on the stage. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to receive donations from people like you who want to support the great work that we produce.
Donations from trusts & foundations Philanthropy (your donations!)
3% 5%
Ticketing fees
5%
Sponsorship (cash & contra)
8%
Earned income (eg: bar, programs, theatre hire, bank interest)
9%
Touring
15%
Government
16%
Box office
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39%
25 Belvoir Street Edited by Robert Cousins. Foreword by David Marr
Pick up a copy now from the Belvoir Box Office RRP $77 or only $67 if you are a 2013 subscriber. For a mailed copy, add $20 for postage & handling (within Australia). Also available at selected bookstores.
This stunning book, full of essays, memories and vivid photographs, celebrates over a quarter of a century of theatre at Belvoir. Including a collection of essays by Robert Cousins, Ralph Myers, Benedict Andrews, Neil Armfield, Robert McFarlane, Rhoda Roberts, James Waites, Alan John and Rita Kalnejais, 25 Belvoir Street traces the social and political background from which Belvoir emerged and looks at the way the building itself has found a way into our imaginations. From its first mercurial decade when it teetered on the edge of oblivion on more than one occasion, through to the appointment of Neil Armfield as Artistic Director, and beyond to a new generation of theatre makers headed by Ralph Myers, this book provides an extraordinary and intimate record of a company that has been described simply as the ‘heart and soul of Australian theatre’.
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In the Rehearsal Room
Actor Tessa Rose – This Heaven. Photo: Brett Boardman.
Actor Jacqueline McKenzie – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Photo: Heidrun Löhr.
Actors Elaine O’Brien & Colin Moody – Forget Me Not. Photo: Brett Boardman.
Actors Gareth Davies, John Leary & Megan Holloway – Peter Pan. Photo: Brett Boardman.
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Actor DeObia Operai – Angels in America. Photo: Brett Boardman.
Set designer Robert Cousins with daughter Mabel – Peter Pan. Photo: Brett Boardman.
Performers/devisors Effie Nkrumah, Nancy Denis, Tariro Mavondo & Yordanos Haile-Michael – The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe. Photo: Lisa Tomasetti.
Actor Ewen Leslie – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Photo: Heidrun Löhr.
Director Anne-Louise Sarks & writer/performer 21 Lally Katz – Stories I Want to Tell You in Person. Photo: Heidrun Löhr.
Belvoir Donors We give our heartfelt thanks to all our donors for their generous support. Foundation Donors Make a significant financial investment in the Belvoir Creative Development Fund. Neil Armfield AO Anne Britton Andrew & Cathy Cameron Janet & Trefor Clayton Anne & Michael Coleman Sharon & Hartley Cook Gail Hambly Anne & Hugh Harley Hal & Linda Herron Louise Herron & Clark Butler Victoria Holthouse Peter & Rosemary Ingle Ian Learmonth & Julia Pincus Helen Lynch Frank & Bronwyn Macindoe David Marr Rhonda McIver Ann Sherry AO & Michael Hogan Victoria Taylor Mary Vallentine AO Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey
2012/2013 Chair’s Group Supports the creative development of Indigenous work. Anonymous (1) Antoinette Albert Berry Family Jillian Broadbent AO Jan Chapman & Stephen O’Rourke Louise Christie Kathleen & Danny Gilbert Sophie Guest Marion Heathcote & Brian Burfitt HLA Management Pty Ltd The Jarzabek Family Hilary Linstead Cajetan Mula (Honorary Member) Ross McLean & Fiona Beith
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Olivia Pascoe Belinda & Steven Rankine Alex Oonagh Redmond Michael Rose & Jo D’Antonio Ann Sherry AO & Michael Hogan Penny Ward David & Jennifer Watson Kim Williams AM Cathy Yuncken
2012/2013 B Keepers Income received from B Keepers underpins all of our activities. Anonymous (3) Robert & Libby Albert Claire Armstrong & John Sharpe Berg Family Foundation Bev & Phil Birnbaum Max Bonnell Ellen Borda Anne Britton Dr Catherine Brown-Watt Jan Burnswoods Mary Jo & Lloyd Capps Brian T. Carey David Chesterman AM Elaine Chia Jane Christensen Louise Christie Suzanne & Michael Daniel Tracey Driver & Simon Robinson Chris & Bob Ernst Jeanne Eve Peter Fay R Godlee & A Maxwell Peter Graves David & Kathryn Groves David Haertsch Wendy & Andrew Hamlin John Head Marion Heathcote & Brian Burfitt Libby Higgin Michael Hobbs Peter & Jessie Ingle Rosemary & Adam Ingle Anita Jacoby The Jarzabek Family
Avril Jeans Margaret Johnston Corinne & Rob Johnston Colleen Kane Antoinette le Marchant Jennifer Ledgar & Bob Lim Stephanie Lee Atul Lele Hilary Linstead Professor Elizabeth More AM Jane Munro Dr David Nguyen D & L Parsonage Timothy & Eva Pascoe Greeba Pritchard Richard & Heather Rasker Colleen Roche Greg Roger Lesley & Andrew Rosenberg Andrew & Louise Sharpe Vivienne Sharpe Peter & Jan Shuttleworth Chris & Bea Sochan Judy Thomson Sue Thomson Lynne Watkins & Nicholas Harding Alison Wearn Paul & Jennifer Winch Ian & Judy Wyatt
Corporate B Keepers Constructability Recruitment Macquarie Group Foundation Sterling Mail Order
The Hive 2013
Joanna Davidson & Julian Leeser Julie & Jamie Garis Ruth Higgins & Liliana Munoz Emma Hogan & Kim Hogan Bruce Meagher & Greg Waters Gerard Outram & Fiona Holyoake Andrew & Louise Sharpe Peter Wilson & James Emmett
Education Donors over $250 Provide opportunities for young people throughout NSW to access our work. Anonymous (2) Len & Nita Armfield Ian Barnett Mary G Burchell Jane Diamond Matthew Hall Julie Hannaford Siobhan Hannan & James Talbot Paul & Melissa Hobbs Susan Hyde Peter & Rosemary Ingle Stewart & Jillian Kellie Olivia Pascoe Kate Pasterfield Chris & Bea Sochan The Spence Family
General Donors over $250 Provide valuable support to the projects most in need throughout the year. Anonymous (9) David Antaw Ross & Barb Armfield Barrett Casting Andrew & Jane Bennett Baiba Berzins & Peter Loveday Angela Bowne Jillian Broadbent AO Anne Bromley Rob Brookman & Verity Laughton
Ian & Siena Dune Buchanan Darleen Bungey Jan Burnswoods Andrew & Cathy Cameron Michael & Colleen Chesterman Timothy & Bryony Cox Anne Duggan Diane Dunlop Anton Enus & Roger Henning Elizabeth Evatt Michael & Kerrie Eyers Frances Garrick D T Gilbert Jill Gordon Priscilla Guest Sophie Guest Dr Juliet Harper Julie Hannaford Marion Heathcote & Brian Burfitt Libby Higgin Harrison & Kate Higgs Dorothy Hoddinott AO The Honourable Justice Johnson John Kaldor AM & Naomi Milgrom AO Josephine Key Jann Kohlman Ray Lawler Sarah Lawrence Ruth Layton Margaret Lederman Hilary Linstead Joseph Lipski Ross Littlewood & Alexandra Curtin Dr Carolyn Lowry Christopher Matthies Catherine McDonnell
Irene Miller Carol Mills Cynthia Mitchell John Morgan Annabelle Andrews & Peter Murray Dr Peter & June Musgrove Kevin O’Connor AM Judy & Geoff Patterson Susan Pearson Natalie Pelham Alex Oonagh Redmond Catherine Rothery Julia Selby Sherman Foundation Agnes Sinclair Eileen Slarke & Family Barry Smorgon OAM Tim Smyth Andrew Smyth-Kirk Dr Titia Sprague Judy Stone Catherine Sullivan Anthony Tarleton Victoria Taylor Axel & Diane Tennie Mike Thompson John Tuckey Ross Tzannes Louise & Steve Verrier Chris Vik & Chelsea Albert Sarah Walters Lynne Watkins & Nicholas Harding Elizabeth Webby AM Kim Williams AM & Catherine Dovey Peter Wilson & James Emmett Brian & Patricia Wright List correct at time of printing.
Special Thanks
We would like to acknowledge long-time supporters Cajetan Mula and Len Armfield. They will always be remembered for their generosity to Belvoir. These people and foundations supported the redevelopment of Belvoir Street Theatre and purchase of our warehouse. Andrew & Cathy Cameron (refurbishment of theatre & warehouse) Russell Crowe (Downstairs Theatre & purchase of warehouse) The Gonski Foundation & The Nelson Meers Foundation (Gonski Meers Foyer) Andrew & Wendy Hamlin (Neil’s, now Ralph’s, office) Hal Herron (The Hal Bar) Peter Ivany (Ivany Box Office) Geoffrey Rush (redevelopment of theatre) Fred Street AM (Upstairs Dressing Room) Donations over $2 are tax deductible. If you would like to make a donation or would like further information about any of our donor programs please call our team on 02 9698 3344 or email development@belvoir.com.au
Sunday Forum ...you’re invited Good theatre makes you feel. It can also make you think. Sometimes you’re left thinking about it well after you’ve left the theatre. You want to know more; about the play, its ideas, its history or how it came about.
Angels in America Parts One and Two 11am, 7 July
If so then our Sunday Forums are for you.
Miss Julie 3pm, 29 September
We hold a forum for each of our Upstairs performances. Each is different and tackles a specific aspect of the production. It might be a lecture, a discussion or a demonstration. One might take a look at the broader social context of a play. Another might focus on how a show was created. After the forum you have a chance to ask questions of the panellists, meet your fellow audience members and continue the discussion informally with us in the foyer.
Hamlet 3pm, 24 November
Persona 3pm, 11 August
Coranderrk 3pm, 22 December Although tickets are free, bookings are essential and are open four weeks or more before each forum. Book online at: belvoir.com.au/sundayforum or call Box Office on 02 9699 3444. Tweet while you listen (or follow online) using #sundayforum
Sunday Forums are free. It’s best to see the show before you come because we’re bound to spoil the ending! Check our website or call Box Office to find out who will appear on each panel and what the topic of discussion will be. See you there!
Neil and Len Armfield. Photo: Cathy Hunt.
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Belvoir Sponsors Corporate Partner
IT Partner
Media Partners
Major Sponsors
Supporters
Indigenous Theatre at Belvoir supported by The Balnaves Foundation
Andrew Cameron Family Foundation Besen Family Foundation Coca-Cola Australia Foundation Copyright Agency Cultural Fund Gandevia Foundation Goldman Sachs
Associate Sponsors
The Greatorex Foundation Johns N H Trust managed by Perpetual Linnell / Hughes Trust managed by Perpetual
BOUTIQUE ACCOMMODATION
Stays in the Vines Street Promotions Australia Teen Spirit Charitable Foundation
Event Sponsors
Thomas Creative
Government Partners
Silver Spoon Caterers
For more information or partnership opportunities please contact our Development team on 02 9698 3344 or development@belvoir.com.au
corporate partner
18 & 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 Email mail@belvoir.com.au Web belvoir.com.au Administration (02) 9698 3344 Fax (02) 9319 3165 Box Office (02) 9699 3444 Design: Alphabet Studio Printing: No Time to Lose Cover: Luke Mullins & Paula Arundell in A Angels in America rehearsals. Photo: Brett Boardman.