THE DOG / THE CAT
Belvoir presents
THE DOG / THE CAT The Dog by BRENDAN COWELL The Cat by LALLY KATZ Directed by RALPH MYERS Redirected by ANTHEA WILLIAMS This production of The Dog/The Cat opened at Belvoir St Theatre on Saturday 15 April 2017. Set Designer RALPH MYERS Costume Designer MEL PAGE Lighting Designer DAMIEN COOPER Composer & Sound Designer STEFAN GREGORY Associate Composer & Sound Designer RILEY McCULLAGH Stage Manager ISABELLA KERDIJK Assistant Stage Manager KATIE HANKIN With SHERIDAN HARBRIDGE BENEDICT HARDIE XAVIER SAMUEL
The Dog/The Cat was first performed in the Downstairs theatre at Belvoir St Theatre on 18 June 2015.
PHOTOGRAPHY Brett Boardman
DESIGN Alphabet Studio
WRITERS' NOTES Brendan Cowell I have realised of late that I have no imagination. Or, perhaps, do not rely on it when it comes to storytelling. Everything I write seems to be derived from my own experience on earth as a human. I can’t, or don’t seem to be able to invent a new planet where a variety of creatures live. A place with its own currency, its own demons, its own values, food and terrestrials. I am not that smart. Or maybe I’m just not that interested. I’ve always liked movies and books set in backyards and kitchens, and more recently bars and bedrooms. I like talking films, talking plays, about talking people. So here is the next instalment of my failure to invent ghouls and vampires and tree-headedspace-horse-children. Here is a play about love in a park, based on my own experiences of co-owning a dog and talking to people in parks, or ignoring people in parks which is, sadly, often more my go. This is a play about three people in their early thirties, who are on the cusp of big decisions in their lives. It’s a play about the importance of pets in our lives, and how different or not different we are when it comes to love and bravery. It was a joy to be back in the room with Ralph and Lally, two of my favourite old mates from the theatre planet. The theatre planet. Where creatures have their own currency, demons, values and terrestrials. Perhaps I do have an imagination. NB: No animals were harmed in the making of this Writer’s Note.
Lally Katz Ralph Myers first approached me about writing a play about a broken up couple and their cat four years ago when I was recovering from surgery at the Regents Court Hotel. I’d gotten sick thanks to a psychic’s curse when we were about to open Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, also at Belvoir. Ralph had recently broken up with his wife, but they were still sharing a cat. He thought that a broken up couple sharing a pet would make a good story. I like Ralph, relationships and animals in plays, so I thought it would make a good story too. I wrote a few scenes and Ralph and I met and talked about it a lot while I was recovering, but then we forgot about it. Time passed and Ralph and Brendan Cowell started sharing a dog. Ralph got in touch again and suggested we produce a double bill: a play written by Brendan about two men sharing a dog, and a play written by me about the cat breakup. By then I’d had a recent breakup of my own – so I had plenty of material! This play first went on Downstairs at Belvoir in 2015. It is one of the shows I am proudest to be part of. It gave me nothing but joy to work on. I hope that it will give you joy in this return season Upstairs at Belvoir. In between the play’s first season and this one, I got married in Las Vegas.
BIOGRAPHIES BRENDAN COWELL Writer of The Dog Brendan is an awardwinning writer, actor and director. He wrote Ruben Guthrie for Belvoir in 2009 and subsequently wrote and directed the 2015 film adaptation. Brendan penned The Sublime (Melbourne Theatre Company) and wrote and directed Bed (Sydney Theatre Company). He made the ABC telemovie The Outlaw Michael Howe, scripted the feature film Save Your Legs! and wrote for the acclaimed TV series Love My Way and The Slap. Brendan’s debut novel How It Feels was published by Pan Macmillan in 2010. As an actor, Brendan’s theatre credits include Yerma (Young Vic in London); Once in Royal David’s City, Miss Julie, The Dark Room, The Wild Duck European and Perth tour (Belvoir); Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare); True West, Far Away and The Shape of Things (Sydney Theatre Company). For television, his acting credits include The Borgias and Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War. He has also appeared in the feature films Last Cab to Darwin, Beneath Hill 60 and Noise. Brendan is now based in London and is set to play the title role in Joe Wright’s production of Brecht’s Life of Galileo at the Young Vic, whilst developing an original TV series with ITV UK. LALLY KATZ Writer of The Cat Lally is one of the mostproduced playwrights in Australia. For Belvoir, Lally has written Back at the Dojo, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person in which she also starred, and Neighbourhood Watch. Stories I Want to
Tell You in Person was also adapted for screen by ABC, with Lally reprising her starring role. Her plays The Black Swan of Trespass and The Eisteddfod (Stuck Pigs Squealing) were part of Belvoir’s B Sharp seasons in 2005 and 2007. In 2015, Lally wrote the libretto for the opera adaptation of John Marsden’s The Rabbits. Lally’s other writing credits include Timeshare, Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd, A Golem Story, Criminology (Malthouse Theatre); The Mysteries: Genesis, Frankenstein, Waikiki Palace, Hip Hip Hooray (Sydney Theatre Company); Apocalypse Bear Trilogy and Return to Earth (Melbourne Theatre Company). She has won two Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, a New York International Fringe Festival Award and several Green Room Awards. Two new plays by Lally, Atlantis and Minnie and Liraz, will have their world premieres in 2017 at Belvoir and Melbourne Theatre Company respectively. RALPH MYERS Original Director & Set Designer Ralph was Belvoir’s Artistic Director from 2011 to 2015. For Belvoir, he directed and designed The Dog / The Cat and Private Lives, directed Peter Pan, and designed The Wizard of Oz, Elektra / Orestes, Kill the Messenger, Is This Thing On?, The Government Inspector, Coranderrk, Hamlet, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, Death of a Salesman, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, The Seagull, The Wild Duck, Measure for Measure, Toy Symphony, Parramatta Girls, Ray’s Tempest, The Spook, The Fever, Conversations with the Dead and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union. Ralph’s recent credits include
Rocco und Seine Brüder (Münchner Kammerspiele), Angels in America and Die Tote Stadt (Theater Basel), and he will be designing Hamlet for Neil Armfield at Glyndebourne in June. Ralph has also worked as stage designer for many of Australia’s leading theatre companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Opera Australia and Sydney Dance Company. ANTHEA WILLIAMS Director of Rehearsals Anthea is Associate Director – New Work at Belvoir. For Belvoir she has directed Kill the Messenger, Forget Me Not, Cinderella and Old Man and has been dramaturg on a number of works including The Drover’s Wife, Back at the Dojo and Seventeen. Prior to joining Belvoir Anthea was Associate Director bushfutures at London’s Bush Theatre, where her directing credits include Two Cigarettes, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas, Turf, suddenlossofdignity.com, and the musical The Great British Country Fete. Anthea’s work toured Britain extensively including The Drum Theatre Plymouth, The Ustinov Bath, The Tobacco Factory Bristol, the Norwich Playhouse, and North Wall Arts Centre Cambridge. Anthea’s other directing credits include #KillAllMen (NIDA), A Question (nabokov), The Real You (SmackBang), and Quiet (Fontanel – 45 Downstairs). Prior to working at the Bush Theatre, Anthea was the Co-Artistic Director of SmackBang Theatre Company and the producer of Massive Company, both in Auckland, New Zealand. Anthea trained at VCA (Directing) and UNSW. Most recently Anthea directed Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret About Gin, which was part of the 2017 Sydney Festival and will tour internationally in 2017 and 2018. She is about to direct Hir by Taylor Mac for Belvoir.
DAMIEN COOPER Lighting Designer Damien works internationally across theatre, opera and dance. For Belvoir, he has lit Mark Colvin’s Kidney, The Great Fire, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Coranderrk, Miss Julie, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Peter Pan, Private Lives, Conversation Piece, Strange Interlude, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Neighbourhood Watch, The Seagull, Gethsemane, Keating!, Toy Symphony, Peribanez, Stuff Happens, The Chairs, The Spook, In Our Name, The Underpants, The Ham Funeral and Exit the King. His other theatre credits include Disgraced, Orlando, Arcadia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Golden Age, Suddenly Last Summer, The Women of Troy, The Lost Echo, Riflemind, Tot Mom (Sydney Theatre Company); Macbeth and The Tempest (Bell Shakespeare). For opera, Damien’s designs include Der Ring des Nibelungen, Aida and Cosi Fan Tutte (Opera Australia) and his dance credits include The Narrative of Nothing, Firebird and Swan Lake (Australian Ballet). For lighting design, Damien has won three Sydney Theatre Awards, three Green Room Awards, and two Australian Production Design Guild Awards. STEFAN GREGORY Composer & Sound Designer For Belvoir, Stefan’s credits as composer and sound designer include The Dog / The Cat, Mother Courage and Her Children, Elektra / Orestes, A Christmas Carol, The Glass Menagerie, The Government Inspector, Hamlet, Forget Me Not, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Peter Pan, The Wild Duck, Private Lives, Medea, Death of a Salesman, Old Man, Thyestes, Strange Interlude, B Street, As You Like It, The Seagull, Measure for Measure and That Face. His other work includes Engel in Amerika, Drei Schwestern (Theater Basel); Yerma (Young Vic in
London); Ibsen Huis, Husbands and Wives, Medea (Toneelgroep Amsterdam); The Present, King Lear, Suddenly Last Summer, Face to Face, Money Shots, Dance Better At Parties, The War of the Roses (Sydney Theatre Company); Baal (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); and The Cherry Orchard (Melbourne Theatre Company). Stefan has been awarded a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, and received a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Score or Sound Design for Thyestes. KATIE HANKIN Assistant Stage Manager Katie graduated from NIDA in 2012 with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Production). As stage manager, Katie’s credits include Midsummer Madness (Bell Shakespeare) and Rough Draft: Wake in Fright (Sydney Theatre Company). As assistant stage manager, her credits include the Sydney season and tour of The Glass Menagerie, Persona (Belvoir); Chimerica, A Flea In Her Ear, King Lear, Endgame, Mojo (Sydney Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale and Phèdre (Bell Shakespeare). Katie was also dresser on Cyrano de Bergerac (Sydney Theatre Company) and the national tour of The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company/ Sydney Festival 2013). SHERIDAN HARBRIDGE Miracle / Alex / Sophie Sheridan is an actor, playwright, director, singer and comedienne, graduating from NIDA in 2006. Her musical Songs for the Fallen won Best Musical and Outstanding Actress at the New York Music Theatre Festival in 2015, and has toured in Australia. Her cabaret Mrs Bang: A Series of Seductions in 55 Minutes appeared at Brisbane Festival, Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the 32nd Stage Song
Review in Poland and the Opera House, receiving a Green Room Award nomination and Best Cabaret at Melbourne Fringe in 2010. Last year, she was a Griffin Theatre Studio Resident and directed and starred in Nosferatutu or Bleeding at the Ballet. Sheridan’s other theatre credits include Girl Asleep (Belvoir); North by Northwest, The Beast, The Speechmaker (Melbourne Theatre Company); Gaybies (Darlinghurst Theatre); Jump for Jordan (Griffin Theatre); Hip Bone Sticking Out, Blue Angel (Big hArt); Fiddler on the Roof, Carmen, My Fair Lady (Opera Australia); Threepenny Opera, Miss Julie, Cabaret, The Bald Soprano, DreamSong, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Detectives Handbook and Calamity Jane (Hayes Theatre Company). Her TV credits include Rake, All Saints, Wild Boys and Doctor Blake Murder Mysteries. BENEDICT HARDIE Marcus / Albert / Jeff Benedict is an actor, writer and director, and graduate of VCA. Previously for Belvoir, Benedict appeared in The Drover’s Wife and The Dog / The Cat and co-adapted A Christmas Carol. Working with The Hayloft Project since 2008, Benedict co-devised and performed in By Their Own Hands, co-wrote and codirected 3xSisters, co-wrote and performed in The Nest, wrote and directed Delectable Shelter, The Boat People, Arden v Arden and The Seizure, and wrote and performed in Yuri Wells. Benedict’s other stage credits include Julius Caesar (Bell Shakespeare), Life Without Me (Melbourne Theatre Company), Wake in Fright (STC Rough Drafts), and Crime and Punishment (Stork Theatre). His film work includes Stem (in production), Hacksaw Ridge, The Water Diviner, The Light Between Oceans, Strangerland, A Single Rider and Observance. His television credits include Childhood’s End, The Outlaw Michael Howe, Deadline Gallipoli and Molly. In 2015, Benedict was a nominee for the inaugural Casting Guild of Australia Sirius Award. He is a proud member of Actors Equity.
ISABELLA KERDIJK Stage Manager Isabella graduated from the production course at NIDA in 2008. She has worked as stage manager and assistant stage manager on many shows including, for Belvoir, Jasper Jones, Girl Asleep, The Drover’s Wife, Mother Courage and Her Children, Kill the Messenger, The Glass Menagerie, 20 Questions, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person (national tour) and Thyestes (European tours). Her other credits include Replay, And No More Shall We Part, This Year’s Ashes, Ugly Mugs (Griffin Theatre); Ride & Fourplay (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); Rainman, The Ruby Sunrise (Ensemble Theatre); Empire (Spiegelworld); Cranked Up (Circus Oz); The Mousetrap (Australia/NZ tour – LWAA); and Bubble (Legs On the Wall). Isabella has also worked as production coordinator on Carmen (Opera Australia on Sydney Harbour) and production manager/ stage manager for Puppetry of the Penis (A-List Entertainment). RILEY McCULLAGH Associate Composer & Sound Designer Riley is a Sydney-based sound designer working in theatre, film and software. He was musical director of UTS Backstage’s production of Hairspray (2016) and composer for The Australian’s Walkley award-winning podcast Bowraville (2016). He is completing a Bachelor of Communications in Sound and Music Design at UTS. MEL PAGE Costume Designer Mel is a graduate of VCA. For Belvoir, Mel has designed costumes for Jasper Jones, Ivanov, Seventeen, The Dog / The Cat, Elektra / Orestes, Kill the Messenger, A Christmas Carol, The Glass Menagerie, Nora, The
Government Inspector, Once in Royal David’s City, Hamlet, Angels in America, Strange Interlude, As You Like It and The Promise, and has designed set and costumes for Back at the Dojo, Small and Tired, Medea and Old Man. Her other costume credits include Die Tote Stadt, Three Sisters, Angels in America (Theater Basel); Pelleas & Melisande (Norwegian Opera and Ballet); The Suicide, The Only Child, Spring Awakening (B Sharp/The Hayloft Project); Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pygmalion (Sydney Theatre Company); The Government Inspector, Pompeii L.A. (Malthouse Theatre); Depth of Field (Chunky Move); Complexity of Belonging (Chunky Move/Melbourne Theatre Company/Melbourne Festival); Baal (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); Vs. Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Company/The Border Project); and The Nest (The Hayloft Project). XAVIER SAMUEL Ben / Cat Xavier graduated from Adelaide’s Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005. His theatre credits include The Dog / The Cat (Belvoir); The Seagull (State Theatre Company South Australia); Mercury Fur (Theatreworks Co. Initiative/Griffin Theatre); Osama the Hero (La Mama/The Old Fitzroy); Two Weeks With the Queen (Windmill Performing Arts); Hamlet, Pyscho Beach Party, Dreaming, Mud and The Share (Flinders University Drama Centre). Xavier’s film credits include The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, Bad Blood due for release this year, A Few Less Men, Spin Out, Mr. Church, Love and Friendship, Frankenstein, Fury, Healing, Plush, Adore, Drift, A Few Best Men, Bait, Anonymous, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Loved Ones, September, Newcastle and 2:37. Xavier also appears in the ABC drama series Seven Types of Ambiguity.
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