Stories I Want to Tell You in Person program

STORIES I WANT TO TELL YOU IN PERSON 9 – 25 AUGUST

Photography: Heidrun Lohr

Malthouse Theatre presents a co-production with Belvoir

STORIES I WANT TO TELL YOU IN PERSON Written and performed by Lally Katz Directed by Anne-Louise Sarks Set & Costume Design Ralph Myers Lighting Design Damien Cooper Composition & Sound Design Max Lyandvert Lighting Associate Chris Page Stage Manager Lisa Osborn Directorial Intern Tegan Larin BECKETT THEATRE 9 – 25 AUGUST Stories I Want to Tell You in Person is proudly supported by Avant Card

WRITER & PERFORMER’S NOTE I’ve always believed in magic.

And I’ve always felt like writing is a little bit magic. You’re sort of doing it, but you’re also getting help from some outside source – like the common consciousness or something. Or ghosts. I’m not sure what it is. But I know it’s something. Most people who have been writing for a long time talk about writing coming through them, rather than necessarily from them. Like you’re a channeller sometimes. That’s one kind of writing anyway. I don’t want to make it sound like writers don’t have to work. It takes a lot of work to get into that zone. Usually I have to clean my house about fourteen times for every one page that I write.

And you have to live everything you write. Nothing good comes for free.

Despite my belief in magic, I had always avoided seeing fortune tellers. Because I was scared they would influence my future. I wanted to be the writer of my own life. But a couple of years ago I found I was getting stuck typecasting myself. And I began to think I needed a circuit breaker to change my fate.

So when I met Cookie, a New York City psychic, I decided to invest in her – with my money, my writing and my heart. I really hope it pays off. Because she was very expensive.

Thank you to Anne-Louise Sarks, the director of this show. This hasn’t been an easy job for her! She had to teach me how to act, convince me that I could breathe and speak at the same time, and she had to live in my head for six months. She has worked so hard with me on every aspect of the show. She’s a brilliant and rigorous director and dramaturg.

Also thank you to everyone at the wonderful Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir – the designers and the crew for believing that I could perform in something instead of just writing it, like I usually do. And thank you to my family, my agents and my friends for all the support (and also material). Particularly: John Safran, Lois and Dan Katz, Zrinka Lemezina and Mike Katz, Martina Murray, Ben Chessell, Jean Mostyn, Lizzie Cater, Karen Colston, Nina Bonacci, Anna Bosnjak, Matt Lutton, Luke Mullins, Doulla Manoli, Tegan Larin, Chloe Hooper, Tom Wright and Rita Kalnejais, Marieke Hardy, Michaela McGuire and Women of Letters, and The Monthly.

And thank you, dear audience, for coming! Looking forward to seeing you all in the theatre!

Lally Katz

DIRECTOR’S NOTE I’ve never believed in magic. I was the type of child who wanted to know how the trick worked. And who then wanted to master it myself. I wonder how I ended up here in the theatre?

It is an enormous challenge that Lally has taken on. To play herself. Or rather not to play, but just to be herself, on stage in front of an audience night after night. And for me the challenge is how to best support that bold idea. How do you direct Lally Katz to be Lally Katz in a show about Lally Katz?

Lally has been brave enough to reveal herself to us. We all try to paint flattering versions of ourselves. Lally doesn’t do that. Actually that’s not true; she does, and then she tells you that she has. In this show she gives all of herself to us. It’s an incredibly brave and generous thing to do. And as she does this, as amazing and improbable as it sometimes seems, I find we keep stumbling upon moments that are all too familiar. Lally reminds us what it is to be human in all its complexity.

I often see a little bit of myself up there. And I think you might too. And yet, it is so uniquely Lally Katz.

When I first heard about this show, I thought it was all about Lally and her visits to psychics. I thought that none of it had anything to do with me. I don’t really believe in psychics. I’d never visited one until we started work on this show. (Lally claims in the play that I’m a cynic. It’s true. Incidentally, nothing else Lally says about me is true!) But it turns out this play is about things that matter very much to me. It’s about belief. It’s about being an artist in the world. It’s about doubt and faith. It’s about figuring out how to live. It’s about love. It’s about being a woman. It’s

about complex political questions like: Can I have it all? And it asks all these questions in a very human and personal way.

Lally has this way of making you see our world anew. It’s a gift.

She finds the magic in the ordinary and then celebrates it. It’s one of the things that makes her an exceptional artist.

I believe that every show you create teaches you something.

This one brought me right back to the theatre. To belief. To why I do what I do and how deeply I cherish it.

I’m incredibly grateful for this journey with Lally. It has been a pleasure to spend time in the world of Katz. I thank her for her trust in me. And for all she teaches me every day about life. And love. And about magic. Which maybe does exist. It certainly does every night here in the theatre with Lally.

Anne-Louise Sarks

DAMIEN COOPER LIGHTING DESIGN Damien works internationally across theatre, opera and dance. His designs for Malthouse Theatre include the Belvoir co-production Exit the King (including the Broadway production with Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon); The Women of Troy and The Metamorphosis (in association with Sydney Theatre Company); and The Oracle and Honour Bound (in association with Sydney Opera House). His other theatre credits include 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 and In Our Name (Belvoir); Storm Boy, Under Milk Wood, The Lost Echo, Tot Mom, Riflemind (Sydney Theatre Company); and Macbeth (Bell Shakespeare). Damien’s opera designs include Aida and Cosi (Opera Australia); Peter Grimes (Opera Australia/Houston Grand Opera/Canadian Opera Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chicago Lyric Opera/Houston Grand Opera/Canadian Opera Company); and Chorus! (Houston Grand Opera). His designs for dance include The Narrative of Nothing, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake (The Australian Ballet); Mortal Engine (Chunky Move/Malthouse Theatre); and Of Earth and Sky (Bangarra). Damien has won three Sydney Theatre Awards and three Green Room Awards.

LALLY KATZ WRITER & PERFORMER Lally performed in Frankenstein at Sydney Theatre Company and regularly appears onstage and in the media as a speaker and commentator. Her plays which have premiered at The Malthouse include A Golem Story, Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd and, co-written with Tom Wright, Criminology. Lally’s plays The Black Swan of Trespass and The Eisteddfod (Stuck Pigs Squealing Theatre) were seen in

Malthouse Theatre seasons and have both toured to New York. Lally’s other theatre credits include Neighbourhood Watch (Belvoir); Smashed (Griffin Independent); Return to Earth (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy (Melbourne Festival); The Mysteries: Genesis, Frankenstein, Waikiki Palace and Hip Hip Hooray (STC); When the Hunter Returns and Another Twin (The Gaiety School of Acting, Ireland); and Goodbye New York, Goodbye Heart (The Production Company). For television, Lally has written episodes of Wentworth, The Elephant Princess and Spirited. Lally has won two Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, a New York International Fringe Festival Award and several Green Room Awards. Lally has also been awarded a Churchill Fellowship and received a British Council Realise Your Dreams grant. She was recently the recipient of a playwriting grant from The Australian Writers' Foundation.

MAX LYANDVERT COMPOSITION & SOUND DESIGN Max is an award-winning composer, sound designer and director. His composition/sound design credits include The Business, The Ham Funeral, UBU, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Belvoir); The War of the Roses, Gross und Klein, True West, Life is a Dream, Oresteia, The Three Sisters, The Art of War, The Lost Echo, Festen, Julius Caesar and many others for Sydney Theatre Company; The Ham Funeral, Journal of a Plague Year and Eldorado (Malthouse Theatre); Same, same But Different, Never Did Me Any Harm and The Age I’m In (Force Majeure); as well as numerous shows for other companies. Max’s work as director includes My Head Was a Sledgehammer (B Sharp); Now That Communism Is Dead My Life Feels Empty (B Sharp/Melbourne Festival); Manna (Sydney Theatre Company); I’ve Got the Shakes (Darlinghurst Theatre); and his own work, Close Your Little Eyes (Sydney Festival). Max has won two Helpmann Awards, and has received Sydney Theatre Award and Green Room Award nominations.

RALPH MYERS SET & COSTUME DESIGN Ralph is Belvoir’s Artistic Director. For Belvoir he has directed Peter Pan; directed and designed Private Lives; and designed 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 other design credits include The City, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blackbird, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Kind of Alaska/Reunion, The Lost Echo, Mother Courage and Her Children, Boy Gets Girl, This Little Piggy, Far Away, Morph, Endgame, The 7 Stages of Grieving and Frankenstein, which he also directed (Sydney Theatre Company); Enlightenment, Cruel and Tender, Dinner, and Frozen (Melbourne Theatre Company); Othello (Bell Shakespeare); Wonderlands (Griffin Theatre Company/Hothouse Theatre Company); Borderlines and Sweet Phoebe (Griffin Theatre Company); Eora Crossing (Legs on the Wall/Sydney Festival); Caligula (English National Opera); The Marriage of Figaro, Peter Grimes and Così fan tutte (Opera Australia); La Bohème (New Zealand Opera); and Two Faced Bastard (Chunky Move).

LISA OSBORN STAGE MANAGER Lisa works as a freelance stage manager and production manager in theatre and on arts events.

Her Stage Management credits for Malthouse Theatre include White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, Persona (with Fraught Outfit), Pompeii, L.A., On the Misconception of Oedipus, Blood Wedding, Opera XS: Another Lament (with Rawcus/Chamber Made Opera), The Wild Duck (with Belvoir), The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself, Baal (with Sydney Theatre Company) and Sappho… in 9 Fragments. Other credits include When The Rain Stops

Falling (Brink Productions); Me and My Shadow (Patch Theatre Company); Man Covets Bird (Slingsby Theatre Company); G, Devolution and Ignition (Australian Dance Theatre); Three Sisters, Metro Street, Attempts on Her Life, The Female of the Species, Triple Threat, Noises Off and The Government Inspector (State Theatre Company SA); Cake (Ladykillers); Grug, Boom Bah!, Afternoon of the Elves, Two Weeks with the Queen and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (Windmill Theatre); and Beautiful Words (Oddbodies Theatre Company). Her recent Production/ Stage Management credits include The Story of Mary MacLane

by Herself (Ride On Theatre/Performing Lines); and The Trilogy Presentation (Amplification, Miracle and Above) for BalletLab at MONA FOMA. Lisa has also worked in a range of roles on events including WOMADelaide, The Helpmann Awards and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 Cultural Festival.

ANNE-LOUISE SARKS DIRECTOR Anne-Louise was recently appointed Resident Director at Belvoir. She works professionally as an actor, director and dramaturg. For Belvoir Anne-Louise directed and co-wrote Medea, was assistant director on The Wild Duck, and was dramaturg on Thyestes. Her most recent work Medea won five 2012 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Direction, Best Mainstage Production and Best New Australian Work, and was nominated for four Helpmann Awards. In 2011 Anne-Louise was female director-in-residence at Malthouse Theatre. Her other theatre credits include The Seed (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Nest and Yuri Wells (The Hayloft Project). Her acting credits include The Suicide (B Sharp/The Hayloft Project); 3XSisters and The Only Child (The Hayloft Project); Return to Earth (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Spook (Malthouse Theatre); and Starchaser (Arena Theatre Company). From 2010-2013 Anne-Louise was Artistic Director of The Hayloft Project.

MUSE DONOR PROGRAM Thank you, Malthouse Muses, for supporting our artistic vision and helping us to create a unique and dynamic environment for artists and audiences.

URANIA—Muse of The Stars—$25,000+ Annamila Pty Ltd, The Dara Foundation, The Danielle and Daniel Besen Foundation, Maureen & Tony Wheeler CLIO—Muse of History—$10,000+ Betty Amsden OAM, John & Lorraine Bates, Michele Levine, Craig Reeves, The Pratt Foundation, Anonymous (1) THALIA—Muse of Comedy—$5,000+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Eva Besen AO & Marc Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson AC, Neilma Gantner, Colin Golvan SC, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Mary Ruth & Peter McLennan, Judith Maitland-Parr, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Carol & Alan Schwartz AM, Anonymous (2) MELPOMENE—Muse of Tragedy—$2,500+ Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, Val Johnstone, Janine Tai, Jon Webster, Tom Wright EUTERPE—Muse of Music—$1,000+ Ingrid Ashford, John & Sally Bourne, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Sally Browne, Diana Burleigh, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Marilyn and Andrew Cookes, Sieglind D’Arcy, Georgina Damm, Dominic & Natalie Dirupo, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, William J. Forrest AM, John & Helen Gibbins, D.L & G.S Gjergja, Marco Gjergja, Michael Kingston, Sue Kirkham, Pamela McLure, Naomi Milgrom AO, Jenny Schwarz, Neil & Barbara Smart, Gina & Paul Stuart, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Jason Waple, Jenny Werbeloff, Anonymous (3) TERPSICHORE—Muse of Dance—$500+ Min Li Chong, Mark & Jo Davey, Taleen Gaidzkar, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Carolyn Floyd, Brian Goddard, Scott Herron, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Susan Humphries, Irine Irvine, Irene Kearsey, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, K & J Lindsay, Sir Gustav AC CBE & Lady Nossal, Tony Oliver, Robert Peters, Right Lane Consulting, Tim & Lynne Sherwood, Maria Sola & Malcolm Douglas, Fiona Sweet & Paul Newcombe, Katherine Sampson, John Thomas, Richard P. Watson, Phil & Heather Wilson, Henry Winters, Angelika & Pete Zangmeister, Anonymous (2) ERATO—Muse of Love—$250+ Simon Abrahams, Stephen & Diane Alley, Graham & Anita Anderson, Sandra Beanham, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Robyn Campbell, John Carruthers, Ros Casey, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Diane Clark, Chris Clough, Patricia Coutts, Mary Crean AM, Tania de Jong AM, Orla & Rachel, Paula Hansky OAM & Jack Hansky AM, Peggy Hayton, Roberta Holmes, Vas Katos, Patricia Keith, Ruth Krawat, Liquorice Studio, William Lye, Brad Martin, Gael & Ian McRae, John Millard, Dr Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, Wendy Poulton, John & Margot Rogers, Rae Rothfield, Ernie Schwartz, Morry & Anna Schwartz, Jill Sewell, Lisl Singer, Thea & Hayden Snow, Janice Taylor, Ann Tonks, Rosemary Walls, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte, Dr Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Barbara Yuncken, Anonymous (7) CATALYST SYNDICATE Warwick & Lida Bray, John Carruthers & Rosie Purcell, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Nick Glenning & Jenny Proimos, Sarah Morgan, Corrie Perkins & Peter Loder, Maria Prendergast OAM, Bob Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Simon Westcott & Dr Ben Keith You too can make a difference on our stages and behind the scenes.

Please call 9685 5162 or visit our website and inspire us with your donation.

113 Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006 Box Office 03 9685 5111 • Administration 03 9685 5111 • Fax 03 9685 5112 malthousetheatre.com.au

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Simon Westcott (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Frankie Airey, Michele Levine, Ian McRae, Sarah Morgan, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary Artistic Director Marion Potts Executive Producer Jo Porter Associate Artist (Design) Paul Jackson Associate Artist (Direction) Matthew Lutton Associate Artist (Writing) Van Badham Artist in Residence Lara Thoms Company Manager Lucy Birkinshaw Associate Producer Josh Wright Administrator Narda Shanley Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni Finance Administrator Liz White Finance Assistant Connie Stella Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Scicluna Media Manager Maria O’Dwyer Digital Strategy & Marketing Coordinator Chloe Gordon Communications Coordinator Jennifer Smith Graphic Designer Rick Milovanovic Development Manager Jaclyn Birtchnell Philanthropy Manager Nicole Punte Development Assistant Hiroki Kobayashi Ticketing Manager Emma Howard Ticketing Assistant Lauren White Youth & Education Program Clare Watson Executive Assistant Emily Fiori Audience Development Consultant Jason Tamiru Building Manager Peter Mandersloot Bar Manager Cherry Rivers Front of House Managers Tristan Watson

& Sean Ladhams

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Production Manager David Miller Technical Manager Baird McKenna Operations Manager Dexter Varley Head Electrician Stewart Birkinshaw Campbell Head Mechanist Andy Moore Theatre Technician Nathaneal Bristow Head of Wardrobe Amanda Carr Wardrobe Assistant Chloe Greaves Workshop Supervisor David Craig Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli Workshop Staff Mitch O'Sullivan Scenic Artist Patrick Jones Props Master Ross Murray

(lifetime recognition) Front of House/Bar Staff Leeor Adar, Matt Adair, Jacqui Brown, Ben Carollo, Mimi Catterns, Kathryn Delaney, Tom Dent, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Christian Grant, Kate Gregory, Kathryn Joy, Bridie McCarthy, Ian Michael, Daniel Newell, Ruby Nolan, Syrie Payne, Kliment Poposki, Claire Richardson, Sanne Rodenstein, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold Box Office Staff Abbey Barnes, Paul Buckley, Mark Byrne, Kathryn Delaney, Kate Gregory, Suzie Hardgrave, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Fiona Wiseman, Liz White Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

Malthouse Theatre would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of its volunteers.

The Belvoir Story One building. Six hundred people. Thousands of stories.

When the Nimrod Theatre building in Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, was threatened with redevelopment in 1984, more than 600 people – ardent theatre lovers together with arts, entertainment and media professionals – formed a syndicate to buy the building and save this unique performance space in inner-city Sydney.

Almost 30 years later, this space, known as Belvoir St Theatre, continues to be the home of one of Australia’s most celebrated theatre companies – Belvoir. Under the artistic leadership of Ralph Myers and General Manager Brenna Hobson, Belvoir engages Australia’s most prominent and promising playwrights, directors, actors and designers to realise an annual season of work that is dynamic, challenging and visionary. As well as performing at home, Belvoir regularly takes to the road, touring to major arts centres and festivals both nationally and internationally.

Both the Upstairs and Downstairs stages at Belvoir St Theatre have nurtured the talents of many renowned Australian artists: actors including Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Toby Schmitz, Robyn Nevin, Deb Mailman and Richard Roxburgh; writers such as Tommy Murphy, Rita Kalnejais, Lally Katz and Kate Mulvany; directors including Simon Stone, Anne-Louise Sarks, Benedict Andrews, Wesley Enoch, Rachael Maza and former Belvoir Artistic Director Neil Armfield.

Belvoir’s position as one of Australia’s most innovative and acclaimed theatre companies has been determined by such landmark productions as The Wild Duck, The Diary of a Madman, The Blind Giant is Dancing, The Book of Everything, Cloudstreet, Measure for Measure, Keating!, Parramatta Girls, Exit the King, The Alchemist, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, The Sapphires, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Stuff Happens.

Belvoir receives government support for its activities from the Federal Government through the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council and the State Government through Arts NSW. belvoir.com.au

Photography: Heidrun Lohr

OUR PARTNERS GOVERNMENT PARTNERS Malthouse Theatre is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body

EDUCATION PARTNER

MEDIA PARTNER

PRODUCTION PARTNER

CORPORATE PARTNERS

CORPORATE ASSOCIATES

COMPANY SUPPORTERS

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Australian Communities Foundation Slome-Topol Family Charitable Trust

The Robert Salzer Foundation Vera Moore Foundation

PROGRAM PARTNERS

THE Suitcase Series

REGIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

ARTIST PROGRAM

Female Director in Residence PROGRAM

REGIONAL PERFORMANCE PROJECTS

NEW AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION & PRODUCTION

The Danielle & Daniel Besen Foundation DIRECTORS EXCHANGE PROJECT COMPANY IN RESIDENCE

(Men of Steel) Maureen and Tony Wheeler International Program Jeanne Pratt AC, Rae Rothfield, Sue Nattrass AO, Judith Maitland-Parr THE KENN BRODZIAK ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Tom Kantor Fund INDIGENOUS THEATRE PROGRAM (The Shadow King)

s e e i nto th e

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This year, Avant Card celebrates our 21st birthday. We’re proud of how we’ve grown and the special partnerships we’ve made along the way, including Malthouse Theatre.

Photography: Heidrun Lohr