Scenes | Edition 1 - 2017

EDITION 1 – 2017

Sarah Goodes Finding the unknowable

Alison Whyte Telling tales

Christie Whelan Browne Make 'em laugh

Joanna Murray-Smith No easy answers

Welcome Welcome to the first edition of Scenes for 2017. It’s hard to believe after launching Season 2017 in August that we’re already in rehearsals for the first productions of the year.

We start the year with an eclectic mix of four exciting works on our main stages. Born Yesterday, a screwball comedy with brains and glamour, opens the Season at Southbank Theatre while, across the road at Arts Centre Melbourne, we bring Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Baker’s latest play, John, to Australia. Following John, in March we’re thrilled to be presenting the acclaimed Belvoir production of Brian Friel’s masterpiece, Faith Healer, directed by the legendary Judy Davis. We then see the world premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s new acerbic comedy, Three Little Words, the first of our world premieres from Australian writers in 2017.

And that’s just the beginning! In addition to the four world premieres from Australian writers, 2017 provides a theatrical journey comprising three new international plays, two contemporary classics, two early 20th Century classics and one great Shakespearean classic.

I hope you enjoy this edition of Scenes, hearing some of the behind-the-scenes stories, as we prepare for a year of laughs, tears, discussion and debate at Melbourne’s home of theatre. We can’t wait to share it with you.

Brett Sheehy AO Artistic Director

Prompt Corner

From left to right Jai Courtney, Heidi Arena, Johnny Carr, Georgina Naidu

CASTING NEWS

SUBSCRIBER TICKET DISCOUNTS

Since our Season 2017 launch, the question on everyone’s lips has been ‘Who will play Macbeth?’ We’re incredibly excited to announce that international screen sensation Jai Courtney will return to Australia exclusively for MTC to play the Scottish King in Simon Phillips’ fearsome new production of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy. Since training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Jai Courtney has enjoyed massive international success including starring roles in recent blockbuster films Suicide Squad and the Divergent series.

If you have already subscribed to Season 2017 but would like to add a play to your theatrical calendar, you can still save money on your tickets. Subscribers are entitled to discounts on additional tickets for all our mainstage shows. It is just a matter of quoting your subscription number or logging into the website with your subscriber details and you’ll receive the best price available. You can also buy discounted tickets for your friends and family for that perfect gift or treat!

But the casting news doesn’t stop there. Joining the glamorous cast of Born Yesterday are some familiar faces including Heidi Arena (last seen in The Other Place) and Tyler Coppin (His Girl Friday), as well as some actors making their MTC debut – Russell Dykstra (Rake), comedian Chris Fortuna and Josh Gates (Anything Goes).

Tickets for the upcoming season are released to the general public in two stages. Our first three shows of 2017 – Born Yesterday, John and Faith Healer – are on sale now.

The rest of the season goes on sale on Thursday 2 March.

You can book online at mtc.com.au or through the Southbank Theatre Box Office on (03) 8688 0800.

Returning to MTC after What Rhymes with Cars and Girls, Johnny Carr completes the cast of Annie Baker’s John, playing opposite Julia Blake, Ursula Mills and Helen Morse. Kate Atkinson (Lungs), Peter Houghton (His Girl Friday) and Katherine Tonkin (The Cherry Orchard) will be seated with Catherine McClements for Joanna Murray-Smith’s caustic dinner party in Three Little Words, while Rhys McConnochie (Endgame) and Georgina Naidu (Wentworth) take to the stage in Lally Katz’s Melbourne comedy, Minnie & Liraz.

Cover: Joel Jackson and Christie Whelan Browne in Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday.

Scenes is a publication of Melbourne Theatre Company.

All information was correct at the time of printing.

Melbourne Theatre Company reserves the right to make changes.

EDITORS Daniel Coghlan and Stephanie Liew ART DIRECTOR Emma Wagstaff GRAPHIC DESIGNER Celeste Njoo COVER IMAGE Justin Ridler Melbourne Theatre Company is a department of the University of Melbourne.

MTC Headquarters 252 Sturt St, Southbank Vic 3006 T 03 8688 0900 F 03 8688 0901 info@mtc.com.au mtc.com.au Southbank Theatre 140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank Vic 3006 BOX OFFICE 03 8688 0800

MTC acknowledges the Yalukit Willam Peoples of the Boon Wurrung, the Traditional Owners of the land on which Southbank Theatre and MTC HQ stand, and we pay our respects to Melbourne’s First Peoples, to their ancestors past and present, and to our shared future.

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Finding the unknowable Sarah Goodes directs a play that honours the movement of time

Sarah Goodes

Helen Morse, Ursula Mills and Julia Blake star in Annie Baker's John.

Photo by Justin Ridler.

‘Suspense is one of my favourite things to work on in theatre and there’s a lot of it in this, in a really gentle, beautiful way, and the core of that is always that the possibility is more intriguing than the revelation.’

Over the last decade, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker has been one of the young voices changing the face of American theatre. MTC introduced Melbourne audiences to Baker’s work with her ground-breaking Circle Mirror Transformation in the Lawler a few years ago, and now brings her Gothic-tinged drama John to the Fairfax Studio stage.

The play follows a young couple, Jenny and Elias, who stay at a quirky bed and breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Under the gaze of the eccentric B&B owner Mertis, her blind and equally odd friend Genevieve, and the knick-knacks and dolls that inhabit the place, Jenny and Elias’ relationship bends and folds as they try to find peace with each other.

‘It is a hard play to talk about because you don't want to pin it down to being just one thing,’ says the play’s director and MTC Associate Director, Sarah Goodes, who recently directed Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland.

‘One of the main things [about John], I think, is how Annie Baker approaches theatre as a very temporal thing, as a movement of time. So when she’s writing these detailed scenes about what people are doing and how they’re doing it, it’s kind of anti-theatrical; she wants the time it takes to do these things to be really honoured. Usually, doing a piece of theatre, it’s like: how do you get this on and off as quickly as possible so we can get to the action of it? But the action and the heart of her piece are quite often in the detailed, everyday activity of being human, which is why the set is so cluttered. It really is quite a philosophical piece, in a way.’

The ‘clutter’ of the set Goodes refers to comes from Baker’s detailed description of the B&B, including specific examples of the small collectible objects and kitsch knick-knacks that Mertis has decorated the common areas with. Set designer Elizabeth Gadsby will be utilising the stage of the Fairfax Studio in an entirely new and immersive way. ‘[Baker] has written this into it very specifically; everything needs to kind of clash against each other, so you have this overload of different, conflicting patterns of couches and carpet and curtains and knickknacks, and the music is at odds with what’s going on,

and it’s coming out of a tinny, old CD player that looks like a jukebox. And then you have these moments of beautiful harmony, that seem to rise up through the everyday little domestic objects or moments,’ explains Goodes.

‘It’s just a beautiful piece to be working on because I think one of the things theatre can offer that no other medium can is a sense of being in a space with these performers for a duration of time. You can’t fast forward it, you can’t rewind it, you can’t stop it; when the lights go down, you’re on a journey together in the same space until the end of that period of time, and Annie really leans into that.

In America she’s very much a part of this movement that’s questioning theatre, and questioning time in theatre, and questioning how things operate.’

As Baker subtly questions, she allows the audience to create their own answers. The philosophical nature of the play is glimpsed in vague references to H.P. Lovecraft, Heinrich von Kleist, and Latin proverbs. Themes of the past haunting the present, life perspectives gained with age, and the possibility of higher powers or spirits not of this world are all cleverly woven into John’s seemingly quotidian dialogue. In conversation with BOMB Magazine, Baker said that in developing John she was interested in writing a play about older people ‘watching people fifty years younger than them struggle in a way that’s very specific to one’s twenties and early thirties’, and simultaneously she had begun to research religion and the occult.

‘You get this wonderful contrast of these women at a certain stage in their life and this young couple who are in this conflict of their relationship,’ says Goodes. ‘What Annie has beautifully done is sat these two generations together and doesn’t make any comment on it – we just watch them interact and that in itself reveals these incredible differences and connections, and it’s beautiful because it’s gentle and very honest.’

Goodes is also excited to keep the potential of ‘ghost-like spaces’ in the setting alive. ‘Suspense is one of my favourite things to work on in theatre and there’s a lot of it in this, in a really gentle, beautiful way, and the core

of that is always that the possibility is more intriguing than the revelation. I think – not wanting to pin it down, but – it’s much more of an atmospheric piece than a narrativedriven piece. It really is about the moods it evokes, and the possibilities it opens up.’

‘And in a strange way, one of the things I really liked about working on Switzerland is that we found something inside that piece that was unknowable, and we really enjoyed keeping that alive. I think that’s a really fascinating thing to be working on in theatre, because there’s this incredible sense of having to suspend your disbelief anyway. There is something very ritualistic about it that does lend itself a little bit to the rituals of religion and spirituality.’

‘I think they’re the types of things that Baker’s really exploring, and our need for them. When you read all of these writers that she’s been reading, you see that that’s what they’re circling – humans’ need for illusions, humans’ need for faith and belief in things, and humans’ need to actually have things that are unknowable to them. When we’re bombarded with information and technology and the answers to everything, I think John really feeds that part of ourselves that still longs for that – the beauty that comes from mystery.’

Sarah Goodes spoke to Stephanie Liew

John plays at Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio from 10 February.

Watch an interview with director Sarah Goodes at the Season 2017 Launch. mtc.com.au/backstage

Telling tales Alison Whyte explores love and truth in Faith Healer ‘TV is really boring,’ Alison Whyte declares. ‘Theatre’s my first love.’

It is a steamy Wednesday morning in Sydney. Whyte is halfway through the Belvoir season of Faith Healer, Brian Friel’s 1979 play about the Fantastic Frank Hardy, who travels the ‘dying villages’ of Wales and Scotland in a battered old van with his wife and manager in tow.

Whyte is playing Grace, wife to Colin Friels’ Frank.

Alison Whyte

Whyte may be most well-known for her Logie Awardwinning turns as Emma in the 1990s ABC current affairs satire Frontline and Lauren in Showcase’s Satisfaction, but she claims the stage as her ‘spiritual home’.

‘There’s a completely different energy in the theatre,’ she explains. ‘When you’re doing a play, you’re responsible for delivering that story to people’s ears … And I love being told a story. It’s a very primal thing … It teaches us, it defines us, it’s a basic building block of a human being.’

Faith Healer is a play made for storytelling, not least due to its unconventional structure. An intimate exploration of love and the nature of truth, comprising four monologues – all the more intense as each character takes to the simply-dressed stage alone, to tell their version of the stories that have come to define their lives.

‘We’ve never really approached it in the sense of four different, separate monologues,’ says Whyte. ‘It’s so interlinked and it feels so wholly supported, and the characters feel so multidimensional because everyone else is talking about them in different ways.’

In some ways, Whyte’s character cuts the most tragic figure. Grace suffers alongside the man she loves in tumbledown church halls as he administers hollow words to the sick and crippled, and very occasionally, works magic – a talent he can neither explain nor control. When we meet Grace in the second act, the stress of bearing the brunt of his anxieties is written all over her body.

‘It was a heady, gorgeous, love-filled relationship initially, and it turned sour and cancerous,’ Whyte says. ‘And I think they, in a sense, destroyed one another. But there’s no doubt that it started as a grand love.’

So how does Whyte go about inhabiting such a challenging role?

‘You have to be true to the writing,’ she explains. ‘And what Brian Friel has written is extraordinary. It’s so humane. If you obey the words and obey the punctuation, and do what he tells you to do, you’ll pretty much be able to tell your character’s story. It’s that good, the writing is that good.’

The text is indeed lyrical and rich, but it is the way the play invites the audience into the world of the characters that makes the performance of the piece so extraordinary – a narrative ‘carried on the spirit of Friel’s generosity’.

‘It’s really one of the most generous pieces of writing I’ve ever read,’ Whyte says. ‘It’s so brilliantly written, because Friel invites you to get involved, and you are, you do get involved. There’s three hundred people, four hundred people listening to it at the same time, and then you can come out and you can talk about it, you can share your experiences and what you think. There’s a lot of discussion that happens after this show.’

Indeed, everything about this production – the sparseness of the design, the simplicity of Judy Davis’ direction – is structured to allow the stories of these characters to take centre stage. As Whyte puts it: ‘to allow these characters the dignity of being.’

‘Everything is just there to serve the words and serve the play,’ she says. ‘And it’s what theatre should be, really.’

Alison Whyte spoke to Stephanie Convery

Alison Whyte in Faith Healer. Photo by Brett Boardman.

‘I love being told a story.

It‘s a very primal thing …

It teaches us, it defines us, it‘s a basic building block of a human being.’

Faith Healer plays at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 4 March.

Watch an interview with Alison Whyte at the Season 2017 Launch. mtc.com.au/backstage

Make ‘em laugh Christie Whelan Browne is a triple-threat showgirl

Christie Whelan Browne has a history of comic roles with MTC. Her 2010 MTC debut as The Drowsy Chaperone’s Broadway showgirl Janet van de Graaf, opposite Geoffrey Rush, earned her a Helpmann Award nomination and led to her being cast as Gwendolen Fairfax in Simon Phillips' The Importance of Being Earnest. Now, having appeared across stage and screen – silver, small and digital – she returns to MTC to open Season 2017 as the iconic Billie Dawn in the Broadway comedy Born Yesterday.

Above: Christie Whelan Browne in The Drowsy Chaperone.

Left: The Importance of Being Earnest.

Photos by Jeff Busby.

‘I was drawn to the idea of a woman who has accepted a life for herself, then realises there is so much more for her and so much more she has to offer.

It’s empowering.’

Throughout the play’s history, Billie Dawn is a role that has attracted some of the finest comic talents. When Jean Arthur dropped out of the original production during out-of-town tryouts, it opened on Broadway in 1946 with the then-unknown Judy Holliday. Four years later, Judy Holliday accepted the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film adaptation, unexpectedly defeating Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard), Eleanor Parker (Caged) and both Anne Baxter and Bette Davis (All About Eve). In its two major Broadway revivals, the 1989 and 2011 Billie Dawns, Madeline Kahn and Nina Arianda, both garnered critical acclaim and Tony Award nominations.

Director Dean Bryant, MTC Associate Director, is eager to see Whelan Browne transform into Billie Dawn. ‘It’s like the Hedda Gabler of comedic female roles and I’m really excited to give MTC audiences a chance to see an actor they’ve loved, blossom in this beautiful role.’

‘A massive shift occurs in this seemingly simple woman over the course of the play. She literally educates herself into becoming a brilliantly smart citizen, turning the tables on the men who would keep her in her place. She ends up taking full control of herself and her position in the world.’

It was these elements that drew Christie Whelan Browne to the character. ‘I was drawn to the idea of a woman who has accepted a life for herself, then realises there is so much more for her and so much more she has to offer. It’s empowering,’ she says. ‘She proves everyone, including herself, wrong by showing what she is truly capable of.’

The year leading up to her return to MTC in The Odd Couple was a busy one for Whelan Browne, who had roles in Channel Ten’s The Wrong Girl, the return production of Eddie Perfect’s The Beast as well as the web series The Drop Off. She relishes working across a variety of mediums. ‘I love it. I think that’s how you stay in work!

Doing it all means you can stay busy. Born Yesterday will be my third play in a row – the longest I’ve been in one medium in years.’

Having starred in numerous musicals since her professional debut in Grease: The Arena Spectacular, Whelan Browne feels that it’s her experience in musical theatre that has most influenced her work in other genres.

‘Musical theatre is a tough job. It takes real stamina and guts, so I think it has stood me in good stead. [Born Yesterday’s] Billie is a showgirl, so I suppose it helps that I know what that feels like.’

Appearing so regularly on Australian stages, Whelan Browne has also worked with director Dean Bryant on a number of projects, including Britney Spears: The Cabaret and The Production Company’s recent revival of Jerry’s Girls. The collaboration began almost a decade ago.

‘Dean asked me to come and workshop a musical of his in 2008,’ she explains, ‘The following year we did Britney, and we have worked together pretty much every year since! I love his faith and trust in me, coupled with my faith and trust in him. I think that makes for a safe environment for us both to try new things and push further than we might have. Plus, we laugh constantly.’

Bryant is just as positive about their partnership. ‘The exhilarating thing about working with Christie is that she can pick up a page of script she’s never seen before and immediately bring it to life. She seems to have a hotline to making people real and funny instantly. She’s brilliant in the rehearsal room, so funny and wicked and dry. I’d happily work with her on every show until I retire.’

Dean Bryant & Christie Whelan Browne spoke to Daniel Coghlan

Born Yesterday plays at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 14 January.

See Christie Whelan Browne and the Born Yesterday team prepare for the show in our rehearsal gallery. mtc.com.au/backstage

Cybec Electric Meet the playwrights Cybec Electric returns in 2017 with eight new works from Asian Australian playwrights as part of Asia TOPA. We asked the nine writers about the moment they fell in love with theatre, and what prompted their latest work.

Mirror’s Edge by Kim Ho 1

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I think I’ve always been a fan of performance – I sang non-stop as a child and acted out little shows for my family. But I fell in love with the power of theatre when I saw Rita Kalnejais’ Babyteeth at Belvoir. It was a new Australian work; fresh, funny, heartbreaking, honest, with a cast whose astonishing diversity reflected Australia. If I can make theatre anywhere as good as that someday, I’ll be a very happy writer.

The idea for Mirror’s Edge sprung from an ABC Radio segment. Chinese tourists had suddenly started coming to visit a salt lake in the middle of Victoria’s Mallee region, breathing new life into the struggling town nearby, Sea Lake. It struck me as such a bizarre but beautiful meeting of cultures. Being mixed-race (Caucasian/Chinese), I immediately felt invested in the story, and I knew I had to write about it.

Assisted Living by Hiroki Kobayashi 4

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I fell in love with theatre during school when I had the opportunity to present a project through performance.

It allowed me to discover a form of communication that was playful, intimate and expansive in its possibilities to explore the world around me.

The premise of this work was ignited through the need to put my grandfather in an assisted living facility, following a fall in which we also learnt that he was in the early stages of dementia. The experience propelled me to consider the ethics and complexities of ageing, care and death within both family and society in the midst of an ageing population.

My telephone was a moon into which I was screaming by Jeremy & Alan Nguyen

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1. Kim Ho, 2.Hiroki Kobayashi 3. Jeremy Nguyen, 4. Alan Nguyen, 5. Hoa Pham, 6. Natesha Somasundaram, 7. Arun Subramanian, 8. Jean Tong, 9. Chi Vu.

J: When I was six years old, there was a Show and Tell segment in class. I remember thinking that the other kids weren’t fully utilising the medium, so for my turn, my friends all stood up and performed a big fight that I’d ‘choreographed’ and ‘taught’ them earlier. I was just a little boy, so I didn’t realise how off-topic it was to just pretend to fight in class. [I started writing this work after] a long layover at an airport – my mum was telling me about things that had happened in Vietnam before I was born, and I couldn’t believe that the everyday Australians who are our friends, co-workers and family, could have been through so much.

A: I remember watching a production of Othello as a teenager. At one point, I wanted to leap out of my seat, grab Othello by his collar and scream the truth at him!

I am passionate about experiences of refugees and this play depicts complications caused by and effects of migration under stress, long after the event. The play is about family, and a family under an unusual strain.

Working through these things with my brother was too good an opportunity to miss.

The Cybec Electric plays will be read at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler from 23 to 25 February 2017 as part of Asia TOPA, (Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts), an artistic celebration of our relationship with contemporary Asia.

For more information, visit mtc.com.au/cybec

delusions of persecution and paranoia. My play shows the thin line between sanity and what is considered insanity and the slim yet strong ideals of humanity and hope through Buddhism and the Heart Sutra.

Entomology by Natesha Somasundaram Growing up in a middle class immigrant family in outer-suburbia, theatre consistently was the only outlet available to me within my little vacuous existence.

I’m not sure that I’ve fallen in love with theatre as much as it was the only thing I was given an opportunity to flourish in and eventually it’s become inextricably linked to my identity and artistry. I’m also an angsty millennial, insecure attention-seeker, and will mostly base my self-worth on external validation, like social media; theatre provides an extremely convenient transactional relationship for that purpose. I started writing this play as a response to a generational disillusionment with theatre and art, and the weird private/public tensions that are manifesting in response to a radically changing world.

Hero by Arun Subramaniam I watched a performance of The Smell of Language sixteen years ago in an experimental black box theatre at the basement of a rundown shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. The piece was a monologue written by Huzir Sulaiman, deftly directed by Krishen Jit. The protagonist – an aged, eccentric and courageous essayist – had come back to investigate the circumstances of his own murder.

At that precise moment, I was awoken to the intimacy and playfulness of theatre, and made a commitment to myself that I would write a play. Hero revolves around a Malaysian politician who is assassinated. The politician, his wife and son recount the dead man’s life through monologues. In the process, disturbing questions and truths emerge. The central question the son appears to be asking is: is my father a hero? Apart from this, I was interested in other themes. How does public life interfere with private life? What makes a hero? How does one contend with public scandal? In the process of experiencing these conflicts, the son goes through a type of catharsis which ultimately might, or might not, give him peace.

Hungry Ghosts by Jean Tong I’ve retrospectively realised that my earliest memory of theatre is of watching political satire The 2nd First Bolehwood Awards in Malaysia that – aged eight – I didn’t understand at all. But that sense of sitting in a crowd of people who got it, whatever ‘it’ was, stuck with me for a long time. I wanted to learn to make that happen.

I think I have to write [Hungry Ghosts] while still young/ egotistical enough to believe I can adequately cover the messy convergences of political corruption, collective tragedy and personal identity in one small play. Older me will probably look back and laugh in disbelief.

Vivid by Hoa Pham

Mermaid Terrorist By Chi Vu

[I fell in love with theatre] in Grade 3 when I did an impromptu dramatic performance of Swan Lake in front of my class as Odette/Odile and I experienced the magic of an audience watching me! My play is about how to survive and be sane in an insane world. Khanh is diagnosed with schizophrenia and she ‘hallucinates’ that they torture refugees in camps. In 2016, this is the reality; it is not delusional and not solely the product of her mind.

The Australian government is what is insane, with

I fall in love with theatre when I watch a performer be so vulnerable that the audience are on the edge of their seats. And theatre is very good at doing this because of the live presence of the actors, which seems to encourage us to be present to each other. [I started writing Mermaid Terrorist] because I became obsessed by an untold story suggested in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. I had to ‘dive into it’.

Philanthropy

Remember Your MTC MTC Legacy Circle In November, Jane Hansen, MTC Foundation Board Chair and Brett Sheehy AO, MTC Artistic Director, officially launched Melbourne Theatre Company’s Legacy Circle, which has been formed to recognise donors who plan to support MTC by including a gift in their will.

MTC’s long-term donors and subscribers joined the Company for afternoon tea at The Langham, Melbourne to celebrate the launch and to learn about the lasting difference a legacy gift to MTC can make to the Company’s future.

At this special event, Jannie Brown spoke on behalf of her late sister Christine, whose generous legacy gift will ensure that her love of theatre will live on through the Company. Christine Brown was a loyal MTC subscriber with her sister for many years. Her passion and interest in the development of new Australian works for the stage led her to make the visionary gesture of remembering MTC in her will. We extend our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Christine for entrusting MTC with her important and impactful legacy.

We were also thrilled that Betty Amsden AO, one of Victoria’s most treasured philanthropists, joined Jane Hansen on stage to help us launch the program, share her experience and offer her support for this very special way of contributing to the future of the arts.

If you plan to support MTC by leaving a legacy gift, please let us know so that we can invite you to join our Legacy Circle. Your legacy will protect and nurture the crucial work of the Company and has the potential to positively impact the creative and cultural landscape of our great city for the benefit of future generations.

Supporters who make this inspirational gesture will be invited to attend exclusive behind-the-scenes events and become a close part of the MTC family. Most importantly, the Legacy Circle allows MTC to thank those who include a gift in their will for their generosity during their lifetime.

We understand the decision to include a gift in your will is a very personal one. If you are considering leaving a legacy gift to MTC, please contact us. We would be happy to discuss ideas to ensure that your passion for theatre lives on at MTC.

Clockwise from top left: Betty Amsden AO and Jane Hansen, Daryl Kendrick and Sandy Bell, Dr Ronald Rosanove, Terry Bracks AM and Professor Andrea Hull AO. Photos by Benjamin Healley.

For more information or a confidential conversation please contact Chris Walters, Annual Giving Manager, on 03 8688 0938 or c.walters@mtc.com.au

The Odd Couple is proudly supported by

Corporate Partnerships

Cultural Collaboration Partner Profiles

Audi Australia It is with great pleasure that we announce long-time partner Audi Australia will be the official partner for MTC’s Audi Forum Nights, a series of Q&A events with cast and creatives, set to take place after select performances in MTC’s 2017 season.

The alignment will continue MTC’s vibrant five-year partnership with Audi, which has so far seen collaboration on more than 50 MTC Audi Opening Nights.

MTC’s Forum Nights are engaging Q&A events for each play in MTC’s season, created for audience members to extend their theatre experience and hear from members of the cast and creative teams directly after the show.

With Audi’s support in 2017, MTC will now host two post-show Audi Forum Nights for most productions, giving more people the chance to hear first-hand from the team behind each show. The Audi Forum Nights will occur directly after the first two Monday night performances post Opening Night for most productions.

Photo by Justin Ridler.

The Langham, Melbourne

The Luxury Network

The Langham, Melbourne is a five-star luxury hotel offering genuine and personalised service, delightful interiors, the best in fine dining, and lush river and city views.

The Luxury Network is the world’s leading luxury affinity marketing, partnerships and events group, described as ‘the next generation of marketing for luxury brands’. Founded in London in 2007, it is a private business-to-business networking association, now operating in leading luxury capitals of the world.

Its stellar central location beside the Yarra River on Melbourne’s bustling Southbank Promenade makes it the perfect location for arts lovers. Our partnership with The Langham has seen us hold numerous functions within the hotel, most recently the launch of our Legacy Circle. Its glamorous interior also makes it the perfect backdrop for some of our photoshoots – in fact, we shot the images for our first show of 2017, Born Yesterday, in the Presidential Suite.

On the set of the Born Yesterday photoshoot with photograhper Justin Ridler in The Langham Presidential Suite.

We are pleased to continue our strong partnership with The Langham and look forward to holding many more events in its beautiful spaces.

With the help of The Luxury Network as our Season Partner, MTC’s Corporate Partnerships team is able to create premium experiences off stage for our valued Subscribers, Donors and MTC Club Members, including our MTC Members Program and Qatar Airways MTC Lounge.

MTC Partners Qatar Airways and Kozminsky are also members of The Luxury Network, as are other arts organisations such as Abercrombie & Kent, The Adelaide Review, and Logic Films.

We thank The Luxury Network for their ongoing commitment to MTC and the arts.

No easy answers Joanna Murray-Smith and her three little words

Joanna Murray-Smith

Catherine McClements in Three Little Words.

Photo by Justin Ridler.

‘I was struck by the speed with which loyalty is supplanted by acrimony, how the intensity of feelings zig-zags from intense love, faithfulness and optimism to utter vitriol and cruelty.’

When Joanna Murray-Smith submitted her new play, Three Little Words, the title excited much interest and heated debate. It was obvious to some what those titular three little words might be, but of course each person’s obvious was another’s plain wrong.

Fury, a recent play produced by Sydney Theatre Company, she skewered our pomposity and hypocrisy, our so-called Aussie tolerance, while also examining our blindness to the rage that exists throughout the world as change fractures class, race and party political certainties.

Do they represent a declaration of love? I love you!

An abusive phrase? I hate you. A statement of place or certainty? This is it. Are they entirely self-referential?

Three little words. A plea? Enough is enough. A barrage?

A slogan? A call to arms? A cri de cœur?

Three Little Words has its world premiere with MTC in April. Speaking with Murray-Smith about her new work, she is canny, generous and insightful. ‘Everyone is divorcing. We have long been surrounded by “happy marriages” which are now coming undone,’ says Murray-Smith, explaining the inspiration behind the play.

And that of course is one of Joanna Murray-Smith’s inimitable gifts as a dramatist: taking something familiar, something that we recognise and understand, and then simultaneously multiplying, and exploding, our expectations.

Her plays undermine supposed inevitabilities, dismantle foregone conclusions, deconstruct convictions, and they do so with élan. The elegance and grace of Murray-Smith's narrative stealth regularly pulls the ground from beneath our feet inducing vertiginous anxiety and delight; so often she forces us to recalibrate our bearings, challenging much of what we know, or think we know. How does she find the balance between delivering moments of effervescent comedy and tackling ideas of depth and complexity?

‘I have no idea,’ admits Murray-Smith. ‘This ‘style’ is a reflection of my own thought processes. I move from “I think I might jump off the roof terrace today” to “Where can I buy great scatter cushions?” all day long.’

In Pennsylvania Avenue she took the simplest of ideas, almost a catalogue, and uncovered pain, bias, dynamism, curiosity and deep creativity. In Switzerland she merged two genres, the innocent abroad and the thriller, and drew laughs and sharp intakes of breath from the audience every night with the play’s twists and turns. In

‘I was struck by the speed with which loyalty is supplanted by acrimony, how the intensity of feelings zig-zags from intense love, faithfulness and optimism to utter vitriol and cruelty. How and why do people do this to each other? And is it instinct that initiates a split or is it a conscious decision? How much of separation is driven by the insurmountable forces of ego and fear of mortality?’

The play focuses on two couples – long-term, close friends. When one couple tells the other they are getting divorced, the ensuing reactions reveal that perhaps more than one relationship is at stake. And as the action unfolds, it is easy to wonder about the power of her creations; that is, do certain characters take over and utterly change her plays as she is writing them; or are they obedient and well-behaved, happy to play their assigned roles?

‘In a good play, [the characters] create their own trajectory and I am merely the conduit between their self-determination and the page. In a less good play, I am strictly in control and they do what they are told. A good play is a very carefully balanced equation of control

versus chaos, ego versus humility, blueprint versus surprise,’ says Murray-Smith.

Three Little Words also revisits a theme that Murray-Smith has explored before.

‘We all want to lead more than one life. We all want to live inside passion. Some of us accept this isn’t possible forever and others strive to make it possible. I have always been fascinated by long-term love versus the thrill of new discovery. That theme was present in my first very successful play, Honour, and here I am revisiting it because it will not let me go. What love means shifts with age … that strikes me as a very interesting thing.

The wisdom of ageing encourages new interpretations of love. But on the other hand, ageing can sometimes make us boring and quell our curiosity about love, desire and possibility. There are no easy answers. And that makes for good drama.’

Joanna Murray-Smith spoke to Chris Mead

Three Little Words plays at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 18 April.

Watch Joanna Murray-Smith introduce her acerbic comedy of manners, Three Little Words, at the Season 2017 Launch. mtc.com.au/backstage.

MTC Club

Love MTC? Join the Club Elegant pre-show dining and drinks MTC Club Members can now purchase delicious menu selections from Script Bar & Bistro in the comfort of their own private dining room. Book in to enjoy dinner before the show and return at interval for an indulgent dessert.

If you prefer something less substantial, delicious sharing plates are also available and can be enjoyed pre-show or at interval.

With spectacular views of the Melbourne skyline and a range of complimentary wines, beers and soft drinks available, the Qatar Airways MTC Lounge is the perfect place to relax before the show. The Lounge is open for MTC Club Members at evening performances during the first three full weeks after Opening Night, for all MTC productions in the Sumner.

For more information about MTC Club membership, visit mtc.com.au/club or contact Syrie Payne, Memberships and Partnerships Coordinator, on 8688 0958 or club@mtc.com.au

Qatar Airways MTC Lounge. Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen.

MTC Club Member Nights New in 2017, we are delighted to introduce MTC Club Member Nights in the Qatar Airways MTC Lounge.

Hosted by a member of MTC’s Artistic Team, these exclusive pre-show events will take place on the second Forum Night for all MTC productions in the Sumner.

Starting the year in style, we invite MTC Club Members to join MTC Associate Director Dean Bryant on 30 January for an exclusive introduction to his production of Born Yesterday.

MTC CLUB MEMBER NIGHTS 2017 Born Yesterday Faith Healer Three Little Words Macbeth Di and Viv and Rose Hay Fever Vivid White

30 January 20 March 1 May 19 June 28 August 9 October 4 December

Qatar Airways MTC Lounge. Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen.

An offer worthy of a standing ovation MTC Club Lounge

30 DAY

FREE TRIAL

Be in the front row with unrivalled arts coverage and theatre reviews and know the stories behind the performance in our seamless iPad app experience.

Start your free 30 day trial today

theage.com.au/mtc

This is a limited trial offer and is only available to new subscribers of The Age. Only one trial is permitted per new subscriber. Trial is for the All Digital Access package only and will automatically renew to the All Digital package standard rate of $5.80 per week after the one month trial period unless the subscriber contacts us on 13 66 66 to cancel or change the subscription. To see the full terms and conditions, please visit www.theage.com.au/conditions.

Inside MTC

Meet the Team Mark Wheeler, Southbank Theatre Operations Director

Photo by Benjamin Healley.

What was your first performing arts experience?

Apart from shows at school, the earliest major theatre production I can remember was seeing Derek Jacobi in Hamlet at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney in 1979. This was a couple of years after the TV series I, Claudius and I had a real sense of his status as a great international actor. I subsequently worked on five productions at HMT Sydney so had a strong affection for that theatre, unfortunately now demolished and replaced with an apartment building.

My first theatre experience on the other side of the curtain was working with a small company in my home town of Goulburn, NSW. We had a full-time Artistic Director but everyone else volunteered. I built sets, worked backstage, operated lights and sound and performed. I spent two years working on almost every show and that experience really established my desire for a performing arts career.

When did you begin working at MTC? I first worked with MTC as Ann Tonks’ PA for about six months in 1998. It was a short term contract, as I had another job booked (Company Manager on the musical Chicago, which ended up rehearsing in the studios at MTC’s Ferrars Street HQ). It was a great introduction to

the Company and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to return when I became Theatre Manager at Southbank Theatre in 2012.

Can you briefly describe a day in your role at MTC? What I do is one of those theatre jobs of which the audience should be completely unaware. If you’re conscious of the work I’m responsible for, then I probably haven’t done my job. If you are greeted warmly by the staff, if the lights work, if the bar serves you smoothly, if the building is clean, if there’s a brochure or flyer to pick up, if you leave remembering the great production you’ve just seen but feeling like the whole experience of your visit was enriching and rewarding, then I’ve achieved what I should that day.

What is one of your favourite MTC productions?

Proof with Rachel Griffiths in 2002, but that’s just one of many. Because the Company draws on the talents of so many on and off stage creative people, the joy of the MTC experience is constantly being exposed to great work and being challenged to re-think our individual and collective place in the world.

On the Road MTC goes on tour building new audiences

In 2017, MTC is going on tour! In addition to collaborations with Queensland Theatre Company (Noises Off ) and Sydney Theatre Company (The Father), three MTC shows will tour the east coast of Australia next year.

The MTC Education production, Melbourne Talam by Rashma N. Kalsie (left) will tour to regional Victoria and Tasmania, heading to Mildura, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Shepparton, Wodonga, Geelong and Launceston throughout May and June, bringing theatre to schools outside Melbourne.

After its world premiere, Lally Katz’s charming odd-ball story, Minnie & Liraz (centre) will head to Geelong Performing Arts Centre, while our much-loved 2015 production of What Rhymes with Cars and Girls (right) returns for a tour including Geelong, Bendigo, Parramatta and Brisbane.

Special offers Ticket Offer

Ticket discount

Arts Centre Melbourne presents Ash Flanders: Playing to Win

L’Arpeggiata Melbourne Recital Centre

How do you win in a world where eight-year-olds on YouTube are the new gurus; where Hollywood stars dance alone at their own premieres; where even your own parents disparage you as 'the flavour of the month'? How do you stay optimistic? How do you maintain your dignity? Ash wouldn’t know.

Local theatre darling Ash Flanders (MTC NEON’s Lilith: The Jungle Girl, MTC’s Buyer & Cellar, co-founder of Sisters Grimm) blends together song and story, pop culture and personal tragedy, with his unrivalled brand of acerbic humour. Prepare yourself for a hilarious rumination on the entertainment biz, broken dreams and the desperation needed to succeed. Playing at Arts Centre Melbourne from 27 to 29 January 2017.

From vivid and dramatic to serene and sacred, Christina Pluhar and her French ensemble of brilliant musicians recognise no boundaries, blurring the lines between the score and improvisation, classical and folk, old and new. L’Arpeggiata pays homage to Henry Purcell, the most acclaimed English composer of the Baroque, in what is certain to be a truly cosmopolitan musical experience as they play the pop music of the 17th century in a way that makes it sing for 21st century ears.

L'Arpeggiata plays at Melbourne Recital Centre's Elisabeth Murdoch Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 13 March 2017.

For your chance to win a double pass to the Opening Night of Ash Flanders: Playing to Win on Friday 27 January, email offers@mtc.com.au with ASH in the subject line.

MTC Subscribers can receive 10% off Standard Tickets until 19 January. Use the promo code MTC when booking. To book, visit melbournerecital.com.au or call 03 9699 3333 during business hours.

Film Offer

Accommodation Offer

Lion

Melbourne Short Stay Apartments

Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham and Rooney Mara star in Garth Davis’ emotionally charged drama Lion, adapted for the screen by Luke Davies, from the incredible true story Lion: A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.

Five-year-old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of kilometres across India, away from home and family. Saroo must learn to survive alone in Kolkata, before he is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty-five years later, armed with only a handful of memories, his unwavering determination, and a revolutionary technology known as Google Earth, he sets out to find his lost family and finally return to his first home. Lion opens on 19 January 2017.

Make yourself at home in a self-contained one-, two- or three-bedroom apartment.

Choose from seven central locations in Melbourne’s CBD or Southbank. All apartments feature a fully equipped kitchen and laundry, a private balcony, spacious bedrooms and plush living areas. Make use of free WiFi and access to facilities including an indoor pool and gymnasium.

Melbourne Short Stay Apartments are offering MTC Subscribers 10% off. Book direct by visiting shortstay.com.au or calling 1800 008 910 and use promo code MTC10 to enjoy 10% off our best available rates for all apartments. Applicable for stays from 1 December 2016 to 31 July 2017. Offer expires 31 January 2017.

For your chance to win a double pass to an advance screening of Lion on Thursday 12 January, 6.30pm, at Cinema Nova email offers@mtc.com.au with LION in the subject line.

LAUGHTER, INTRIGUE, T R A G E DY, S U S P E N S E There’s nothing like the gift of live theatre this festive season.

For Gift Vouchers, tickets and more, visit the Box Office before 23 December or mtc.com.au/giftideas