Scenes 2018 - Edition 3

EDITION 3 – 2018

Peter Houghton The drama of life

Nicola Gunn Working with children

Albert Belz The edge of the eighties

Anchuli Felicia King Pave the way

Welcome 2018 has seen no shortage of theatrical delights. So far this year we’ve been mesmerised by the international smash-hit The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime, thrilled by Australian premiere productions like Gloria, Wild and The Children, and captivated by new Australian plays including Hungry Ghosts, to name just a few.

And happily, there are more exceptional productions on the horizon.

Shortly, the brand new work from leading independent artist Nicola Gunn, Working with Children, will open in the Lawler after its successful workshop in Belgium with our production partners, the European company CAMPO. The Architect welcomes back Nicholas Bell, Linda Cropper, Joel Jackson and Stephen Phillips to star in the world premiere of Aidan Fennessy’s powerful new work, directed by Peter Houghton. MTC Associate Director Sarah Goodes takes us on a journey to 1980s Geelong in Astroman by Albert Belz, and lastly, Simon Phillips directs a spectacular Twelfth Night to see out the year.

Off-stage there have been a number of very exciting announcements recently including the new commissions and residents as part of our NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program (read more on page 9), the recipients of our 2018

Indigenous Scholarship Program and the participants in our CAAP Directors Program: a new initiative in partnership with Contemporary Asian Australian Performance.

And of course, this time of year lends itself to another exciting event on the MTC calendar. On Tuesday 4 September our 2019 Season will be revealed and we cannot wait to share all the exciting details with you.

Don’t forget to put the date in your diary and make sure you RSVP quickly to secure your spot at the launch.

I hope you enjoy reading about our upcoming shows and recent news in this edition of Scenes, and I’ll see you at the launch.

Brett Sheehy ao Artistic Director

Prompt Corner

Southbank Boulevard Roadworks The City of Melbourne roadworks along Southbank Blvd and Dodds St are taking place over the next few months and your journey to the theatre will be disrupted as a result.

MTC is excited to welcome back Joel Jackson (Born Yesterday) playing Leonard and Stephen Phillips (Boy Gets Girl) playing Jeremy Pyefinch in The Architect. In Astroman, playing Natalie/Mrs Taylor is Tahlee Fereday following her performances in the 2018 Cybec Electric and First Stage play readings. Joining the cast of Twelfth Night is Roderick Cairns (Molly), Esther Hannaford (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Anthony Harkin (Kinky Boots) and Lachlan Woods (Macbeth). With some roles in Twelfth Night still to be cast, stay tuned for exciting announcements.

Until early-October, Southbank Blvd between St Kilda Rd and Sturt St will be closed with no vehicle access during this time. Trams and pedestrian access will continue but may be disrupted on occasion.

Southbank Theatre will be open and operating as usual but please allow extra time to get to the theatre over the next few months.

For full details about the roadworks visit participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ southbankboulevard

Season 2019 Launch Don’t forget to RSVP for the launch of our 2019 Season on 4 September.

Cover: Kamil Ellis and Calen Tassone Photo by Justin Ridler Photography throughout by Jeff Busby, Tim Grey, Justin Ridler and Steven Siewers

MTC Headquarters 252 Sturt St, Southbank Vic 3006 T 03 8688 0900 F 03 8688 0901 info@mtc.com.au mtc.com.au

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.

Southbank Theatre 140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank Vic 3006 BOX OFFICE 03 8688 0800

MANAGING EDITOR Rosie Shepherdson-Cullen EDITOR and WRITER Sarah Corridon ART DIRECTOR Emma Wagstaff GRAPHIC DESIGNER Helena Turinski Melbourne Theatre Company is a department of the University of Melbourne.

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.

Subscription bookings open directly after the event. You can also subscribe online at mtc.com.au/2019

STAY IN THE LOOP MelbourneTheatreCompany melbtheatreco melbtheatreco Sign-up to receive our eNews at mtc.com.au or email info@mtc.com.au Pick up a $2 programme at your next show – they are filled with great articles and useful show information.

The drama of life Director Peter Houghton asks the ultimate question, 'What makes us go on?'

Peter Houghton; Linda Cropper stars in The Architect

Peter Houghton discusses the cause and effect of jumping between actor, writer and director as he prepares to take the reins of The Architect.

What drew you to this new play from Aidan Fennessy?

Aidan sent me the script last year. I loved it immediately.

I’ve done a lot of comedy over the past decade or so which I’ve loved, but this is something else. The comedy is still there, in fact, it’s hilarious at times, but Aidan uses the comedy like an emotional can opener. He sort of turns it like a key on one of those old Spam tins, and then there’s this sudden, overwhelming and hugely satisfying emotion. Like Aidan, the play has incredible heart, and a genuine sense of compassion. That’s rare to be honest. Lots of plays have grizzles and gripes or points to make and prove, very few are infected with an empathy for our fellow travellers on this often difficult journey. He can do real drama, Aidan, and make it matter by using comedy to cunningly help us fall in love with characters he’ll then place in peril. You care about these people. That’s good writing.

Fennessy describes his play as a work about living in extremis. It is a story about life and death. What do you find appealing about this kind of narrative?

Most good drama is about extremes I guess, we can do subtle at home. For the theatre we want catharsis – that’s one of its social purposes. We go in, we sit down and all our ‘stuff’ gets unpacked by ciphers ‘acting’ on our behalf. That’s the deal really. The better the act, the better the experience.

These narratives have been central for centuries. People grappling with big questions have been centre stage since Agamemnon returned from Troy, or Hamlet held that skull and wondered where his old friend had gone. We laugh about it, skirt around it, avoid it and occasionally confront it. Making it entertaining takes away our fear, ennobles our suffering and reminds us we’re not alone.

As a writer, actor and director you must be familiar with going inside the minds of different characters. How do the three hats vary?

What’s funny is how quickly you take on the politics of each role. When you’re directing it’s all about directing, and you start thinking directors are the smart ones. When you’re acting it’s all about acting and actors are the only ones that ‘get it’, and when you’re writing you wonder if your work will be treated properly. You very quickly develop a kind of pathology that matches your job description. I think that’s because each involves such a different part of your brain and each role comes with its own set of quite particular vulnerabilities. However, they also come with a very particular perspective. I feel pretty lucky to do all three to be honest, because a sure footing in one role gives you insight into another. I’m a much better director because I write. And my acting is clearer because I direct.

‘All plays were new plays once. It’s interesting to see a ‘classic’ but imagine the excitement of seeing it before it was.’

And I strongly believe that all theatre artists should act now and then. You’ll care a lot more about the plane if you actually have to fly it. And you shouldn’t really ask people to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

What is your favourite part of the theatre-making process, and what can the cast look forward to about your rehearsal room?

As a director, I love the first clumsy steps and stumbles – the initial discoveries. It’s about expanding and opening up, reinforcing and re-inventing. I’m not sure I love opening night, but I do love the season. As an actor, I love the hard work of the season; going in every night with thoughts in mind, little fixes and adjustments. I hope the cast enjoy the process. It is important to me that they do. There are happy companies and troubled companies in the theatre.

A collective pride in the work usually makes a happy company. And a sense of ownership over the production makes actors feel strong in their roles and their relationships. I think the actors will have a lot of laughs on this, and some tears as well – it’s a very moving piece.

Aidan has a very big heart so I really want them to get a sense of that, of his warmth and generosity and how that infuses the play. He’s not an obvious lush in that respect, in fact he can come across as a cynic with his dry humour, but both he and the play have a great love of basic human feeling and sensitivity. I really want the cast to manifest that, and to share it with the audience.

The Architect will have its world premiere at Southbank Theatre in a few short months. What do you find most challenging, and most rewarding, about making a brand new play?

There is nothing better than a world premiere. All plays were new plays once. It’s interesting to see a ‘classic’ but imagine the excitement of seeing it before it was. The

greatest challenges reap the greatest rewards – I think that’s how the cliché goes. I love the classics but sometimes it does feel like you’re renovating someone else’s house. It’s satisfying, but it’s not yours. New work is unknown to an audience; every word heard for the first time, no one is singing along. So the emphasis is far more placed on plot. It’s the story that steps forward, not the director's vision or an actor doing a great turn. The audience are riveted to the characters travelling through the plot with them in real time. There are no easy academic distractions or references to soften or intellectualise the experience. It’s happening here and now. And our job as theatre makers is to make that tightrope walk as dangerous and thrilling as possible; the audience can sort out the ideas later on. In the moment I want them locked up in the hopes and fears of the characters. That visceral engagement that great storytelling encourages. I want them on the edge of their seats.

Who is The Architect for?

I would say that the play is therapeutic for people who have suffered bereavement, which is all of us really. It’s about finding out what endures, what continues, beyond the clichés; what makes us go on.

The Architect by Aidan Fennessy plays at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 27 September—31 October and is supported by Production Partner The Langham, Melbourne and Media Partner Triple R.

Blazing Gunn Nicola Gunn uses her distinctive humour and fierce social critique to explore the moral and ethical minefield of working with children, and other social taboos.

Nicola Gunn

Nicola Gunn’s one-person show asks us to imagine a woman who works with children, but has a secret she is incredibly ashamed of. Gunn sat down with herself to ask a few important questions ahead of her world premiere season at Southbank Theatre.

Nicola: Nicola, please tell me about your new theatre piece, Working with Children?

Nicola: That’s an excellent question. Well firstly, I want to correct you and say that it’s contemporary performance, which is not to say it’s not also a theatre piece because I am performing it in a theatre, but sometimes I think it’s good to clarify that it’s actually contemporary performance.

Nicola: What’s the difference?

Nicola: Oh well. Hmmm. For me, I suppose it means there is not really a linear plot with characters, there’s very little artifice.

Nicola: I think you’ll find theatre can do those things too.

Nicola: If you say so. There’s very little pretending (I really am playing myself) and I’m looking for more abstract ways to communicate an idea or a feeling or an experience.

Nicola: An idea about working with children? Is that because you haven’t actually got any on stage?

Nicola: That’s part of it, yes.

Nicola: Don’t you think the title is misleading?

Nicola: No because it’s about people who work with children, not the children themselves.

Nicola: Have you ever worked with children?

Nicola: Ah no.

Nicola: But you did spend some time observing people who work with children?

Nicola: Not exactly.

Nicola: Do you know any children?

Nicola: Not personally, no.

[Pause] Nicola: What is it about this theme that interested you then?

Nicola: I’m fascinated by the amount of rules and regulations put in place to protect young people, especially if you want to work with them in an artistic context. What are we protecting young people from and when we’re protecting them, what are we not protecting them from? And what are the long-term effects of an overly risk managed theatre, school, city, world? As a side note, I also notice in art that there is an interest in seeing real people do real things and I want to know what it is about them that is so symbolically powerful, particularly when they are children, especially when let’s face it, they can’t really act.

‘What are we protecting young people from and when we’re protecting them, what are we not protecting them from?’

Nicola: Let’s not get into this.

Nicola: Ok. Nicola: So how is the show coming along?

Nicola: Well, it’s in development. It’s a new work, which is pretty exciting, but it also makes it difficult to talk about because nothing is fixed yet. This creates a fair amount of uncertainty and a lot of people find uncertainty uncomfortable. I find it a little uncomfortable too, to be honest, but there’s something thrilling in the risk of it all.

The risks are all being managed of course. Unfortunately.

Nicola: Where are you right now?

Nicola: Oh I’m glad you asked. Right now I am sitting in a technical rehearsal at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts. I open an older show of mine here tomorrow.

Nicola: Wow! You are performing at one of the oldest dance festivals in America and you have absolutely no dance training whatsoever! That’s quite an achievement.

Nicola: It is. Except we went swimming in a lake yesterday and I think I have sunstroke.

Nicola: You should probably have a cold shower and drink lots of water. Maybe have a Berocca.

Nicola: Good idea. Well I should probably get back to it now.

Nicola: Thanks for your time.

Nicola: Pleasure.

Working with Children by Nicola Gunn plays at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler from 30 August—29 September.

Delusions of grandeur Dr David McInnis, Gerry Higgins Senior Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Melbourne, shares his insights on Shakespeare’s great Christmas comedy Twelfth Night.

Dr David McInnis

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (c.1601) is at once a light-hearted, festive comedy and simultaneously a deeply subversive play. It was written at a crossroads in Shakespeare’s career. It is the last, and arguably the most successful of the four cross-dressing comedies (the others being The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, and As You Like It). But it was also probably written a little after Shakespeare composed Hamlet (c.1600) – another play about grief, melancholy, and aspirations of power through marriage. It is the first of Shakespeare’s seventeenth-century comedies; the first of the ‘dark comedies’, foreshadowing the tragi-comic turn of the final phase of his career. It paves the way for the troubling exploration of female roles in the ambivalent ‘comedies’ of Troilus and Cressida (c.1602) and Measure for Measure (c.1603). It’s also one of the eighteen plays that could have been lost altogether had they not been published posthumously for the first time in 1623, in the First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s works.

Twelfth Night was the first of Shakespeare’s works performed at MTC. This 1955 production was directed by Ray Lawler, in association with John Sumner, and starred a cast including Frank Gaitliff, Barbara St Ledger and Pamela Greenall.

‘This is Shakespeare at his finest: dazzling wit, festive playfulness, but also resisting neat closure and experimenting with very dark comedy.’

As the play opens, with Duke Orsino languishing from unrequited love, Shakespeare seems to encourage mockery of the upper classes. Aristocratic excess in the consumption of luxury goods, music, food and drink, paints an image of the upper class as indulgent gluttons. If music be the food of life, playgoers might laugh subversively at Orsino’s excesses, or recoil at the tremendous wastes that contrasted with the pressures of famine and inflation in the 1590s. When we first meet Olivia’s incorrigible kinsman, Sir Toby Belch, and his carpet-knight friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, they have been out all night ‘quaffing and drinking’ – their idea of going to bed early being to drink past midnight and retire in the early hours of the morning.

They relish the thought of tormenting Malvolio with their revelry, of rousing the ‘night owl’ (code for ‘Puritan’) from his sleep with their caterwauling. Far from legitimising and maintaining the power of the ruling class, Twelfth Night presents the aristocracy in distinctly unfavourable terms.

The construction and critique of classes was a precondition of Shakespeare’s theatre, of course, because princes and aristocrats were necessarily impersonated on stage by common players – people of low estate, sometimes even described as vagabonds.

Such critique of the aristocracy can’t be maintained without complications, however, for the play’s sole outspoken critic of these excesses – Malvolio – is subjected to even greater ridicule himself. Malvolio captivated the imagination of Shakespeare’s original playgoers. In February 1602, Twelfth Night was performed at the Middle Temple (one of the Inns of Court in London), where John Manningham saw the performance and wrote notes about it in his diary. The bulk of Manningham’s attention was given to Malvolio: ‘At our feast we had a play called Twelfth Night, or What you Will. […] A good practice in it to make the steward believe his lady widow was in love with him by counterfeiting a letter, as from his lady, in general terms, telling him what she liked best in him and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparel, etc. And then when he came to practice, making him believe they took him to be mad.’ No mention of Viola.

Some years later, King Charles I renamed Twelfth Night as simply ‘Malvolio’ in his copy of Shakespeare’s works.

The scene in which Malvolio is duped into prancing around wearing yellow, cross-gartered stockings in a misguided bid to woo the lady of the house, Olivia, is amongst the most iconic in all Shakespeare. Here is an austere servant with delusions of grandeur, duly mocked by those he has slighted in the past: Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and the waiting woman, Maria. His humiliation is public but not yet complete, for his enemies seize upon his ridiculous

behaviour as evidence of madness and have him bound and locked away in a dark room – a horrendous sensory deprivation ordeal that’s coupled with attempts to make him lose his mind. Even the perpetrators begin to recognise that they have overstepped the mark.

Malvolio’s gulling progresses to the point that Sir Toby tries to back out of it: ‘I am now so far in offence with my niece that I cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot’. Did early audiences enjoy watching Malvolio humiliated? There is a striking analogy between the baiting of Malvolio by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria, and the blood sports that Shakespeare’s playgoers also paid to attend in public venues close to the Globe theatre.

Fabian even likens past attacks on Malvolio as ‘bearbaiting’ and Sir Toby eagerly seeks to ‘have the bear again’ by tricking Malvolio into thinking that Olivia has written him the love-letter. The audience shares in all this antagonism. Do modern audiences bestow too much sympathy on Malvolio compared with Shakespeare’s audiences? Do our sympathies change over the course of the play, as we suddenly recognise our complicity in the gulling of Malvolio?

The comedy becomes dark before we have time to register our own complicity in the savagery that we watch unfold on stage. The play wraps up easily – with Orsino and Olivia making surprising choices for marriage – but Malvolio is left swearing revenge and Feste remains outside of the neat narrative closure, singing a dirge-like epilogue of a song. This is Shakespeare at his finest: dazzling wit, festive playfulness, but also resisting neat closure and experimenting with very dark comedy.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare plays at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 12 November—29 December.

The edge of the eighties Albert Belz tells us about his love of the 80s, the town of Geelong, and his attraction to characters who live on the fringes of society.

Albert Belz

When did you start working on Astroman?

Soon after I moved to Australia in 2012. I was armed with the beginnings of a loose storyline about a genius kid who loved computer games in the 80s and really started refining it while in Geelong.

In many ways, it reads like a love-letter to the 80s, and also to the city of Geelong itself. Where did your inspirations for Astroman begin?

Yes, the piece was always intended to be a love letter to everything ‘cool’ about the 80s and the arcade culture that came with it. When I was growing up in the early 80s I lived in a small New Zealand township called Whakatane.

Other than the obvious size and population difference, Geelong felt quite similar to Whakatane, add one genius and the story pretty much wrote itself.

New Zealand is your country of origin, but you’ve written a truly Australian story with First Nations’ children as your central characters. What compelled you to tell this particular story?

Aw thanks! There were a few reasons for this. I’d just moved to Australia – so when in Rome, write a Roman story right?

Except I wasn’t interested in writing a play about white Australia, there’s already plenty of that at the theatre and on screens. I wanted to write about the Australia that I wasn’t seeing or experiencing much of. I wanted to write about an Australia that I was interested in learning more about. And then my 10-year-old daughter bought home a new friend from school. Her mob were Wurundjeri, she was the smartest kid I’d met in a long while and with a mouth that wouldn’t stop, she was happy for the world to know it.

That’s what I wanted to write about! That’s when I began refining the storyline I’d started.

Your hero protagonist Jiembra (Jim) has a very distinct voice. His vernacular and mannerisms feel very real.

Is this a character that existed in your head for a long time?

Not really, he was still forming as I was writing. I kept the characters looser than what I normally would for an early draft. Mostly because I was more interested in what the actors bought to the table and their insight in the Djalu family’s experience in Geelong. I was at the workshops to listen, watch and learn. And many of those character subtleties and traits about the family and Mr Pavlis were so much gifted to the story by those practitioners in the workshops.

Kamil Ellis and Elaine Crombie star in Astroman

‘I wanted to write about the Australia that I wasn’t seeing or experiencing much of. I wanted to write about an Australia that I was interested in learning more about.‘ The arcade owner Mr Pavlis is so defined, how did you create him and give him such a big heart?

Like so many stage and screenwriters, I’ve always been interested in writing those characters who are quite happy to live on the fringes of society – they’re the most interesting ones. One of my favourite moments while writing Astroman was when I discovered that Jiembra and Mr Pavlis were recognising in each other that they were facing another fringe-dweller. Pavlis’ recognition of this is the moment he starts to open himself to the idea of entering another’s life and sharing that big heart of his again. I’m pretty sure this discovery for me was in a workshop.

Where does your interest in arcade games stem from?

Did you have any favourite games growing up?

I think as a kid I was just buzzing out on this new interactive technology that allowed me to create a story in the mind without having to open a book. My folks wouldn’t give me money to play games at the arcade so I wasted many hours at the shoulder of others watching them play.

But dad did buy the family a Spectrum 48k computer.

I loved programming games into it from magazines.

My favourite games at the arcade were ‘all of them’, but I really liked Gauntlet, Ikari Warriors and Star Wars.

Do you have any writing habits or rituals you could share with us?

My usual method of writing consists of months of mulling, procrastination and some note taking, followed by an intense couple of weeks locked away from the family smashing out a first draft.

What are you currently working on?

A feature play (horror/ghost story) set in Ireland at the turn of the century.

Do you have any long-term playwriting goals?

Just to get as much of my work out there as I can.

There’s nothing worse than an awesome play/screenplay gathering dust at the bottom of my drawer.

What do you find most challenging about completing a new work?

Getting the money to put it on. Enough money so that everyone involved can at least pay their rent and feed their family for the duration can be a lot tougher than the writing of the piece.

What do you love about writing for the stage?

Bringing the vision and story to life with the help of good people.

Astroman by Albert Belz plays at Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio from 27 October— 8 December and is supported by Media Partners Time Out and Triple R.

Women to the front MTC's Women in Theatre Program is leading the way for change.

MTC Producer Martina Murray says she is frustrated that the industry still needs programs like MTC's Women in Theatre, which she has spearheaded for the past three years. However, she is equally proud of the lasting impact the program has had on women working in the sector, especially in fostering connections that lead to strong collaborations and, ultimately, great work. ‘The performing arts sector is small, often under resourced and all-round challenging, so if we can help build strong alliances and support networks between women working in the arts, that’s a great thing that I am very proud of,’ she says.

Despite a marked improvement in the number of female directors working around the country, there remains a large discrepancy between men and women working in creatively technical roles at Australia’s major theatres.

Men heavily dominate positions in lighting design, sound design and composition, and most women find themselves sizably outnumbered on technical production crews too. This is something that needs to be addressed at a tertiary level of education before any significant improvement can be measured within the industry, Murray says.

MTC’s Women in Theatre program has grown to meet the needs of a changing sector since its early days. Over 100 creatives apply each year, from all over the country, with space to support roughly ten per cent of these applicants.

Candidates nominate their discipline when they apply, so Murray can curate a program that covers all areas of professional theatre making. Members of the group learn from each other’s varying insights and skills, whilst honing their existing skills.

The program comprises three key areas. The first focusses on learning about the inner workings of a mainstage

MTC Producer Martina Murray with Women in Theatre alumnae Victoria Woolley, Fiona Bruce, Angelica Clunes and Mary Rachel Brown

The second area concentrates on professional development, whereby the women, with the assistance of executive coaches and industry leading mentors, work on confidence, communication, pitching, negotiating and their personal leadership style. The third, and most recent addition to the program, looks at well-being in the arts. Working on a project-by-project basis can often have a negative impact on an artist’s emotional and psychological well-being, so the program aims to provide strategies and tools to help navigate the uncertainty of a career in the arts.

‘The investment that Melbourne Theatre Company made is crucial and has had an invaluable effect on my life.’

— SAMANTHA BUTTERWORTH, 2017 ALUMNA theatre company such as MTC. Gaining access to different areas of a production’s development at a state theatre company is an eye-opening experience for many participants, who often hail from the freelance world or independent sector. There are many moving parts to the running of an arts organisation of MTC's scale, especially relating to the complexities of working across multiple productions at once. The Women in Theatre Program seeks to unveil some of these intricacies.

An ongoing benefit of the program is the network and community that each year’s participants create. It’s a facet of the program that Murray is particularly proud of.

The program has helped form a community of highly skilled and creative women who are able to support each other over the course of their careers.

Playwright Emilie Collyer is a Women in Theatre alumna from 2016 and advocates for addressing the inequities in the performing arts gender gap systemically. ‘A program like this, while not the answer to everything, says clearly to the community: "We are open to change. We are open to conversation. We are open, in fact, to critique," Collyer said. ‘And they are the starting points for other, bigger, deeper changes and shifts in whose voices we hear, whose stories are told … moving towards a genuine multiplicity of voice, vision and imagining.’

Murray says that whilst the program has helped redress the gender disparity somewhat, there is a long way to go yet. ‘We continue to discuss and interrogate the barriers and perceived barriers for women in theatre – internally and externally with our colleagues, learning institutions and peers. We know that the lack of women in technical creative roles needs our attention. We know that practical pathways need investing in. Programs only go so far.’

As 2017 alumna Samantha Butterworth said, the program has bolstered her confidence to invest in herself and strive to reach her potential as a female theatre maker.

‘As a producer, you often spend most of your time looking after the rest of your team … it often means that I don’t think about focusing on myself. The fact that someone invested in me personally has had a huge impact on my career. In the course of those 11 months, I developed an international tour for myself to research arts participation for which I successfully applied for funding, started a new role in artistic leadership, which is a considerable milestone in my career, and bought a house. The investment that Melbourne Theatre Company made is crucial and has had an invaluable effect on my life.'

Find out more about The Women in Theatre Program and the 2018 participants at mtc.com.au/artistaccess.

The Women in Theatre Program is made possible by the Women in Theatre Giving Circle.

That‘s the ticket From ripping tickets to scanning iPhones, ticketing has come a long way at MTC.

A Subscriber for over 20 years and MTC employee for 16, MTC’s Director of CRM & Ticketing, Dale Bradbury, is passionate about theatre and sees the Company as an important cultural curator in his life. He has witnessed the Company evolve over the years and is instrumental in ensuring MTC offers audiences the best possible ticketing services.

Dale Bradbury

Updates from ticketing •

Our website is now integrated with PayPal, which allows you to pay by credit card or directly from your bank account when purchasing tickets, gift vouchers and your 2019 subscription package, and when making donations.

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We now have exchanges available for all shows at Southbank Theatre – and recent improvements to our website mean you can now exchange multiple tickets at the same time with ease. Don’t forget 11 Play subscribers enjoy unlimited free exchanges all year.

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Be sure to update your contact details and preferences ahead of our 2019 Season Launch to ensure your season brochure arrives on time.

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We’ve updated our privacy policy. You can access it, and control your contact preferences, online at any time.

Management Ticketing system called Tessitura, and in 2007 we processed our 2008 season subscriptions in-house. In 2009, we opened the Southbank Theatre along with our own box office, allowing us to sell our own single tickets in this venue, and from 2010 for our shows at Arts Centre Melbourne.

What is Tessitura?

Tessitura was created in the late 1990s by the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Since 2002, Tessitura has been stewarded and developed by a not-for-profit co-operative that MTC is a member of. Its users direct the development of Tessitura, so we are always seeking new functionality to support the needs of our businesses to best serve our audiences. It’s a very virtuous circle, and there is a lot of collaboration amongst the arts companies on business best practice.

When did your love of theatre begin?

I was always taken to the movies as a child, and it was school that provided me access to live performance. I remember loving being in the school concerts, and in primary school, I had an amazing teacher in grades 5 and 6 who made the class sing songs for half an hour each morning. At the time I didn’t realise it, but the songs were mostly from musicals, and in grade 6 we did a basic production of The Sound of Music. I played Captain Von Trapp. The rest is history.

Tell us about one of your all-time favourite productions at MTC and what made it so special?

This is a really tough question. My favourite form of theatre is the musical, and in my time here we have done many amazing productions. The one that stands out is Poor Boy, because it was an original work. It was a ‘play with music’ utilising the songs of Tim Finn. We opened Southbank Theatre with this piece, which instantly marks it as special, but beyond that, it was an atmospheric and moody story that brought together all the finest things that makes this company great. Simon Phillips directed and Guy Pearce starred, supported by great creative talent. It was a grand way to launch MTC’s new home.

How did you come to find yourself working at MTC? 22 years ago I was working at a large multinational company and was looking for something more fulfilling.

I applied for the Finance Director job at MTC but was unsuccessful. A close friend knew how disappointed I was at the time and 6 years later she called me as we were driving up the Newell Highway for Christmas to say the job was being advertised again. All I could think of that holiday was how I was going to apply, and an excruciating 5 months later I got the job. For 10 years I sweated the money as Finance Director, before moving on to the more free-form and enquiring role of Director of CRM and Ticketing.

How has ticketing at MTC changed in your tenure?

Back in the day when MTC was in the Russell Street Theatre, we had our own box office and everything was hard ticketed (i.e. no computers). Audiences would visit our box office and we had a relationship with them. When Russell Street closed we moved in as a tenant at the Arts Centre and BASS (later Ticketmaster) took over our ticketing, so we lost that direct connection with our audiences. For a decade there was always another party between MTC and our audience, which was very frustrating and we had no control over customer service standards. In 2006, we decided we needed to take control of our destiny, and we purchased an integrated Customer Relationship

What do you think the benefits of being a Subscriber at MTC are?

Everyone can read about the obvious benefits of subscribing (best seats, great prices, exchanging etc), but as a Subscriber myself of over 20 years, what I value most is the social opportunity it represents. It’s my chance to catch up with my friends and family in a reliable way for an adventure we share in the theatre that we can then dissect, praise and pillory afterwards; sometimes over a drink or dinner or on the walk home. MTC is an important cultural curator in my life.

The Langham and Wedgwood have collaborated to launch the bespoke version of the afternoon tradition “The Langham Afternoon Tea with Wedgwood”.

Serving Wedgwood specialty teas in tailor-made “Langham Rose” Wedgwood teaware with special menus created by our pastry chefs.

Enjoy an exquisite selection of tea time delights.

Delicate desserts and dainty scones are paired with gourmet sandwiches.

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Pave the way NEXT STAGE welcomes another cohort of unstoppable Australian playwrights.

Anchuli Felicia King is one of MTC's 2018 NEXT STAGE comissioned writers.

Entering its second year, MTC's NEXT STAGE program is on track to creating a canon of bold, new Australian writing.

Five new commissions have just been awarded to writers Louris van de Geer, Tom Holloway, Anchuli Felicia King, Joe Penhall, and co-authors Chris Ryan, Mark Leonard Winter working with composer Megan Washington.

In something of a coup for MTC, internationally renowned, multi-Olivier Award winning Australian-British playwright and screenwriter Joe Penhall joins the NEXT STAGE contingent fresh from his Netflix hit Mindhunter, his Old Vic triumph Mood Music, and his multi-award winning Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon. Tom Holloway will be familiar from his adaptation of Double Indemnity in Season 2016. Louris van de Geer is one of Melbourne’s most promising up-and-coming playwrights; while Chris Ryan, Mark Leonard Winter and pop icon Megan Washington are working together on a new musical. And the most recently performed of these writers on MTC’s stages is Anchuli Felicia King whose play Slaughterhouse was part of this year’s Cybec Electric play reading season in the Lawler in February.

Hailing from Melbourne, but based in New York – where she is currently completing her MFA at Columbia University – King has spent the last three years collecting awards and coveted residencies at New York’s most of-the-minute theatre companies. Indeed she is an Associate Artist of 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Centre, an experimental, artist-run production development studio in Lower Manhattan.

It’s amazing. It’s very humbling … [to be] reminded that there are so many playwrights and theatre artists that would love to have this opportunity … so it’s something I don’t take lightly.’

It was while studying English and Theatre Studies at Melbourne University that King discovered theatre through music. Several friends asked her to live-score their productions and that unwittingly paved her entry into the hub of performing arts on campus, Union House Theatre. This hive of creativity became a mainstay for King during her undergraduate years.

‘I always thought of MTC as the “big time”. It’s incredible to find out that a company wants to invest in your work. It’s amazing. It’s very humbling.‘ King credits her time growing up in Melbourne as the foundation for her development as an artist. To be included in the second year of MTC's NEXT STAGE program, is simply a dream come true, she says.

King was one of eight playwrights to participate in Cybec Electric this year and her play Slaughterhouse was described by MTC Literary Director Chris Mead as a brilliant, wicked, hilarious Rubik’s cube of a play.

The Cybec experience was one that King absorbed deeply.

‘MTC genuinely provided the most real dramaturgical support I’ve ever received … [and] not just the dramaturgical support that I wanted, but the dramaturgical support that I needed. I felt like Chris [Mead] and Jenni [Medway] really understood what the play required better than I did myself and weren’t afraid of pushing it in new directions.’

When MTC approached King about joining the NEXT STAGE fold in its second year, she was somewhat bewildered.

‘I always thought of MTC as the “big time”. It’s incredible to find out that a company wants to invest in your work.

King came up through Union House theatre under the tutelage of Tom Gutteridge, alongside playwrights Jean Tong (Hungry Ghosts, Season 2018) and Kim Ho (Mirror’s Edge, Cybec Electric 2017), fellow Cybec Electric writers who remain her friends today.

Whip-smart and not one to fall victim to nostalgia, King remembers this time of her life not just as an halcyon period of her youth, but more seriously as the bedrock of her creation as an artist. ‘I became a real theatre acolyte.

Union House was a vehicle for all of those mediums … you could be an artist in many different ways and still work in theatre. There was no formalised education. You were on a ladder rigging lights and that’s how you learnt to do it.’

‘I formalised my practice when I came to New York and I decided that this was what I was going to do for a living.

I knuckled down on building my skillset when I got here; but my undergrad was when I fell in love with the art form.’

King's exposure to two very different kinds of theatre – experimental, formally radical theatre, alongside more commonplace naturalism – helped determine the type of

playwriting she wanted to explore: ‘Having been exposed to all that work, I was able to take it all in, and find a different way to approach political realism.’

Playwrights including Lucas Hnath (A Doll’s House, Part 2), Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced), J.T. Rogers (Oslo) and David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross) are amongst the writers King looks toward for inspiration. Their sparse, muscular, fast-paced writing is the kind of writing she would like to emulate throughout her career.

Being a young, inventive, multi-disciplinary theatre artist, and a woman of colour, is not something that is lost on King. ‘I think it’s challenging for any young artist because the world is going to try and brand you in a certain way.

I’m hyper-aware at this point of how people perceive me and program me. But I’ve decided to take it in my stride, and that the vitality of being in this space, occupying these spots, in big theatre companies – of representing voices and bodies on stage that don’t otherwise exist – kind of trumps any personal discomfort I might have about how people are viewing me.’

‘I think that if I can occupy these spaces, it’s helping to pave the way for other artists to do the same – other young artists and other artists of colour. I’m cognisant of the fact that this is an industry that really likes novelty and newness and what I’m striving to do is create a sustainable theatre career for myself and not just be the flavour of the month.’

King describes herself as an artist, it’s in her blood. ‘It’s both my job and my hobby and at some point I’ll have to start cultivating other interests, because I don’t have any,’ she says between childlike laughs, showing the only signs of her youth. ‘It’s just various forms of art. I am making art pretty much all the time.’

Read more about our NEXT STAGE writers at mtc.com.au/ NEXTSTAGE. MTC’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program is supported by the Playwright’s Giving Circle, The Ian Potter Foundation, The Myer Foundation, Malcolm Robertson Foundation and the University of Melbourne.

Philanthropy

Spotlight on donations Donations play an increasingly vital role at MTC. In fact, many of the key programs and activities that make the Company special, would simply not be possible without support from Donors. Here’s what our Donors helped us achieve in 2017.

29 8

industry professionals mentored through secondments, Women in Theatre, and Assistant Director Programs

new Australian plays developed through Cybec Electric

555

4

total performances

new Australian plays on MTC stages

3 productions visited nine regional and interstate venues on tour

13% of total revenue came from private donations

9,940

subsidised schools tickets to MTC productions

1,800

students gained behind-the-scenes insights through a pre-show talk, post-show Q&A, or tour of MTC’s Headquarters

418

young people participated in VCE or show related workshops

119

3,000

young people saw MTC’s Education show on its 2,000km regional tour

1,309

students from regional Victoria saw an MTC show in Melbourne with the help of a travel subsidy

To find out more about the impact of your support visit mtc.com.au/support or contact Chris Walters, Annual Giving Manager on 03 8688 0938.

theatre practitioners participated in Creative Development Workshops

Corporate Partnerships

Get to know our partners We speak to some of MTC’s longest-standing Partners about their connection with the Company.

FRONTIER SOFTWARE

The Drowsy Chaperone (2010)

NICK SOUTHCOMBE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Frontier Software has been a long-time and valued Partner of MTC, now approaching 20 years. Formed in Melbourne in 1983, Frontier Software’s suite of HR and Payroll management software products and services are the result of more than thirty-five years of investment in technologies and people. As a Premium Season Partner, Frontier Software proudly provides payroll and HR solutions and services to the MTC. Why is it important to Frontier Software to support MTC? Frontier Software recognises MTC as committed to innovation, education and community in the arts. MTC’s diverse activities in both the arts and the community in general, ranging from supporting the creative pursuits of local artists, to workshops catering to all, as well as the Women in Theatre Program are values that Frontier Software admires and are consistent with its own aspirations.

What has been your favourite MTC production so far?

This is a very unfair question as I have seen many great productions in the eleven years I have been a regular patron with the MTC through Frontier Software. But if forced to pick one it would be the 2010 production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Great script, great cast, great set, great behind the scenes creative team; all things that are common to many MTC productions.

What made The Drowsy Chaperone memorable was that I saw the production twice. My wife and I were fortunate to attend the opening performance. That year I also was the highest bidder at an MTC auction for a behind-the-scenes experience of a live performance of a production of my choice. After attending the Opening Night performance, my wife and I elected to experience The Drowsy Chaperone again behind-the-scenes with the stage manager and crew, this time at the closing performance.

We got to call cues, pull a couple of ropes, and run around with the stage manager behind-the-scenes to experience the magic of delivering live theatre. The cast and crew were very welcoming of we muggles on their turf, particularly given it was the final performance.

A wonderful experience. Should MTC again offer such an opportunity, I will be bidding!

CENTRAL EQUITY

HEAT DOWARD

JEREMY VILE, MARKETING MANAGER

LEANNE HARRIS, MARKETING MANAGER

Melbourne Property Developer Central Equity has been a Premium Season Partner of MTC since 2012. Central Equity sells and develops spacious new inner-city apartments.

Central Equity have a brand new Southbank apartment project within walking distance of MTC and Melbourne’s vibrant arts precinct.

Heat Doward is one of Australia’s largest, Australianowned, personal care companies and has partnered with MTC since 2010. Heat Doward supplies the MTC Wardrobe Department with quality cosmetic and hair care products, transforming the actors into their onstage characters.

Why does Central Equity support MTC? Central Equity was the pioneer of residential property in Southbank in the 1990s and has now built accommodation for thousands of people who live in Southbank and other inner city areas. Many of these projects, including the company’s major new apartment project and corporate head office are within walking distance of the arts precinct. MTC play a major role in Southbank and its vibrant arts precinct and Central Equity is proud to be a long-standing supporter.

What do your residents enjoy most about the arts precinct of Melbourne?

Purchasers of Central Equity properties in Southbank love living in Southbank for a wide variety of reasons.

Proximity to the best that Melbourne has on offer including the arts precinct, gardens, CBD, restaurants, cafés, transport, are just a few!

What is something that MTC Subscribers may not know about Central Equity?

Central Equity has developed approximately 50% of the apartments in Southbank over a 30 year period.

What keeps Heat Doward supporting MTC? At Heat, we believe it is important for our business and our team to be involved with and give back to the community.

Heat has been conducting Heat Polls for over 10 years, can you tell us more about this important initiative?

Heat Doward is committed to understanding the challenge that working mothers face in trying to juggle their lifestyle needs with a career, as well as the impact this balancing act has on our economy. The Heat Doward Poll initiative allows us to regularly capture the views and concerns of Australian women and share them with the business community, the media and Government, so that they can better serve the needs and concerns of Australian women.

Describe your most memorable MTC moment.

MTC’s adaptation of Jasper Jones. The casting and the staging were outstanding and exceeded my already high expectations set by the novel.

For more information on partnerships at MTC, please visit mtc.com.au/partnerships or contact partnerships@mtc.com.au

Special offers DVD Offer

Film Pass

Save Me

On Chesil Beach

From the multi-award-winning producers of Line of Duty comes the brand new gritty, gripping British drama Save Me. Nelson ‘Nelly’ Rowe (Lennie James) is a ducker and a diver, a charmer, a chancer, a fighter and a liar. When Nelly’s 13-year-old daughter, who he barely knows goes missing, her mother Claire (Suranne Jones), is convinced of his guilt. Before he knows it, he’s been arrested and charged with kidnapping. Desperate to clear his name, Nelly looks to his community for help. Hell-bent on finding the perpetrator and saving his daughter, he will stop at nothing in his life-changing quest for truth.

A powerful, insightful drama about two people, both defined by their upbringing, bound by the social mores of another era, On Chesil Beach centers on Florence (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle), a young couple in their early twenties. Now on their honeymoon, they learn about the differences between them – their attitudes, temperaments and their drastically different backgrounds. Out on the beach on their fateful wedding day, one of them makes a major decision that will utterly change both of their lives forever.

For your chance to win a DVD of this British crime series, email offers@mtc.com.au with SAVE ME in the subject line by 12 August.

For your chance to win an in-season double pass, email offers@mtc.com.au with CHESIL BEACH in the subject line by 12 August.

Preview Screening

Partner Offer

Julie

Win a three course lunch at The Deck Southbank

Wild and newly single, Julie throws a late night party, which rapidly descends into a savage fight for survival. BAFTA Award-winner Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) stars in this brand new adaptation of August Strindberg’s acclaimed play, filmed live from the National Theatre to cinemas.

Book a pre-theatre dinner at The Deck Southbank prior to your MTC performance before 30 November 2018 to go into the draw to win a three course lunch for six guests with matched wine. The Deck’s Pre-Theatre Menu includes two courses and a glass of wine for $45 available daily from 5pm.

For your chance to win a double pass to a preview screening at Cinema Nova on Sunday 23 September at 10:30am, email offers@mtc.com.au with JULIE in the subject line by 12 August.

To enter book online via info@thedeckrestaurant.com.au and note THE DECK – SCENES SPRING OFFER in the subject line. The winner will be announced 5 December 2018.