What's on - Yellow Moon

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B SHARP IN ASSOCIATION WITH WHITE BLACKBIRD PRESENTS
YELLOW MOON
THE BALLAD OF LEILA AND LEE

WRITTEN BY: DAVID GREIG
DIRECTED BY: SUSANNA DOWLING

BELVOIR ST DOWNSTAIRS THEATRE
2 – 26 SEPTEMBER 2010

WITH: DANIELLE CORMACK, LAYLA ESTASY, KENNETH MORALEDA AND JOHN SHRIMPTON

CHOREOGRAPHER: JOHANNA PUGLISI
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER: IRMA CALABRESE
LIGHTING DESIGNER: TEEGAN LEE
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER: EKREM MULAYIM
PRODUCER: MARK LOWREY

From 2 September, Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre welcomes four fresh new faces to the Downstairs stage, as well as the one of Scotland’s most prolific playwrights, David Greig. Written for the TAG Theatre Company, the children and young people’s arm of the Citizens'' Theatre in Glasgow, Yellow Moon (The Ballad of Leila and Lee) tells the Bonnie-and-Clyde-tale of two troubled urban teens on the run from their dead beat town following an accidental murder.

Stag Lee is 17, bored, and sitting around dreaming about making money from a life of crime. Silent Leila, a self-hating Muslim teenager, is at the all-night superstore wishing she lived inside the pages of a celebrity magazine so she wouldn’t feel so stupid and ugly all the time. The two meet, become friends and head off side-by-side on a rollercoaster quest of self-discovery. Encapsulated in white blackbird’s signature style, Yellow Moon utilises physical storytelling to transition between narrative and poetry.

Director Susanna Dowling says, “I was looking for a piece that we could enrich with lyrical physicality when I came across Yellow Moon. What’s unique about this work however is that it’s equally infused with David Greig’s renowned sense of grounding.


“At white blackbird, we’ve undertaken workshops with many young people in the past, particularly in Sydney’s South West, and felt strongly drawn to the characters in this play who talk directly to so many of the kids we’ve worked with. It’s a global production but one that we believe will have a deep resonance in contemporary Sydney.”

In their first Belvoir St Theatre performances, B Sharp welcomes to the Downstairs stage renowned New Zealand actress, Danielle Cormack (Rake, airing soon on ABC, and Topless Women Talk About Their Lives, for which she won Best Actress in the NZ Film and TV Awards), Layla Estasy (The Jesters – aired 2009 and The House of Bernada Alba – ACTT, 2008), Kenneth Moraleda (Lucky Miles – 2008, for which he won Best Actor in the Cinemanila International Film Festival, and A Man with Five Children – Sydney Theatre Company ) and John Shrimpton (Wolverine – 2008, and Cherry Smoke (Glass Umbrella Creative) – 2009).

The B Sharp creative development program, supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation, has helped develop this production.


It’s hard to believe that Yellow Moon was written by just the one person…every one of his characters is a bloody miracle - unique, complex and unpredictable - and they all jostle for our attention like eager faces at a porthole. – Chris Boyd, Herald Sun

Greig is an intelligently contemporary (and frighteningly prolific) Scots playwright. – Alison Croggon

For more media information, images or full cast biographies for Yellow Moon, contact Siobhan Waterhouse at Company B Belvoir: siobhan@belvoir.com.au/ 02 8396 6242.

NOTES TO EDITORS
SEASON INFORMATION
PREVIEW: Thursday 2 September
OPENING: Friday 3 September
SEASON DATES: 4-26 September
PLAYS: Tues 7pm, Wed-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 5.15pm
WHERE: Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills
TICKETS: $32/$24 (Preview $20, Cheap Tues Pay-what-you-can, min. $12)
BOOKINGS: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au