The importance of telling Australian stories has helped shape the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s 2014 program, the second season for the company’s father/son duo, Artistic Director Geordie Brookman and CEO/Producer Rob Brookman.
The newly unveiled season will see works by Australian playwrights Lally Katz, Daniel Keene, Sue Smith, Phillip Kavanagh and Ian Meadows presented alongside a new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, a Shakespearian tragedy, and The Importance of Being Earnest.
The season opens next February with Anton Chekhov’s dark comedy, The Seagull, lauded as one of the greatest plays of the modern era. Playing the tortured lead, Konstantin, is Adelaide-born Xavier Samuel, who gained international attention after appearing in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. This new adaptation by leading Australian playwright Hilary Bell marks the first time in more than 15 years that a professional production of The Seagull has played in Adelaide.
In another casting coup, Miriam Margolyes – aka Harry Potter’s Professor Sprout – will star in Neighbourhood Watch, a Helpmann-nominated work from Melbourne playwright Lally Katz exploring the unlikely friendship between a young woman and her 80-year-old Hungarian-Australian neighbour.
Also featured is a new play by Australian playwright Sue Smith, Kryptonite, a two hander tracking the lives, relationships and careers of two students over two decades, from Sydney University to Parliament House.
‘I’m delighted to continue my collaboration with Geordie and the State Theatre Company,’ said Smith, ‘The Company is fast developing a reputation as a place that values and invests in Australian playwrights.’
