| The Serpent’s Teeth | Sydney Theatre Company |
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Seven new Australian mainstage works produced this year by Sydney Theatre Company begin with The Serpent’s Teeth, comprising two one-act plays, Citizens and Soldiers, by award-winning playwright Daniel Keene. Both are performed by the STC Actor’s Company with one of Australia’s most celebrated actresses, Pamela Rabe, making her directorial debut with Citizens. Tim Maddock, a long term collaborator with Keene, directs Soldiers. Exploring the tragedy and impact of war on everyday lives, the double-bill is at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, from 19 April 2008.
Citizens is set at the dividing wall of an unspecified country. Conflict is an unseen force disrupting the daily routines of the citizens, while over the course of the play, the nobility and generosity of the human spirit, even at its most vulnerable, is probed and laid bare.
The second play, Soldiers, is set in Australia and created specifically for the STC Actor’s Company as a companion piece to Citizens. Five ordinary families are thrown together for one day as they face the real cost of war. For some, the bonds of kinship are strengthened; but others find they are torn apart.
The Serpent’s Teeth represents something of a homecoming for multi-award winning writer Daniel Keene, who is one of the most performed Australian playwrights outside of the country. During the thirty years in which he has written for the theatre, his plays have earned critical praise and sell-out seasons in theatres and at festivals in Australia, the United States and across Europe.
Performing in Soldiers, Pamela Rabe steps out of the Actor’s Company to direct Citizens. For STC, recent performance credits include The Season at Sarsaparilla, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Art of War, Tales from the Vienna Woods, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Lost Echo and Mother Courage and Her Children.
Tim Maddock, who has previously collaborated with Daniel Keene on The Architect’s Walk and Because You Are Mine, was Artistic Director of Adelaide’s Red Shed Company where he directed a number of acclaimed works including Rules of Thumb, Terminus, Desert, Road, Buried Child and Low. For Brink Productions, as director his credits include (Uncle) Vanya, Ursula, Roberto Zucco and as co-director the epic The Ecstatic Bible, a highlight of Robyn Archer’s Adelaide Festival. He has also directed for Tide Theatre Company, STCSA, NIDA and Flinders University.
Following Keene’s double bill, more new Australian work by STC in 2008 includes The Great by Tony McNamara, Gallipoli by Nigel Jamieson, The Narcissist by Stephen Carleton, The Pig Iron People by John Doyle and a new adaptation of The Women of Troy by Barrie Kosky and Tom Wright. In addition, five Australian works are programmed by co-Artistic Directors, Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett, for the Wharf 2LOUD strand, launched in February with the critically acclaimed embrace: GUILT FRAME.
Sydney Theatre Company presents The STC Actors Company in
THE SERPENT’S TEETH
Two new plays by Daniel Keene
CITIZENS and SOLDIERS
Cast Narek Armaganian, Brandon Burke, Peter Carol, Josh Denyer , Marta Duseldorp, Eden Falk, John Gaden, Steve Le Marquand, Ewen Leslie, Hayley McElhiney, Amber McMahon, Luke Mulins, Pamela Rabe, Emily Rusel
Directors Pamela Rabe citizens, Tim Madock soldiers
Set Designer Robert Cousins
Costume Designer Tes Schofield
Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper
Sound Designer Paul Charlier
Assistant Director Cristabel Sved
Venue: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Previews: Saturday 19 April at 8pm, Monday 21 – Wednesday 23 April at 8pm
Opening Night: 24 april at 8pm
Season: Friday 25 April – Saturday 17 May
Evenings: Tuesdays – Saturdays 8pm
Twilights: Mondays 6.30pm
Matinees: Wednesdays 1pm, Saturdays 2pm
Night With Actors: Monday 12 May 6.30pm
Bookings: STC box office (02) 9250 1777 / SOH box office (02) 9250 7777 /
sydneytheatre.com.au/serpent
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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