| Phaedra’s Love | atyp |
|
|
|
|
Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love opens Australian Theatre for Young People’s (atyp) 2008 performance season in April. Celebrated as one of the most controversial and significant English playwrights of the 1990’s, Kane wrote a total of five plays, in her short lifetime. Her work is articulated and reflected through themes of redemption, sex, desire, torture, pain and death.
“Her sulphurous dialogue is full of reeking toughness and she brings just the right larconic inflections and dark comic edge to her material” EVENING STANDARD, UK
Phaedra’s Love is a radical adaptation of a classic Greek tragedy. Phaedra, the queen and lonely wife of Theseus, is in love with her step-son, Hippolytus. Unable to keep her passion and desire a secret any longer, she confesses her infatuation and obsession, unfolding a trail of events of total despair and classic tragedy.
This atyp production will be directed by one of Australia’s leading theatre directors Kate Gaul ( The Gates of Egypt, The Laramie Project) who recently directed Twelfth Night at atyp’s Studio One for her own Siren Theatre Co. Kate said "Kane's Phaedra's Love is filled with moments of intense pain and confrontation, with vicious rapes and extreme violence, often used to explore the notion of love. But the play is as much about beauty as brutality. Yes, there's shock and horror - it's extreme.
“Emotions are expressed in a very clear way - there's no discussion. The writing is economical, elegant and very precise. It is also a very entertaining play.”
atyp’s is committed to giving a voice to young people through theatre performance and writing. Phaedra’s Love provides a cutting edge theatre challenge to atyp’s senior participants, with over 70 atyp members aged between 18 and 26 auditioning to be part of the production. This is the age when young adults are pushing their boundaries as performers and individuals.
Kate Gaul said, “Kane's work can be scary but I like what she says in this play about our Western system of values, the relationship of the media and celebrity; and the way we lose our experience of human touch and human relationships through questing for the irrelevant. The world can be a bad and sad place - everyone knows that. Violence is happening everywhere. Kane somehow re-focuses it in the theatre and makes it clean.
“In our production, I am trying to create a very human experience, a sensation, and achieve the theatrical challenges Kane sets out."
As Australia’s leading theatre company for young people, atyp is thrilled to present this explosive play written by an outstanding young writer and performed by an exciting young cast, which promises to be a confronting, visceral and unforgettable theatre experience.
“Theatre has no memory, which makes it the most existential of the arts.”
Sarah Kane, 1998
Australian Theatre for Young People presents
Phaedra’s Love
by Sarah Kane
Directed by Kate Gaul
Venue: atyp Studio One, The Wharf, Pier 4/5 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Preview: Tues 1 April, 8pm
Season: Wed 2 – Sat 5 April, 8pm, Sun 6 April 5pm and Tues 8 – Sat 12 April, 8pm
Tickets: $20 Adults / $15 Concession / $10 atyp members
Bookings: call atyp on 9251 3900 or visit www.atyp.com.au
|
|
Contact: |
Back
|
|
|
Thursday, 08 January 2009
|
