| An Oak Tree | Ride On |
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 The fifth play in B Sharp’s 2008 season brings some of Australia’s finest actors to the stage in an Australian premiere – only thing is, only one of them has seen the script.
Two men meet in the most unlikely of places – a hypnotist who has lost the power of suggestion and a grieving man who can only cope by using it. Together, they arrive at a liberating redemption that neither could have anticipated.
Every night one of Australia’s leading actors will join John Leary (Vital Organs, The Suitors, Cloudstreet) on stage. They have never seen the script, are entirely unrehearsed and know nothing about their part. The guest actor will remain a secret until the lights go down each night.
Tim Crouch’s award-winning play is a vivid, risky and hilarious experience. Boundaries protecting the world we know are prodded, tested and bent, while our expectations of theatre are delightfully disturbed. A two-character study of transformation and loss, An Oak Tree unites two styles of acting: one conventional, one utterly unrehearsed; and the unlikely fusion of these two performances forms the play’s meta-theatrical backbone.
Presenting the work for the first time in Australia is acclaimed production company Ride On, who previously brought Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre audiences The Merchant of Venice, Bone and Love Play.
Director Tanya Goldberg who directed the 2007 B Sharp hit The Merchant of Venice says, “The play is perfectly constructed in that the ideas it poses to its audience are inextricably linked to its unusual structure. Everything about this production is special and geared towards its coherent and surprising whole. No one element can be removed – the play is perfectly balanced.
“John Leary and I are having a great time talking, questioning and imagining, and have engaged a raft of incredible actors who we find exciting to watch, agile and quick-witted, and who are willing to put themselves in a risky performance situation. Any actor who knows and loves the joy of being on stage will lap this up,” she said.
An Oak Tree broke box office records during its run at Soho Theatre, London, and was awarded a prestigious OBIE following its New York run at Barrow Street Theater. Actors that have played the guest role in the UK and US include Frances McDormand, Toby Jones, Roger Lloyd-Pack and Mike Myers.
“The way the guest character is brought to life will be fascinatingly different with every actor who performs with John. What two Hamlets or Helenas, Marthas or Stanleys have ever been the same? And what two individuals react in the same way when confronted with the same extreme situation? Each actor infuses the roles they play with their individuality. An Oak Tree could just be the kind of show that attracts audiences who want to come more than once – that would be fantastic,” Tanya said.
An Oak Tree opens at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre on 17 July. It marks the middle of the B Sharp Season for 2008.
The Downstairs Theatre is Company B’s independent wing which hosts the annual B Sharp Season, supporting independent artists to present dynamic small-scale work and deliver a vibrant range of theatrical voices in an intimate setting.
"A moving meditation on loss, the nature of theatre and the extraordinary transforming possibilities of art itself." – The Guardian
"Absolutely fucking fantastic!!!" – The Observer
“Since I saw ‘My Arm’, there has been no question in my mind that Crouch is one of the most exciting experimental theater-makers working in the English-language. As a writer, he crafts precise, beautiful, literate, and defiant texts that challenge linear and nonlinear storytelling.” – www.hotreview.org
Ride On and B Sharp present
An Oak Tree
by Tim Crouch
Directed by Tanya Goldberg
Set and Costume Designer Xanthe Heubel
Lighting Designer Verity Hampson
Sound Designer Michael Toisuta
Producer Katherine Armstrong-Smith
With John Leary
Includes one-off, guest appearances from some of Australia’s leading
actors including Wayne Blair, Patrick Brammall, Brendan Cowell, Joel
Edgerton, Eden Falk, John Gaden, Steve Le Marquand, Chas Licciardello
(The Chaser), Robin McLeavy, Belinda McClory, Amber McMahon, Bojana
Novakovic, Leah Purcell, Jeremy Sims, Jacki Weaver, Amy Kersey Lech
Mackiewicz and Ursula Yovich
Where: Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills
Preview: Wednesday 16 July
Opening Night: Thursday 17 July
Season: 17 July – 10 August
Plays: Tues 7pm, Wed-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 5.15pm
Tickets: $29/$23 (Preview $20, Cheap Tues Pay-what-you-can min $10)
Bookings: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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