| The Convict’s Opera | STC and Out of Joint |
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Featuring some of the most accomplished music theatre and opera performers from both Australia and Britain including Peter Cousens, Barry Crocker, Juan Jackson and Ali McGregor, The Convict’s Opera, directed by Max Stafford-Clark and based on John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, is at Sydney Theatre from 30 September 2008. A co-production between Sydney Theatre Company and the acclaimed UK-based touring company, Out of Joint, the production will tour extensively throughout the UK following its Australian premiere season.
Stafford-Clark and playwright Stephen Jeffreys set the piece on board a creaking convict ship where Second Fleet convicts stage their own version of Gay’s work, set in a world they were leaving far behind.
With plenty of intrigue, fun and romance, the production features the songs of The Beggar’s Opera alongside some modern rock and pop surprises as well – just as Gay himself had borrowed tunes from Handel, Bononcini and Bach when devising the original.
The Beggar’s Opera is the raucous tale of ladies’ man Macheath and sweet Polly Peachum juggling love and deceit in the dirty underbelly of 18th Century London. It was the period’s most popular ‘ballad opera’ – the forerunners of the modern musical – and has been adapted many times since, perhaps most famously for Brecht and Weill’s groundbreaking The Threepenny Opera.
As well as a cast drawn equally from both countries, the creative team for this unique co-production is made up of artists from both countries, including set design by Dale Ferguson and costumes by Tess Schofield.
STC’s long association with the eminent British director Max Stafford-Clark goes back to 1988 when the Company brought his acclaimed production for London’s Royal Court Theatre of Our Country’s Good – his first bite at the convict cherry – to Sydney during the Bicentennial year. Other collaborations include STC bringing Stafford-Clark’s production of Shopping & F*cking to Sydney in 1995, his directing former Artistic Director Robyn Nevin in the 2003 STC production of David Hare’s The Breath of Life and STC bringing Out of Joint to Sydney in 2005 with Hare’s The Permanent Way.
Sydney Theatre Company and Out of Joint present
The Convict’s Opera
By Stephen Jeffreys, adapted from The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay
With Amelia Cormack, Peter Cousens, Barry Crocker, Karina Fernandez, Nicholas Goode, Juan Jackson, Ali Mcgregor, Brian Protheroe, Catherine Russell
Director Max Stafford-Clark
Music arranged by Felix Cross
Set designer Dale Ferguson
Costume designer Tess Schofield
Lighting designer Nick Schlieper
Sound designer Paul Charlier
Choreographer John O’connell
Venue: Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Previews: 30 September to 3 October 2008 at 8pm
Season: Saturday 4 October to 25 October 2008
Twilights: Mon 6 October, Mon 13 October, Mon 20 October at 6:30pm
Evenings: Tuesday – Saturday 8pm
Matinees: Wednesday 8 October 1pm, Sat 11 October 2pm, Wednesday 15 October 12.15pm, Saturday, 18 October 2pm, Wednesday 22 October 1pm, Saturday 25 October 2pm
Night with actors: 13 October at 6.30pm post-show discussion with the cast and creative team
Tickets: $77 / $62 concession matinee $68 / $56 concession
Bookings: (02) 9250 1777 / ticketek 132 849 / sydneytheatre.com.au
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