Premiere of Ash Flanders’ new cabaret work S.S. METAPHOR docks at Malthouse Outdoor Stage

Writer, performer and limbo champion Ash Flanders will premiere his new cabaret work, S.S. Metaphor from 5 December, created specifically for Malthouse Outdoor Stage.

Directed by Sarah Giles, it will see Ash bring fellow cast members Zenya Carmellotti, Will Conyers and Natalie Gamsu down to his level in a medley of maritime mayhem aboard luxury cruise liner, the S.S. Metaphor.

A glittering ode to freedom, adventure and endless possibility, this ship might be stuck at sea, but the top tier passengers will be none the wiser about troubles back home or even below deck.

Ash Flanders:

Sarah Giles and I are so excited to take audiences aboard our ship of dreams, the world’s first disaster-movie allegorical-farce-cabaret, or Dismalfaret™. ‘S.S. Metaphor is the all-singing, no-dancing result of a restless imagination and the world’s longest lockdown, sailing clumsily between The Poseidon Adventure and Snow piercer with a soundtrack that proves leaving your house might still be dangerous. If you think you’ve seen disasters at The Malthouse before, think again.’ His best advice: just slip on a kaftan or linen slack, sip your mai tai and kick up your heels as the world-class cabaret duo Cruise Control croon your cares away.

Ash Flanders is a multi award winning playwright, screenwriter and performer. His solo work includes End Of, Playing to Win, Ash Flanders is Nothing, Special Victim, Meme Girls and Negative Energy Inc. all directed with longtime collaborator Stephen Nicolazzo. He and Declan Greene create theatre under the name Sisters Grimm with Ash also performing in Little Mercy (STC), The Sovereign Wife (MTC Neon), Calpurnia Descending (Malthouse Theatre/ STC), Lilith: The Jungle Girl (MTC) and an adaptation of Verdi’s La Traviata (Belvoir).

As an actor he has been seen in the solo show Buyer & Cellar (MTC), Blackie Blackie Brown (Malthouse /STC), Adena Jacobs’ Hedda (Belvoir), The Temple (Malthouse/Pan Pan Theatre), The Golden Dragon (MTC) and Psycho Beach Party (Little Ones Theatre).

Sarah Giles is an award-winning opera and theatre director whose credits include: Blaque Showgirls (Malthouse Theatre), The Truth, Straight White Men (Melbourne Theatre Company), No Pay? No Way!, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Perplex, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Marriage Blanc, Money Shots, Ruby Moon (Sydney Theatre Company), The Popular Mechanicals (State Theatre of South Australia), Lorelei (Victorian Opera/Opera Queensland), O Mensch, Pas à Pas, and Into the Little Hill (Sydney Chamber Opera/Sydney Festival).

WRITER : Ash Flanders
DIRECTION & DRAMATURG: Sarah Giles
DRAMATURG : Matthew Lutton
CAST:  Zenya Carmellotti, Will Conyers, Ash Flanders, Natalie Gamsu
MUSICAL DIRECTION: Will Conyers
SET & COSTUME DESIGN: Tyler Ray Hawkins
ORIGINAL COMPOSITION: Jude Perl
SOUND DESIGN: Jed Palmer
LIGHTING DESIGN: Katie Sfetkidis
STAGE MANAGER: Lyndie Li Wan Po


Season Details

Venue: Malthouse Outdoor Stage
Date: 5 – 19 Dec 2021

For more information click HERE

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