STC announces 2011 season

Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today announced Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Main Stage Season, their third as Artistic Directors of the Company, comprising 12 diverse shows at Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and The Wharf.

Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett (pictured right) today announced Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Main Stage Season, their third as Artistic Directors of the Company, comprising 12 diverse shows at Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and The Wharf.

While their 2010 season has often seen the family as a site of strength and conflict, in 2011 there is a variety of works concerned with the outsider, the fragility and struggle of the individual and the sometimes isolated, dislocated lives of those in search of identity and community. Another counterpoint to this year’s program with its strong American flavour, is a strongly European focus in 2011, kick-started by Andrew and Cate’s last show of 2010, Uncle Vanya.

Farce and black comedy feature strongly, particularly in explorations of power and politics. And, inspired by the abundance of wonderful women of the Australian stage, Andrew and Cate have also sought out exceptional roles for women.

Highlights include:

• Main Stage debuts at Sydney Theatre Company for playwright Ross Mueller (previous work with company Next Stage 2009), director Sarah Goodes (Assistant Director Honour 2010 and Elling 2009) and Simon Stone (Next Stage Rough Draft 2009).

• Stephen Page in collaboration with Kathy Marika and Wayne Blair for Bloodland, a unique new work told through movement, Yolgnu text and storytelling, presented in association with Bangarra and developed in consultation with Top End communities.

• Focus on great female roles showcased by Miranda Otto, Jacqueline McKenzie, Leah Purcell, Kathy Marika, Lynette Curran, Anita Hegh, Belinda McClory, Helen Thomson, Ursula Yovich and Cate Blanchett.

• A major international co-production with master director Luc Bondy making his Australian debut directing a specially commissioned new English text by Martin Crimp of Botho Strauss’s Gross und Klein (Big and Small).

• The Australian premiere of Broadway hit play, In The Next Room, or the vibrator play; exceptional stage pairings of Peter Carroll and John Gaden and Bryan Brown and Colin Friels; and new design influences as fashion house Romance Was Born and one of Europe’s most distinctive designers, work with the Company for the first time.

Sydney Theatre Company Main Stage Season 2011

In The Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl
Director: Pamela Rabe
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Previews from 7 February 2011. Season 11 February – 27 March 2011

Zebra! by Ross Mueller
Director: Lee Lewis
Wharf 1. Previews from 5 March 2011. Season 10 March – 30 April 2011

Baal by Bertolt Brecht. Translated by Simon Stone and Tom Wright
Director: Simon Stone
Wharf 1. Previews from 7 May 2011. Season 11 May – 11 June 2011

Terminus by Mark O’Rowe
Director: Mark O’Rowe
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Previews from 1 June 2011. Season 4 June – 9 July 2011

The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov in a new version by Andrew Upton
Director: Andrew Upton
Sydney Theatre. Previews from 7 June 2011. Season 11 June – 10 July 2011

Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness by Anthony Neilson
Director: Sarah Goodes
Wharf 1. Previews from 16 June 2011. Season 21 June – 23 July 2011

Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca Translated by Iain Sinclair
Director: Iain Sinclair
Wharf 1. Previews from 1 August 2011. Season 5 August – 11 September 2011

The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.
Adapted by Raimondo Cortese. Lyrics by Jeremy Sams
Director: Michael Kantor
Sydney Theatre. Previews from 1 September 2011. Season 3 – 24 September 2011

Loot by Joe Orton
Director: Richard Cottrell
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Previews from 12 September 2011. Season 16 September – 23 October

Bloodland by Wayne Blair. Concept by Stephen Page. Story by Kathy Marika, Stephen Page and Wayne Blair.
Director: Stephen Page
Wharf 1. Previews from 3 October 2011. Season 7 October – 13 November 2011

No Man’s Land by Harold Pinter
Director: Michael Gow
Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Previews from 28 October 2011. Season 1 November – 18 December 2011

Gross und Klein (Big and Small) by Botho Strauss. English text by Martin Crimp
Director: Luc Bondy
Sydney Theatre. Previews from 16 November 2011. Season 19 November – 23 December 2011