the Program

26 Feb – 20 Mar
Season 2016
26 Feb – 20 MAR
Merlyn Theatre
The themes Lindsay deals
with are so large and ageless …
an enduring classic. – The Age
A new play by / Tom Wright
adapted from Joan Lindsay’s novel
Direction / Matthew Lutton
Cast includes / Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Arielle Gray,
Amber McMahon, Elizabeth Nabben, Nikki Shiels
Set & Costume Design / Zoë Atkinson
Lighting Design / Paul Jackson
Composition / Ash Gibson Greig
Sound Design / J. David Franzke
Stage Manager / Tia Clark
Assistant Stage Manager / Lyndie Li Wan Po
Monash Placement, Sound Design / Matt Alden
Monash Placement, Directing / Leticia Brennan-Steers
Besen Placement, Lighting Design / Claire Springett
Besen Placement, Set & Costume Design / Aseel Tayah
A co-production with
Supported by
——> pg 2
#picnicathangingrock
Season 2016
A note from the Director
This production of Joan Lindsay’s
novel is told by five schoolgirls.
They know the myth as if they
were there in 1900, as if they
are schoolgirls trapped in the
wrong time. They have access
to the mystery, and will play
for us the moments we might
be able to understand.
Mrs Appleyard, insists on more
vigilant teachings of restraint
to help Australia “mature”. The
young English visitor, Michael,
sheds his “Englishness” because
of an obsession with Miranda, a
girl with golden locks, whom he
saw only for a moment, hanging
in the air, leaping across a creek.
The production begins with a
recitation of the fateful day in
1900 when Miranda, Irma, Marion
and Miss McGraw disappeared.
They speak about the malleability
of time, of crossing creeks and
sleep, and of colonialism, of
the white Australian ignorance
of what surrounds them, the
land we are foreigners in, the
land we fail to listen to, the
land we have tried to tame with
“Englishness” and “naming”.
The central character of Picnic
at Hanging Rock however is
nature. It releases and disturbs
all the characters. There is no
literal representation of the
Rock in this production; it is a
presence, frequently evoked by
language. But sometimes we see
nature thinking in the sign over
the stage, or glimpse a physical
manifestation hanging in the
shadows, or sense its infiltrating
presence in the darkness.
The disappearance of the girls is
a horror beyond comprehension
for the community at Appleyard
College. It is a trauma that all
respond to. The girl from the
orphanage, Sara, her body
contorts from the horror of being
left behind. The Headmistress,
Malthouse Theatre invites you into
the Australian myth of Hanging
Rock, one that has been in our
national imaginations for decades,
and one that will undoubtedly be
retold for many decades to come.
#picnicathangingrock
A note from Matthew Lutton on the
retelling of an enduring Australian myth
——> pg 1
Season 2016
If Picnic wasn’t
written, we
would have had
to invent it.
——> pg 2
A note from the Writer
St Valentine’s Day, 2016. A day
of portals, of opening the heart
to love, of new affairs, of secret
ones, of opening delicate lace
cards like doors, to find enigmatic
poems written within.
A pair of university students, far from
Osaka, are meandering up Hanging
Rock. For some reason, ludicrous
parasols are daintily propped on
their shoulders. One stops, pouts,
mock-coquette; the other takes out
her phone and starts filming. The girl
further up the Rock turns to profile,
stares into a very dark shadow,
and trills “Miranda! … Miranda!”
She vanishes into the cool
dark. The girl with the camera
giggles self-consciously.
“Miranda” she softly repeats
as she checks the screen.
———
Why do some tales mutate into
myths? Since it came to light in 1966
Picnic at Hanging Rock has hung
in the collective mind. Mention
it casually and people frown, say,
“They went missing didn’t they?”
The news that the whole story
is an invention is greeted with
perplexed surprise. “No, no, I
was sure it really happened…”
———
A country of lost children.
Waifs weeping in McCubbins.
Children moving silently through
bush that never changes until they
vanish utterly. From the beginning
the white experience of the land
was one of trepidation; it seemed
nature would take our innocents ...
if we didn’t watch them. Maybe
there was suspicion in the ether
that this land needed to be watched
too, that it changed, did odd things
when unobserved. This lonely
continent, which would alter itself
when your back was turned…
———
But this land isn’t empty, and
never was. It wasn’t unknown to
human minds, in fact minds had
concentrated so hard on it for so long
that a complex web of myths, rites,
songs, wisdoms had been spun, so
dense the crossover space between
human body and land became
blurred, unfocussed, itself a song…
———
In this case, not lost children but
lost adolescents, in the liminal
space between girlhood and
womanhood. The country that
will not grow up, cannot grow up,
trapped in a landscape which it
cannot comprehend. Europeans
crawling over it like ants. Taxonomy,
endless taxonomy. Every species,
every stone, every dot on the map,
labelled. New words for new things.
——> pg 3
If Picnic wasn’t written we
would have had to invent it.
#picnicathangingrock
A series of meditations from Tom Wright,
whose chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s
original novel you are about to witness
A note from the Writer
Season 2016
But in the end only the things that
could be seen could be named.
There was no name for the things
that could not be seen. And there
was no time against which things
might be measured. No temporal
landmarks, no key dates of history;
what is a hundred, a thousand, a
million years when there’s no history?
In England everything had been done
before: quite often by one’s own
ancestors, over and over again.
But here? What did ‘Time’ mean when
yesterday and tomorrow seemed
to collude against the present?
Irma climbs the Rock, wading through
a morass of verdure in the heat:
Whoever invented female fashions
For nineteen hundred
Should be made to walk
through bracken
In three layers of petticoats.
She isn’t of nineteen hundred, she
is of now. She is watching herself.
In the Rock’s terms, 1900 and 2016
are the same. It dreams in millions
not split fractions. It is hanging – in
time, in space. (Maybe it is also the
Hanging Rock, a place of killing,
of removal from the world? After
all, why is that coachman staring at
the girls’ calves, gently wetting his
lips? Nature is cruel, very cruel…)
———
Oh, wonder! How many goodly
creatures are there here! ——> pg 4
Exclaims Miranda, but a different
Miranda, in a different story of
exile and dreams. A story of the
sea of love, where Mrs Appleyard
dreams of her late husband’s
caresses, where Michael FitzHubert
dreams of mermaids and gentle
laughing female voices.
Miranda, whose name means wonder.
Miranda, who has been kept
from herself, who is secreted
away in a cave, deep in a rock.
Miranda, the beauty that
does not know her beauty
for lack of any culture with
which to compare herself.
Miranda, the European who
knows nothing of Europe.
Miranda, enchantress.
Miranda, the naïf.
Oh, what a wonderful new world,
that has such people in it!
———
In Picnic at Hanging Rock, Miranda has
transmuted again. Now she is a cipher.
The girls yearn for her return when
she will redeem their suffering. Sara
the orphan carries a devotional icon in
her underwear. When the girls in their
gym class transmogrify into maenads,
one girl prays to Saint Valentine:
Let them leave Irma alone, for
Miranda’s sake, for Miranda’s sake…
Miranda starts to fade from
real life, become myth; her hair
more golden with every memory,
her smile more beatific.
Miranda the spirit guide, who
jumps down from the cart and
opens the gate into the Hanging
Rock picnic area, ushering
them all in, like a pied piper.
Or, Miranda as Australia. The
emotional intuitive. Not necessarily
anti-intellectual but definitely
not intellectual. Pulchritudinous,
A note from the Writer
Or, Miranda as a conduit. A lightning
conductor. She magnetises air, things
are drawn to her, animal vegetable,
mineral. Maybe she precipitates
time, and events as well…
———
Names for things that have not
been named, no names for things
that were once named. The Kulin
name for Hanging Rock is lost. The
Kulin wisdom of the Rock has no
role in Lindsay’s text. In fact the
only indigenous figure is a tracker,
brought in to find the girls, then
dismissed with all the other failed
search methods. But under the text,
secreted between the words, there
are presences. The thick bush on the
Rock is described as having no tracks;
Or if there have been tracks, they
are long since obliterated.
As if Miranda, Marion, Irma, are
remaking some lost path, finding
some lost sequence of events
that unlock a key, a song, a rite.
The Kulin treated the Rock with
reverence. It was a site for male
initiation, so making it female space.
Young people that came here for
thousands of years went up children
and came down adults. It has always
been a zone of metamorphosis.
Sexual, physical, social, and more…
———
This is, of course, only a story. But
history treats it as if it happened.
We have a habit of doing this…
———
What is this Rock? A portal to other
worlds, if only you have the password,
the key, the combination? Maybe
the characters who do pass through
have some capacity to glimpse the
noumenal: Miss McCraw, who sees
the world through calculus as a
study of Change; Marion, who can
grasp the abstract idea of Time;
Miranda, who feels, and loves.
Those rejected: Edith, a materialist
who lacks the imagination to
inhabit a bigger world; Michael,
who is unreconciled to the
land and himself; Irma, who is
worldly, not other-worldly.
——> pg 5
When Major Mitchell first started
the drawing of white lines on the
black map, he passed through these
volcanic ghosts. It was 1836. He
climbed Geburhh, and glimpsed Port
Phillip. In a cerebral game of fevered
word-association he renamed the
mountain Macedon, after another
Phillip’s homeland. And radiating
out, a pattern of classicism darkened
and spread; Mount Alexander for
Alexander the Great, Phillip’s son;
a river Campaspe for Alexander’s
concubine. And our little mamelon of
trachyte, brooding on the plain? Some
years later Robert Hoddle scribbled
Mount Diogenes on his map, in keeping
with the Major’s fancy, named for the
philosopher of cynicism, conscience
of Alexander’s age. It was said that
when the Great Man came across
the cynic, the philosopher was
staring attentively at a skeleton. The
emperor stood above, the thinker
squatted below. “And what are you
doing?’ Alexander asked finally. “I
am searching for the bones of your
father. But the trouble is, I cannot tell
them apart from the bones of a slave.”
#picnicathangingrock
in an Australian idiom; like the
land, beautiful, but impassive.
Difficult to read, destined to
be endlessly discussed.
A note from the Writer
Season 2016
———
What is this Rock? A site of
transformation, a magic box in
which objects can be made to
disappear, or turn into something
else? An antipodean monster park of
Bomarzo, a sort of anti-Eden, where
Nature is littered with grotesqueries
and grottoes, caverns where the
living may speak to spirits, and
sometimes, if the mood is right,
the spirits may whisper back?
———
Joan Lindsay possessed the remarkable
ability to stop time. Or, more precisely,
she claimed her presence caused
watches to halt. For her time was not
linear but like an oddly-hued cloud
which hung all around her. She didn’t
have a physicist’s understanding, it was
an artist’s sense; felt, not calculated
with a pencil on a white sheet. Time
changed shape and mood depending
on circumstances and, of course, place.
——> pg 6
Her novel is one of these places; time
is elastic, or compressed. No-one is
sure how long they are on the Rock;
what feels like a sweep of seasons in
Woodend is only moments up high.
The Rock’s warping and vibrating of
time increases as you near it until it
resonates like a million cicadas. Like
the zone in the Strugatsky Brothers’
Roadside Picnic (1971). Perhaps this
is another way of understanding
our weird fable; in this novel the
picnic is an analogy. It is suggested
that there are certain places where
something not of this universe has
visited. The best way to understand
these visitations is to imagine a picnic.
Perhaps a group of girls have arrived,
eaten, gossiped, sung, snoozed, then
packed up and left. But behind them,
the residue; crumbs, hairpins, a pair
of spectacles, a book of equations, a
tea spoon, a silk stocking. Once the
girls leave, timid creatures come from
their burrows. They investigate, crawl
over the objects left behind but can
never comprehend their purpose.
The little animals are Western rational
humans who stray into the picnic’s
residue, finding that the world has
changed in a way incomprehensible.
Maybe the other entities have never
noticed humans, any more than
humans notice lizards and ants and
spiders during their picnics. We are
small animals, caterpillars, centipedes,
moths. And we will never understand.
———
St Valentine’s Day, 1900.
A liminal year, between one
century and another, between a
Victorian era of colonisation and
the era of nationhood, of wrestling
with whom we really are. Are we
in that time still? Or are we now
in some new liminal time?
———
The two students from Osaka are
coming back down the mountain.
Their faces give nothing away. Have
they found what they came for, up
there, up on the rock ledge? What
was this strange pilgrimage they were
on? What exactly did they think they
might find up there, among rocks
dripping slowly back into the earth?
They sit on a fallen tree; one of them
has worn completely inappropriate
shoes. I understand nothing of what
they say; it is melodious and beautiful.
Girlish, songlike. But one word is clear;
“Miranda … Miranda …
Miranda … Miranda…”
#picnicathangingrock
#picnicathangingrock
What is this Rock?
A site of transformation,
a magic box in which
objects can be made
to disappear, or turn
into something else?
——> pg 7
Season 2016
In the Rock’s terms,
1900 and 2016
are the same. It
dreams in millions
not split fractions.
It is hanging – in
time, in space.
——> pg 8
Cast & Creative Bios
#picnicathangingrock
Matthew Lutton
Director
Harriet Gordon-Anderson
Cast
Tom has written a number of awardwinning plays and adaptations,
including The Caucasian Chalk Circle,
The War of the Roses, The Lost Echo,
Lorilei, Medea, Babes in the Wood,
Baal, Optimism, On the Misconception
of Oedipus, The Histrionic, and Black
Diggers. He was Associate Director
of Sydney Theatre Company [STC]
from 2004 to 2012, and has worked
as an actor and director at Playbox
(now Malthouse), Melbourne Theatre
Company [MTC], State Theatre
Company SA [STCSA], La Mama,
Company B (now Belvoir), Anthill,
Gilgul, Mene Mene, Bell Shakespeare,
Chunky Move, Black Swan, and
Chamber Made Opera.
Matthew is Malthouse Theatre’s
Artistic Director. Prior to this, he
was Malthouse’s Associate Director,
and the director of Perth theatre
company ThinIce [TI]. For Malthouse,
he has directed I Am a Miracle,
Night on Bald Mountain, The Bloody
Chamber, Dance of Death, Pompeii,
L.A., On the Misconception of Oedipus,
Die Winterreise, The Trial, and Tartuffe.
Other directing credits include The
Mysteries: Genesis (STC), The Duel
(STC/TI), and Love Me Tender (Belvoir/
TI). His opera directing credits include
Make No Noise (Bavarian State
Opera), Elektra (West Australian
Opera/TI/Opera Australia), and
The Flying Dutchman (NZ Opera).
Picnic at Hanging Rock is Harriet’s
Malthouse debut. Her other theatre
credits include Moving On Inc. (Perth
Fringe), Never Hurt Anyone (Griffin),
The Staffroom (Sydney Fringe).
Her West Australian Academy of
Performing Arts [WAAPA] credits
include Tender Napalm, All My Sons,
Pride and Prejudice, Measure for
Measure, and The Grapes of Wrath.
Her screen credits include Little
Girl Lost; Your Mob, Our Mob; Swiss
Avalanche; and Splendours of a Mind.
Harriet won the 2015 WAAPA Leslie
Anderson Award for Excellence
in Acting, a Speech and Drama
Teachers Poetry Recital Award,
and is a Deadly Award nominee.
Arielle Gray
Cast
Amber McMahon
Cast
Elizabeth Nabben
Cast
Arielle Gray is a performer, theatremaker, puppeteer, improviser and
co-founder of theatre company
The Last Great Hunt. Arielle cocreated and performs in Helpmann
nominated It’s Dark Outside (ArtsHub
Critics’ Choice Award winner) and
Falling Through Clouds (Sydney
Festival). Other recent shows
include All That Glitters, Old Love,
Yoshi’s Castle, Monroe & Associates
(FringeWorld Martin Sims Best New
WA Work), Minnie & Mona Play Dead
(FringeWorld Martin Sims Best New
WA Work), and many more.
Amber trained at Flinders Uni Drama
Centre and won the Adele Koh
Scholarship to study at the Stella Adler
Company & SITI Company in NYC.
Her theatre credits include Optimism
(Malthouse), North by Northwest
(MTC/Kay & McLean), Angels in America
(Belvoir), STCSA and Windmill’s Girl
Asleep, and School Dance (Helpmann
winner for Best Supporting Actress in a
Play). She was also a founding member
of STC’s Actors Ensemble, appearing in
several productions including The War
of the Roses, Season at Sarsaparilla, and
The Lost Echo. Amber’s screen credits
include Girl Asleep, The Hamster Wheel,
Yes We Canberra, and various short films.
Elizabeth is a 2010 graduate of the
VCA. Her theatre credits include
Antigone and ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore
for Malthouse, Dance Better at
Parties (STC; nominated for Sydney
Theatre Award for Best Newcomer),
and The Crucible (MTC), as well as
Triangle and The Trouble with Harry
for MKA. In 2014, Elizabeth was
nominated for a Green Room Award
for Female Performer for her title
role in TheatreWorks’ Therese Raquin.
Elizabeth’s screen credits include
Childhood’s End, Winners and Losers,
Neighbours, The Doctor Blake Mysteries,
and the US feature film Truth.
——> pg 9
Tom Wright
Writer
Cast & Creative Bios
Season 2016
——> pg 10
Nikki Shiels
Cast
Zoë Atkinson
Set & Costume Designer
Tia Clark
Stage Manager
A graduate of the VCA, Nikki’s
Malthouse credits include Night
on Bald Mountain, The Dragon, and
Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman.
Her other theatre credits include
The Cherry Orchard, True Minds, Top
Girls, and Don Parties On for MTC; The
Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (Griffin/MKA/La
Mama); The Dream (Bell Shakespeare);
M + M (Melbourne Festival); and The
Dollhouse and Peer Gynt for Daniel
Schlusser Ensemble, of which she is
a core member. Her screen credits
include Neighbours, Perfect Pair,
Childhood’s End, The Greatest Love
of All, and Little Acorns. She was a
recipient of the 2015 Marten Bequest
Travelling Scholarship, and is a twotime Green Room Award nominee.
Zoe studied scenography at the
Prague Academy of Performing
Arts, The International Institute
of Figurative Theatre (Czech
Republic), and at the Institut
Internationale de la Marrionette
(France). For Malthouse she
has designed costumes for The
Odyssey (2006 Helpmann Award
Best Costume Design), and On the
Misconception of Oedipus. Other
work with Matt Lutton includes
the operas Elektra and The Flying
Dutchman. Zoe has most recently
been working as Artistic Associate
and Designer for the 2016 PIAF
opening event HOME, with director
Nigel Jamieson.
Since graduating from WAAPA in
2009, Tia has worked as a Stage
Manager in various sectors across
the entertainment industry.
Selected Malthouse shows include
I Am a Miracle; Timeshare; Hello,
Goodbye and Happy Birthday;
Walking into the Bigness; Ugly
Mugs; The Government Inspector;
The Bloody Chamber; and Dance
of Death. Tia has also worked on
Grease (Gordon Frost Organisation
[GFO]), A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum (GFO)
and various live events both in
Melbourne and around Australia.
J. David Franzke
Sound Designer
Ash Gibson Greig
Composer
Lyndie Li Wan Po
Assistant Stage Manager
David is a composer and sound
designer whose work spans film,
theatre, visual art installation, and
album production. His Malthouse
credits include Night on Bald Mountain
(Green Room Award winner for
Composition & Sound Design;
Helpmann-nominated) and Pompeii,
L.A.. David’s other recent theatre
credits include Song, Intimacy, and
Holiday for Ranters Theatre; The Beast,
Australia Day, and The Joy of Text for
MTC; and The Wonderful World of
Dissocia (STC). He has collaborated
extensively with visual artist David
Rosetzky, and with composer Bernd
Friedmann on various album projects.
Ash has composed the music for
over 50 plays, over 100 hours of
TV, and in many other mediums.
Ash last worked with Matt Lutton
at Malthouse on The Trial. Recent
theatre work includes The Red
Balloon with Black Swan, and
Falling Through Clouds with The
Last Great Hunt; recent screen
work includes Frackman, Who Do
You Think You Are, and The War
That Changed Us. Ash has won
an AACTA Award (eight further
nominations), an APRA/AGSC
Award (two further nominations),
and six WA Screen Awards.
Lyndie has worked in stage
management in theatre and
live events both internationally
and across Australia. Selected
Malthouse shows include The Good
Person of Szechuan, Timeshare, I
Am a Miracle, and Blak Cabaret.
Lyndie has also stage managed
Grug (Windmill, Shanghai 2015),
Separation Street (Polyglot, 2015)
and production managed for The
Rivers of China (Theatre Works,
2015). In 2012, she was the
recipient of the Daryl Wilkinson
Encouragement Award.
#picnicathangingrock
Paul Jackson
Lighting Designer
Paul has designed for most of
Australia’s major and independent
performing arts companies. Recent
designs for Malthouse include
Love and Information, Night on
Bald Mountain, Meow Meow’s Little
Mermaid, and I Am a Miracle. He has
taught at Melbourne University,
RMIT University and VCA, and his
work has featured in festivals and
programmes in the United States,
Asia, Europe and the UK. Paul was
listed in the Smart 100 in 2004, is a
Churchill Fellow and was an Artistic
Associate at Malthouse from 20072013. He has received four Green
Room Awards, a Helpmann Award
and a Sydney Theatre Award.
——> pg 11
About Malthouse Theatre
Season 2016
At Malthouse Theatre, our vision
is to captivate audiences with
theatre that pushes boundaries. We
collaborate with local and international
artists, to create theatre that puts
provocative, entertaining and authentic
human experiences onstage.
We champion artistic and
cultural diversity; we advocate
for alternate points of view.
——> pg 12
Each year we employ 300
passionate and dedicated people,
not just the artists on the stage,
but professionals including set
builders, costume makers, writers,
producers, designers and directors.
We have 35 permanent members
of staff to help realise and deliver
these theatrical experiences.
The theatre we produce explores
Melbourne and Australia, personally,
socially and politically, and sparks
complex conversations about our place
in the world. We believe theatre can be
– and should be – an agent of change.
Welcome to Malthouse Theatre.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Lutton /
Artistic Director & co-CEO
Sarah Neal /
Executive Producer & co-CEO
Our Partners
Venue Partner
Education Partner
#picnicathangingrock
Government Partners
Major Partner
Accommodation Partner
Corporate Partners
Media Partner
Industry Partner
Trusts and Foundations
Our supporters
URANIA—Muse of the
Stars—$25,000+
Michele Levine , Mary-Ruth &
Peter McLennan, Craig Reeves,
Maureen & Tony Wheeler
CLIO—Muse of History—$10,000+
Annamila Fund, John & Lorraine Bates,
Debbie Dadon
THALIA—Muse of Comedy—$5,000+
Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen AO, Colin
Golvan SC, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde
Scholz, Janine Tai, Anonymous (2)
MELPOMENE—Muse of
Tragedy—$2,500+
David Bardas, Sian Fairbank, D.L. & G.S.
Gjergja, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking,
Val Johnstone, Sue Kirkham, James
Penlidis & Fiona McGauchie, Elizabeth
& John Schiller, Jenny Schwarz, Leonard
Vary & Matt Collins QC, Jon Webster,
Anonymous (1)
TERPSICHORE—Muse of
Dance—$500+
Michael Arnold, Ingrid Ashford, Rowland
Ball, Sandra Beanham, David & Rhonda
Black, Jennifer Bourke, Right Lane
Consulting, Ros Casey, Marisa Cesario,
Min Li Chong, Mark & Jo Davey, Taleen
Gaidzkar, Brian Goddard, Leonie
Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Irene Irvine,
Irene Kearsey, Ian McRae, Kersti Nogeste,
Linda Notley, Robert Peters, Katherine
Rehearsal Photos /
Pia Johnson
Sampson, Thea & Hayden Snow, John
Thomas, Pinky Watson, Phil & Heather
Wilson, Anonymous (4)
ERATO—Muse of Love—$250+
Simon Abrahams, Graham & Anita
Anderson, John & Alexandra Busselmaier,
Siu Chan, Chris Clough, Jason Craig,
Tania de Jong AM, Carolyn Floyd, Orla &
Rachel, Joanne Griffiths, Peggy Hayton,
Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, David
& Mira Kolieb, Robyn Lansdowne, Kim
Lowndes, Ian Manning & Alice De Jonge,
John Millard, Paul Natoli, Tony Oliver,
James Ostroburski, Wendy Poulton,
Gerard Powell, Gavin Roach, Michael &
Jenny Rozen, Robert Sessions & Christina
Fitzgerald, Jill Sewell, Lisl Singer, Toby
Sullivan, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte,
Henry Winters, Roger Woock & Fiona
Clyne, Barbara Yuncken
Volunteers
Malthouse Theatre would like to
acknowledge the generous and ongoing
support of our dedicated volunteers.
Design /
Hours After
——> pg 13
Cover Photo /
Andrew Gough
EUTERPE—Muse of Music—$1,000+
Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Chryssa
Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Daniel &
Danielle Besen, John & Sally Bourne,
Sally Browne, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce
AM, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Robin & Neil
Collier, Roger Donazzan & Margaret
Jackson AC, Rev Fr Michael Elligate,
Michael Kingston, Rachel Petchesky,
Rosemary & Roger Redston, Maria
Solà, Gina & Paul Stuart, Rosemary
Walls, Jenny Werbeloff, Jan Williams,
Anonymous (1)
What’s up next
Season 2016
A poignant and hilarious play
… about depression.
EVERY BRILLIANT THING
8 – 20 Mar
Every Brilliant Thing / charts the lengths we go to for those we love.
With his mother in hospital, a young boy constructs a list
of things to help her find a way to be happy.
Performed by British comedian Jonny Donahoe, and following
critically acclaimed seasons in Edinburgh and New York, Melbourne
audiences will have the chance to construct – along with a little help
from Jonny – their own list of all the brilliant things / worth living for.
—Limelight
——> pg 14
Written by / Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe Direction / George Perrin Performed by / Jonny Donahoe
A Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre Company production in association with Jersey Arts Trust and Nabokov.
Hungry for more?
1
2
3
The Glass
Menagerie
Edward II
War and
Peace
18 May – 5 Jun
Winner of the
2015 Helpmann
Award for
Best Play.
29 Jul – 21 Aug
The demise of a
king who mixes
too much pleasure
with business.
#picnicathangingrock
We hope you enjoy Picnic at Hanging Rock,
our new take on an old classic. We think you
might also revel in these other unexpected and
courageous productions of Season 2016. Why not
see all three and save big when you book a Mini
Malty, your three show pass to Season 2016.
18 – 30 October
Fiction and reality
unfold in a collision
of surveillance and
live action.
——> pg 15
Find out more at malthousetheatre.com.au
Season 2016
Black Swan is Western Australia’s state theatre
company, committed to creating exceptional theatre
that nurtures Western Australian audiences and artists
and promotes our artists within the state, nationally
and internationally.
In our 25th anniversary year, the Black Swan team
is thrilled to be partnering with Malthouse Theatre
to co-produce Picnic at Hanging Rock. We wish
Malthouse all the best for their season, and look
forward to the show coming to Perth from 1 to 17 April.
FOUNDING PATRON
Janet Holmes à
Court AC
PATRON
Sam Walsh AO
CHAIR
Mark Barnaba AM
DEPUTY CHAIR
Kate O’Hara
TREASURER
Craig Yaxley
DIRECTORS
Alan Cransberg
Nicola Forrest
Andrew Harding
Rob McKenzie
Vicki Robinson
Linda Savage
PHILANTHROPY
COMMITTEE
Michela Fini
Rachel Huber
Garrod Keightley
Gina Lisle
Sallie-Anne Manford
Sue McDonald
Fred Nagle
Mimi Packer
Chris Ungar
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Kate Cherry
GENERAL MANAGER
Natalie Jenkins
ASSOCIATE
DIRECTORS
Jeffrey Jay Fowler &
Stuart Halusz
LITERARY DIRECTOR
Polly Low
ARTISTIC
COORDINATOR
Jessica Knight
FINANCE MANAGER
Amanda Luke
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Garry Ferguson
TECHNICAL
MANAGER
Alex Fisher
WARDROBE
MANAGER
Lynn Ferguson
CUTTER
Mandy Elmitt
WARDROBE
ASSISTANT
Marie NitschkeMcGregor
PARTNERSHIPS
MANAGER
Monique Beaudoire
PARTNERSHIPS
COORDINATOR
Jordan Nix
PHILANTHROPY
MANAGER
Andree McIntyre
PHILANTHROPY
OFFICER
Amber Craike
MARKETING
& AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT
MANAGER
Maria Sioulas
MARKETING
COORDINATOR
Kerry Miller
TICKETING &
SUBSCRIPTION
OFFICER
Amy Welsh
PUBLICITY
Irene Jarzabek
EDUCATION &
COMMUNITY ACCESS
MANAGER
Alena Tompkins
EDUCATION &
COMMUNITY ACCESS
ASSISTANT
Goya Zheng
2016 INTERNS
Samuel Cox
Madeleine Jolly-Fuentes
Scott McArdle
Harry McGrath
OVERSEAS
REPRESENTATIVES
London
Diana Franklin
Yolande Bird
New York
Stuart Thompson
——> pg 16
#picnicathangingrock
Th e Cu llen – Prahran, Melbourne
Th e O lsen – south Yarra, Melbourne
The Bl aCk M an – st kilda Road, Melbourne
Th e waTsO n – walkerville, adelaide
Or stay inspired at our studio hotels:
Th e l aRwI ll sT u D I O – Parkville, Melbourne
Th e sChalleR sT u D I O – Bendigo, Victoria
——> pg 17
artserieshotels.com.au
1800 278 468
#picnicathangingrock
scene & heard
Coordinating the quick scene
changes in pitch black took hours
of practice. The cast rehearsed with
their eyes closed, and our backstage
crew wear night vision googles
during the performance.
——> pg 19
© Malthouse Theatre 2016. All rights reserved.
Season 2016
——> pg 20
MalthouseTheatre
MalthouseMelb
MalthouseTheatre
malthousetheatre.com.au