MTC was highly decorated at last night’s Helpmanns, taking home six trophies including the highly-coveted Best Play award for Richard III. A huge favourite with audiences, Richard III won a further four awards in the Theatre category: Best Male Actor in a Play to Ewen Leslie, Best Direction by MTC Artistic Director Simon Phillips, Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play to Humphrey Bower and Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play to Alison Whyte. The stunning sets seen in August: Osage County were also recognised by the judging panel, with Dale Ferguson taking home the Best Scenic Art Award.

To find out more about the Helpmann Awards and view a full list of 2010 award winners, head to www.helpmannawards.com.au.

Congratulations everyone!

MTC’s very own Associate Director Aidan Fennessy was announced winner of the 2010 Griffin Award for his play Brutopia last night. Brutopia is a play that traces six different characters within a city and their interactions over the course of one day that lead to a horrific crime. Griffin Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Sam Strong described the work as ‘a beautifully crafted portrait of urban alienation ... The judges admired Aidan’s delicate drawing of complex characters, his formally innovative use of a choral structure, and his deft interweaving of apparently disconnected lives into a powerful finale’.

Aidan has worked extensively in the theatre as a writer, director and dramaturg, and most recently directed Boston Marriage for MTC. Next he will be directing a play reading of This is How, hosted in the Lawler Studio as a part of The Cybec Readings.

Congratulations to all those who were nominated for a Helpmann Award on Monday night. MTC received a staggering total of 18 nominations over a range of categories for various productions in our 2009 and 2010 Seasons. The standouts of which were The Drowsy Chaperone (Best Musical), August: Osage County and Richard III (both for Best Play), all directed by Artistic Director Simon Phillips.

The Awards will be announced on 6 September 2010 at the Sydney Opera House. To see the full list of nominations, click here.

Acting as a wonderful antidote to Melbourne’s freezing cold winter is the forthcoming production of Let the Sunshine, David Williamson’s latest play set in sunny Noosa. Whilst it may be rainy and grey outside, MTC audiences will be transported to a delightful  beachside setting and enjoy the performances of two of our favourite faces: Jacki Weaver and John Wood. 

Currently escaping the dreary weather is David Williamson himself, as he and his wife are travelling on an amazing journey through Dalmatia and the Danube with The Captain’s Choice Tours, who have supported both the Queensland and Melbourne seasons of Let the Sunshine as proud Cast Partners. Perhaps the next Williamson play will be set on a drama-packed cruise off the Dalmatian coast!

To see where David Williamson travelled, visit The Captain’s Choice Tours. In the meantime, plan a two-hour comedic holiday with Let the Sunshine, playing from 28 July to 4 September.

MTC was delighted to receive a host of awards last night at the Green Room Awards Ceremony in Melbourne. MTC Artistic Director Simon Phillips received the award for Best Direction, Robyn Nevin for Best Female Performer, and Rebekah Stone for Best Female Supporting Performer for their work on August: Osage County.

When the Rain Stops Falling, produced by Brink Productions and presented by MTC in association with Melbourne International Arts Festival, also received awards for Best Production, Set Design, Lighting Design and New Writing for the Stage.

We are also especially proud to announce that the Technical Achievement Award went to Geoff McGregor and Colin Penn, MTC’s very own prop-making maestros, for their skill and contribution to the theatre industry.

MTC has landed a series of nominations for the 2009 Green Room Awards across the various categories in the Theatre Companies division, receiving two nominations for Best Production; one for the rollicking American family drama August: Osage County and another for our presentation of Brink Productions’ When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell. Chris Drummond and Simon Phillips are also in the draw for Best Direction for When the Rain Stops Falling and August: Osage County respectively. Several performers including Natasha Herbert, Jane Menelaus, Robyn Nevin, Neil Pigot and Hugo Weaving have been nominated for their stellar performances in various MTC shows.

For the full list of 2009 Nominees, please visit the Green Room Awards Association website. The recipients will be announced on Monday 15 March 2010 at the Arts Centre, Playhouse.

Directed by Melbourne Theatre Company’s very own Artistic Director Simon Phillips, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical has landed three Laurence Olivier Award nominations having won over London’s legendary West End since it’s opening in March 2009. The stage production, based on Stephen Elliot’s successful film, is up for Best Stage Musical in Britain’s most prominent stage awards. Keep your eyes peeled - the winners will be announced on 21 March.

Back at MTC, Simon Phillips has just finished directing the sell-out summer smash hit musical The Drowsy Chaperone. Next up he will take on Shakespeare’s Richard III, followed by All About My Mother and Songs for Nobodies.

In late October the glowing MTC Theatre received an Award of Excellence, thanks to lighting designers Electrolight, at the 2009 International Association of Lighting Designers Awards. In the same month, the joint MTC Theatre and Melbourne Recital Centre Project was also awarded the Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture at the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards.

The judges said: “The most important aspect of the development is the performing arts spaces, their adequacy, sightlines and acoustics... [they are] effectively boxes within boxes, isolated from the outside world and the ground to minimise noise and vibration transfer.” National jury chairman Howard Tanner described the project as ''giving Melbourne the most terrific set of performing spaces.”

Max Gillies will need to be on his toes when Godzone begins this week. Not only will he be required to quickly transform with the help of various wigs and prosthetics throughout the show, but he has also been closely reading the political pages. Out of rehearsals, Max has been seen with headphones in, keeping tuned to all the latest developments in parliament and current political affairs, continually gaining insight into the situation while honing in on the idiosyncrasies of each of his characters.

Word has it that Gillies and co-writer Guy Rundle have gone through the exhaustive process of preparing various scripts to ensure the production is relevant in the ever-changing political climate, and with a fresh new liberal leader just announced the show may veer in a new direction.

See the lengthy process of transformation from Max to Kevin by viewing the Prosthetics Gallery here.

With queues forming as early as 7am and stretching 300 metres down Ferrars Street to City Road by the time the doors opened two hours later, MTC said ‘adieu’ to our previous Headquarters this past Saturday with a bang. Our biggest ever Garage Sale saw well over 2,000 bargain hunters pass through the doors, most of them leaving with their arms straining under their the weight of their off-beat purchases.

Gorilla suits, dismembered hands in jars, bizarre hats and a magical ‘flying’ table all found delighted new owners. The Garage Sale purged us of thirty-five years of horded stuff and cleared the decks for our move to our new Sturt Street HQ. It also cleared some of our debt, raising $85,000 towards the cost of our new building.

Check out one happy shopper’s photos from the day here.
You can also find the ABC News coverage of the Garage Sale here.

The MTC Theatre has continued to receive a flock of building awards throughout 2009. Earlier this month the joint Melbourne Theatre Company and Melbourne Recital Centre structure was heralded Australia’s best building by the National Builders Association on the Gold Coast, and also won the construction award and the Master Builder of the Year Award for the building’s overseeing project management and construction company, Bovis Lend Lease.

Master Builders chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch claimed the building as 'a masterpiece of design, building and construction', innovative in both its building techniques and materials needed to suit the specific architectural design.

Following a triumphant premiere at the 2008 Adelaide Festival, Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling continued its journey of success, experiencing sell-out seasons for Sydney Theatre Company and London's Almeida Theatre earlier this year. Set to open at the MTC Theatre in October, in conjunction with the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the work is now Broadway-bound and will open at the Lincoln Centre Theater in March next year.

For production images and futher details about MTC's season of When the Rain Stops Falling click here.

Or visit the Brink Productions website for further information about the production, awards and video footage - click here.

Yasmina Reza's latest work God of Carnage this week took home the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play. This vicious comedy was nominated across six categories, building on a mountain of awards the play has already received, including an Oliver Award for Best New Comedy.

To add to the excitement of this eagerly awaited production, MTC recently confirmed The Matrix and Lord of the Rings star Hugo Weaving, will perform alongside MTC favourite Pamela Rabe. The two actors were last seen together on the MTC stage in the 1993 production of Much Ado about Nothing.

Designer of MTC’s upcoming play August: Osage County Dale Ferguson, received two highly sought-after Tony award nominations earlier this month.

Currently putting the final touches on August: Osage County’s three-story set and costumes for the cast of thirteen, Dale was nominated in both the ‘Best Set’ and ‘Best Costume’ Tony Award Design Categories for his involvement in Exit the King.

Other Tony Award nominations include Yasmina Reza’s vicious comedy God of Carnage, which received nominations across six categories. 

The Tony Awards will be announced in New York on 7 June.

The 2008 Green Room Awards held at the Arts Centre, Playhouse on Monday 20 April were dominated by Patrick White’s The Season at Sarsaparilla. Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Season at Sarsaparilla, was presented by MTC as part of the 2008 Season.  Nominated for nine awards the production went home with the prize in seven categories including Best Production.

The Season at Sarsaparilla received the Green Room Award in the following categories:

Production - The Season at Sarsaparilla
Direction - Benedict Andrews - The Season at Sarsaparilla 
Female Performer - Pamela Rabe (Nola) - The Season at Sarsaparilla 
Male Performer - Peter Carroll (Girlie) - The Season at Sarsaparilla 
Supporting Performer - Luke Mullins (Ron) - The Season at Sarsaparilla 
Design - Robert Cousins (Set) - The Season at Sarsaparilla 
Lighting Design - Nick Schlieper - The Season at Sarsaparilla

In the most competitive Dulux Awards in the competition’s 23 year history, the MTC Theatre designed by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall, has been named the Grand Prix Winner. 

Judge Karl Fender said of the MTC Theatre; “There is a level of drama and theatrics behind the palette that echoes and enriches the very culture and purpose of this space. In every sense…ARM has proven the Melbourne Theatre Company to be a worthy winner of this year’s Dulux Colour Awards.”

The MTC Theatre also took home the award in the Commercial Interior category for its “sophisticated and ambitious approach to colour” and the intelligent way in which colour was used to enhance the architecture.

MTC's 2009 season is awash with critically acclaimed works with God of Carnage this week taking home an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Yasmina Reza's latest work builds on the success of her previous hits Art and Life x 3, both of which experienced sell-out seasons with MTC.

Joanna Murray-Smith's Female of the Species, which premiered with MTC in 2006, was a runner up in this Best New Comedy category. Her latest work Rockabye,  is undergoing some final tweaking ahead of its August opening at the Sumner Theatre.

August: Osage County, which is due to open at the Playhouse in May, picked up four nominations including Best New Play and took home the award for Best Set Design. The MTC workshop is already abuzz with activity as designer Dale Ferguson and the workshop crew create a similarly breath-taking set, which will see a three-story house constructed on stage.