Wild

Toby Schmitz (Black Sails) and Nicholas Denton (Jasper Jones) join Anna Lise Phillips (Harrow) in the Australian premiere of Mike Bartlett’s Wild, a gripping exploration of privacy and surveillance in the digital age directed by MTC Associate Director Dean Bryant.
Opening at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner on Thursday 10 May, Wild is set to wow audiences with its dazzling special effects and fascinating examination of a world with its cover blown.

In 2014 MTC presented the Australian premiere of Mike Bartlett’s intimate and provocative play Cock, exploring modern questions of relationships and love. In Wild, Bartlett once again turns his attention to contemporary issues, this time in a riveting thriller where nothing is as it seems.

Dean Bryant said, ‘As fast and furious as a rollercoaster ride, Wild literally upends how we see the world and is a must for people who like their politics with a side of black comedy. I love a piece that twists and turns, and Bartlett steers this riff on real-world events towards a target you’ll never see coming.’

Ordinary Joe one day – America’s Most Wanted the next. That’s what happens when you leak top-secret Government surveillance. Having blown the world’s biggest whistle, Andrew is on the run, holed up in a Russian hotel room; a political pawn with a target on his back. If you betray your country for the right reasons, are you a hero or a traitor? One thing is certain, you will never know who you can trust.

Mike Bartlett is an award-winning British playwright whose plays include Cock (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); King Charles III (Olivier Award for Best New Play); LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (UK Theatre Award for Best New Play) and Bull (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre). His writing for television includes Doctor Foster (National Television Award for Best New Drama) and The Town (BAFTA for Best Breakthrough Talent – TV Craft).

MTC Associate Director Dean Bryant is one of Australia’s most accomplished and versatile directors. For MTC he has directed Vivid White, Born Yesterday, Skylight, I’ll Eat You Last and Next to Normal. Dean also worked on Macbeth, The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (and STC season), Hitchcock Blonde and Urinetown (and STC season) for the Company. His other directing credits include Sweet Charity (Helpmann Award, Best Director of a Musical) and Little Shop of Horrors for Hayes Theatre Company, Anything Goes (Opera Australia/GFO), Once We Lived Here (London season), DreamSong (TheatreWorks), Straight (Red Stitch), The Last Five Years, Prodigal, Virgins: A Musical Threesome and five musicals for The Production Company. With composer Mathew Frank, he wrote Green Room award-winning musicals Prodigal and Once We Lived Here, as well as Britney Spears: The Cabaret, Virgins: A Musical Threesome, The Silver Donkey and an Amy Winehouse musical for Channel 10’s Mr & Mrs Murder. Dean created verbatim piece Gaybies (Midsumma, Darlinghurst Theatre Company). Dean is Worldwide Associate Director of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical and is a graduate of WAAPA.

Cast Nicholas Denton, Anna Lise Phillips, Toby Schmitz
Director Dean Bryant
Set Designer Andrew Bailey
Costume Designer Owen Phillips
Lighting Designer Ross Graham
Composer & Sound Designer Sidney Millar
Voice & Dialect Coach Geraldine Cook-Dafner

Assistant Director Charlotte Day

Season
5 May – 9 June

Opening Night
Thursday 10 May

Venue
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

Tickets
mtc.com.au
03 8688 0800

#mtcWild
mtc.com.au/Wild

‘The year’s most sensational coup de théâtre’ The Telegraph
‘Defiantly and uniquely theatrical’ The Guardian