WORLD PREMIERE
'The Gift is theatre unnerving and vital enough to have you arguing about it all the way home' - The Age
'A delightful and unnerving meditation on art and friendship' - Australian Stage
Sadie and Ed meet Martin and Chloë at a holiday resort and instantly hit it off, despite coming from completely different worlds. When Martin saves Ed’s life, everyone knows the debt can never be properly repaid. But Ed is rich and Chloë and Martin have a need so great it seems divine providence when Ed, wanting to show his gratitude, gives the young couple a year to decide on an appropriate gift. Yet when the year is up, surely Chloë and Martin’s wish is something no-one could possibly grant?
Wrapped in Joanna Murray-Smith’s glinting dialogue, The Gift is a witty examination of our modern moral confusions.
Key Photography by Fraser Marsden. Production Photography by Jess Busby.
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Scripts of The Gift are available for purchase at the MTC Theatre. To learn more, visit our Merchandise page.
Aptly titled, because plays of this quality do not land on one’s desk every day, Joanna Murray-Smith’s The Gift is doubly gratifying because, during my tenure at MTC, I have watched her go from being about the sharpest writer on the Melbourne scene to a playwright of international reputation. In fact it's flattering that she still come to us first with a new project, particularly one as verbally rich, smartly funny and morally complex as this. No doubt we are the 'out-of-town' try-out for a glittering West End or Broadway season, but I'm sure no-one will give it a better production than us, especially with a fine Australian cast headed the irrepressible Richard Piper.
Artistic Director Simon Phillips
