Hello and welcome to another great season of theatrical storytelling at Melbourne Theatre Company.
This 2015 program of productions spans a tremendous range of themes and performance styles, from the austere poetry of the Beckett masterpiece Endgame to the thrilling escapism of North by Northwest – and all points in between.
As a tribute to the Anzac centenary, we present Steve Vizard and Paul Grabowsky’s The Last Man Standing, a work promising to be unlike any other in this year of commemorations, as it takes our famous larrikin irreverence as a starting point for an examination of the true Anzac spirit. A new play from Kylie Trounson, The Waiting Room draws on her own childhood to tell the story of her father, IVF pioneer Emeritus Professor Alan Trounson, while a boutique gem of a musical, What Rhymes with Cars and Girls by Tim Rogers and Aidan Fennessy draws on an iconic album by Rogers to tell a very Australian love story. These world premieres take their place alongside the best and most interesting plays from overseas – some startlingly new, and others exciting revivals.
As well as our mainstage season, in 2015 we consolidate all our initiatives of the past two seasons which have been so successful in reaching out to new audiences in Melbourne and beyond.
Our NEON Festival of Independent Theatre is back for its third year, as is the popular Cybec Electric play reading series. Our vital education productions and programs are enhanced by even more initiatives under the banner Sharing the Light which will see greatly increased access for students, children and families across Victoria.
We again tour internationally, taking Complexity of Belonging to Europe, and we present another wonderful family production The Boy at the Edge of Everything. As well, we partner with a number of cultural collaborators including Sydney Theatre Company (Death and the Maiden), Melbourne Recital Centre and SummerSalt Festival, State Theatre Company of South Australia (Betrayal), Kay + McLean Productions and Warner Bros. Theater Ventures (North by Northwest), Multicultural Arts Victoria and MPavilion.
I am also delighted that Season 2015 sees two alumni of our inaugural Women Directors’ Program, Naomi Edwards and Clare Watson, making their mainstage MTC debuts with two new works.
In these myriad ways, MTC is putting the transformative power of live theatre and storytelling within reach of the six million citizens of Victoria, as well as a national and international audience.
On behalf of the Board, Executive Director Virginia Lovett and the entire MTC team, I invite you to be enthralled, delighted, provoked and challenged with us in 2015.
Brett Sheehy AO
Artistic Director
Published on 4 September 2014