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Artwork for Sunday
Artwork for Sunday
Artwork for Sunday
Artwork for Sunday
Sunday

16 Jan — 21 Feb 2023

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

A FANTASY OF LIFE AT HEIDE

Starring Nikki Shiels (Girls & Boys), Sunday is an audacious fantasy inspired by the stories and myths that surround Heide Museum of Modern Art founder Sunday Reed – the muse and mentor to a circle of artists including Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester.

Approx. 2 hours and 45 minutes, including a 20-minute interval

SEASON EXTENDED! Due to popular demand, Sunday has been extended through 21 Feb. Seating is strictly limited — Standing Room tickets may be available at the box office prior to each performance. See here for more info.

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This is rated 5 out of 5 stars

‘A world-class performance. In fact, it’s a world-class production.’

The Guardian
This is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

‘A brilliantly realised ode to some of the most important figures in modern Australian art.’

Limelight
This is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

‘An iconic performance.’

ArtsHub

ABOUT THE SHOW

Starring Nikki Shiels (Girls & Boys, The Picture of Dorian Gray), this world premiere Melbourne Theatre Company commission is an audacious fantasy inspired by the stories and myths that surround Heide Museum of Modern Art founder Sunday Reed – the muse and mentor to a circle of artists including Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester.

Sunday Reed isn’t like most women. In fact, she’s not like most men. Outspoken, uninhibited, adventurous, she has a laser eye for the new – in life and in art. When struggling artist Sidney Nolan arrives at Heide, the idyllic utopia Sunday is creating with her beloved husband John Reed on the outskirts of 1940s Melbourne, what ensues will haunt all three to their dying days. And in the aftermath, Australian art will never look the same.

Award-winning playwright Anthony Weigh (2,000 Feet Away) creates a fantasy around this Melbourne icon that captures her passionate and unconventional spirit. Directed by Sarah Goodes (The Sound Inside) and also featuring Matt Day (North by Northwest), Josh McConville (Elvis), Ratidzo Mambo (The Heartbreak Choir) and Joshua Tighe, Sunday is an unforgettable story of a bold and complex woman and the price she paid for living and loving on her own terms as a woman in mid-20th century Australia.

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Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative

Sunday was commissioned by Melbourne Theatre Company with the support of the Joan and Peter Clemenger Trust. Supported by our Sunday Production Patron’s; Andrew Sisson AO and Tracey Sisson, Joanna Baevski, Glenda and Greg Lewin AM, Kerry Gardner AM and Andrew Myer AM, Virginia Lovett and Rose Hiscock, Orcadia Foundation, Anonymous (1).

 

 

 

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair Accessible

  • Hearing Assistance

  • Audio Described

  • Tactile Tour

  • Open Captioning

  • Auslan Interpreted

Performance Type Performance Date(s)
Audio Described
by Vision Australia 		Saturday 4 February at 2pm
Tuesday 7 February at 6.30pm
Tactile Tour
by Vision Australia 		Saturday 4 February, 2pm (Tactile tour commences at 1pm)
Open Captioning
via screen 		Saturday 11 February at 2pm
Auslan Interpreted
by Auslan Stage Left 		Tuesday 14 February at 6.30pm
Artwork for Matt Day

Matt Day

John

Matt Day has previously appeared in North by Northwest and Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot for Melbourne Theatre Company. Other stage credits include Blithe Spirit, The Deep Blue Sea, The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Six Degrees of Separation, Fred (Sydney Theatre Company) and A Strategic Plan (Griffin Theatre Company). His film credits comprise work in Australia, the United States and United Kingdom, including Reaching Distance, Sweet Country, Dance Academy: The Movie, Touch, My Year Without Sex, Scoop, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, The Sugar Factory, Kiss or Kill, Doing Time for Patsy Cline, Dating the Enemy, Love and Other Catastrophes and Muriel's Wedding. His television work includes The Unusual Suspects, Harrow, The Other Guy, Les Norton, Get Krack!n, Black Comedy, Rake, Lowdown, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Tangle, Paper Giants, Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Shackleton, Hotel Babylon, Spooks, Hell Has Harbour Views, Life Isn't All Ha-Ha Hee-Hee, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Commander and My Brother Jack.

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Ratidzo Mambo

Ratidzo Mambo

Joy

Ratidzo Mambo was recently named as a 2020 Rising Star by the Casting Guild of Australia. Some of Ratidzo’s theatre credits include The Heartbreak Choir, Cruel and Tender (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Prize Fighter (La Boite Theatre Company), which won the 2019 Matilda Award for Best Ensemble and was nominated for a 2019 Helpmann and 2019 Green Room Award for Best Production; The Trial of Dorian Gray (Bittenby Productions). Her TV credits include The Gloaming (Stan and Disney/ABC), GLEE (FOX); Wicked Science 2 (Jonathan Shiff Productions/Network 10) and Neighbours (Network 10). Her film credits include Escape From Pretoria (Arclight Films); 10 Terrorists (The Picture Tank) and The Legend Maker (Ian Pringle Films). She trained at 16th Street Actors Studio, VCA and Baron Brown Meisner Studio. Ratidzo voiced the 2021 Best Fiction and Best New Australian Podcast Awards winner, Private Affairs. She won the 2016 Best Actor Award for the Hollywood Short + Sweet Theatre Festival, the 2018 16th Street Actors Studios Larry Moss Scholarship and is a 2017 Heath Ledger Scholarship finalist.

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Josh McConville

Josh McConville

Nolan

Josh McConville’s theatre credits include Golden Shield, The Sublime (Melbourne Theatre Company); Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cloud Nine, All My Sons, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Loot, Arcadia, Noises Off (Sydney Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor), In the Next Room, Gross Und Klein (Sydney Theatre Company); The Boys (Sydney Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role), The Call, Strange Attractor (Sydney Theatre Award for Best Newcomer) (Griffin Theatre); Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare); Packer & Sons, A Taste of Honey, The Sugar House (Belvoir); Death of a Salesman (Black Swan Theatre Company); Triple X (Queensland Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company). Television credits include Wild Boys, Underbelly II: A Tale of Two Cities, Cleverman, The Killing Field, Mr Inbetween (season 2) and Home and Away. Film credits include The Infinite Man, The Turning: Commission, Down Under, 1% (AACTA Award Nomination), The Merger, Fantasy Island and most recently Elvis.

Current as of January 2023.

 

Artwork for Nikki Shiels

Nikki Shiels

Sunday

Nikki Shiels has previously worked with Melbourne Theatre Company on Girls & Boys, Home, I’m Darling, The Cherry Orchard, True Minds, Top Girls and Don Parties On. Other theatre credits include The Picture of Dorian Gray, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Cheery Soul and Three Sisters (Sydney Theatre Company); My Brilliant Career, They Divided The Sky, The Sugar House, The Rover and Twelfth Night (Belvoir); Picnic at Hanging Rock, Night on Bald Mountain, The Dragon and Elizabeth – Almost by Chance a Woman (Malthouse Theatre); The Last Wife (Ensemble); The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (Griffin/La Mama); The Dream (Bell Shakespeare); Joan (The Rabble); M + M and The Dollhouse (Daniel Schlusser Ensemble); Madeleine (Black Sequin Productions/Arts House). Screen credits include Safety Net, Bloom, House Husbands, Childhood’s End, Rush IV and The Eye of the Storm. Nikki won the 2020 Green Room Award for Most Outstanding Performer for her performance as Judy Martin in Home, I’m Darling for Melbourne Theatre Company.

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Joshua Tighe

Joshua Tighe

Sweeney

Joshua Tighe is making his professional theatre debut with Melbourne Theatre Company. His previous TV and film credits include Hot Department: Dark Web (created by Hot Department with Liam Fitzgibbon); TKG: The Kids of Grove (88-1 Productions) and Patties Pies (TVC). At just 16 years of age Joshua is thrilled to make his debut as Sweeney in Sunday and says he is ‘honoured to work alongside some of the industry’s most incredible creatives.’

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Anthony Weigh

Anthony Weigh

Writer

Anthony Weigh is a graduate of NIDA and has worked as an actor for all of Australia’s major theatre companies. As a playwright his works have been produced in Australia, North America and Europe. His original plays and adaptations for the stage include 2,000 Feet Away (Belvoir Theatre, Sydney; Bush Theatre, London; Steep Theatre, Chicago), Like A Fishbone, (Griffin Theatre, Sydney; Sydney Theatre Company; Bush Theatre, London; Theatre Salt, Istanbul), The Flooded Grave (Bush Theatre, London; Latitude Festival), The Middle Man (Bush Theatre, London), Yerma after Lorca, (Gate Theatre, London), The Silence of the Sea and Welcome Home, Captain Fox! (both for Donmar Warehouse, London), Edward II after Marlowe (Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne) and The Canterville Ghost after Oscar Wilde (Unicorn Theatre, London), The Oskaloosan (The Civilians R&D, New York City). Anthony has been Playwright-in-Residence at the National Theatre of Great Britain and Associate Artist at both the Bush Theatre and Donmar Warehouse in London. He is resident fellow of the Yaddo and MacDowell Artist Colonies and has taught playwriting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts in New York City. 

Current as of January 2023.

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Sarah Goodes

Director

Sarah Goodes is a Helpmann Award-winning theatre director recognised for bringing over 14 new Australian works to the mainstage. For Melbourne Theatre Company, Sarah’s work includes Cyrano, The Sound Inside, Home, I’m Darling, Così, Golden Shield, Arbus & West, Astroman, A Doll’s House: Part 2, The Children (with Sydney Theatre Company), Three Little Words and John. As Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company, Sarah directed The Hanging, Disgraced, Orlando, Battle of Waterloo, Switzerland, The Effect, Vere (Faith), The Splinter and Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness. Sarah’s other directing credits include Grace (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); The Sugar House (Belvoir); The Sweetest Thing, The Small Things, Elling and Black Milk (B Sharp Belvoir); Vertigo and the Virginia, The Schelling Point, Hilt and What Happened Was… (Old Fitzroy Theatre). In 2023 she will direct The Weekend at Belvoir Street, Switzerland at the Auckland Theatre Company and Julia at Sydney Theatre Company. She is currently enrolled in Masters of Screen Business at ATFRS.

Current as of January 2023.

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Anna Cordingley

Set Designer

Anna Cordingley is an award-winning set, costume and exhibition designer whose designs have been seen by audiences throughout Australia, Europe, Britain and the United States. Selected designs include Storm Boy (Melbourne Theatre Company); Jasper Jones (Melbourne Theatre Company/Queensland Theatre); Abigail’s Party sets, Death and the Maiden costumes (Sydney Theatre Company); Carmen, Aida costumes (Opera Australia); Cassandra, Echo & Narcissis, Salome costumes, Sunday in the Park with George (Victorian Opera); The Threepenny Opera (Victorian Opera/ Sydney Theatre Company/ Malthouse); Don Giovanni (Opera Queensland); Anthony and Cleopatra, Richard III (Bell Shakespeare); Meow Meow's Little Mermaid (Malthouse). Anna has won a Helpmann Award for Best Set Design and two Green Room Awards. Anna is Lecturer in Design at The University of Melbourne (VCA) and Design Akademie Berlin.

Current as of January 2023.

 

Artwork for Harriet Oxley

Harriet Oxley

Costume Designer

A graduate of VCA (Theatre Design) and RMIT (Fashion Design), Harriet Oxley has designed and created costumes for dance, opera, circus and theatre companies across Australia since 2005. Collaborations with companies in recent years include The Universe Is Here, Us 50, Neon Aether (Sydney Dance Company); Pendulum, Split, The Dark Chorus (Lucy Guerin Inc); Entity (Back to Back Theatre); Red, Dust, Attractor (Dancenorth, QLD); Multiply, Colossus, Pile of Bones (Stephanie Lake Company); The Temple (Malthouse Theatre/ Pan Pan UK); Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, The Flying Dutchman, Norma (Melbourne Opera); Laughter and Tears, Into the Woods (Victorian Opera); Nether, Anti-Gravity (Chunky Move); and Wunderage, Aurora (Circus Oz). Harriet collaborated on acclaimed independent production One Infinity (Beijing Dance Theatre/ Jun Tiang Fang/ Playking Productions). Harriet has been nominated for several Green Room Awards, winning once for design in opera.

Current as of January 2023.

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Paul Jackson

Lighting Designer

Paul Jackson’s lighting designs with Melbourne Theatre Company include Cyrano, The Sound Inside, The Truth, Home, I’m Darling, Arbus and West, The Children, Gloria, Hay Fever, Di and Viv and Rose, Three Little Words, Endgame, Miss Julie, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Double Indemnity, The Ghost Writer, Ghosts, Dinner, Frozen, The Speechmaker, Enlightenment, Madagascar and Private Lives; and for Sydney Theatre Company include The Lifespan of a Fact, Death of a Salesman, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, No Pay? No Way!, Mary Stuart, True West and The Mysteries. He has also designed for The Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Berlin Staatsballett, West Australian Ballet, Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera, Bell Shakespeare, Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, Queensland Theatre, Circa and Chamber Made Opera. He has lectured in design at the University of Melbourne, RMIT University and VCA. Paul has won a Helpmann Award, seven Green Room Awards, two Sydney Theatre Awards, four Australian Production Design Guild Awards and a Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland. Paul was Artistic Associate at Malthouse Theatre from 2007–13. In 2017, he received an Australia Council of the Arts Fellowship.

Current as of January 2023.

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Jethro Woodward

Composer & Sound Designer

Jethro Woodward’s credits include The Truth, Home, I’m Darling, Astroman, Birdland (Melbourne Theatre Company); Apocalypse Meow: Crisis Is Born (Malthouse Theatre & BAM NYC); Solaris (Malthouse Theatre & Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh); The Black Rider (Malthouse Theatre & Opera Victoria); Blasted, The Elephant Man, Timeshare, Antigone (Malthouse Theatre); Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid (Malthouse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, Sydney Festival, Auckland Festival, Perth Festival, Brisbane Festival); Antigravity (Malthouse Theatre & Chunky Move); Pinocchio (Malthouse Theatre, Windmill Theatre, State Theatre Company, New Victory Theatre Broadway New York, Sydney Opera House & Adelaide Festival Centre); Lazarus (Production Company); Distant Matter (Staatsballet Berlin & Anouk van Dijk); Common Ground (Anouk van Dijk & Chunky Move); Life of Galileo, Sammi In Paradise (Belvoir Theatre); Paul Capsis & The Fitzroy Youth Orchestra (Sydney Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival); Rumpelstiltskin (Windmill Theatre & State Theatre Co, London Southbank Centre); Lot 57 (Marcia Ferguson); The Crossing (Donna Chang & Marieka Walsh); Tim Winton’s The Turning – Fog (Robert Connolly); Van Diemen’s Land (Jonathan auf der Heide & Maggie Miles).

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Sonya Suares

Sonya Suares

Assistant Director

Sonya Suares is a multidisciplinary performer, dramaturg, director and theatre maker. She founded acclaimed Sondheim repertory company Watch This, whose repertoire has accrued 27 Green Room Award nominations and four wins. Sonya has also received Green Room Award nominations for her work on Melbourne Theatre Company's Melbourne Talam and Polyglot Theatre & Papermoon Puppet Theatre's Cerita Anak. She shares a Green Room Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical with Dean Drieberg for Sunday in the Park with George (2019) and for the digital documentary series, The Art of Making Art (2020). Recently, she co-directed Into the Woods with Melanie Hillman (six Green Room Award nominations/two wins); the 2022 Cybec Electric series with Isabella Vadiveloo; and wrote/produced a pilot of the screen project The Quest, a collaboration with her son, Daniel. She just realised the Australian premiere of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's Emilia at Arts Centre Melbourne with Essential Theatre and in 2023 she will collaborate with composer/lyricist Vidya Makan and Hayes Theatre Co to direct the world premiere of The Lucky Country.

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Danni A. Esposito

Danni A. Esposito

Assistant Sound Designer

Danni A. Esposito is a trans non-binary sound designer and composer from Naarm/Melbourne. They specialise in sound design and composition for theatre, immersive works and film. Danni was the sound designer for Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Sound Inside. Their other most notable credits include sound design and composition on Overflow (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); Stay Woke (Malthouse Theatre); Malthouse Theatre’s 2020 Season Launch; Hydra (Double Water Sign Theatre); Fast Food (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); SLUTNIK (Midsumma Festival); Guerilla Sabbath (Midsumma Festival); Cactus (La Mama Theatre); Punk Rock (Patalog Theatre); Slut (The Burrow); The Dream Laboratory (Essential Theatre); Treats (Fever103 Theatre); Land (Three Fates Theatre Company); Never Said Motel (Writers Festival, OK Motels); Adam (Midsumma Festival); Tram Lights Up (Bighouse Arts); Western Edge Youth Arts (WEYA — In School, Artist In Residency). Danni is a design graduate of VCA, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production). Danni is a proud alum of Melbourne Theatre Company's industry leading Women in Theatre Program and a current panel member of the Green Room Theatre Companies Panel for 2022.

Current as of January 2023.

 

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Geraldine Cook-Dafner

Voice Coach

Geraldine Cook-Dafner previously worked for Melbourne Theatre Company on Sunday, Girls & Boys, The Lifespan of a Fact, Home I’m Darling, Golden Shield, Wild, The Children, Hay Fever, Di and Viv and Rose, Melbourne Talam, John, The Odd Couple, Straight White Men, The Distance, Birdland, The Waiting Room, Top Girls, The Heretic, The Swimming Club, The 39 Steps, The History Boys, All My Sons, The Clean House, Boy Gets Girl, Take Me Out and The Glass Menagerie. Geraldine has also worked at SBS, Malthouse and Musica Viva. She trained at Middlesex University, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has a doctorate from the University of Melbourne. Geraldine is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, where previously she held positions as Head of Voice, Head of School of Performing Arts and Associate Dean. She is currently voice and dialect coach for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Current as of March 2023.

Artwork for Amy Cater

Amy Cater

Intimacy Coordinator

Artwork for Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke

Standby Cover

Jessica Clarke is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Her theatre credits include Iphigenia In Splott, Caught, The Cane, Pomona, Rules For Living (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); Therese Raquin (Critical Stages); Please Continue, Hamlet (Melbourne International Arts Festival); Good, Die Young (Sydney Fringe Festival); Starchaser (Arena Theatre Company); Waltzing the Wilarra (Yirra Yaakin); Heaven (La Mama) and more. Her feature film credits include The Menkoff Method, The Moon And The Sun and 2:22. And for television includes The Beautiful Lie, Home And Away, Harrow, Neighbours, Offspring, Sisters, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Blue Heelers and more. Jessica won Most Outstanding Performance for Iphigenia In Splott at the 2021 Green Room Awards, and was nominated for Best Ensemble for Pomona at the 2019 Green Room Awards. 

Current as of January 2023.

Artwork for Daniel Frederiksen

Daniel Frederiksen

Standby Cover

Daniel Frederiksen studied at NIDA and is a founding member of Red Stitch Theatre Company. His theatre credits include Shakespeare in Love, As You Like It, The Lady in The Van, Abigail’s Party, Dean Man’s Cell Phone, Rockabye, Realism, Don Juan in Soho, Cheech or The Chrysler Guys Are In Town and Measure for Measure (Melbourne Theatre Company); Matilda The Musical (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Good Person of Szechwan (Malthouse); Julius Ceasar (Bell Shakespeare); Robot VS Art (La Mama); Ruben Guthrie, Fat Boy, The Day Room and The Shape of Things (Red Stitch). Daniel’s television credits include Upright, Fires, Joe vs. Carole, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Underbelly ‘Squizzy Taylor’, Underground, Bastard Boys, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Mermaids and feature films The Dry, Vessel, Summer Coda, Closed for Winter, Ten Empty and Ghost Rider. Daniel’s accolades include the Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Matilda The Musical, an AFI Award nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama for Bastard Boys, and a Logie Nomination for Best New Talent for Stingers.

Current as of January 2023.

 

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Tom Stokes

Standby Cover

Tom Stokes graduated from WAAPA in 2008. Selected theatre credits include King of Pigs (Critical Stages); Pygmalion (Sydney Theatre Company); Black is the New White (Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre Company South Australia, Black Swan); In the Next Room - The Vibrator Play (Black Swan State Theatre Company), Romeo & Juliet (Bell Shakespeare); Blood Bank, The Glass Menagerie (Ensemble Theatre Company); Of Mice and Men (Sport for Jove); Music, The Pigeons (Griffin Theatre Company); I Want to Sleep With Tom Stoppard, Capture the Flag (Tamarama Rock Surfers); Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar (Cry Havoc); Shakespeare’s R&J (Riverside); and Don’t Look Back (Perth International Arts Festival). Select film credits include The Rooster, The 11th Green, Newness, Equals, The Railway Man and Wasted on the Young. Short Films include Let it Rain, Photocopier and Hunger. TV credits include Warnie, La Brea for NBC, Miss Education and Australia: The Story of Us.

Current as of January 2023.

Learn more about Sunday

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The Sumner

140 Southbank Boulevard

Southbank, Victoria 3006