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Artwork for Cost of Living
Artwork for Cost of Living
Artwork for Cost of Living
Artwork for Cost of Living
Artwork for Cost of Living
Artwork for Cost of Living
Cost of Living

14 Sep — 19 Oct 2024

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

With heart, humour and searing observation, Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living is an honest and insightful look at the forces that bring people together.

Approx. 2 hours with no interval

SEE IT FOR $50*
Snap up our Front $50s seats – offering a close-up view of the stage at a great price, it’s win-win. Learn more.

*Standard booking fees apply

CARERS WEEK OFFER 
In celebration of National Carers Week, we're offering people with a Carers Card $5 tickets in A or B Reserve for performances from 14 – 19 Oct. Maximum 4 tickets per person.

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Explore
This is rated 5 out of 5 stars

‘Cuts to the heart of what it means to be human.’

The Age
This is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

‘A notable and welcome theatrical landmark.’

Limelight
This is rated 4 out of 5 stars

‘Offers a nuanced look at disability and shows vulnerability and strength in equal measure.’

ArtsHub

ABOUT THE SHOW

With heart, humour and searing observation, Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living is an honest and insightful look at the forces that bring people together.

When Ani is reunited with her estranged husband Eddie after a devastating accident, their relationship shifts from divorcing to caregiving. John is an affluent PhD candidate with cerebral palsy, and has no qualms about making his support worker – fellow graduate student and bartender-by-night Jess – uncomfortable about her reasons for choosing the job.

Through the lives of four mismatched souls striving for connection, Majok’s Pulitzer Prize-winning script lays bare the exquisite tenderness and cost of being human.

With an ensemble cast including Rachel Edmonds (When You Wore Braces), Mabel Li (Safe Home), Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road) and Oli Pizzey Stratford (Neighbours), Cost of Living taps into the essence of human connection and our universal need to care for others and ourselves.

 

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair Accessible

  • Hearing Assistance

  • Audio Described

  • Tactile Tour

  • Open Captioning

  • Closed Captioning

  • Auslan Interpreted

Performance Type Performance Date(s)
Audio Described
by Vision Australia 		Saturday 5 October at 2pm
Tuesday 8 October at 6.30pm
Tactile Tour
at venue 		Saturday 5 October at 2pm (Tactile tour commences at 1pm)
Open Captioning
via screen 		Saturday 12 October at 2pm
Closed Captioning
via GoTheatrical App 		Saturday 12 October at 2pm
Auslan Interpreted
by Expression Australia 		Tuesday 15 October at 6.30pm
Artwork for Rachel Edmonds

Rachel Edmonds

Ani

Cost Of Living is Rachel Edmonds’ (they/them) Melbourne Theatre Company debut. A graduate of The National Drama School, Rachel has worked mostly in independent theatre as an actor and writer. Recent credits include Taming of the Shrew (Skin of Our Teeth) and When You Wore Braces (Misfit Toys). An advocate for disability representation in theatre, they have performed with queer disability troupe Quippings and have been a finalist for the Queer Playwriting Award (Midsumma Festival). Rachel is best known for the original show Have Your Tried Yoga? for which they won a Melbourne Fringe Award in 2018.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Mabel Li

Mabel Li

Jess

Cost of Living is Mabel Li’s Melbourne Theatre Company debut. Her other theatre credits include The Seagull (Sydney Theatre Company); Never Closer, Miss Peony (Belvoir); Delilah by the Hour (Brand X); D.N.A. (Seymour Centre). Her screen credits include Bay of Fires Series 2, Erotic Stories, Safe Home, New Gold Mountain and the web series, The Tailings. They were recently nominated for a Silver Logie for Best Supporting Actress for their work in the SBS series, Safe Home. She was also awarded the Asian Academy Creative Award for Best Supporting Actress for New Gold Mountain, as well as a Logie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Mabel is a CGA Rising Star Award winner, BBM Scholarship for Drama winner and a Heath Ledger Scholarship finalist.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Aaron Pedersen

Aaron Pedersen

Eddie

Aaron Pedersen is best known for the leading role of Detective Jay Swan in the television series Mystery Road opposite Judy Davis, for which he won an AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series. His theatre credits include King Lear (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Visitors, Signs of Life and The Club (Sydney Theatre Company); The Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Black Swan); as well as Eating with Your Eyes Closed (Queensland Theatre). Aaron’s film credits include the highly acclaimed Mystery Road, opposite Hugo Weaving and Goldstone, opposite Jackie Weaver, as well as High Ground, Dirt Music and The Fear of Darkness. Aaron’s work in television includes Total Control opposite Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths, The Gloaming, The Code, East West 101, A Place to Call Home, The Circuit and Jack Irish, opposite Guy Pearce.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Oli Pizzey Stratford

Oli Pizzey Stratford

John

Cost of Living is Oli's Melbourne Theatre Company debut. His screen credits include starring in the ABC Kids show The Legend of Burnout Barry (Latenite Films), ABC’s acclaimed series The Newsreader, Safe Home (Kindling Pictures/SBS) and an ongoing role on Neighbours (Fremantle Media), where he became the first male actor with a disability to play a character in a wheelchair. Short film credits include the successful Don't Come in... Yet, which screened at many festivals including Flickerfest, DWF LA and CinefestOz. Oli is also a talented athlete, representing Victoria in Basketball and Athletics, as well as representing Australia in both tennis and table tennis.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Martyna Majok

Martyna Majok

Writer

Martyna Majok was born in Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her Broadway debut play, Cost of Living, which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, and the libretto for Gatsby: An American Myth. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, Arthur Miller Foundation Legacy Award, The Obie Award for Playwriting, The Hull-Warriner Award, The Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin Hadley Danks Award for Exceptional Playwriting, The Sun Valley Playwrights Residency Award, Off Broadway Alliance Best New Play Award, The Lucille Lortel Award, The Hermitage Greenfield Prize, The Champions of Change Award, The Francesca Primus Prize, two Jane Chambers Playwriting Awards, The Lanford Wilson Prize, The Lilly Award's Stacey Mindich Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, ANPF Women's Invitational Prize, David Calicchio Prize and Global Age Project Prize. Martyna has developed TV projects for HBO and is writing feature films for Plan B/Pastel/MGM/Orion and Killer Films.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Anthea Williams

Anthea Williams

Director

Anthea’s directing credits include Pony and Since Ali Died (Griffin Theatre); Winyanboga Yurringa, Hir, Kill the Messenger, Cinderella, Forget Me Not and Old Man (Belvoir); Flight Paths and Thing I Could Never Tell Steven (National Theatre of Parramatta); M’ap Boulé, (UTP); Sleeplessness (Carriageworks); Mother’s Ruin (National and UK tours); The Humans (Red Line); Two Cigarettes, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Turf, suddenlossofdignity.com, The Great British Country Fete (The Bush, UK); The Appleton Ladies Potato Race and The Pink Hammer (The Court, Aotearoa) among others. Her production of Hir won both Best Director and Best Production at the Sydney Theatre Awards while her production of Since Ali Died won Best Cabaret. Her film Safety Net screened at Sydney Film Festival and Slamdance and was shortlisted for best short at Whānau Mārama | The New Zealand International Film Festival. Anthea is a Churchill Fellow.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Matilda Woodroofe

Matilda Woodroofe

Set & Costume Designer

Matilda Woodroofe is a Set and Costume Designer with a diverse body of work and range of experience spanning theatre, dance, TV, film and events. Matilda completed a Bachelor of Production at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2014. Matilda’s previous credits with Melbourne Theatre Company include as Design Associate on Sexual Misconduct of the Middles Classes and Minnie and Liraz. She was also the stylist on the 2023 and 2025 season photoshoots. Other credits include This is Living, Stay Woke, Hour of the Wolf, Because the Night (Malthouse Theatre); Going Down (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Michael Cassel Group/Sydney Theatre Company); Random (Belvoir); Spear (Bangarra Dance Theatre); You Got Older, Sunshine (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre). Matilda was part of the design team on Rising Festival 2021 and 2022. She was also the 2016 Emerging Designer intern for The Rabble. Matilda has been nominated for four Greenroom awards for design.

Current as of September 2024. 

Richard Vabre

Richard Vabre

Lighting Designer

Richard Vabre is a freelance lighting designer living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Previously for Melbourne Theatre Company, Richard has lit A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, John, Lungs, What Rhymes With Cars and Girls, The Waiting Room, Top Girls, On The Production of Monsters, The Water Carriers, The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy and The Colours. He has also lit productions for Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Malthouse Theatre, Back to Back Theatre, Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Victorian Opera, Windmill Theatre, Arena Theatre Company, NICA, The Darwin Festival, Stuck Pig’s Squealing, Chambermade, Rawcus, Polyglot, Melbourne Worker’s Theatre, Aphids and many, many shows at La Mama. Richard has won five Green Room Awards including the Association’s John Truscott Prize for Excellence in Design in 2004. He has also been nominated for 10 other Green Room Awards.

Current as of September 2024. 

Jethro Woodward

Jethro Woodward

Composer & Sound Designer

Jethro Woodward’s credits include Escaped Alone and What If If Only, Sunday, 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 September 2024. 

Artwork for Amy Cater

Amy Cater

Intimacy Coordinator

Amy Cater is part of the first cohort of qualified Intimacy Coordinator practitioners, training and working since 2018 when the profession first arrived in Australia. Previous stage works include A Streetcar Named Desire, Is God Is, Seventeen, Jacky, Cyrano, Sunday, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Fun Home, As You Like It (Melbourne Theatre Company) and &Juliet (Michael Cassel Group). Selected screen credits include Love Me, The Newsreader, The Rooster, Bad Behaviour, The Clearing, Safe Home, Swift St, Sleeping Dogs, The Twelve and Exposure. Amy has 20 years’ experience working with sexuality, embodiment, consent and intimacy; specifically, within the adult industry, client therapy and education spaces. Amy was a director/senior photographer of ethical erotica for 4 years. She is a qualified psychosomatic therapist, sexological bodyworker and somatic sex educator. Amy has a trained background in theatre, dance and the performing arts. Amy mentors and consults on sexuality and gender best practice. Her work in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education is a key component of her cultural influence in the Intimacy Coordinator industry.

Current as of September 2024. 

Matt Furlani

Matt Furlani

Voice & Dialect Coach

Matt Furlani is a voice & dialect coach and actor, holding a Postgraduate Diploma in Voice Studies and Bachelor of Dramatic Art from the Victorian College of the Arts. Matt has worked as voice and dialect coach on productions including The Almighty Sometimes, 37, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, My Sister Jill, Bloom, Jacky, Come Rain or Come Shine, Admissions, The Truth and Home, I’m Darling (Melbourne Theatre Company); &Juliet (Michael Cassel Group); Looking for Alibrandi (Malthouse); Wolf Play, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Iphigenia in Splott, The Cane, Pomona and Ulster American (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); Burn This (16th St Actors Studio); Death of a Salesman (Hearth Theatre). In 2016 he was a recipient of the Mike Walsh Fellowship, enabling him to travel to Scotland and work with renowned voice teacher – and author of Freeing the Natural Voice – Kristin Linklater. He has taught voice and dialect at 16th St Actors Studio and TAFTA since 2017.

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Alistair Baldwin

Alistair Baldwin

Assistant Director

Alistair Baldwin is a screenwriter, director, playwright and comedian. His debut play Telethon Kid premiered at Malthouse Theatre in 2023. It was shortlisted for the Griffin Award, Highly Commended in the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and nominated for the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting. His other credits include writing the episode ‘Bound’ for SBS’s AACTA-nominated anthology Erotic Stories, as well as staff writing on ABC's The Weekly, Hard Quiz, and Get Krack!n (the latter of which he also stars in as overworked personal assistant Matthew). Alistair made his directorial debut with the second episode of SBS Digital Original Latecomers, which was selected for Séries Mania 2023, won the SDIN Award at the 21st Annual SPA Awards and an AACTA Award for Best Online Drama or Comedy category. 

Current as of September 2024. 

Artwork for Todd J. Bennett

Todd J. Bennett

Assistant Composer & Sound Designer

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140 Southbank Boulevard

Southbank, Victoria 3006