Cast featuring:

Black Swan Company Adam Booth - Medvedenko presents Rebecca Davis - Masha

The Seagull Leila George - Nina

By (in a new adaptation by Hilary Bell, by arrangement with Michael Loney - Sorin the State Theatre Company of South ) Andrew McFarlane - Dr Dorn 9 – 31 August Luke McMahon - Konstantin

The lives of unforgettable characters, including Greg McNeill - Shamrayev the famous novelist Trigorin, the celebrated actress Arkadina, her son Konstantin and the Sarah McNeill - Polina young Nina, unfold in Chekhov’s work of genius. Greta Scacchi - Arkadina is about the stories we craft out of our dreams and disappointments, about love in Director: Kate Cherry all its guises and about artists who behave just like everyone else – only a little bit more so! Assistant Director: Jeffrey Jay Fowler Tender and humorous, this play is for anyone touched by love, or anyone who harbours a Set and Costume Designer: secret passion for Who magazine. A passionate, Fiona Bruce delightful, infuriating diva brings her entourage home to the family estate, and nothing will ever Lighting Designer: be the same again. Jon Buswell

Glittering with style, talent and passion, Emmy and AFI Award-winning and Sound Designer: Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-nominated Greta Scacchi brings Arkadina Ash Gibson Greig to life. Movement Director: Chrissie Parrott

Fight Director: Andy Fraser

Duration: 2h 40mins (inc. interval) Warning: Adult themes, smoking.

Venue: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA

Tickets: Tickets $27.90 - $83.90 Tickets through ticketek.com.au, Ticketek outlets or 1300 795 012 Groups 8+ 1300 364 001 [*A service/delivery fee also applies]

Please note there is a High Tea on Saturday 16 August @ 1pm $48

Media Enquiries: Irene Jarzabek, Publicist, Black Swan State Theatre Company Tel: +61 8 9430 8134 mob +61 419 192 140 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Web: www.bsstc.com.au

About Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, Ukraine on January 29th in the year 1860. Today he is remembered as a playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story. He was the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf who had bought his freedom, and that of his sons, 19 years earlier. Chekhov spent his early years under the shadow of his father's religious fanaticism while working long hours in his store. Chekhov attended a school for Greek boys in his hometown from 1867-1868 and later he attended the local grammar school from 1868 -1876 when his father went bankrupt and moved the family to Moscow. Chekhov, only 16 at the time, decided to remain in his hometown and supported himself by tutoring as he continued his schooling for 3 more years.

After he finished grammar school Chekhov enrolled in the Moscow University Medical School, where he would eventually become a doctor. Chekhov's medical and science experience is evident in much of his work as evidenced by the apathy many of his characters show towards tragic events.

While attending medical school Chekhov began to publish comic short stories and used the money to support himself and his family and by 1886 he had gained wide fame as a writer. Chekhov's works were published in various St. Petersburg papers, including Peterburskaia Gazeta from 1885, and Novoe Vremia from 1886. Chekhov also published two full-length novels during this time, one of which, The Shooting Party, was translated into English in 1926.

Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884 and he practiced medicine until 1892. While practicing medicine in 1886 he became a regular contributor to St. Petersburg daily Novoe Vremia and it was during this time that he developed his style of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. The lack of critical social commentary in Chekhov's works netted him some detractors, but it gained him the praise of such authors as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov.

Chekhov was awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1888. The next year he was elected a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. However after the failure of his play The Wood Demon (1889) he withdrew from literature for a while. Instead he turned back to medicine and science in his trip to the penal colony of Sakhalin, north of Siberia. While there, he surveyed 10,000 convicts sentenced to life on the island as part of his doctoral research. When finished, he travelled extensively, including such places as South East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East.

In 1892 Chekhov bought an estate in the country village of Melikhove and became a full time writer. It was during this time that he published some of his most memorable stories including 'Neighbors' (1892), 'Ward Number Six' (1892), 'The Black Monk' (1894), 'The Murder' (1895) and 'Ariadne' (1895). In 1897 he fell ill with tuberculosis moved to Yalta, while he wrote his famous stories 'The Man in a Shell,' 'Gooseberries,' 'About Love,' 'Lady with the Dog' and 'In the Ravine.' In 1901 Chekhov finally married actress, Olga Knipper, who had performed in his plays. But their bliss would be short lived, Chekhov died on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, . He is buried in the cemetery of the Novodeviche Monastery in Moscow.

Though a celebrated figure by the Russian literary public at the time of his death, Chekhov remained rather unknown internationally until the years after World War I, when his works were translated into English. As a writer Chekhov was extremely fast, often producing a short story in an hour or less, overall during his career he authored several hundred stories. He didn't have as much success with his plays - the early ones were failures and it wasn't until The Seagull was revised in 1898 by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Theatre that he gained popularity as a playwright.

Source: http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/

Written in 1895 PLOT The Seagull by Anton Chekhov is a slice-of-life drama set in the Russian Set in Russian countryside at countryside at the end of the 19th century. The cast of characters is the end of 19th Century. dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain . First produced in 1896, in Scholars have often said that Chekhov’s plays are not plot driven. Instead, St Petersburg. the plays are character studies designed to create a specific mood. Some critics view The Seagull as a tragic play about eternally unhappy people. Inspired by a real-life incident Others see it as a humorous albeit bitter satire, poking fun at human folly. of the death of a seagull.

The play focuses on the romantic entanglements and the qualms of a group First of Chekhov’s major plays of writers, artists and actors who have gathered on a lakeside estate in that include Uncle Vanya 1896, Russia. With each of the tragic characters displaying a personal hurt, the The Three Sisteres 1901 and play is considered to be one of theatre’s greatest. Skillfully portraying the The Cherry Orchard 1904. fulfillment as well as disappointments of life, all the dramatic elements have been kept off stage, which is quite unlike other plays of that time which were Emphasizes characters more much more melodramatic. than plot

The Seagull takes place at the estate of retired judge Peter Sorin. His sister, Introduced the technique of Irina Arkadina, a glamorous, selfish actress, is visiting with her lover, the indirect action: whereby violent successful writer Boris Trigorin. Irina's twenty-five-year-old son, Konstantin, or intensely dramatic events a writer, lives on the estate with his uncle. occur offstage.

Also present are Eugene Dorn, a middle-aged doctor, and Ilia Shamrayev, Chekhov had very definite Sorin's estate manager, along with his wife, Polina, and their melancholy notions of what dramatic art daughter, Masha. Simon Medvedenko, a teacher, who is in love with Masha, ought to be. who in turn is in love with Konstantin, who loves Nina Zarietchnaya, an aspiring young actress. His approach to drama has been described as ‘realistic’. Konstantin, a zealous proponent of new dramatic forms that are abundantly expressive, socially relevant, and lacking in artifice, has written a play and Chekhov has said himself that stages it for his mother's benefit during her visit; Nina is featured in a major he wanted to depict ‘real life’ as role. During the performance, Irina refuses to take her son's play seriously it is lived by ordinary people. and keeps interrupting. Nina is impressed by Trigorin's reputation and becomes infatuated with him. Konstantin, depressed by his inability to inspire ‘A play should be written in love in either his mother or Nina, shoots a seagull and brings it to Nina, which people arrive, go away, claiming that he will soon take his own life as well. have dinner, talk about the weather and play cards. Life Overhearing this exchange, Trigorin sees in it material for a story; he tells must be exactly as it is and Nina that the incident illustrates how human beings can be casually people as they are – not on destructive, and that he sees her as a seagull endangered by callous men. stilts… Nina and Trigorin begin an affair, and she will eventually join him in Moscow. Konstantin shoots himself but is only superficially wounded, and he and his Let everything on the stage be mother soon resume their bickering. just as complicated and at the same time just as simple as it is The play's final act takes place several years later. Sorin is now very ill, and in Life.” Trigorin and Irina have come to visit him at the estate. Despairing of ever winning Konstantin's love, Masha has married Medvedenko and borne a child; she is still in love with Konstantin, however, and neglects her family.

Konstantin has had some of his work published but is still unfulfilled. Nina had become pregnant but lost the baby after being abandoned by Trigorin; she is now pursuing her acting career in various provincial towns. During this time Konstantin has relentlessly followed Nina, hoping that she will eventually return to him. Through occasional letters to him, she has revealed her emotional distress; she has suffered numerous disappointments in her career and in her one-sided relationship with Trigorin.

Nina returns to the estate and speaks with Konstantin, who still loves her. She is the only character who has changed in any way; she has learned to endure life's hardships and to continue living with hope for the future. Despite her continuing feelings for Trigorin, she leaves the estate to accept a position with a mediocre theatrical company in a small town. Konstantin now feels utterly desolate and lonely, and, while the others are playing cards, he goes outside and shoots himself.

http://www.enotes.com/topics/seagull/critical-essays/seagull-anton-chekhov

CHARACTER OVERVIEW Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev is Arkadina's only son. Overshadowed by his successful actress mother and her lover, the writer Trigorin, both of whom are members of the elite Russian intelligentsia and artistic community, he is seen struggling to find his voice as a writer. Impatient, self- defeating and childish, his constant need for love and approval torments him. He is shown to be a dreamer and in love with Nina.

Chekhov reads The Seagull Madame Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina is the mother of Treplev and a with the Moscow Art Theatre renowned Russian actress who stars in magnificent, theatrical plays. She is Company. Chekhov (centre) a member of the intelligentsia and artistic community. Shown to be a selfish Stanislavski (to the left of him) mother and doting lover, she is stubborn, vain, stingy, and beautiful. and Meyerhold (seated far

right) listen. Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya is the nineteen-year-old neighbour of Sorin's estate. Nina's mother died when she was young and in the play characters talk about the cruel behavior of Nina's father towards her. Smart, idealistic, and ready to take risks, Nina is a hopeless romantic and in love with Treplev.

Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin is Irina’s lover and is an esteemed Russian writer of fiction stories and novels, he is shown as a dutiful lover to Arkadina. But he gets tempted by the youthful beauty, optimism, and flattery of Nina. He is an obsessive- compulsive writer and somewhat aloof to the family.

Peter Sorin is the brother of Arkadina and Treplev’s uncle. Working for a government office all his life, he is now retired to his country farm. He is a patient listener, a confidant, and a compassionate admirer of both his nephew and sister's talents His health is shown to deteriorate during the course of the play. Sorin sees himself in the young Treplev.

Masha is the daughter of Polina and Shamrayev, the managers of Sorin's farm. She is always shown wearing black as she hates her life. A heavy drinker and snuff addict, Masha's repressed, unrequited feelings for Treplev torment her. She is pursued by the poor schoolteacher, Medvedenko, which complicates the situation.

Ilya Afanasyevich Shamrayev is Masha’s father and husband to Polina. As the manager of Sorin's farm and household year round, he adores Arkadina's fame. He is always flattering her and listening to her boasts and the details of her life in the theatre, but remaining inattentive and embarrassing to his wife, Polina.

Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko, a local schoolteacher who is poor, pursues the melancholy Masha, who is in love with Treplev. He is shown spending most of his time complaining about his poverty. He eventually wins her hand in marriage, out of convenience and a hope of change, not love. He is depicted as being boring.

Paulina Andryevna (Polina), mother of Masha and the wife of Shamrayev, manages Sorin's estate. With her loveless marriage, she is often embarrassed by her husband’s arguments with Arkadina. Paulina sees her own misery in her daughter, Masha's unrequited love for Treplev.

Yevgeny Sergeyevich Dorn is a local doctor who was once a popular and handsome ladies' man. Dorn often provides an outsider's perspective to the play for he functions almost as an audience member on stage, and is like an observer and commentator, confidant, and witness to the events. He has known Arkadina, Sorin, and the others for many years. Dorn has affections for Paulina but does not seem to be in love with her. Like Sorin, Dorn is a compassionate presence who respects Treplev's talent and attempts to soften the blow of Arkadina's ego on her depressed son Treplev's spirit.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY Anton Chekhov's The Seagull or Chayka, as known in Russian, is the first “The Seagull was labelled a play in the author's second period of writing for the theatre. Revealing his comedy, but it’s a dark one that mastery of techniques, the plays also shares the unique Chekhovian mood. veers off into tragedy…in that sublimely concentrated way of Premiere in St. Petersburg Chekhov’s.” LA Times On 17 October 1896, The Seagull was first premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Petersburg. But it was a total disaster and booed by the audience. “Chekhov’s plays were the Vera Komissarzhevskaya, considered the best actor in Russia, was Nina in greatest since Shakespeare.” the play. She was completely intimidated by the hostile audience. Chekhov, The New York Times who had taken refuge backstage for the last two acts, announced to Suvorin next day that he was finished with writing plays. Although his supporters “You can’t have too many assured him that later performances were more successful, he assumed that English Seagulls: at the they were just being kind. But The Seagull had already impressed the intersection of all of them, the playwright and friend of Chekhov Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Russian one will be forever elusive.” The Moscow Art Theatre production In 1898, Nemirovich overcame Chekhov's refusal and allowed the play to be staged in Moscow at their newly-founded Moscow Art Theatre. He convinced Stanislavski to direct the play. A new approach with a detailed directorial score was developed. Stanislavski believed that a unified expression of the inner action was hiding beneath the surface of the play and it was important to bring that tom the surface. The Seagull performance history reveals that the production opened on 17 December 1898 with a sense of great apprehensions in the theatre. But one could feel something special happening in the first Act itself. The mood of excitement in the audience kept on growing with each act. The applause which came at the end after a prolonged silence was like the bursting from the audience like a dam. Seagull play received unanimous praise from the press. But it was only on 1 May 1899 that Chekhov saw the production. The Moscow Art Theatre still today bears the seagull as its emblem in order to commemorate the historic production that gave it its identity.

Chekhov Plays, translated by Elisaveta Fen, Penguin Classics, 1954 http://www.seagulltheplay.com/features-seagull-play.html

RECENT THEATRE REVIEW: The Seagull (Adelaide Festival) State Theatre Company of South Australia By Shona Benson on 1 Mar, 2014

Hilary Bell's adaptation of Chekhov honours his spirit while embracing those awkward pauses. Scenes from State Theatre As the audience filed down back stairs into STCSA's rehearsal rooms and Company of SA’s The Seagull scenic workshop, the anticipation was palpable. No one knew what to expect images by Shane Reid and no one could have guessed they would be greeted with such a stunning transformation of space.

Flanked by audience seating on both sides, and stacked with elements of the set at the far end, the stage, with it’s simple but interwoven wooden floor, stands bare, bold and beautiful. Domed lights hang artistically from the ceiling and others beam in from the end wall. Music laps the space and in a raised corner of the room, partly hidden from view is the cast; listening to the music and watching the audience find their seat. Even before it starts, it has begun.

From the onset, with Masha (Matilda Bailey) preparing the stage for the play, within the play, with Medvedenko (Matthew Gregan) lovingly and pathetically watching on, it is clear that this adaptation by Hilary Bell will honour the comedy of the piece Chekhov so believed in. I’m not sure he’d ever envisaged the entertaining use of deck chairs, but with the infamous seagull to come, why not!

Notoriously, when The Seagull opened in 1886, the reviews of the first night

were devastating. It transpired there were many understandable explanations for the hostility of the crowd and in the following nights the audiences enthused, however the initial bad press damaged Chekhov’s self- belief as a writer. His reaction seems rather ironic given that so much of The Seagull is about artists’ struggles with their work and how it is received, balanced by the considered and fair voice of the doctor, Chekhov’s daily profession. Thankfully, further work on the play with Stanislavski, whose psychological realism and ensemble playing coaxed the buried subtleties from the play, ensured its enduring legacy.

Indeed it is the strength of the whole ensemble in this production that makes it so enjoyable and memorable. Every character is embodied superbly and all contribute sensitively to the tragic and comic elements Chekhov so intended for the piece. There are many touching moments, such as Masha’s breakdown to Dorn (Terrance Crawford) his comforting, fatherly stand; Sorin’s (Paul Blackwell) soft and endearing ramblings; Shamrayev’s (Chris Pitman) simple and hilarious retelling of stories; Polina’s (Lizzy Falkland) desperate appeal to Dorn; Nina’s (Lucy Fry) heartbreaking reveal of her reality; Medvedenko’s departure to walk six miles in the snow to his child; Trigorin’s (Renato Musolino) perfectly pitched unbottling of frustration; and the genuine look of love between mother and son as Arkadina (Rosalba Clemente) replaces Konstantin's () bandage. The pauses, perfectly normal whilst so awkward and uncomfortable, deserve a mention too.

The strength of the ensemble is clear in between each act too. In these moments the cast rearrange chairs, sweep floors and set tables, all whilst humming and singing and moving amongst one another. They are aware of each other just enough to coexist; one sees the patter of everyday lives mixed with occasional dreams too. It is choreographed delightfully.

There are also some great touches, such as the rain and the snow, which add to the simplistic elegance of the production. And the lake, an important element of the story and the backdrop to Chekov’s set, is evocatively portrayed through a large side door with smoke and lights. So, with the seating arranged in the traverse in this production, the main backdrop for half the audience was the other half opposite them. I found myself oscillating between staring across at the sea of faces, intrigued by their reactions, and then being so drawn into the action in front of me, it was as if no one was there at all. It proved curiously effective and fitting.

When The Seagull re-opened in December 1898, after Stanislavsky’s input, one audience member wrote to Chekhov and said, “In the first act something special started, if you can so describe a mood of excitement in the audience that seemed to grow and grow. Most people walked through the auditorium and corridors with strange faces, looking as if it were their birthday and, indeed, (dear God I'm not joking) it was perfectly possible to go up to some completely strange woman and say: "What a play? Eh?"

Entertainingly, with this production, something very similar happened, albeit with a modern twist. From the start, just being in the space, the audience knew something special had started. During the interval, the bar was full of excited murmurs, and afterwards the chatter on social media began with facebook posts and tweets claiming “top theatre”, “beautiful work”, “I’m still buzzing”, “get a seat while you still can.”

So, over 100 years on, this tale of love and longing that so elegantly displays the poetry of everyday life, still captures our imagination and hearts. This production, beautifully brought alive by director Geordie Brookman, marks a great start to The Adelaide Festival program as well as setting a very high bar for STCSA’s 2014 season. Given Chekov’s desire to push the boundaries of conventional theatre, he would undoubtedly have loved it too.

Source: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Default.aspx

CAST BIOGRAPHIES:

GRETA SCACCHI Arkadina

Greta Scacchi is an internationally renowned film, theatre and television actress. After 2 years acting experience with the UDS at the University of Western Australia she trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has worked extensively in Australia, America and Europe.

Theatre includes: Bette and Joan (Arts , Tour); Easy Virtue (Chichester); A Midsummer Nights' Dream (Original Shakespeare Company); Miss Julie, Simpatico ( Theatre Company); Old Times, Mary Stuart and more recently 's new play ( Sydney); (Theatre Royal Bath) directed by Thea Sharrock; (Theatre Royal Bath, tour and West End) directed by Ed Hall ; Vecchi Tempi (Pinter's Old Times - tour of Italy); (Châtelet Theatre, Paris).

Television credits include: Michael Bogdanov's Macbeth, Rasputin with Ian McKellen and Alan Rickman (for which she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress); and more recently Poirot: Elephant's Can Remember, Miss Austen Regrets, Miss Marple, Daniel Deronda, Jeffery Archer: The Truth and Broken Trail opposite Robert Duvall (AMC America) for which she was nominated a Screen Actors Guild award, The Ebony Tower opposite Sir Laurence Olivier and Dr Fischer of Geneva opposite Alan Bates and James Mason.

In 1999, she had a role as an Italian-Australian single mother in the Australian film Looking for Alibrandi, a performance for which she won the 2000 AFI award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her many film credits include: The Falling, Heat and Dust, The Coca-Cola Kid, Burke and Wills, White Mischief, Presumed Innocent, Country Life, The Browning Version, Beyond the Sea and Robert Altman's The Player.

ADAM BOOTH Medvedenko

Black Swan: The Seagull marks Adam’s debut for the Company. Other Theatre: National Theatre of Britain/Global Creatures: Warhorse. Perth International Arts Festival/ Look Left Look Right: You Once Said Yes. Bell Shakespeare: Twelfth Night. B Sharp: Ladybird. Griffin Independent: Under Ice, Stoning Mary. Riverside Theatre (and as Director): Four Deaths in the Life of Ronaldo Abok. Merrigong Theatre Company: 4 Plays about Wollongong. Tamarama Surfers: Sold. Film: Water. TV: Crownies, Slide, HBO series The Pacific, The Great Mint Swindle, Home and Away, Review with Myles Barlow. Training: NIDA Graduate 2006.

REBECCA DAVIS Masha

Black Swan: The Importance of Being Earnest, Arcadia, Boundary Street, Madagascar, The Memory of Water. Black Swan/Queensland Theatre Company: Other Desert Cities. Black Swan/Onward Production: Seven Deadly Sins, Four Deadly Sinners. Other Theatre: Onward Production: Singular Women. Perth Theatre Company: The Big Picture, The Vagina Monologues. Deckchair Theatre: . Brainbox Project/His Majesty’s Theatre: The Mercy Seat. Barking Gecko: Skylab. Agelink Theatre: The Greatest Women in the World, Dear Heart, Airswimming. Red Ryder Productions: A Moment on the Lips. Australian Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. EHJ Productions: Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Performing Arts Productions: Anne of Green Gables, Miles Franklin. Lookout Theatre: In Lambeth. Shakespeare Globe Theatre: King Lear. TV: Lockie Leonard (Series II), Sleepover Club (Series II), State Coroner, Murder Call. Film: The Reckoning, The Mystery of Natalie Wood, Victim. Other: Proud member of Equity since 1983. Awards: 2008 Equity Guild Award for Best Actress for The Greatest Woman in the World. Training: 2001 Inaugural International Artistic Fellowship to Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London. Rebecca is a Company Director of Big Sky Entertainment.

LEILA GEORGE Nina Black Swan: The Seagull marks Leila’s debut with the Company. Actress Leila George is the daughter of Greta Scacchi and Vincent D’Onoffrio. Training: Diploma of Screen and Media, Sydney Film School. Strasberg Institute in New York.

MICHAEL LONEY Sorin

Black Swan: , The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Cosi. Other Theatre: MS Society: Cinderella, Puss in Boots. Onward Production: Private Lives, Deep Blue Sea. Regal Theatre: Oliver!. Perth Theatre Company: (Perth and Brazil), Shadow of the Eagle, Speaking in Tongues, , The Goat or Who is Sylvia?. Deckchair Theatre: Sweetown. Effie Crump Theatre: Noel and Gertie. Hole in the Wall Theatre: A Doll’s House, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. TV: The Great Mint Swindle, Shark Net, Southern Cross, Minty, Ship To Shore, Coronation Street, Howards’ Way, Cloudstreet. Film: Drift, Needle. As Director: You’ve Got That Thing! A Tribute to Cole Porter. Other: Michael has been a proud member of Equity since 1978. Awards: Equity Guild: 2010 Best Supporting Actor for Much Ado About Nothing, 2000 Best Actor for Speaking in Tongues. Training: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School 1980-1982 with the aid of a Rotary Foundation Scholarship. BA (English) from Curtin University 1977.

ANDREW MCFARLANE Doctor Dorn

Black Swan: Arcadia. Other Theatre: Ensemble Theatre: Nothing Personal, , Losing Louis, , Blinded By The Sun, . Theatre Company: The , Scarlett O’Hara at the Crimson Parrott, The Rover, Gulliver’s Travels. : Woman in Mind, , Two Weeks with the Queen, King Lear, Henry IV (Part I), The Normal Heart, Cyrano de Bergerac. Queensland Theatre Company: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Heidi Chronicles, A Month in the Country, . Griffin Theatre: Dreams in White, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany

and Contemporary America. Gordon Frost Organisation: Fame – the Musical. Hit Productions: Talking Heads. : Dinner with Friends, Wait Until Dark, A Christmas Carol. TV: Devil’s Playground, Janet King, Love Child, A Place to Call Home, Singapore 1942, Underbelly II, Guess How Much I Love You, Dream Life, Play School, The Falls, The Alice, Neighbours, Through My Eyes, Heroes’ Mountain The Thredbo Story, Home and Away, Tempted, Water Rats, Blue Heelers, , Murder Call, Day of the Roses, Flying Doctors, Patrol Boat, . Film: Strangerland, Shadow Valley, Bourke Boy, Little White Lies, Returning Lily, Break of Day. Training: NIDA Graduate 1973.

LUKE MCMAHON Konstanti Konstantin

Black Swan: Shrine. Other Theatre: WAAPA: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Crucible, Clinchfield, Vernon Godlittle, The Pillars Of Society, The Merchant Of Venice, The Boys, Epsom Downs. Union House Theatre: Rhinocerus. Brainstorm Productions: Sticks And Stones. Eagle Eye Theatre Company: Blackrock. Short Film: WASA: Choices, Stud. Various commercials. Training: 2012 WAAPA Graduate.

GREG MCNEILL Shamrayev

Black Swan: As You Like It, The White Divers of Broome, The Damned, Madagascar, The Crucible, The Year of Living Dangerously, . Black Swan/Queensland Theatre Company: . Other Theatre: Perth Theatre Company: , An Oak Tree, Baby Boomer Blues, Cargo, Soulmates, Welcome to Dullsville, Face to Face, Covert, Cox Four, Speaking in Tongues, Third World Blues, , A Passionate Woman, Dead Funny, Lockie Leonard Human Torpedo. Talk bout the Passion. {Director}. Ensemble Theatre Sydney: . State Theatre Company of WA: Antony and Cleopatra, The Country Wife, , The Season at Sarsaparilla, Away. Deckchair Theatre: Taking Liberty, Sweetown. Shakespeare in the Park: Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew. Effie Crump Theatre: Conjugal Rites, Rattle Of A Simple Man, The Wee Small Hours, Livingstone, Home Open, Bedfellows, Going Bananas. Hole in the Wall: Death of a Salesman, Rusty Bugles. Independent: Macbeth, To Have and To Hold, Troilus and Cressida, A Strong Left Hand. TV: Cloudstreet, Foreign Exchange, The Shark Net, Murder x 3, FastTracks, Bay City, Ship to Shore, Clowning Around. Film: Drift, Japanese Story, Justice, Teesh and Trude, Boxed In, Pink Pyjamas. Will. Awards: 2011 WA Equity Guild Award for Best Leading Actor for Madagascar by Black Swan.

SARAH MCNEILL Polina

Black Swan: Shrine, The Clean House, The Swimming Club. Other Theatre: Janus Productions: Blood Brothers, Shanghai Lil Productions: Three On, One Off. The Brainbox Project DownStairs at the Maj: Pinter’s People. Perth Theatre Company: Chat Room, Social Climbers, The Censor, The Vagina Monologues. Effie Crump Theatre: Events on a Hotel Terrace, Affairs in a Tent, Man Woman and Shaw, Allison’s Rub, Deckchairs, Ernest the Musical, Conjugal Rites. Civic Theatre Restaurant: Five Past Nine. Phoenix Theatre Company: Dusa Fish Stas and Vi. TV: The Circuit, Minty, Bush Patrol, Carson’s Law, Prisoner. Other: Sarah toured nationally in the production Chat Room and wrote and presented The Beautification of Mary MacKillop. She is also the arts editor with Post Newspapers. Training: Sarah trained at LAMDA/Tavistock Repertory Company and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Film and Television.

CREATIVES

KATE CHERRY DIRECTOR

Black Swan: A Streetcar Named Desire, Shrine, Other Desert Cities, The Importance of Being Earnest, Arcadia, The White Divers of Broome, Rising Water, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Boundary Street, Madagascar, Much Ado About Nothing, , The Year of Magical Thinking. Black Swan/Sydney Theatre Company: Signs of Life. Black Swan/Queensland Theatre Company: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Clean House. Black Swan/Melbourne Theatre Company: The Swimming Club. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Flora, Take Me Out, Honour, The Glass Menagerie, Humble Boy, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Cloud Nine, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, , The Duchess of Malfi, Three Days of Rain, , Death of a Salesman, Art and Soul, All My Sons, The Clean House, Burnt Piano, The Woman in the Window, Life After George, as well as its national tour. Queensland Theatre Company, The Female of the Species. Playbox: The Sick Room, The Tempest, Miracles, Spring Awakening. Queensland University Theatre: Our Country’s Good. Geelong Performing Arts Centre: Art Day. Victorian Arts Centre: Electra. WAAPA: Cloudstreet, Three Sisters. Other Theatre (International): State Opera of South Australia/ and New Zealand Opera: La Traviata, American Conservatory Theatre: Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare and Company: Cymbeline. California Shakespeare Festival: Pericles. As an inaugural member of Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab, Kate was invited to direct Speaking in Tongues and The Bay at Nice (American premiere) for the Lab. She has also directed The Love of the Nightingale, Fen, Statements Made After an Arrest, Capoeira, and White Trash in Love (the musical). Opera: Victorian Opera: The Turn of the Screw, The Coronation of Poppea. : Brundibar. Positions: Kate is the Artistic Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company. Between 1999 and 2005 Kate was Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company, prior to which she was Artistic Associate at the Playbox. Kate has acted as Professor of Directing at University of California and at Colorado College. Awards and Fellowships: As a New York Drama League Directing Fellow, she directed Snow White The Anti-Fairy Tale at the Ensemble Theatre in New York. She has received the Gielgud Award for Best Emerging Director of the Classics in the US and numerous other awards for her direction in the US. She was also nominated for a Helpmann and a Green Room Award for Life After George. Training: Kate received her MFA from UCLA and a B.A. in English Literature from Bard College.

HILARY BELL

Black Swan: The White Divers of Broome, Boundary Street. Other Theatre: Griffin Theatre: Wolf Lullaby, Fortune, The Falls, Angela's Kitchen (associate writer). Atlantic: Wolf Lullaby. Steppenwolf: Wolf Lullaby. Vitalstatistix: The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Ruysch, Memmie Le Blanc. Deckchair Theatre: Memmie Le Blanc. Sydney Theatre Company: The Splinter, The Mysteries: Genesis. State Theatre Company of South Australia: The Seagull. WAAPA: Open-Cut. NORPA: The Bloody Bride. National Theatre, London: Victim Sidekick Boyfriend Me. Opera: Anchorage Opera: Mrs. President. New York Film Festival: Faust. Musicals: NIDA: The Wedding Song. Other: Hilary writes for stage, radio, screen and music theatre. Current projects include a musical, Do Good And You Will Be Happy, and commissions for Sydney Theatre Company and Black Swan. She is also co-creator of best-selling children’s book Alphabetical Sydney. She is a member of playwrights' company 7-On. Positions: Hilary has been resident at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference in the US, the Russian Playwrights' Conference, and the Australian National Playwrights' Conference. She was the 2003 Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of the South in Tennessee and the 2012 Patrick White Fellow at Sydney Theatre Company.

She is on the Australian Writers’ Guild’s Playwrights’ Committee, and on the artistic advisory panel for New York's Production Company. Awards: Hilary was a recipient of the Philip Parsons Young Playwrights’ Award, Jill Blewitt Playwrights’ Award, Bug’n’Bub Award, Aurealis Award for Fiction, the Eric Kocher Playwrights’ Award, the 2007 Inscription Award and an AWGIE for Music Theatre. Training: A graduate of the Juilliard Playwrights’ Studio, NIDA, and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.

JEFFERY JAY FOWLER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Black Swan: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Honour. As Writer/Director: Little y Theatre Company: Second Hands. Mythophobic Productions: Hope is the Saddest, Zen’s Red Mouth. As Playwright: UNIMA: Red Lashes, The Duck House: Minnie and Mona Play Dead As Actor and Playwright: Mythophobic Productions: A history of drinking. The Last Great Hunt: Elephents. Awards: 2013 Martin Sims Award for Minnie and Mona Play Dead, 2012 Fringe World Best Theatre Award for Hope is the saddest, 2009 Blue Room Judges Award for Outstanding Writing and Performance for A history of drinking. Training: Jeffrey Jay completed his post graduate studies in directing at NIDA in 2010.

FIONA BRUCE SET & COSTUME DESIGNER:

Black Swan: Dust, Midsummer (a play with songs), Shrine, Boy Gets Girl. The HotBed Ensemble: Yellow Moon: The Ballad of Leila and Lee, The Shape of Things. BSX Theatre: Falling Petals. As Assistant Designer: Black Swan: Rising Water, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing. Other Theatre: Deckchair Theatre: The Fremantle Candidate, Grace, The Danger Age, Modern International Dead. Steps Youth Dance Company: Moonwebs and Scorched Thongs. ThinIce: Antigone. As Designer: Performing Lines/STRUT: Breakings. As Set Designer: Deckchair Theatre: Ruby Moon. Awards: 2010 Equity Guild Training: Award Best Design and the 2009 David Hough Award for Stage Design. 2009 WAAPA Performing Arts B.A and 2006 Curtin University B.A.

ASH GIBSON GREIG SOUND DESIGNER/COMPOSER

Black Swan: As You Like It, Day One, A Hotel, Evening, The Importance of Being Earnest, Arcadia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, The Memory of Water, The Messiah, The Lady Aoi. Black Swan/Queensland Theatre Company: The Clean House. Other Theatre: Heart of Gold: The Musical. Malthouse: The Trial. ThinIce: The Red Shoes, Bed, The Gathering, The Visit. Barking Gecko: The Amber Amulet, Aesop’s Fable, Gogo Fish,The Troll From the Bowl, Hidden Dragons. TV: Who Do You Think You Are (Australia), Singapore 1942, Jandamarra’s War, Murdoch, Desert War, Leaky Boat, SAS: Search for Warriors, The Bombing of Darwin: An Awkward Truth, Ned’s Head, Desperately Seeking Doctor, Time Trackers. Film: Big Mamma’s Boy. Awards: 2009 WA Screen Award for Excellence in Craft (Composition), 2007 APRA/AGSC Awards for Best Music for a Short Film, Iron Bird.

JON BUSWELL LIGHTING DESIGN

Black Swan: Signs of Life, Twelfth Night, The Glass Menagerie, Madagascar, The Female of the Species. Other Theatre (Australia): Melbourne Theatre Company: All My Sons, The Clean House, Ray’s Tempest, Cheech, Boy Gets Girl, Things We Do for Love, The Glass Menagerie, Love Song, The 39 Steps. Sydney Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tinderbox Productions: Talking Heads. Other Theatre (Britain): Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester: Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes in Trouble, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Port. Theatre Royal Haymarket, London: Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Royal Family. Chichester Festival Theatre: Stairs to the Roof, The Accrington Pals,

Wild Orchids, The Coffee House. Apollo Theatre: My Brilliant Divorce. Ballet: West Australian Ballet: La Sylphide, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Cinderella, The Nutcracker. The Australian Ballet: Monument, Raymonda, Constant Variants, Symphonie Fantastique, Interplay. Royal New Zealand Ballet: Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan. Queensland Ballet: Coppelia. Opera: Victorian Opera: Cosi Fan Tutte, The Coronation of Poppea. Lyric Opera of Chicago: Otello. New Zealand Opera: The Flying Dutchman.

CHRISSIE PARROT MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

Black Swan: Shrine. As Choreographer: Chrissie has choreographed works for Perth Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre and Thin Ice, as well as a digital dance work for the Heath Ledger Theatre Gala opening and a dance piece for UWA’s centenary celebrations. Other: Chrissie has created a repertoire of over 70 works, most particularly within the context of the Chrissie Parrott Dance Company. Commissions include works for WA Ballet, Australian Dance Theatre, Queensland Ballet, Tasdance, Sifonietta de Lorraine (France), Theater Vorpommern (Stralsund, Germany), Crameer Balletten (Sweden) and Tanz Forum (Germany). In 2012 Chrissie and composer/animator Jonathan Mustard opened ChrissieParrottArts Space, an artist run initiative venue that presents a program of Multi Arts. TV: Wrath, Coppélia, Hawk II, Motel Deception [Bluemoon film and video, Screen West DCA- ABC]. Positions: Previous positions include Adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology and Senior Research Fellow ECU. Program Manager at PICA. Board member for Artrage Fringe Festival. Consultant to the PIAF dance program under artistic director David Blenkinsop. Founding Director of LINK Dance Company. Awards: Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award. Swan Gold Award. Sounds Australia Award. Western Australian Citizen of the Year 2000. Centenary Medal. Ausdance Award for outstanding choreography.

ANDY FRASER FIGHT DIRECTOR

BLACK SWAN: As You Like It, A Streetcar Named Desire, Flood, Midsummer [a play with songs], Death of a Salesman, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Signs of Life, The White Divers of Broome, Ninety, Boundary Street, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, The Web, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Female of the Species, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Crucible, The Carnivores, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Zastrozzi: The Master of Discipline. Black Swan/Queensland Theatre Company: Other Desert Cities. Black Swan/Big Sky Entertainment: Shakespeare Shenanigans. OTHER THEATRE: Perth Theatre Company: The Removalists, The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell, Speed-the-Plow, Hamlet, Talk About the Passion. Yirra Yaakin: Waltzing the Wilarra, Mother’s Tongue, The Honey Spot, Muttacar Sorry Business. Deckchair Theatre: The Danger Age, Memmie le Blanc, Love, Prayer to an Iron God. Onward Production: Private Lives, The Deep Blue Sea. Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet. Barking Gecko: Trains of Thought. OPERA: West Australian Opera: Otello, Tosca, Carmen, Don Giovanni. TV: Lockie Leonard Human Torpedo, The Shark Net. FILM: Teesh & Trude. TRAINING: Fully certified Fight Director and Stage Combat Instructor holding accreditation from the Society of Australian Fight Directors and the British Academy of Dramatic Combat.

ABOUT BLACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY

Black Swan State Theatre Company is Western Australia’s Flagship Theatre Company and one of Australia’s foremost theatre companies. Since its inception in 1991, Black Swan has earned both critical and popular acclaim for its world premiere productions and highly distinctive (re)interpretations of international theatre classics – all of which are infused with the unique culture of Western Australia. These have included such landmark productions as Bran Nue Dae, Corrugation Road, The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea, Cloudstreet (Perth, Sydney, London and Dublin seasons), The Odyssey, and more recently, The Sapphires (Perth, , London and Korea seasons).

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kate Cherry, Black Swan has created the Rio Tinto Black Swan Commissions, a commissioning program investing into WA’s creative future and showcasing Western Australian stories. The Company also runs professional development programs for emerging Western Australian artists, including the Emerging Writers Group and Emerging Artists and Resident Artists programs.

Black Swan State Theatre Company has been Resident Company in the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia since 2011. In its inaugural season in the State Theatre Centre, Black Swan presented the world premiere of Rising Water, the first piece written by Tim Winton specifically for the stage. The company has since staged and toured two critically acclaimed Winton plays. In the same year, Black Swan was the first Australian theatre company to broadcast a live stage performance, when Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Kate Cherry, was broadcast in real time to audiences across regional Western Australia. Live broadcasts have since become an annual event for Black Swan, as part of the Company’s annual regional touring and engagement programs.

Performing in its new home at the State Theatre Centre has resulted in a surge of popularity for Black Swan: In 2011 over 52,000 people attended a Black Swan production at the , with many more attending a Black Swan performance at national or international venues.

For 2014, the mainstage season of six plays contains a mix of classics and new work, and two plays in the Studio Underground as part of the new initiative called Black Swan Lab which will provide dynamic opportunities for ambitious artistic collaborations. In its inaugural year, the Black Swan Lab presents two world premieres, Flood by Perth writer Chris Isaacs which was part of Fringe World Festival 2014 and The House on The Lake by Aidan Fennessy.

Highlights of Black Swan’s 2014 season include: • A sold-out and extended season of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Kate Cherry with Sigrid Thornton as Blanche DuBois. • Roger Hodgman directed a large WA cast in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It. • The World Premiere of Dust, set in Perth 2014, by acclaimed Australian playwright Suzie Miller and commissioned by Rio Tinto. • Ben Elton is revisiting his play Gasping, first performed in 1990, and is re-imagining it for a new era and new country. The play will now be called Gasp! and will be directed by Wesley Enoch in a co-production with Queensland Theatre Company. • Peter Rowsthorn will play the role of comedian Max Prince in Neil Simon’s comedy Laughter on the 23rd Floor.

For further information please visit: www.bsstc.com.au