DiRECTOR PETER EVANS BY MOLiÈRE A NEW VERSiON BY jUSTiN FLEMiNG C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Proud paner of Bell Shakespeare’s National Schools Program Bell Shakespeare’s National Schools Program inspires thousands of school children across Australia to learn and love Shakespeare. Believing that all Australians should have access to Shakespeare, program since 1999. Foxtel marks are used under licence by Foxtel Management Pty Ltd. Ethical banking Teachers Mutual Bank is delighted to partner with Bell Shakespeare to support the Regional Teacher Mentorship. Only four banks in the world have been named as a 2018 World’s Most Ethical Company.1 And we’re one of them for the 5th year in a row! Find out more today* tmbank.com.au/wme *Membership is open to citizens or permanent residents of Australia who are current or retired employees of the Australian education sector or family members of members of the Bank. 1 The Ethisphere Institute is a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practice. The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework and honours superior achievements in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance. Worlds Most Ethical Companies and ‘Ethisphere’ names and marks are registered trade marks of Ethisphere LLL. www.ethisphere.com Teachers Mutual Bank Limited ABN 30 087 650 459 AFSL/ Australian Credit Licence 238981 | 00711-CSR-0518-WME-BS-297x210 00711-CSR-0518-WME-BS-210x148-1-2.indd 1 25/05/2018 3:03:00 PM 4 Bell Shakespeare ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE SHAKESPEARE’S WORK EXPLORES HUMAN EXPERIENCE AT ITS LIMITS. IT WAS WRITTEN TO BE PERFORMED. We ensure Shakespeare's work lives and INDIGENOUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT breathes in theatres, schools and regional venues throughout Australia, where his words Bell Shakespeare acknowledges the people can be truly appreciated. of the land on which we rehearse and perform across Australia. We value the beauty of Shakespeare’s ideas, language and imagery. His work helps us find The Miser will be presented at Sydney Opera modern perspectives on timeless truths. House, Canberra Theatre Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne and we acknowledge the traditional We believe Shakespeare and other great works custodians on whose ancestral land these are not stuck in the past. They are the lens theatres sit. through which we can explore and question the present, and imagine the future. The First Peoples of this nation express their culture through music, dance and storytelling, These plays are not static. They’re constantly and it is a privilege to continue a tradition of helping us make sense of who we are, where storytelling and performance in this country. we’ve been, and where we’re going. And we’re not static either. We acknowledge custodians and elders, past and present, and pay respect to the cultural We’ve been travelling the country for more authority and traditions of this land. than 28 years, bringing classic theatre to Australia, looking for new ways to inspire, imagine and ignite. Shakespeare and the other classic plays we present challenge our beliefs and urge us to see ourselves in a new light. Their ability to discover the things that make us human inspires us to make work that challenges preconceptions and encourages new interpretations and contemporary parallels — work that speaks to every age. 6 Bell Shakespeare FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHAIR On behalf of Bell Shakespeare, welcome to our and where we will continue to grow our programs first mainstage production for 2019 – Molière’s and reach. In January we welcomed our John Bell The Miser. Scholarship winners from Hamilton NSW, South Yunderup WA and Darwin NT for a week of For almost 30 years Bell Shakespeare has intensive performance training and mentorship presented audiences with timeless works from in Sydney. We’ll also welcome 30 teachers from great writers. Like Shakespeare, Molière’s work all parts of Australia including Ulverstone, TAS endures because it provokes conversation and and Herberton, QLD for the Regional Teacher reflection, and importantly, it entertains. His Mentorship. They will receive specialist training plays are filled with perceptive insights about in dynamic and innovative ways to teach humanity conveyed via masterful storytelling. Shakespeare, with ongoing support throughout He critiqued society with a sharp sense of the year. humour, challenging us to examine our imperfections but also to laugh at ourselves. Programs like this are at the heart of what we do at Bell Shakespeare – ensuring access to Translated by Justin Fleming for a 21st century the transformative power of language. Looking audience, this version of The Miser is as pertinent ahead, our national mainstage tour of Much Ado today as it was in France in 1668 when it was first About Nothing will visit 28 venues nationwide; performed. I’m certain we’ll all recognise parts of our Players companies will tour to every state our society and ourselves in this tale about family and territory in Australia delivering three, dynamics and greed; and about the conflict and brand-new shows for school students; and our chaos that can reign in the interplay between Teaching Artists will deliver specialised love, manipulation and money. masterclasses, workshops and seminars across the country. It has been a joy to watch this production come together with our Artistic Director Peter We couldn’t do this without the generous support Evans at the helm, and our Founding Artistic we receive from our government partners, Director John Bell back with us for the first time donors, members, corporate partners and trusts since he stepped away from the Company in 2015. and foundations. Together you make it possible They are joined in this production by an incredible for our programs to have a truly national impact, creative team, cast and crew, some of whom reaching more than 140,000 people annually. have worked with us on several past productions For that, we thank you. and some who are new faces to the Bell Shakespeare family. We hope you enjoy this fantastic production and we look forward to continuing to share With this production we begin another year of these timeless stories with you. vast national offerings that include not only our mainstage activities, but our far-reaching education program. 2019 will see us in theatres, schools, communities, rehearsal rooms, juvenile justice centres and many other places and spaces around Australia, sharing our love of great writing, storytelling and theatre. We also look toward 2020, our 30th anniversary year, when we will move into Gill Perkins Anne Loveridge our new home at Pier 2/3 in Sydney’s Walsh Bay Executive Director Chair The Miser 7 SYNOPSIS Harpagon has 10,000 gold crowns buried in The matchmaker Frosine brings the sorrowful his backyard. Mariane to Harpagon’s manor, comforting her by saying that, with Harpagon’s age, she’ll soon He also has two children — Cleante and Élise be a rich widow! Meanwhile, Harpagon tricks — each of whom, unbeknownst to him, Cleante into professing his love for Mariane. is in love. Le Fleche, incensed by Harpagon’s continual Cleante loves the beautiful Mariane. Élise loves rudeness, steals his moneybox from the Harpagon’s servant Valère, who saved her from backyard. All hell breaks loose. The conniving drowning. But as both Mariane and Valère are Master Jacques, loyal to his boss Harpagon, poor, Harpagon wouldn’t approve of these frames Valère. While trying to acquit herself, matches, and if he knew, would cut his children Valère and Élise accidently profess their love. off. Cleante tells Élise of his plan to secure a loan and elope. Signor Anselm enters as Valère reveals she’s from a wealthy merchant family from Naples, Mariane’s also caught Harpagon’s eye, and the rest of her family perishing in a shipwreck. Harpagon reveals to Cleante he plans to marry Mariane realises they are sisters. Astounded, her. He’s also arranged for Cleante to marry an Signor Anselm reveals he is their father! old, rich widow; and for Élise to marry the old, rich Signor Anselm (who happily declined a Cleante takes Harpagon’s moneybox hostage, dowry) — tonight! demanding the right to marry Mariane. Harpagon reluctantly agrees, but he won’t pay. Signor Élise is outraged. Harpagon enlists Valère Anselm steps in and agrees to pay for both to convince her to proceed with the marriage, marriages. and Élise agrees to do whatever Valère decides. To keep her position, Valère backs Harpagon, Everyone leaves, except Harpagon – who’s but secretly promises Élise they’ll run off left alone with his moneybox. and elope. Cleante is still trying to secure a loan. He and his servant La Fleche arrange to meet a miserly moneylender. It turns out to be Harpagon, who’s livid and suspicious at his son’s spending habits. The Miser 9 MISER A PERSON WHO HOARDS WEALTH SKINFLINT AND SPENDS AS LITTLE MONEY PENNY-PINCHER AS POSSIBLE HAMMER-HEAD CHEAPSKATE TIGHT ARSE CAT’S PISS WALLET-WATCHER CLOSE-FIST SCROOGE-BUTT MOTHBALLS TIGHTWAD FISH-BUM CAST CREW Harpagon John Bell Stage Manager Danielle Ironside Frosine Michelle Doake Stage Manager Katie Hankin Élise Harriet Gordon-Anderson Assistant Stage Manager Georgie Deal Mariane Elizabeth Nabben Production Assistant Paisley Williams Signor Anselm / La Fleche Sean O’Shea Head Electrician Nick Toll Master Jacques Jamie Oxenbould Head Mechanist Bob Laverick Master Simon / Commissioner of Police Head of Costume Rosie Hodge Russell Smith Senior Cutter Robyn Fruend Cleante Damien Strouthos Costume