State Theatre’s 2016 program

Under the directorship of Geordie Brookman, the Company will perform on stages all around the country and will travel to London for the first time with the world premiere of Things I Know To Be True, a new work by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell. “The 2016 Season is one of our strongest yet,” Brookman says in a press release. “It retains the Company’s commitment to new Australian writing and our South Australian artists as well as bringing some of the best of the best from around the country to create work right here in Adelaide.” Next year, State Theatre will collaborate with a variety of leading Australian theatre companies, which will see six co-productions in the 10-show season. Sue Smith’s Machu Picchu, a work celebrating courage and humanity, will be produced in cooperation with the Sydney Theatre Company and feature Gold Logie Award-winning actor Lisa McCune in her State Theatre Company debut. The Company will also work alongside Queensland’s La Boite Theatre Company to bring New York playwright Young Jean Lee’s wickedly amusing and thought-provoking Straight White Men to the Australian stage for the first time. Other partnerships will see the Company working with Brink Productions and Windmill Theatre for Tartuffe and Rumpelstiltskin respectively, as well as collaborating with Country Arts SA to tour The Red Cross Letters and Gorgon across regional South Australia.  The Company’s status as a major contributor to Australia’s theatre scene will be elevated as a result of their new partnership with UK company Frantic Assembly for Things I Know to Be True. Described by The Times as “the most innovative and progressive company around”, Frantic Assembly is internationally renowned for their unique and energetic approach to theatre. Things I Know to Be True will star Adelaide’s well-loved stage icon Paul Blackwell and rising star Tilda Cobham-Hervey, and is set to be a must-see highlight of the 2016 Season. “With something to delight every theatrical tastebud the 2016 year will see the Company traverse the stages of Australia while also touring to London for the first time,” Brookman says. “I hope it once again puts theatre at the heart of cultural activity in South Australia.” The Edinburgh Festival hit The Events, a co-production between Belvoir and Malthouse Theatre, will open State Theatre’s 2016 season after premiering for the first time in Australia at the Sydney Festival in January. Starring Catherine McClements, the award-winning production by Scottish playwright David Greig delves into issues of faith, politics and reason, and is set to be a standout in the program. With each production based loosely around the idea of family, Brookman says the 2016 program will take audiences on an emotional exploration of the “extremes of love, grief, joy, fury, ambition, hilarity, compassion and bravery”, making this a season not to be missed. statetheatrecompany.com.au