Tag: Queensland Theatre Company

Posted on

Getting on …

With a few notable exceptions – !Metro Arts in Edward Street, The Roundhouse at Kelvin Grove, and the Judith Wright Centre in the Valley – most of the major theatre premises in Brisbane have been damaged in some way as a direct result of the incursion of floodwaters last week. Fixtures and fittings and stock, costumes, props and tools have been destroyed.  Some theatres are planning to reopen again today and continue their business; others will be dark for some time. Performances have been cancelled or postponed.

For those theatre buildings directly affected by the flooding, especially those by the river – QPAC and Queensland Theatre Company‘s home at 78 Montague Road – the task of just wading in and cleaning up was daunting. They weren’t the only places affected, of course. Many, for example, turned out to help Drift Restaurant at Milton, a favourite spot for indie cabaret-style shows. Continue reading “Getting on …”

Posted on

Season 2011: Who are the writers?

This is the third in the series so far investigating some facts and figures on the 2011 seasons from Queensland Theatre Company and La Boite Theatre Company.

The two previous posts were Where do the writers come from? and When do the writers come from? (historical origins). There are links to these articles below.

This post looks at who is doing the writing, and does a break down on the gender composition of the writers and authorial teams, for teams they are in some cases. There are works written by a solo author, there are co-written pieces, as well as adaptations and translations.  In a couple of instances (I Feel Awful by Black Lung for Queensland Theatre Company and The Danger Ensemble’s Hamlet Apocalypse for La Boite Indie) there appear to be no author credit as such.  However there are 5 (Black Lung) and 13 (The Hamlet Apocalypse) creators/ensemble members listed under these productions. All up, this season provides a creatively rich mix of new work.

Whilst some might object to my use of the descriptor ‘Original Works’ to separate plays out from Adaptations, I know of no other to do the job as well. I apologise to any who take offence, especially to adaptors whose works are, of course, original in their own right as adaptations. In any case, most adaptors freely acknowledge a source text as their stimulus. My interest here is solely to sketch out as much detail as possible in analysis of the seasonal offerings by play type and origin.

Queensland Theatre Company
Original Works – author credited and/or created via ensemble: 11
Adaptations and/or Translations from original works: 2 (SacréBleu; Treasure Island)

La Boite Theatre Company
Original Works – author credited and/or created via ensemble: 9
Adaptations and/or Translations from original works: 1 (The Gruffalo’s Child)

As to the breakdown of the authorial teams by gender here are the figures for the total number of credited individual authors, adaptors and translators of all plays in the season.

Queensland Theatre Company: 22M; 1F
La Boite Theatre Company: 14M; 11F

FYI, 8 of the 11 women credited for La Boite’s season are members of The Danger Ensemble’s listed creative team for The Hamlet Apocalypse.

So, who are the writers? White guys, dead and alive.

Attention turns next to the directors in Season 2011.

Related articles
Posted on

Where do the writers come from?

As promised in the last post, here are the first of some stats as they relate to the 2011 programmed seasons of both Brisbane’s subsidised, professional theatre companies. This post is the first in a series for Greenroom’s readers, and forms part of my ongoing research into professional theatre in Queensland. I have used data relating to both company’s programmed works as it appears in published brochures or online: mainstage, education, studio, and ‘indie’ presenting partnerships. This work picks up on some research I did last year which related to the first 10 and the last 10 years of the repertoire for Queensland Theatre Company. You can check that out here and here on my personal blog. From this year I’ve included La Boite’s programming under current AD David Berthold.

Continue reading “Where do the writers come from?”

Posted on

Review: Waiting for Godot – Queensland Theatre Company

Originally published 30 April, 2010

My theatre companion and I are currently trying to get through burgers the size of our heads before we attend this evening’s performance of Waiting for Godot. It’s been a long week, and we’ve spent the last half an hour whinging at each other about work. There’s a pause in the conversation and a thought rises to the surface: ‘I’m not sure if I really want to sit through Beckett tonight,’ I proclaim with a sigh.

This is nothing against the Queensland Theatre Company production team. Joe Mitchell, the director, has already proven he’s a deft hand with Beckett in the past. The line-up of the cast is tremendous, and I’ve heard nothing but good things. But I’m slightly hesitant because I’ve fallen victim to the most common misconception held around Beckett: that I’ll leave the theatre wanting to kill myself. A synopsis of Waiting for Godot reads like a guaranteed boring night out. Most beautifully described as the play where ‘nothing happens, twice’, the play concerns itself with two men waiting for the mysterious Godot to show up. And that’s it. Continue reading “Review: Waiting for Godot – Queensland Theatre Company”

Posted on

Betrayal: Queensland Theatre Company at Cremorne Theatre

Further details and tickets for sale on Company website

Betrayal by Harold Pinter

Could you keep an affair secret for ten years? Would you start an affair if you knew how it would end?

Harold Pinter’s Betrayal explores these questions and more as it shows a passionate love affair told in reverse, starring Paul Bishop, Sibylla Budd and Hugh Parker.

Robert and Jerry share many things – they work in publishing, have long lunches together and are both in love with Robert’s wife Emma.

Jerry and Emma betray Robert for seven years with their romance, and after it ends we discover that they were betraying each other as well…

Director: Jon Halpin
Composer/Sound Designer: Brett Collery
Designer: Bruce McKinven
Lighting Designer: Matt Scott
Assistant Director: Cienda McNamara
Cast includes: Paul Bishop, Sibylla Budd, Hugh Parker, Peter Scabissi

Venue: CREMORNE THEATRE
Running Time: 1 hour 45 mins (including interval)