Nadine Garner Stars in THE WEIR, Opening Tonight at Arts Centre Melbourne

Much-loved actor Nadine Garner stars in The Weir, Conor McPherson's beautifully crafted, award-winning play that brings together the great Irish tradition of bar room tales and theatre's power as an arena for storytelling. Proving there's nothing more revealing than the stories we choose to tell, The Weir opens at 8pm tonight 20 August at Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio before touring to Hobart for a season at the Theatre Royal.

Led by MTC Associate Artistic Director Sam Strong, celebrated actors Greg Stone, Ian Meadows, Robert Menzies and Peter Kowitz join Nadine Garner in this modern classic that has mesmerised audiences from the West End to Broadway and back again, and is now on stage in Melbourne for the first time.

Director Sam Strong said, 'The Weir is a contemporary classic that Melbourne audiences have waited too long to see. This beautiful play is a rare combination of elegance, understatement and power; it's a play that tickles your funny bone, gives you a scare, breaks your heart and then gives you a hug. Conor McPherson has a unique gift for bringing to life not just ghost stories, but the things that actually haunt us - lost love, loneliness and regret.'

In a small rural pub in the west of Ireland, the old regulars and their host fall into swapping ghost stories, the sort of local legends and anecdotes that over the years get stretched in the telling. It's not their usual entertainment for a week night. They're just showing off, as fellas do, throwing around a little blarney for the benefit of an attractive stranger in their midst. And Valerie, who has just moved from Dublin into town seems to be enjoying the stories. What's the harm in it? Who could know how deeply these stories strike home and that the most moving story is waiting to be told?

Conor McPherson is a playwright, screenwriter and director who was named by The New York Times as 'the finest playwright of his generation'. He won an Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1999 for The Weir and a George Devine Award for St Nicholas in 1997. His recent work includes an adaption of Strindberg's The Dance of Death and The Night Alive which premiered in the UK and transferred to New York in 2013. He received a Tony Award nomination for his play Shining City and an Olivier Award nomination for The Seafarer. His directing credits include The Veil for the National Theatre and The Eclipse, which marked his debut as a screen director.

MTC Associate Artistic Director Sam Strong is one of Australia's pre-eminent theatre directors and arts leaders. His directing credits include Endgame, The Sublime, The Speechmaker, Private Lives, The Crucible, Other Desert Cities and Madagascar (MTC); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Sydney Theatre Company); Masquerade (Sydney Festival/Melbourne Festival/STCSA/Griffin); The Boys (Sydney Festival/Griffin); The Floating World, Between Two Waves, And No More Shall We Part and Speaking in Tongues (Griffin); The Power of Yes (Company B Belvoir); and Red Sky Morning and Faces in the Crowd (Red Stitch). He has been nominated for multiple Best Director and Best Production awards at the Helpmann Awards, Sydney Theatre Awards and Green Room Awards and won the 2013 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Direction of a Mainstage Play.

Directed by Strong, the production team includes; Set & Costume Designer Dale Ferguson; Lighting Designer Matt Scott; Composer & Sound Designer Steve Francis; and Assistant Director/Voice & Dialect Coach Leith McPherson.

DETAILS:

Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio

Season dates: Friday 14 August - Saturday 26 September 2015; Opening night - 8pm Thursday 20 August 2015

Tickets : From $73; Under 30s from $36

Bookings: Southbank Theatre Box Office 03 8688 0800 or mtc.com.au; Arts Centre Melbourne 1300 182 183 or artscentremelbourne.com.au

For more, follow on Twitter #mtcWeir @MelbTheatreCo or go to mtc.com.au/mtcWeir.