THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA Opens At Sydney Theatre 4/14

Anthony Neilson's The Wonderful World of Dissocia will be performed at Wharf 1, Sydney Theater Company, Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay from 14 April to 23 May 2009. The show opens Saturday 18 April 2009 at 8pm.

Marion Potts directs Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia, a subversive, exuberant trip deep inside the mind of a young woman. Justine Clarke, Matt Day, Russell Dykstra, Socratis Otto and Matthew Whittet are amongst an ensemble cast in the Australian premiere as part of Sydney Theatre Company’s 2009 Main Stage season, at Wharf 1 from 14 April 2009. Set design is by Alice Babidge, costumes by Tess Schofield, lighting by Nick Schleiper and music is composed by Alan John.

A young woman embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey to a topsy-turvy world to recover an hour she has lost in transit. A bumbling pair of (in)security guards, a (scape)goat with a penchant for committing horrible crimes and a hot dog vendor named Britney are just some of the eccentric characters she encounters along the way. But beneath the humour, song and celebration, all may not be as it seems.

As Neilson himself put it, ‘If you like Alice in Wonderland but there’s not enough sex and violence in it, then Dissocia is the show for you’.

The Wonderful World of Dissocia was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and revived by The National Theatre of Scotland in 2007. Neilson writes and directs plays that explore unchartered psychological territories. He is Artistic Associate of National Theatre of Scotland for whom he directed Home Edinburgh and wrote and directed Realism. Previous work includes; The Lying Kind, Stitching, The Censor, The Night Before Christmas, Penetrator and Normal.

Helpmann Award-winner Marion Potts is Associate Artistic Director at Bell Shakespeare and was previously a resident director at Sydney Theatre Company. Earlier this year her Venus & Adonis was a highlight of STC’s Next Stage program. Other productions include The Goat Or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee for State Theatre of South Australia and last year’s Hamlet for Bell Shakespeare.