Sydney Theatre Co Announces Saturn's Return 7/24-8/30 At Wharf 1

Sydney Theatre Company presents Saturn's Return by Tommy Murphy, 24 July to 30 August 2009. Opening Night 29 July at 8pm Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company, Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

Having been nurtured through Sydney Theatre Company's development strand Wharf 2LOUD (now known as Next Stage) last year, Saturn's Return by Tommy Murphy, emerges fully formed for the Company's Main Stage season in 2009, opening 29 July. Playing with shifting perspectives on identity, time and place, the fantastical adventure is again directed by Murphy's longtime collaborator David Berthold and a new design is realized by the same creative team from 2008; designer Adam Gardnir, lighting designer Luiz Pampolha and composer Basil Hogios.

Leeanna Walsman returns as the complicated heroine, Zara, while Matthew Zeremes is also back but now takes on the role performed last year by Socratis Otto. Toby Moore joins the cast as Zara's boyfriend Matt. Murphy's refocused and refined script explores new territories but maintains the wit and theatricality that won over audiences last year.

For Zara, 28, it suddenly seems the universe is conspiring against her. Sex on drugs has become sordid, but the allure of a threesome is still tempting. The prospect of having children is no longer odious, but mortgages and responsibility remain objects of contempt. But just as she begins to lock things down with her lover Matt, Zara is jettisoned into orbit. She embarks on an imaginative, cosmic journey exploring alternatives and questioning whether extended adolescence, with all its freedoms, may offer more rewards.

Murphy muses on the life-changing crisis some astrologers attribute to the phenomenon of the planet Saturn completing its orbit round the sun. The completion of Saturn's 29-year-cycle is said to herald a period of major upheaval and challenging life choices.

Murphy and director David Berthold are the acclaimed team behind Holding The Man and Strangers In Between. Since the 2008 run of Saturn's Return, Murphy has spent time working in London with companies including the Royal Court and Paines Plough as well as working with the National Theatre Studio in further developing Saturn's Return. Berthold became Artistic Director of Brisbane's La Boite Theatre in November 2008. He was previously Artistic Director of both Griffin Theatre Company and ATYP and from 1994-99 was Associate Director at Sydney Theatre Company.

cast: Toby Moore, Leeanna Walsman, Matthew Zeremes

director: David Berthold designer: Adam Gardnir lighting designer: Luiz Pampolha
composer: Basil Hogios

Box Office: 9250 1777 or www.sydneytheatre.com.au
Wharf 1. 24 July to 30 August 2009. Tickets: $30 to $75

 

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