Griffin Theatre Company Presents SHABBAT DINNER

In Jewish tradition, a new day begins in the evening. That is why Shabbat, the day of rest, is welcomed at sundown. Take a seat around the Bellamy family dining table, set with their finest glassware and a few charmingly mismatched spoons. In this unique (and not so traditional) dinner-turned-performance, the rituals and customs of a Shabbat dinner are recreated. Bread is broken. Family stories are offered. As the night unfolds, a community is built and then dismantled. Written by award-winning playwright Jessica Bellamy and directed by Anthony Skuse, Shabbat Dinner weaves together poetic storytelling, live music and Bellamy's best attempt at rekindling the taste of her Baba's borscht.

'A powerful, universal tale of love, loss and the hardship that people, and women in particular, must still endure worldwide.' ???? - ArtsHub

CREATIVE TEAM
Written and performed by Jessica Bellamy
Director: Anthony Skuse
With Jessica Bellamy, Kirsty Marillier, Olivia Rose

JESSICA BELLAMY is a playwright and theatre maker. She holds a Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Art in Playwriting (NIDA) and Bachelor of Arts (Hons)(UNSW), as well as a Graduate Certificate in Arts and Community Engagement (VCA). She has been a Griffin Theatre Company / Playwriting Australia Associate Playwright (2011/12), Writer in Residence at Grey Projects, Singapore (2013), MTC/PWA Dramaturgy Intern (2014) and an Artistic Director for Outback Theatre for Young People's The Echo in Our Walls (2014-15). She has worked with Malthouse Theatre on Dybbuk (2016) and participated in the Besen Emerging Writers Programme. Jessica was the writer of Convict Escapades for Sydney Living Museums (2015, 2017), and collaborated with Local Peoples on the Australian Open Kids Tennis Day (2017). Jessica was the recipient of the 2013 ATYP Foundation Commission, writing Compass (nominated for Sydney Theatre and AWGIE awards, published by Playlab Press), and is winner of the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award 2011 for Sprout (Playlab Press). Shabbat Dinner was produced twice by Tamarama Rock Surfers, Bondi, and Checkpoint Theatre, Singapore. In 2018, she worked with Checkpoint Theatre in producing Thick Beats for Good Girls, a play which she co-wrote and performed in with Pooja Nansi, as well as writing a commission for Monash University theatre studies.

ANTHONY SKUSE is a director whose credits include: Chekhov's Seagull (Secret House), Play Without a Title (AFTT, Belvoir Downstairs), Simon Stephens' Birdland (New Theatre), Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis (Old Fitz), Simon Stephens' Herons (ISA), Melita Rowston's Between the Streetlight and the Moon (Mophead Productions), Bathsheba Doran's Mystery of Love and Sex (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Charlotte Jones' Airswimming (The Vaults, London), Tadeusz S?obodzianek's Our Class (AFTT, Belvoir Downstairs), Nick Enright's Man With Five Children (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Katy Warner's Dropped (Old Fitz Theatre), Christopher Harley's Blood Bank (Ensemble Theatre), Jane Bodie's Fourplay & Ride (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), José Rivera's The House of Ramon Iglesia (MopHead Productions), Jessica Bellamy's Shabbat Dinner (Tamarama Rock Surfers), Chekhov's Platonov (ATYP Selects), Nick Payne's Constellations (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Diana Son's Stop Kiss (Unlikely Productions), Bite Me (ATYP), Amy Hertzog's 4000 Miles (Under the Wharf, Sydney & La Boite, Brisbane), Stephens' Punk Rock (Under the Wharf) which won three Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Independent Production and Best Direction, Purcell's Dioclesian (Pinchgut Opera), Tracy Lett's Bug, Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Marius Von Mayenburg's The Cold Child, Mark Ravenhill's pool (no water), The Presnyakov Brothers' Terrorism (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), for Griffin: Suzie Miller's Caress/Ache, for Griffin Independent: Michael Gow's Live Acts On Stage; Simon Stephens' On the shore of the wide world; Suzie Miller's Sunset Strip (Uncertainty Principle).

The show runs 10 - 15 September; Monday - Saturday 7pm at SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross

Bookings: 02 9361 3817 or http://bit.ly/ShabbatDinner_18
All tickets: $35