BENNELONG IN LONDON to Make World Premiere at Sydney Theatre Company

The World Premiere of Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison's  Bennelong in London will come to Sydney Theatre Company's (STC) Wharf 1 Theatre this July. The acclaimed writer and singular voice behind The Visitors and Stolen, reunites with STC Resident Director and Wilman Noongar man, Ian Michael – hailed by Limelight Magazine as “the most exciting new director of this generation” – to tell the story of one of Australian history's most iconic figures.

Making his STC debut, Gamilaraay actor Googoorewon Knox (Hamilton, Big Name, No Blankets) will play Bennelong alongside Biripi, Worimi, Wodi Wodi and Walbanga man Guy Simon (The Visitors, The Tempest) as a tenacious young actor who is preparing to audition for the role of a lifetime.  Set between present day and the 1780s, Bennelong in London depicts a time-bending conversation and burgeoning friendship between two First Nations men seeking to understand each other, themselves and the art of auditioning.

Playwright Jane Harrison says she has taken “a playful – yet serious – approach to history and laced it with a contemporary character. Diving into the archives and then inventing – this is what I love about playwriting, that you can build new worlds from old and that an audience will go with you on that ride”.

Director Ian Michael says he is ‘'honoured to bring Bennelong in London to Sydney audiences, on the traditional lands and waters of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, where so much of this story began”,

“It has been a privilege to work again with Jane Harrison after directing her work Stolen, and to once more be part of bringing her compelling storytelling to the stage. Bennelong remains a vital figure in Australia's history - a man who stood between worlds at a moment of enormous change - and this production invites us to reflect on questions of identity and whether we can reconcile with our history, told through deep truth-telling and humanity. Bennelong in London asks us to engage with the dark history of this country while affirming the resilience and continuing strength of First Nations voices and storytelling.”

Bennelong in London tells the story of ‘The Actor', played by Guy Simon, who is preparing to audition for the role of a lifetime playing one of Australian history's most iconic figures. As he readies himself, his imagination conjures to life Bennelong (Knox) himself, a man forced to navigate his way through two cultures colliding at breakneck speed. 

Both travel back to the 1780s where Bennelong, now a young Wangal man, is abducted by Governor Phillip. Bennelong becomes his go-between with the Eora people and later, the first Aboriginal man to visit Europe and return and, eventually, the husband of a woman named Barangaroo. 

Under the direction of Ian Michael, this world premiere production will be exquisitely brought to the stage by designer Emma White, lighting designer Trent Suidgeest, composer and sound designer James Peter Brown, cultural advisor Matthew Doyle and dramaturg Jules Orcullo.

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