Griffin to Support White Ribbon Night During First Preview of THE BLEEDING TREE, 7/31

The Bleeding Tree by Melbourne writer, performer and theatre-maker Angus Cerini faces up to the Australian heritage of violence towards women and asks us to acknowledge our (communities) part in it. The first preview of the season coincides with White Ribbon Night, an ideal chance for Griffin to raise funds and awareness of the issues of violence against women in Australia.

Set in rural Australia in the 1950s, the play is directed by Lee Lewis and features Paula Arundell (Angels in America, Mother Courage and Her Children), Shari Sebbens (Battle of Waterloo,The Sapphires) and Airlie Dodds (Neighbours, Rake)

"Forty-four women have died violently this year, more than one a week"says Lee Lewis. "I am grateful that Angus Cerini has given over his talent to voicing three strong, smart, brave and physically abused women. I wish the topic were not so timely - but it could have been set in any time and place, and been so. I say that not as a lament but with rage. I believe that in this play, you hear desperation for social change."

The play is rude, rhythmical and irreverently funny, and earned Cerini the 2014 Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting. The play features three fierce women fighting back.

"It has been enormously enjoyable writing The Bleeding Tree" says Cerini "to revel in the downfall of someone who preys on others and to envisage a community joining in on that destruction. Pull the thread and that aggressor is revealed for what he truly is: a weakling, a bully,

excess baggage left unclaimed on the carousel of a better world, a worthless nothing swinging in the breeze."

Previews 31 July, 1, 3, 4 August Season 7 August - 5 September

SBW Stables Theatre10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross, NSW

Bookings 02 9361 3817 or www.griffintheatre.com.au

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