PUNK ROCK To Hit The Stage At fortyfivedownstairs In December

4 - 15 December at fortyfivedownstairs Intelligent. Articulate. F***ed. Tucked away in a grammar school library, the dreaded exam period looming, seven students on the cusp of adulthood humiliate and lustfully toy with each other, their latent fury skirting dangerously close to the surface.

Multiple Olivier and Tony Award winning British playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) defies expectations to examine adolescence with an unparalleled authenticity and unsettling honesty in his acclaimed play Punk Rock, nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play in 2010. Following the success of Tusk Tusk at St Martins Theatre earlier this year, Patalog Theatre Co is thrilled to take on Stephens' searing text in a new production to open at Melbourne's renowned fortyfivedownstairs this December.

"Punk Rock is a play which is as addictive as it is horrifying," says Patalog Theatre Co Artistic Director Ben Walter. "Putting young people front and centre, it depicts the terrors of school-yard bullying with a painful accuracy. Punk Rockgrounds itself in an unsettling honesty and exposes the extreme behaviour displayed on the stage as only a degree removed from what we consider normal in our everyday."

Tusk Tusk Director Ruby Rees (whose acting credits include Foxtel's Picnic at Hanging Rock) will again collaborate with Patalog Theatre Co, along with Directing Consultant Iain Sinclair (MTC's A View From The Bridge) and a stellar creative team that includes Tony nominated Sound Designer Russell Goldsmith (33 Variations and the recent national tour of Hair), Set and Costume Designers Dann Barber (33 Variations and Barnum) and Freya Allen (Mr. Burns), and Lighting Designer Richard Vabre (Do Not Go Gentle and Mr Burns).

Walter joins an incredible young cast, along with Jillian Nguyen (recent screen credits include the film The True History of the Kelly Gang and the SBS series Hungry Ghosts) in her Melbourne stage debut, Laurence Boxhall (MTC's Shakespeare in Love), Ruby Duncan (ABC's Glitch), Annie Shapero (LiNa), Karl Richmond (Theatreworks' Truly Madly Britney), Flynn Smeaton (UMMTA's Legally Blonde), and Jessica Clarke (Redstitch's Pomona).