LOTL

Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today announced Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Main Stage Season, their third as Artistic Directors of the Company, comprising twelve diverse shows at Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and The Wharf.

Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett today announced Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Main Stage Season, their third as Artistic Directors of the Company, comprising twelve diverse shows at Sydney Theatre, the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House and The Wharf. While their 2010 season has often seen the family as a site of strength and conflict, in 2011 there is a variety of works concerned with the outsider, the fragility and struggle of the individual and the sometimes isolated, dislocated lives of those in search of identity and community. Another counterpoint to this year’s program with its strong American flavour, is a strongly European focus in 2011, kick-started by Andrew and Cate’s last show of 2010, Uncle Vanya. Farce and black comedy feature strongly, particularly in explorations of power and politics. And, inspired by the abundance of wonderful women of the Australian stage, Andrew and Cate have also sought out exceptional roles for women.

• • Main Stage debuts at Sydney Theatre Company for playwright Ross Mueller (previous work with company Next Stage 2009), director Sarah Goodes (Assistant Director Honour 2010 and Elling 2009) and Simon Stone (Next Stage Rough Draft 2009).
• • Stephen Page in collaboration with Kathy Marika and Wayne Blair for Bloodland, a unique new work told through movement, Yolgnu text and storytelling, presented in association with Bangarra and developed in consultation with Top End communities.
• • Focus on great female roles showcased by Miranda Otto, Jacqueline McKenzie, Leah Purcell, Kathy Marika, Lynette Curran, Anita Hegh, Belinda McClory, Helen Thomson, Ursula Yovich and Cate Blanchett.
• • A major international co-production with master director Luc Bondy making his Australian debut directing a specially commissioned new English text by Martin Crimp of Botho Strauss’s Gross und Klein (Big and Small).
• • plus … the Australian premiere of Broadway hit play, In The Next Room, or the vibrator play; exceptional stage pairings of Peter Carroll and John Gaden and Bryan Brown and Colin Friels; and new design influences as fashion house Romance Was Born and one of Europe’s most distinctive designers, work with the Company for the first time.