Griffin Theatre Company Season 2020
In 2020 Griffin Theatre Company celebrates the 50th birthday of the Stables Theatre and presents a Main Season of five plays featuring fresh new perspectives, heartbreak, adventure and life-affirming joy.
Griffin’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis says, “The 2020 Season is not a looking back, but a looking forward. Our playwrights have questions for you, challenges for you, laughter to share with you and hope and visions of the future to offer you.”
Season opener is the darkly comedic Family Values by playwright David Williamson. Directed by Lee Lewis and starring Andrew McFarlane, this play is Williamson at his angry best, distilling the enormous ethical, intergenerational battles facing the nation into one family’s living room.
Matthew Whittet’s (Seventeen, Girl Asleep) Kindness follows a group of 20-somethings over the course of a single night, as they attempt to gently pull their dear friend Lukas out of a deep and complicated grief that is sucking him down like quicksand. Lee Lewis will direct Christian Byers and Nikita Waldronin this story about grief, memory, friendship, and the healing power contained within a simple act of kindness. Lewis says “It’s gentle, insightful, naïve and funny, exploring joy and sadness with the openness and honesty inherent to young minds.”
Kendall Feaver (The Almighty Sometimes) is back with a new play that dives into the schism between emerging and established feminists. Directed by Lee Lewis, Wherever She Wanders is a compassionate exploration the safety of women in physical and digital spaces and the complex nature of activism in an era where anyone with a social media profile can have a political voice. Lewis says, “Kendall Feaver is well on her way to becoming one of Australia’s fiercest social commentators.”
Winner of the 2019 Griffin Award and the 2019 Patrick White Award, Mark Rogers’ Superheroes explores the ordinariness of existence in the face of profound situations. The play follows two women a world apart, negotiating their small lives in a time of big politics. Shari Sebbens will direct Dubs Yunupingu and Aleks Mikic in this lyrical and deeply humane story from an exciting new voice.
Wicked Sisters by Alma De Groen appeared on the Stables stage in 2002. Ageing, survival, ambition, adultery, blackmail, murder—it’s got it all. Nadia Tass will direct Vanessa Downing, Di Adams and Deborah Galanos in this revenge tragi-comedy. Lewis says, “Alma De Groen’s writing of women was way ahead of its time, and it’s about time she was welcomed back to the Stables and acknowledged for having the courage of her female convictions in a time when that would not help your theatre career.”
2020 will see the return of Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie following its sell-out, critically acclaimed season in 2019. Sheridan Harbridge will reprise her performance in a brief return season at the Seymour Centre before kicking off a national tour.
Debra Oswald’s one-woman show Is There Something Wrong With That Lady? is Griffin’s first Special Extra for 2020. Debra tell stories about her neurotic childhood, clumsy romantic history, and the anxieties and joys of the writer’s life.
Comedian and performer Oliver Twist will use his storytelling abilities to reflect on his time as a refugee in FEAR, a powerful and vibrant one-person show.
No Standing. No Dancing. is the latest show from award-winning writer Phil Spencer. An examination of parenthood, Peppa Pig and Patti Smith, it’s a primal scream to reawaken the punk inside us all.
A ritual theatre work entrenched in pleasure activism, Betty Grumble’s Enemies of Grooviness – Eat Shit continues her quest for world-saving and love-making through rock ‘n’ roll, protest and poetry. An all-singing, all-howling cabaret du Sex Clown.
Batch Festival returns in 2020 for three weeks of performances by some of the freshest, edgiest and most inventive artists in the country.
Griffin welcomes Australian Theatre for Young People back to the Stables to present three productions: Cusp, The 1s, the 0s and Everything in Between and Soul Trading.
2020 also marks the 50th birthday of Griffin’s home the SBW Stables Theatre, and the company will be celebrating with a range of special programs and events across the year.
Images: Family Values, Wherever She Wanders and Prima Facie. Photographer: Brett Boardman.
MAIN SEASON
FAMILY VALUES
By David Williamson
Director Lee Lewis
Dramaturg: Van Badham
with Andrew McFarlane, Jamie Oxenbould
Season: 17 January – 7 March
KINDNESS
By Matthew Whittet
Director Lee Lewis
Composer and Sound Designer Paul Charlier
With Christian Byers, Nikita Waldron
Season: 8 May – 13 June
WHEREVER SHE WANDERS
By Kendall Feaver Director Lee Lewis
With Emily Havea
Season: 10 July – 22 August
SUPERHEROES
By Mark Rogers
Director Shari Sebbens
With Aleks Mikic, Dubs Yunupingu
Season: 4 September – 10 October
WICKED SISTERS
By Alma de Groen
Director Nadia Tass
With Di Adams, Vanessa Downing, Deborah Galanos
Season: 6 November – 12 December
SPECIAL RETURN SEASON
PRIMA FACIE
By Suzie Miller
Director Lee Lewis
Designer Renée Mulder
Composer and Sound Designer Paul Charlier Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest
With Sheridan Harbridge
Season: 2 – 12 September (Seymour Centre)
SPECIAL EXTRAS
IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT LADY?
Written and performed by Debra Oswald
Season: 31 March – 4 April
FEAR
Written and performed by Oliver Twist
Season: 15 – 20 June
NO STANDING. NO DANCING.
Written and performed by Phil Spencer
Season: 27 – 29 August
ENEMIES OF GROOVINESS – EAT SHIT
Written and performed by Betty Grumble and Emma Maye Gibson
Season: 26 – 31 October
BATCH FESTIVAL
17 April – 2 May
ATYP @ GRIFFIN
CUSP
By Mary Anne Butler
11 – 28 March
THE 1S, THE 0S AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
By Chris Isaacs
24 June – 4 July
SOUL TRADING
By Kate Walder
14 – 24 October
Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.