ENSEMBLE THEATRE 2015 SEASON

Sandra Bates and Mark Kilmurry have announced the 2015 season for Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre, which will be Sandra Bates’ last season as Artistic Director. Sandra announced she will retire from her position of Governing and Artistic Director in Jan 2016, celebrating 30 years at the helm of the theatre.

Sandra Bates writes: “2015 is my final season. What an incredibly joyous 30 years and it has been my privilege to have shared it with you all. I've had a ball. So if it's such fun, why stop?  Macular degeneration is beginning to take its toll and it's time Mark Kilmurry, in whom I have total confidence, takes his turn to steer Ensemble Theatre into the future, without me peering over his shoulder. Hopefully, eyesight permitting, I'll be back to direct productions in the future. I want to thank all those people who have ensured Ensemble Theatre has not only survived but thrived over these 30 years:  the creatives, the back-stage folk and the incredibly hard working staff, a number of whom have been with Ensemble Theatre almost as long as I have.  Most of all my heartfelt thanks go out to you, the audience, because without you, there is no us.”

Mark Kilmurry writes:  “Sandra's final year as Artistic Director is sad and hard to think about. There are not many people in the world who give you an opportunity that changes your life. When Sandra invited me to be Associate Director at the Ensemble Theatre in 2005 she quite simply changed my life in many brilliant and wonderful ways. For that I will be forever thankful, and when the time comes, I will miss her hugely.   I regard Sandra as my mentor, my colleague and my good friend. Of course Sandra won't be far away and I will be bugging her to direct every season and for as long as she wants to... So for this next season: here's to Sandra Bates with my love and thanks.”

PLAY 1: WORLD PREMIERE, DREAM HOME by DAVID WILLIAMSON  (from Jan 31)

Directed by David Williamson,  Cast includes:  Justin Stewart Cotta, Guy Edmonds,  Katrina Foster, Haiha Le,  Libby Munro, Olivia Pigeot 

Dana and Paul finally have it all: creative careers, a baby on the way...and an apartment in Bondi.  They can’t quite believe their luck. As it turns out, they shouldn’t. With an ex-lover, her jealous husband and a kleptomaniac for neighbours, things are bound to get complicated!

This brand new comedy from David Williamson is about the true cost of buying property in Sydney.

PLAY 2: WORLD PREMIERE  THE ANZAC PROJECT,  Two one act plays by Geoffrey Atherden and Vanessa Bates  (from April 2)

Commissioned to commemorate 100 years since the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli

DEAR MUM AND DAD by Geoffrey Atherden & LIGHT BEGINS TO FADE by Vanessa Bates

Directed by Mark Kilmurry, Cast includes: Eric Beecroft, Lucy Bell, Amy Mathews

100 years on from Gallipoli and what does it all mean now?  To commemorate the centenary, The Ensemble has commissioned two one-act plays. In Dear Mum and Dad, Holly discovers a long-forgotten letter and her great-granddad’s secret is finally uncovered.  The lyrical Light Begins To Fade follows a roomful of TV writersas they try to adapt the Gallipoli story for today's audience. Meanwhile, the bloody past starts to haunt the present…

PLAY 3: THE SHOE-HORN SONATA by John Misto  (from May 15)

Directed by Sandra Bates, Cast: Sandra Bates, Lorraine Bayly

Winner 1995 Australia Remembers Prize

Remembering 70 years since the end of WWII.

It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving a Japanese POW camp. But Sheila and Bridie did - thanks to music, humour and sheer bloody-mindedness. However, when the war ended, so did their friendship, and only Sheila knows why. Based on an extraordinary true story, The Shoe-Horn Sonata became an instant Australian classic when it premiered at the Ensemble Theatre 20 years ago. Lorraine Bayly and Sandra Bates (in her Ensemble swansong) reprise their roles from Ensemble’s 1997 production. (The Shoe-Horn Sonata is on the HSC English syllabus for 2015-2020).

PLAY 4:  EDUCATING RITA by Willy Russell   (from May 21)

Directed by Anna Crawford , Cast: Mark Lee, Catherine McGraffin

Rita is a ballsy hairdresser looking for a better life. Frank is an English professor looking for a way to support his drinking habit. When Rita enters his musty office wanting to know “everything”, she breathes new life into Frank and the literature he thinks he knows so well. This beloved modern tale of the erosive nature of lives half-lived, the potential to awaken another’s soul, and the power of choice, is coming to the Ensemble in a brand new adaption, updated and transported to Australia.

PLAY 5: LADIES IN LAVENDER by Shaun McKenna, adapted from the screenplay by Charles Dance (from July 3). Directed by Nicole Buffoni.  Cast includes: Penny Cook

For two sisters living in a remote village on the Cornish coast, an exciting day means hot cocoa in bed.Then, as if from a fairy tale, a mysterious young man washes up on the shore. As Ursula and Janet nurse him back to health, the handsome stranger’s presence stirs up long dormant emotions of love lost...and love never found.

PLAY 6: AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE: MOTHERS AND SONS by Terrence McNally (from Aug 21) Directed by Anna Crawford, Cast includes: Deborah Kennedy

Tough-as-nails Katharine is desperately lonely. She just lost her husband.  Twenty years ago, she lost her son. Out of the blue, she turns up at his lover’s New York apartment. Cal’s the closest thing to family she’s got left. But he’s moved on – and now has a husband and son of his own. As Katharine sees the life her son might have led, will she seize this second chance for a place to belong? Or will her own prejudices get in the way? Terrence McNally explores what it means to be a modern family.

PLAY 7:  THE BOOK CLUB by Roger Hall (from 26 Aug)

Directed by Rodney Fisher, Cast: Amanda Muggleton

Deb can't quite shake the feeling there's something missing in her life. Her kids have left home. Her husband is sport-obsessed.  Meanwhile, she dreams of getting love letters in the post from Martin Amis.  When her friend Trish pushes her to join the eccentric local book club, self-confessed "bookaholic" Deb decides there's nothing to lose.  Little does she know her fantasies will start to become reality...

PLAY 8:   MY ZINC BED by David Hare  (from Oct 10)

Directed by Mark Kilmurry, Cast includes: Danielle Carter, Sean Taylor

“I can love you and drink. Or I can not love you and not drink. That’s the choice.”Paul Peplow, poet and ex-alcoholic, is on the straight and narrow. But one unforgettable London summer threatens to undo him.  When Paul is sent to interview charismatic millionaire Victor, he’s invited into a new, enticing world.  But it’s a dangerous game.   As he trades verbal blows with Victor – and flirts with his wife Elsa – the walls of Paul’s carefully constructed sobriety start to crumble…  This witty, biting three-hander from award-winning playwright David Hare (Skylight, Plenty) puts addiction under the spotlight and asks: can you let yourself go without losing control?

PLAY 9 : WORLD PREMIERE   BLOOD BANK by Christopher Harley  (from Oct 16)

Directed by Anna Crawford, Cast includes: Michelle Doake, Gabrielle Scawthorn, Tom Stokes

Michael is waiting to give blood for his brother. Justin is waiting for the transfusion. And Abbey is just, well, waiting. They don’t know it yet, but they desperately need each other.In the dreamlike limbo of an ice-cold waiting room, they slowly trade secrets -- and a surprising love story emerges.

PLAY 10: THE GOOD DOCTOR by Neil Simon after Anton Chekhov (from Nov 27)

Directed by Sandra Bates, Cast includes: Glenn Hazeldine, Mark Kilmurry, Kate Raison

If laughter is indeed the best medicine, The Good Doctor is the cure-all pill. In this collection of stories from master playwright Neil Simon (channeling Chekhov), audiences meet a cast of unforgettable characters from the tragically comical to the comically tragic. There’s the clerk who blows a sneeze out of proportion, the player who gets played, the dentist who’s just a little too enthusiastic… 

Images (from top): Sandra Bates and Lorraine Bayly in The Shoe Horn Sonata; Guy Edmonds and Haiha Le in Dream Home; Penny Cook in Ladies in Lavender; Amanda Muggleton in The Book Club and Sean Taylor in My Zinc Bed.