State Theatre Company South Australia Season 2021

A boisterous, topical and entertaining year of theatre is promised in the 2021 by the State Theatre Company South Australia.

Featuring a new commission from South Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer and the Australian premiere of an international hit, the season invites audiences to reflect on the power of community and the possibility of positive change.

Launching the season at Her Majesty’s Theatre on October 29, Artistic Director Mitchell Butel says the 2021 season examines who we were, who we are and who we hope to be.

“Those questions are at the heart of the work we’re presenting in 2021 – explorations of community, class, conflict and even our planet’s history and future,” he says.

“This year made us confront new paradigms about how we live, work and love. The work we offer in 2021 won’t have all the answers but it will crack open those conversations in a dynamite fashion.”

Opening the season is the world premiere of The Boy Who Talked To Dogs, based on the true story of Byron Bay’s ‘Dog Man’ Martin McKenna. A co-production with Slingsby for Adelaide Festival, Irish playwright Amy Conroy takes McKenna’s childhood story of his time living with a pack of stray dogs in the city of Limerick and weaves it with shadow puppetry, raucous Irish music and physical performance under the direction of Andy Packer. Starring Bryan Burroughs as McKenna and taking place at Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio at the Adelaide Showground, the story that has featured in news programs over the years unfolds for the first time on stage.

The Gospel According to Paul, originally programmed for the 2020 season, descends at Dunstan Playhouse in April following hit seasons across the country. Jonathan Biggins’ ode to Paul Keating skewers both sides of politics and chronicles the former Prime Minister’s professional achievements and personal obsessions through a mix of song and story, all delivered with the signature wit and eccentricities of the controversial political giant.

Euphoria, the bittersweet new play by Adelaide playwright Emily Steel, will finally have its world premiere at the Chaffey Theatre in Renmark before heading to the Space Theatre for two weeks in May. Originally programmed for 2020, the two-hander then commences an extensive tour to regional South Australia, including Burra, Tanunda and Whyalla. Commissioned and developed by Country Arts SA, Euphoria is an examination of the challenges faced, and joys experienced, by thousands of people in regional SA, informed by conversations between Steel (Decameron 2.0, 19 Weeks, Rabbits) and residents themselves. Under the direction of Nescha Jelk (Jasper Jones, Terrestrial), actors James Smith (Jasper Jones, Vale) and Ashton Malcolm (Rumpelstiltskin) bring an entire town to life in an intimate town meeting-style setting from designer Meg Wilson.

Elena Carapetis returns to the company (and the Royalty Theatre) in June to direct The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, starring Susie Youssef (The Project, Have You Been Paying Attention, Home I'm Darling, Rosehaven) in her STCSA debut. With a tone reminiscent of classic Australian sitcoms, Melanie Tait’s play centres on a woman named Penny who returns to her childhood home just in time for the town’s famous Potato Race. When she learns the women’s prize is $200 compared to the men’s $1000, she sets out to right this wrong – but not without jumping a few hurdles of her own. Inspired by real events, the hit comedy by ABC journalist-turned playwright Melanie Tait brings together a cast including Genevieve Mooy, Carmel Johnson (Ripcord) and Anna Steen (The 39 Steps) as Penny. Supported by STCSA’s Dramatic Women, a donor collective that has been supporting female-driven works for more than 15 years, The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race is a tale about women getting loud and making waves in a town resistant to change.

Deborah Mailman and Wesley Enoch’s The 7 Stages of Grieving comes to the Space Theatre in July following its 2020 cancellation. Starring Helpmann Award-winner Elaine Crombie and directed by Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Black Is The New White), the 1995 classic play traces stories of love, loss and survival to create a portrait of the First Nations experience in contemporary Australia, and comes to Adelaide via Sydney Theatre Company with a stunning update 26 years after its premiere.

In August comes the world premiere of Hibernation, a large-scale work with themes eerily parallel to the 2020 lockdown. Written pre-pandemic by Finegan Kruckemeyer and playing at the Dunstan Playhouse, Hibernation takes audiences from South Australia to Africa and the United States as the world’s 8.5 billion inhabitants hibernate for a year to save the planet. Starring Kialea-Nadine Williams, Ezra Juanta, Rashidi Edward and Mark Saturno under the direction of Mitchell Butel, Hibernation tackles the notions of humanity’s relationship to nature and climate change action in a brave, unexpected and peculiarly Australian way.

Director Margaret Harvey reinterrogates Edward Albee’s masterwork Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? through a new Australian lens in September. Harvey, known for her starring role in Wesley Enoch’s 2005 production Black Medea and the TV show RAN: Remote Area Nurse, makes her State Theatre Company South Australia directing debut to bring the almost 60-year-old piece into 2021.

Closing the season is Jonathan Spector’s zeitgeist comedy Eureka Day, a piece that uses the vaccination debate as a springboard for big questions about the greater good. An examination of cancel culture, social media, and the individual vs society, Eureka Day’s Australian premiere also marks the company debut of actors Juanita Navas-Nguyen and Sara Zwangobani. Former Artistic Director Rosalba Clemente returns to the company to direct what may just be the most topical, scintillating and scandalous play of the year.

State Theatre Company’s Stateside program also returns in 2021. Brink Productions’ The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Paul Capsis with musical director Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, premieres at Adelaide Guitar Festival in July after its 2020 postponement, while Gaslight director Catherine Fitzgerald returns in November with Dry, a dystopian western inspired by the desert town of Port Augusta. Both companies receive production, marketing and administrative support as part of the program.

Butel says he’s excited and hopeful as he looks to the year ahead.

“After a challenging six months of lockdown, the tremendous success of our production Gaslight and excitement surrounding the upcoming Ripcord has reminded us that gathering together is a fundamental human need. So is sharing stories. We’re happy that we can return in 2021 with works that will explode off the stage and make audiences re-think and recharge, all while being challenging, provoking and entertaining. We’re back.”

Subscriptions to the 2021 season are now on sale through statetheatrecompany.com.au and BASS.

The Boy Who Talked To Dogs

Presented by Slingsby and State Theatre Company South Australia in association with Adelaide Festival

World Premiere

Adapted for the Stage by Amy Conroy
From the book by Martin Mckenna, published by Skyhorse Publishing. Developed with the assistance of Draíocht Arts Centre, Dublin 15, Ireland

World Premiere

25 Feb – 14 Mar
Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio, Adelaide Showground

Young Martin McKenna is a misfit. Bullied at school and misunderstood at home, his only comfort comes from sneaking off to the family coal shed to bond with his German Shepherds, Major and Rex. When things reach breaking point, the 13 year old runs away from his home in Limerick, Ireland, and finds himself taken in by a new family – a pack of stray dogs. As they dodge trains, steal meals and fight for survival, Martin finds himself on the road he was always meant to take. Based on the best-selling memoir, this rough-and-tumble tale, starring acclaimed Irish actor Bryan Burroughs, fuses shadow puppetry, swinging Irish music and stunning physical performance to bring Byron Bay ‘Dog Man’ Martin McKenna’s epic true story to the stage for the first time.

Director: Andy Packer / Songwriter: Lisa O’Neill / Composer & Performer: Quincy Grant / Set Designer: Wendy Todd / Lighting Designer: Chris Petridis / Costume Designer: Ailsa Paterson / Cast: Bryan Burroughs, Victoria Falconer, Emma Luker

The Gospel According to Paul

State Theatre Company South Australia and Adina Apartment Hotels present the Soft Tread production

By Jonathan Biggins

19 Apr - 1 May

Dunstan Playhouse

The sermon from the mount finally arrives in Adelaide as one of Australia’s favourite comic actors, Jonathan Biggins, becomes Paul Keating – visionary, reformer, rabble-rouser - in The Gospel According to Paul. Exploring Keating’s landmark political achievements and personal obsessions, The Gospel According to Paul takes the light on the hill and shines it on a man who grew up in the Labor Party at the knee of Jack Lang, treated economics as an artform, and demanded we confront the wrongs of our past. It recaptures some of the former PM’s eviscerating Question Time wit and wraps it up in a double-breasted Zegna suit.

Director: Aarne Neeme / Set & Costume Designer: Mark Thompson / Lighting Designer: Verity Hampson / Sound & Video Designer: David Bergman / Cast: Jonathan Biggins

Euphoria

Presented by State Theatre Company South Australia and Country Arts SA in association with Flinders University

By Emily Steel
6– 15 May
Space Theatre (Touring throughout South Australia)

School teacher Meg wants to start a new festival called “Euphoria” to celebrate everything her country town has to offer. Former student Ethan doesn’t think there’s much to celebrate at all, until he meets Annie and hatches a plan for a campervan escape. Meg’s husband Nick wants Meg to slow down, but there’s still so much to do – get grants, make run sheets, hurry to Adelaide to win the support of the Premier. She’s spinning fast. And the rest of the town is noticing. Emily Steel’s Euphoria brings to life a South Australian regional community, full of love, pain, complexity and humour, with two virtuosic actors playing a range of idiosyncratic characters.

Director: Nescha Jelk / Set & Costume Designer: Meg Wilson / Lighting Designer: Alexander Ramsay / Sound Designer Andrew Howard / Cast: Ashton Malcolm, James Smith

The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race

By Melanie Tait

4 Jun – 19 Jun

Royalty Theatre

Appleton is the quintessential small Australian country town. There are those in the town who embrace change, like long- time resident Barb. And there are those, like Barb’s friend Bev, who aren’t fans of the tree-changers and their city ways. Penny returns to her childhood home just in time for the Appleton Show and its famous Potato Race, where the winning man’s prize is $1,000 and the winning woman’s prize is... $200? Not if Penny has anything to do with it. The determined doctor swings into action to right this wrong; she’s going to smash through the glass ceiling, one potato sack at a time. Inspired by true events, Melanie Tait’s Australian comedy receives its South Australian premiere following seasons around the country.

Director: Elena Carapetis / Set & Costume Designer: Kathryn Sproul / Sound Designer: Andrew Howard Cast: Genevieve Mooy  

The 7 Stages of Grieving

State Theatre Company South Australia presents the Sydney Theatre Company production

By Wesley Enoch And Deborah Mailman

28 Jul – 7 Aug
Space Theatre

2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the Harbour Bridge Walk for Reconciliation, where the word “Sorry” was written across the sky; an event recounted in Deborah Mailman and Wesley Enoch’s beloved 1995 Australian play. Much has changed since then, but not enough. In this updated production, Shari Sebbens (Black Comedy, Thor: Ragnarok) directs Helpmann Award winner Elaine Crombie (Barbara and the Camp Dogs, Top of the Lake) in a performance tracing seven phases of Aboriginal history – Dreaming, Invasion, Genocide, Protection, Assimilation, Self-Determination and Reconciliation.

Director: Shari Sebbens / Set & Costume Designer: Elizabeth Gadsby / Lighting & AV Designer: Verity Hampson / Composer & Sound Designer: Steve Francis / Cast: Elaine Crombie

Hibernation

World Premiere

By Finegan Kruckemeyer

13 Aug – 28 Aug
Dunstan Playhouse

It’s the year 2030 and there is an immediate climate crisis. With little choice remaining, world leaders make a collective, pragmatic decision to save the planet. For an entire year, all 8.5 billion humans on Earth will hibernate. Gas will be launched into the atmosphere and the human population will be immediately plunged into a deep sleep, leaving the natural world to reset. The reset of the human world is not what was expected. A world premiere from South Australia’s Finegan Kruckemeyer and directed by Artistic Director Mitchell Butel, Hibernation takes audiences all over the world as citizens forge their lives in a new wilderness.

Director: Mitchell Butel / Set & Costume Designer: Jonathon Oxlade / Lighting Designer: Gavin Norris / Sound Designer: Andrew Howard / Cast: Rashidi Edward, Ezra Juanta, Mark Saturno, Kialea-Nadine Williams

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

By Edward Albee
24 Sep – 9 Oct

Dunstan Playhouse

Academic couple George and Martha have invited their new colleagues, Nick and Honey, over for a friendly drink. As the alcohol flows, the night gets darker and so does the conversation. Edward Albee’s masterwork erupted onto the Broadway stage in 1962, and stormed the silver screen in 1966 with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Director and actor Margaret Harvey (Black Medea, Heart is a Wasteland, RAN: Remote Area Nurse) reinterrogates this classic exploration of reality, illusion and desire through a new Australian lens.

Director: Margaret Harvey / Set & Costume Designer: Ailsa Paterson / Lighting Designer: Nigel Levings / Sound Designer: Andrew Howard

Eureka Day

Australian Premiere

By Jonathan Spector

12 – 27 Nov

Dunstan Playhouse

The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: inclusivity, equality and social justice. All decisions are made by consensus, resulting in some very long meetings. But when African American mother
Carina joins the board and a viral outbreak occurs at the school, parents are divided on a particularly prescient issue... vaccination. Hailed by the New York Times as the “perfect comedy for our age of disagreement”, Jonathan Spector’s riotous but compassionate play takes one of the world’s most hot-button issues and sets it on fire. As parents from the school sound off in a Facebook live chat, audiences are forced to grapple with some of the biggest questions facing our community. Why is it that in trying to do our best, we’re often at our worst? How do we balance the protection of our children with the well-being of others? Why are some people so allergic to soy?

Director: Rosalba Clemente / Set & Costume Designer: Meg Wilson / Lighting Designer: Mark Shelton / Cast: Sara Zwangobani, Juanita Navas-Nguyen.