Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps reunite for this award-winning drama about two very different men with one surprising thing in common.
Joseph Halpern is mourning the loss of his wife Flo and taking a few minutes alone by her graveside when he is approached by a stranger, introducing himself as Dennis Johnson. As the two men talk Johnson reveals an affection for Florence that is more than that for a dear, departed friend and in so doing uncovers more than just the secret
of their relationship.
With warmth and wit, Lionel Goldstein’s play explores the complex web of marriage and friendship, secrets and lies, mixing sharp human insight with cracking humour.
Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps are brilliant as these two polar opposites in this touching and funny play about loyalty and betrayal.
Thu 15 July 2010, 8pm
Fri 16 July 2010, 8pm
Sat 17 July 2010, 2pm & 8pm
This new production of Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy of mistaken identity, deception and desire, includes a surprising twist and a little bit of magic.
Orsino is head over heels with Olivia, but she’s too busy mourning
her dead brother to notice. Meanwhile, her steward is trying to run a strict household while grappling with sexual frustration, and her boozy old uncle is chasing the maid and generally causing trouble. Into this mayhem enter the twins – one male, one female – equally lovable but a little too hard to tell apart…
In Lee Lewis’ retelling of the play, Viola has lost her twin brother, Sebastian, following a natural disaster but can’t search for him until morning. How will she and her fellow survivors get through the night? They’ll put on a show! Using odds and ends they find around the building, along with their own salvaged treasures, the characters ‘play’ Twelfth Night, finding comfort in each other and in the story’s enduring sense of hope.
Fri 17 September 2010, 8pm
Sat 18 September 2010, 8pm
Listed by London’s National Theatre as one of the most significant plays of the 20th Century, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is quite simply a modern classic.
Written by one of the UK’s great living writers, Peter Nichols, this thought provoking and very funny play has been loved by audiences worldwide.
Brian (Bri) and Sheila are a young married couple. They care for their daughter, nicknamed ‘Joe Egg’, and are the model of bravery and courage in the face of adversity. Living by the rule that if you don’t laugh you’ll cry, it’s fortunate that Bri is a natural born entertainer. But what lies beneath Bri’s funny lounge room antics? We find out when two unwanted guests start to poke their noses where they don’t belong.
Compelling and heartfelt, the play bubbles along with exuberance, comedy and witty performances.
Thu 17 June 2010, 8pm
For details of schools’ performances click here or telephone (03) 6233 2299 or 1800 650 277 (outside Hobart)
Fifteen-year-old Brydie is fascinated by a TV news story about a girl accused of a shocking act of violence. Is the accused a different kind of girl from Brydie and her friends?
Based on real events that took place in Vancouver in 1997, Joan MacLeod’s bleakly funny, theatrical work delves into the minds of teenagers, their relationships and codes of behaviour.
Inspired by the real-life murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk by high school students, this moving, one-woman production tracks the superficial innocence of Brydie’s childhood as she confronts teenage bullying and moves towards adult responsibility.
The Shape of a Girl offers a sobering glimpse into the tough and complicated terrain of the teenage world with profound insight.
Tue 9 November 2010, 8pm
Wed 10 November 2010, 8pm
Thu 11 November 2010, 8pm
Fri 12 November 2010, 8pm
Sat 13 November 2010, 8pm
Written by celebrated Tasmanian playwright and performed in the Theatre Royal Backspace, Tom Holloway’s award-winning Red Sky Morning is a very funny, very warm and ultimately heartbreaking play that explores identity, dislocation and the need to connect. Three separate monologues by a father, a mother and their teenage daughter are interwoven throughout the course of one life-changing day.
Red Sky Morning’s form is as intriguing as its content.
The play continues Holloway’s trademark combination of linguistic experimentation with a robust Australian vernacular, pushing the boundaries of theatrical communication.
Walk from King’s College to the great court of Trinity College on any evening and you will hear a myriad of college choirs along the way singing music from the 15th century to today.
Trinity College Choir is one of the leading mixed-voice choirs in the UK. It showcases works by much-loved English composers alongside
music by some of the most acclaimed composers of today, including Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and younger composers from the Baltic States.
Australia’s finest new choral music – Paul Stanhope’s Deserts of Exile – is also included in this stunning program. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience this exceptional choir perform in the grandeur of the Theatre Royal on its first Australian concert tour.
Program
A cappella and accompanied works from composers from the
16th to the 21st centuries including William Byrd, Gustav Holst,
Herbert Howells, Morten Lauridsen, Robert Parsons, Arvo Pärt,
Henry Purcell, Charles Villiers Stanford, Paul Stanhope,
Thomas Tallis and John Tavener.
This is the TaikOz credo: “to beat with every muscle, bone and sinew in our bodies, with an open and joyous spirit.”
Blessings Of The Earth features the full range of TaikOz’s dynamic taiko drums – including the 250kg ôdaiko Grand Drum – as well as a solo dance, Solo from Kaidan: A Ghost Story, choreographed by the internationally acclaimed Meryl Tankard.
The performance also features beautiful melodies for the bamboo flutes, as well as traditional and contemporary songs. As with all TaikOz performances, Blessings Of The Earth can be enjoyed by
all ages.
Thu 8 July 2010, 8pm
Fri 9 July 2010, 8pm
Sat 10 July 2010, 8pm
Money makes the world go round. This is the bleak truth behind Violetta Valery’s life of champagne, silk dresses and extravagant parties. No matter how she feels inside, when the music plays and the admirer pays, she must perform.
So when she finds herself falling in love, her very livelihood is threatened. Can the beautiful songbird escape her gilded cage? Can she leave her past behind?
La traviata epitomises what the world loves about Italian opera: it is an enthralling story, full of fascinating characters who sing devastatingly romantic music. This new production from Oz Opera, the touring arm of Opera Australia, brings Verdi’s unforgettable music to the stage with an elegant and searching new look at opera’s favourite working girl.
Thu 9 September 2010, 8pm
Fri 10 September 2010, 8pm
Sat 11 September 2010, 8pm
Sun 12 September 2010, 5pm
Back by popular demand!
Inspired by a hot flush and a bottle of wine, Jeanie Linders created Menopause the Musical as a celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived ‘The Change’. Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a ‘grassroots’ movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges they conquer mentally, physically and spiritually.
Maybe the attraction is the songs that everyone grew up with – The Great Pretender, Only You, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Stand by Your Man, I Will Survive and
20 more – all sung with gusto and all with their ‘new’ lyrics.
Or maybe it is the realisation that there is a wonderful life waiting after ‘The Change.’
Come and see for yourself. We guarantee that you
will leave the theatre uplifted and joyful.
The comedians have left the building… for the ultimate comedy road trip. Now in its 12th big year the Roadshow shares the Melbourne International Comedy Festival vibe with punters at the Theatre Royal.
A cast of big Australian names, newcomers and overseas guests prove there’s nowhere a comedian fears to tread.
Wed 3 November at 8pm
Thu 4 November at 8pm
Fri 5 November at 8pm
For details of a special schools’ performance visit www.theatreroyal.com.au or telephone (03) 6233 2299 or 1800 650 277 (outside Hobart)
Bangarra is one of Australia’s most unique and innovative dance companies. Their electrifying and distinctive style tells the stories
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a modern day Dreaming which fuses the sacred myths and traditions of the past with the present.
Described by entertainment guide, Time Off as ‘dance and theatre at its most historical and beautiful’, Mathinna traces the history of a young Aboriginal girl removed from her traditional life, adopted into Western Colonial society and ultimately returned to the fragments of her original heritage. Mathinna became the archetype of the ‘stolen child’ and in this award-winning work, Bangarra Dance Theatre recreates her powerful story of vulnerability and searching in an era of confusion and intolerance.
Without a doubt this poetic, heart-rending work will have a special resonance with Tasmanian audiences.
Fri 23 July 2010, 8pm
Sat 24 July 2010, 2.30pm & 8pm
Heart Matters brings together an iconic line-up of Tasmanian creative energies.
Tasdance, with 31 players from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, present new dance works by Graeme Murphy and Chrissie Parrott. Both choreographers use notions of attraction, love, health, connection to family and friends or heartbreak as starting points for their creations, and draw on their own and others’ experiences as inspiration.
The program premieres a new musical commission by Constantine Koukias (Artistic Director of IHOS Opera) and Carl Vine’s latest string quartet, in a new version for string orchestra developed especially for this project.
Force Majeure’s The Age I’m In is a poignant, witty and revealing portrait of how we inhabit the age we’re in throughout our lives.
Woven together and brought to life by Force Majeure’s distinctive dance-theatre language, a diverse selection of Australians aged between fourteen and eighty offer astonishingly personal responses to a range of emotive issues, creating an intimate and warm-hearted snapshot of the aging process.
Under acclaimed director Kate Champion, this remarkable performance skillfully combines audio visual technology, real-life interviews and a distinctive physical language to take a fresh and humorous look at generational clichés, family interactions and the complexity of human relationships.
Wed 10 November 2010, 7.30pm (preview)
Thu 11 November 2010, 7.30pm
Fri 12 November 2010, 7.30pm
Sat 13 November 2010, 1.30pm & 7.30pm
Pauline Melikoff was a Hobart girl in the 1920s with a lot of money but no suitable prospects for marriage. On her grand tour of Europe she met her prince who was handsome, sophisticated… and exiled from his native Russia following World War I. Her extraordinary tale is the inspiration for this new work from Tasmania’s Mature Artists Dance Experience (MADE).
MADE is fast establishing a national reputation for presenting exquisite performances in unique locations, offering audiences an alternative view of contemporary dance theatre and of the mature person as performer.
Princess places the audience up on the stage with the performers. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the glory of the Theatre Royal from behind the proscenium arch.
This show is general admission with both performers and audience seated on the stage.
Wed 15 September 2010, 11am & 2pm
Thu 16 September 2010, 11am & 2pm
Tasmania’s own Terrapin Puppet Theatre is Australia’s leading innovator of puppetry-based visual theatre. With a hectic touring schedule in 2010, including performing in Shanghai during World Expo 2010, Terrapin will still find time to bring its newest digital puppetry show The Gatekeeper to the Theatre Royal.
Taking inspiration from the many stories, myths and legends which have gatekeepers, this wonderfully comical story is about two characters who find themselves trying to get past each other; one who stands at the gate and one who wants to get through. What should be a straightforward everyday event unravels into a world of ridiculous situations, involving slapstick, clowning, puppets, magic and acrobatics. You will be transfixed as the set transforms in front of your eyes, changing shapes and morphing with animated projections, merging real puppets and objects with moving images, using Terrapin’s innovative digital puppetry techniques.
Thu 5 August 2010, 5.30pm
Sat 7 August 2010, 11am & 2pm
For details of special schools’ performances click here or telephone (03) 6233 2299 or 1800 650 277 (outside Hobart)
Combining a haunting score and breathtaking physicality, this production will see the heart soar as friendship triumphs.
Magpie is injured in a bushfire but she discovers that riding atop her friend, one-eyed Dog, as he runs through the bush, feels almost the same as flying. ‘Fly Dog fly! I will be your missing eye and you will be my wings.’
Fox arrives and tempts Magpie with an even faster ride. Desire,
loyalty and friendship become confused and after an exhilarating ride, Fox dumps Magpie far out in the desert. Abandoned and alone Magpie begins the long journey home.
In collaboration with Tasmanian Director Kate Gaul and Composer Daryl Wallis, Monkey Baa has created a theatrically inventive adaptation of this timeless fable by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks.
An unforgettable experience that is as rich for adults as it is for young people.
For details of special schools’ performances click here or telephone (03) 6233 2299 or 1800 650 277 (outside Hobart)
Patch Theatre Company is one of Australia’s best loved theatre companies for children and at last count they had performed to
1.4 million children and their families, locally, nationally and internationally! In 2010 the Theatre Royal is delighted to stage, Special Delivery, Patch’s enchanting visual theatre show for 4-8 year olds and their grown-ups.
Full of wonder, surprise and gentle humour, Special Delivery is a comic fable about a busy deliveryman, a trolley load of boxes and
the world that opens up when a door stays shut. This delightful visual comedy features a mischievous foley artist (sound effects expert) who provides the music and sounds that orchestrate the story.
A world of sound where nothing is said, where work becomes
child’s play and everyday objects are magically transformed.
Don’t miss this one, Special Delivery definitely delivers something special!
Wed 23 June 2010, 12.30pm
Thu 24 June 2010, 9.30am & 12.30pm
Fri 25 June 2010, 8pm
Sat 26 June 2010, 8pm
Come and see Sandy, Danny,
The Pink Ladies and The Burger Palace Boys navigate their way through love, friendship and romance ‘50s style in hip leather jackets and circle skirts, duck tails and white socks.
Including the four top hit songs from the movie, this will be the fourth in a series of popular Year 11 and 12 musical productions presented by Claremont College at the Theatre Royal.
