Hotel Sorrento Heads for Home

Hotel Sorrento Heads for Home

Hotel Sorrento by Hannie Rayson is being performed on stage in the town of its inspiration and origin this April, for the first time since it was written and published in 1990. The story was based on the lives of three sisters who grew up in Sorrento, but the degree to which it adhered to the facts of their lives is mostly unknown. In Hannie Rayson’s drama the underlying truth of the sisters' lives is gradually revealed as the result of a semi-autobiographical portrait of the family by sister Meg in her novel Melancholy, which has been nominated for the Booker prize. When Meg and the third sister Pippa, come home to Sorrento for a visit, Rayson weaves a thread of personal intrigue.

Rayson explores not only the personal lives of the three women, but ideas of identity and belonging, the cultural cringe that still appears to motivate our intellectual lives, truth, and loyalty. Much of the driving force of the play rests with the character of Troy, Hilary's son, who has remained in the family home with his mother since the death of his father during his formative years. He gradually recognises the fact that all is not right in the family as he tries to extract information from each of the other characters and build up a picture of the reality behind the façade, the truth that must not be revealed.

It has been said of this play that it is the female roles which are central to the action and that the males occupy, unusually, supporting roles.

Studio Sorrento Players is a fledgling community theatre group first mooted in 2011 and this is their second production following a children's play written and produced by founder Ngaire Johansen in 2012. Directed by Denise Potter who comes to the group with a background in television and a degree in theatre direction from Melbourne University, the cast of this second production includes Cliff Ellen, Jodie Dorday from New Zealand, Mark Bolton who has been involved with Peninsula theatre groups for some years and Justin Gardam who is currently studying theatre at Monash University. The other cast members are Deb Dick, Jen Ellen, Colin Pyman and Shelley Yared.

Dates: 24th-27th April

Time: 7.30 pm

Venue: Sorrento Activities Centre, cnr Melbourne and Queens Rds, (Seniors Hall), Sorrento

Tickets: $20 and $16 (Prepaid $18 and $14)

Bookings: 5985-1631, email rcd492000@yahoo.com.au

Images: (top) Shelley Yared as Marge and Colin Pyman as Dick & (lower) From the top: Jodie Dorday is Meg, Deb Dick is Hilary and Jen Ellen is Pippa in Hotel Sorrento

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