Malthouse Announces 2012 Season

Malthouse Theatre's 2012 season, unveiled by Artistic Director Marion Potts on November 7, features a mix of Malthouse Theatre’s signature engagement with cutting-edge contemporary dance and theatre, alongside companies and genres rarely seen on the company’s stages. Malthouse Theatre has transformed its season structure to present one single season that reflects the breadth and vivacity of Australian contemporary performance across its three stages. Drawing artists and ideas from all over the world, the twelve mainstage productions include six world premieres, five Melbourne premieres and five new commissions. This is complemented by Helium, a brand new stand-alone season of works by independent theatre artists, and Opera XS.

Image Marion Potts (Photographer: Garth Oriander)

Marion Potts will direct a production of Lorca's Blood Wedding (July 21 – Aug 19), in a new bilingual adaptation by Raimondo Cortese to be performed in both Spanish and English. Starring icon of Spanish theatre and film, Mariola Fuentes, alongside a multicultural Australian cast, this production celebrates language, culture and our place in the world. Potts will also direct an adaptation of Dorothy Porter’s verse novel Wild Surmise (Nov 5 – Dec 2), in a new collaboration with Jane Montgomery Griffiths.

Circus and family theatre – not previously seen in Malthouse Theatre seasons – are featured in the 2012 program with the Brisbane-based contemporary circus company Circa (May 29 – June 10), and Windmill Theatre Company’s musical for families, Pinocchio (Sept 6 – 29). Marion Potts says “Circa and Windmill Theatre are two companies that have earned our national pride as internationally-renowned artists, and will now give our audiences an unprecedented experience of theatrical form: Circa's contemporary circus language is unique, and Windmill Theatre Company is a benchmark in children's theatre. Add to that works such as Vicki Van Hout's ground-breaking Indigenous dance vocabulary in Briwyant (July 4 – 14), and the 2012 Malthouse Theatre season is fresh, invigorating and globally relevant.” 

Two major works from directors nurtured by Melbourne’s independent scene, Simon Stone and Daniel Schlusser, bring their re-envisionings of two theatrical masterworks on to the mainstage. Following a sold-out season at Sydney’s Belvoir theatre in early 2010, the Helpmann Award-winning adaptation of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck (February 17 – March 17), brings Ewen Leslie back to the Merlyn Theatre alongside a cast that includes Toby Schmitz, John Gaden and Anita Hegh (Photogrsapeher: Garth Oriander).

Thomas Bernhard’s comedy The Histrionic (Der Theatermacher) (April 2 – May 5), directed by Daniel Schlusser, will feature two Australian stage legends Bille Brown and Barry Otto. Tom Wright has translated Bernhard’s play, drawing out the gallows humour common to both Austrian and Australian culture. The Histrionic reveals the ingenious capacity of humans to create personas for ourselves and inhabit them like skin. With its gravity lurking under a comic mask, The Histrionic is deeply tragic but also farcical, funny and mischievous.

Malthouse Theatre continues its commitment to new Australian writing. Malthouse Theatre’s Associate Artist, Matthew Lutton, will direct two world premieres: a reconstruction of classical mythology in On the Misconception of Oedipus (Aug 10 – 26), and the hedonistic ride of Pompeii, L.A. (November 16 - December 9),  playwright Declan Greene’s Merlyn Theatre debut. Malthouse Theatre favourite Paul Capsis returns with his deeply personal exploration of his Maltese heritage in Angela’s Kitchen (Sept 4 – 23). Capsis’ voyage begins at a kitchen table but plunges into his sprawling family history and offers a fitting tribute to a much-loved matriarch.

The 2012 Company in Residence will be Four Larks, who will dance until they drop in The Plague Dances (April 14 – 29). Four Larks has wowed Melbourne audiences with its playful and unique aesthetic, lush visual assemblages and mesmerising original live scores. This new production offers a danse macabre with a contagious undercurrent. 

Opera XS will empty the Beckett Theatre (June 6 – 11), push in some comfy sofas, and offer mulled wine with custom-made, intimate opera experiences. Opera XS will feature Another Lament by Rawcus and Chamber Made Opera, and Redfern, a work-in-progress by Deborah Cheetham and Short Black Opera Company. Complementing these works are one-on-one madrigals, an open-mike night and a few improvised operas, conducted by Richard Gill. The full Opera XS program will be announced in early 2012.

Also in the Beckett Theatre, Tina C is on a mission in Tina C Solves the Aboriginal Crisis (March 23 – April 8). She knows the relationship between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people is rife with tension. She knows it goes back a long way, and with her tongue firmly in cheek, Tina C plans to realise reconciliation, alongside Auriel Andrew, by singing original classics such as You Built A Rabbit Proof Fence Around Your Heart. (Photographer: Magnus Hasting

In the 90-seat black-box studio space the Tower Theatre, Malthouse Theatre is presenting Helium, an opportunity for independent artists or ensembles to present new works within a compact season from July through to November 2012. Marion Potts says, “Independent artists are often at the forefront of the artistic zeitgeist and we want to assist them and their work with the profile and exposure they deserve. Helium is designed to offer juicy opportunities for contemporary performances which are made independently from Malthouse Theatre, but which have a strong affinity with our creative visions and aspirations. These artists will be able to tap our practical and artistic resources to further their creative and cultural careers.” The call for expressions of interest from artists is now open, and Helium season details will be announced in March 2012.