State Theatre Company of SA’s Popular Mechanicals to Tour Nationally in 2017

State Theatre Company of SA’s Popular Mechanicals to Tour Nationally in 2017

The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s The Popular Mechanicals embarks on a national tour in 2017, with seasons announced in every State
 and Territory except Queensland. Highlights include a six-week season in Sydney presented by Sydney Theatre Company, the continuation of strong presenting relationships with Canberra, Geelong and Wollongong, a rare visit to Alice Springs and a six town regional SA tour presented by Country Arts SA.

Following a 2015 Adelaide season that enjoyed popular and critical success, The Popular Mechanicals – an anarchic theatrical riff on the “rude mechanicals” of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - has secured a major grant from the Australia Council’s Playing Australia fund, making it possible for State Theatre Company to get the show on the road.

State Theatre Company’s Executive Director and Producer Rob Brookman says the Company 
is thrilled to be taking another South Australian work to the nation in 2017. Rob Brookman said, “State Theatre Company has committed itself to playing a significant role in the national theatre conversation over the last four years, as well as touring regionally in South Australia. This extensive tour to 20 venues across Australia cements this commitment.”

First directed by Geoffrey Rush in 1987 for Company B Belvoir, The Popular Mechanicals was written by Keith Robinson and Tony Taylor and has become a classic comedy of the Australian theatre canon. Directed by Sarah Giles in its first major professional revival in 28 years, “Pop Mex” follows the back-story Shakespeare’s greatest clowns; the group of amateur thespians who stage the ridiculously earnest and unintentionally hysterical Pyramus and Thisbe.

After a season at Wharf Two for Sydney Theatre Company in April 2017, The Popular Mechanicals will head west in late August with performances in Mandurah, Albany, Esperance and Kalgoorlie before transferring to Port Lincoln, Alice Springs, Whyalla, Tanunda, Port Pirie, Renmark, Mildura and Mt Gambier in September. The tour will take then take the troupe of theatre clowns to Hobart, Geelong, Wollongong, Wagga, Cessnock and Canberra for performances throughout October. The national tour will also encompass a series of off-stage activities, including workshops, clowning master classes and post show Q&A’s.

With excerpts from the original text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Popular Mechanicals rejoices in its own extravagance of expression. Farce, slapstick and bad puppetry combine joyfully together in this anarchically unhinged carnival that revels in its own theatricality. The cast of the play-within-a-play star in their very own behind-the-scenes romp of what might have happened off-stage during the Bard’s most loved comedy.

State Theatre Company of South Australia and Country Arts SA will further invest in the SA regional tour, having jointly committed to a four year South Australian Regional Theatre Strategy, supported by the Federal Government’s Catalyst fund and the SA Government’s Regional Arts
& Culture Development Fund. The strategy will see a range of engagement with regional South Australian communities. Having a regular touring presence in the regions is at the heart of this strategy.

The Popular Mechanicals national tour follows State Theatre Company’s commitment to touring in recent years, including the 2013 national tour of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) to all States and Territories except WA; the 2015 co-production of This Is Where Live with Hothouse Theatre including Albury/Wodonga season and SA country tour; The Beckett Triptych tour to Hobart (2016); as well as annual tours to Canberra 2013 – 2016, regular visits to Geelong and Wollongong, co-productions with Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane based companies and annual regional South Australian tours with Country Arts SA. 

Photographer: Shane Reid