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Canberra Today 15°/19° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / Rep seeks to play, entertain and excel

ONE of Canberra REP’s fast-rising directors takes the lion’s share of the shows in the company’s 84th season, launched on the set of “Much Ado About Nothing” at Theatre 3.

Jordan Best… directing a thriller.
Jordan Best… directing a thriller.
Jordan Best, whose version of “The Crucible” took the town by storm this year, will return to do double-duty early next year with Frederick Knott’s thriller, “Wait until Dark”, and the superstition-ridden Shakespearean Scottish play “Macbeth” in August.

Meantime, another REP favourite, Aarne Neeme, who will already have done “The Threepenny Opera” in February as part of the current season, returns from Sydney during June and July to stage Agatha Christie’s post-Nuremberg courtroom drama, “Witness for the Prosecution”.

 Aarne Neeme… directing drama.

Aarne Neeme… directing drama.
REP has adopted the ambitious slogan “Join, Play, Entertain, Excel” to mark the aims of a company that’s been going strong since since 1932.

At the “Excel” end of the spectrum, from April to May we’ll see Chekhov’s comedy “Uncle Vanya” directed by Geoff Borny, who has written a book on the Russian master. That’s balanced by Tony Turner’s production of Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer” from September to October, clearly intended to “Entertain”.

Ed Wightman… directing farce.
Ed Wightman… directing farce.
Christmas fare on the theme of “Play”, from November to December, will be Michael Frayn’s farce within a farce, “Noises Off”, staged by yet another favoured REP director and a former Rep Theatre Players Scholarship winner, Ed Wightman.

As for the fourth part of REP’s slogan, “Join”, that’s up to you, the audience.

Canberra Repertory Society’s 2016-17 season, at Theatre 3, Acton, bookings to 6257 1950 or canberrarep.org.au

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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