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Canberra Today 13°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

New theatre hub opens in Kingston

The Causeway Hall, Kingston

THE assembled movers and shakers of Canberra’s theatre community crammed into the old Causeway Hall at Kingston tonight (December 17) for the official launch of the 2022 debut season for the new theatre collective, ACT Hub.

They’re not mucking around. The new group, which brings together Mockingbird Theatre Company, Free-Rain Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre Company and Chaika Theatre Company, is embarking on a solid, eight-play season of Australia and international classics that between them have garnered awards all over the world.

The historic Kingston building, where the season will take place, is in the process of being transformed into a multi-functional performing space, with a semi-permanent stage, seating, lighting and a bar, has been leased to ACT Hub under an initial two-year agreement.

In planning the season, the ACT Hub partners Chris Baldock, Karen Vickery, Jarrad West and Anne Somes been very even-handed, with each of the  four companies staging two plays.

First up will be Mockingbird Theatre’s presentation of “When The Rain Stops Falling” by Andrew Bovell, from March 23 to April 9, directed by Chris Baldock with Joel Horwood.

This play begins when fish fall from the sky then  proceeds through the interconnected stories of two families over four generations, exploring betrayal, abandonment, destruction, forgiveness and love. It’s complex but it’s been a hit wherever it has been performed.

Next, from May 4-21, staged by Karen Vickery’s  new company Chaika, will be “Three Tall Women” by Edward Albee, directed by Sophie Benassi. The play is described as a startling and provocative portrayal of a wealthy widow looking back on her life in an attempt to solve its riddles. As the imperious, acerbic old woman lies dying, she is tended by two other women and visited by a young man.

Playwright David Williamson’s “Emerald City” – satirical and accusatory

From June 8-25, Free Rain Theatre Company will present “Emerald City” by David Williamson, directed by Anne Somes. A dazzling script, satirical and accusatory, the play lays into the materialism of the 1980s with a razor wit, also providing a panoramic view of the city – Sydney – that Williamson suggests has always prized beauty over brains.

Everyman Theatre is next up with “Hand of God” by Robert Askins from July 27 to August 13, directed by Chris Baldock.

A blasphemous black comedy (with puppets) it introduces the shy, mild-mannered Jason, who joins his mother’s “Christian Puppet Ministry” at the local church and discovers a talent for puppetry. But Tyrone the puppet starts to take over in a power struggle that the company promises “will leave you sore with laughter”.

Edward Albee gets another look-in from with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” from August 31 to September 17, directed by Cate Clelland.

Set on an American campus very late at night, George and Martha (not the Washingtons but some say named after them) are having a new university couple over for drinks, but their party-games turn ferocious. Free Rain describes it as “a funny and exhilarating look at what happens when truth and illusion go for each other’s throats in the citadel of liberal democracy.”

From September 27 to October 15, Everyman Theatre will be back with “Holding The Man,” directed by Jarrad West.

Queanbeyan-raised playwright Tommy Murphy

Adapted for stage and a film by Queanbeyan-raised playwright Tommy Murphy from Tim Conigrave’s bestselling memoir about his 15-year relationship with John Caleo, the play captures what it was like being young and gay during the eighties AIDS crisis. This one, the company says, won’t be suitable for children.

Chaika Theatre returns from October 26 to November 12 with “Collected Stories” by Donald Margulies, directed by Luke Rogers.

Graduate student Lisa is thrilled to be under the tutelage of her literary idol, Ruth but over the years, Lisa’s career begins to flourish and Ruth’s begins to fade, as ambition, rivalry, and surface.

Mockingbird Theatre bookends the season with “C**K” by Mike Bartlett, directed by Sophie Benassi from November 23 to December 10.

John has been in a stable relationship with his boyfriend for a number of years, but he accidentally falls in love with a woman. Torn between the two, he doesn’t know which way to turn, so a dinner with both parties is arranged, with often comic results – this one is most definitely not suitable for children.

This is a massive season of seminal theatre works which throw  light on the modern world  – especially the middle classes – and, as Baldock has put it, “exciting stories from Australia and around the world”.

Bookings for all shows here acthub.com.au

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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