Queensland Theatre has launched its new program 2019: a Season of Dreamers, promising variety, generational experience and extreme passion.
Artistic Director Sam Strong is expecting the new program will take the company to new heights. “In 2017 Queensland Theatre was the fastest growing major theatre company in Australia and the most watched performing arts company in Brisbane,” said Sam. “In 2018, we grew our audience again and will open Brisbane and Australia’s newest theatre. And now, in 2019, we will take shows across Australia while also creating Queensland exclusives that will be the envy of the rest of the country.”
Queensland Theatre will present an unprecedented five world premieres in 2019. They begin with the world premiere of Hydra by award-winning playwright Sue Smith showcasing her portraits of writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston. This is followed by the world premiere of one of the most provocative plays to hit the Australian stage in years City of Gold by electric young actor Meyne Wyatt. Next, in a coup for Queensland, the world premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s latest play, but her world directorial debut, with the wickedly funny L’Appartement. In addition, hilarious new musical Fangirls by the unfairly talented Yve Blake and award-winning Brisbane writer Merlynn Tong’s presents her adaptation of Antigone. The season is rounded out by one of theatre’s biggest classics Death of A Salesman, performed by an all-star cast of Queenslanders.
Sam said 2019 was a season defined by the variety of experiences it gives audiences. “Between the bookends of two of the greatest plays ever written, we have an exquisitely observed relationship portrait, a rock and roll road trip, a provocative political battle cry, a heart-warming family classic, a wicked social comedy, and even a joyous new musical,” said Sam. “It is a season full of dreamers – of people who confront even the darkest of times with a faith that life can be better. If there is diversity across the eight shows, they are unified by a spirit of optimism. Even if the stories occasionally break our hearts with tragic circumstances, they are all shot through with hope.”
In 2019 Queensland Theatre will once again traverse the rest of the country. Through co-productions with the state theatre companies in Adelaide and Melbourne, as well as two companies in Sydney, the work of Queensland Theatre will be seen on interstate stages for a record 129 performances. Next year Queensland Theatre will start the celebrations for the company’s 50th anniversary season in 2020, and it will see the first full year of programming in its own home theatre, The Bille Brown Studio.
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