The Good Person of Szechuan

28

description

 

Transcript of The Good Person of Szechuan

Page 1: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 2: The Good Person of Szechuan

Malthouse Theatre and National Theatre of China present

By / Bertolt BrechtDirection / Meng JinghuiNew translation / Tom WrightSet & Costume Design / Marg HorwellLighting Design / Richard VabreComposition & Sound Design / THE SWEATSAssistant Direction / Felix Ching Ching HoStage Manager / Lisa OsbornAssistant Stage Manager / Lyndie Li Wan PoCast / Aljin Abella, Moira Finucane, Daniel Frederiksen, Genevieve Giuffre, Bert LaBonté, Emily Milledge, Genevieve Morris, Josh Price, Richard Pyros

Merlyn Theatre 27 June – 20 July 2014

Proudly supported by Maureen and Tony Wheeler, Playking Foundation and Sidney Myer Fund.

The Good Person of Szechuan is a proud co-production with National Theatre of China

The Good Person of szechuan

Page 3: The Good Person of Szechuan

Brett Goldsmith

Malthouse Theatre and National Theatre of China present

Page 4: The Good Person of Szechuan

A note from Malthouse Theatre’s Artistic Director

A common language.Writing this note has proved very difficult: it’s a case of where to start, what to leave out, how to capture the full breadth, depth and particularity of this project.

Like many of our signature productions, this one was hugely ambitious and has been some years in the making. Its beneficiaries are undoubtedly the partner organisations – National Theatre of China and Malthouse Theatre – but the story of how these two companies came to make this work belongs to everyone in between.

It was early 2012, and as so many things do, it started with a phone call from Carrillo Gantner. This was shortly followed by an introduction to Meng Jinghui, one of China’s most celebrated directors. At this point my own imagination kicked into gear and my colleague, former Malthouse Theatre Executive Producer Jo Porter, pushed me onto a plane. I was greeted in Beijing by Ziyin Gantner and Zhaohui Wang. Ziyin and Zhaohui are perhaps the smartest, most adept, gracious and understanding cultural diplomats one is ever likely to meet. We are blessed that good people with such cultural dexterity

are here to help pave the way for our ventures into the unknown.

I met Meng in a very hip French café not far from his theatre. He spoke more English than he let on and of course my Mandarin is shamefully non-existent. But in a very short space of time we had moved away from the more obvious forms of cultural exchange and settled on Brecht – a playwright who afforded us a common language, who had somehow bridged a cultural gap and had, to his great credit, united a generation of practitioners through the sheer solidity of his theatrical platform. The thought that a Chinese and Australian director might one day unite over his work would never have entered Brecht’s mind, but what a legacy; what a phenomenal offering to a world in search of connection and understanding.

I was fascinated by The Good Person of Szechuan and what it might become in Meng’s hands. Obviously Szechuan is a fictional setting in Brecht’s original text, but in 2014, it sits there as a provocation or as an invitation for us to consider our own projections of China. In Beijing there were more conversations

Page 5: The Good Person of Szechuan

about idealism, materialism, conflicts of interest, survival and other big questions that we face as a global culture. And the world that Meng’s prismatic and unique imagination has created, could indeed be anywhere – the theatrical abstraction of a big stinking international city, seething with humanity and people living by their wits.

So as far as a cultural exchange goes, this project offers us a different lens rather than different subject-matter. It is far more than show-swapping or touring, though they are important too. It’s the day-to-day re-framing of one’s perspective that makes this experience so valuable: it’s a designer having to re-calibrate their sense of space, or a composer needing to hear things differently, and at its most joyous, it’s seeing a group of Australian actors tackle a hybrid form of exercise made up of tai chi and aerobics. Even the fact that Meng’s direction was largely fed through an interpreter meant that questions of meaning and subjectivity were always in play.

After our first meeting, Meng drove me to see his long-standing hit Rhinoceros in Love. I still hadn’t learnt any Mandarin, despite three whole

days of willing it so, but it was one of the clearest productions I’ve seen. It was a privilege to be escorted through to the dressing room by Meng at the half-hour call and be introduced to the actors. It would seem that performers are so naturally positive and generous all over the world. The show was still packed to the rafters in its 10th year and Meng, clearly a ‘rock star’ director. We later learnt that he has 2.5 million Weibo followers: another detail that re-frames our perspective.

I visited Beijing again with Tom Wright a year later. Tom had been selected to write the adaptation and it was essential that he and Meng start with a shared understanding of the work ahead. A spectrum of choices to do with theme, setting, style, production concepts, doubling, etc. needed to be made. The process actually began on that day and we were also fortunate enough to visit Meng’s rehearsals for Mayakovsky’s The Bedbug and see him working with his ensemble of actors. It immediately gave us a strong sense of the kind of performers he’d want to work with. I will always remember walking in at the end of Meng and Tom’s

Page 6: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 7: The Good Person of Szechuan

first meeting – an expressive flurry, both gesticulating enthusiastically.

Language barriers are always challenging and we certainly couldn’t have done this project without the translating efforts of the linguistic super-athlete Felix Ching Ching Ho. But the sign-language between Meng and the actors, their shared humour and professional willpower made it clear that language is never an insurmountable obstacle – that a language barrier should never be a reason not to do a project like this. We are communicative animals and it’s surprising how far we can get.

I feel so proud of our intrepid ensemble of actors who have shown such commitment to this idea and have worked so hard. And I remain deeply respectful of my colleague Meng Jinghui and our collaborators from National Theatre of China. We look forward to visiting Shanghai and Beijing in the next leg of this exchange.

Marion Potts / Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director

Page 8: The Good Person of Szechuan

A note from the Adaptor

From English to Mandarin and back again.In 1938 when Bertolt Brecht (in close collaboration with Ruth Berlau and Margarete Steffin) began writing Der gute Mensch von Sezuan it was clear the world was plummeting into another paroxysm of self-destruction. Four years later, during perhaps the darkest and most pessimistic hours of the war, he returned to the script, shortening it into a more concise morality play of naive goodness in the face of all-encompassing badness. This production is based on the later, harder version, with its introduction of heroin and telescoping-in on a smaller company of characters – but leaving intact the odd, sudden ending, a sort of anti-deus ex machina.

The first draft of this translation from German into English was then re-translated into Mandarin for Meng to absorb; with his observations in mind a second draft was then prepared, which was then again translated. The rehearsal process has been a fascinating fortnight of controlled chaos and anarchic creation, all mediated through

a constant buzz of translation from English to Mandarin and back again. After a while, the room became a galerie des glaces of the three languages reflecting and refracting each other, creating the strange world of ‘Szechuan’; not a real place, a nightmare city somewhere in the space between Melbourne, Beijing, Berlin, and by extension Mosul, Donetsk, Aleppo, Kandahar, Santa Monica...

Underneath the depiction of a corrupt, insane, raucous, modern city sits a simple fable of a woman whose instincts are ‘good’ and so leaves herself open to exploitation by the venal and opportunistic. (That she needs to become a ‘man’ in order to find a new form of ‘goodness’ invited a multitude of new readings of course.) Under Meng’s guidance we’ve tried to make what he has called a ‘rubbish world’ – where a few important questions are asked in all the noise.

Tom Wright / Adaptor

Pia Johnson

Page 9: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 10: The Good Person of Szechuan

Pia Johnson

Page 11: The Good Person of Szechuan

‘The little lifeboat is swiftly sent down. Too many men too greedily hold on to it as they drown.’ — Shen Te

Page 12: The Good Person of Szechuan

Aljin Abella / Nephew/Shu Fu Originally from Melbourne, Aljin graduated from NIDA in 2006. He has worked as an actor both nationally and internationally in film, television, animation, theatre and voice-over sectors. He made his stage debut in the Melbourne Theatre Company and Belvoir seasons of The Sapphires in 2005 and reprised his role in its subsequent South Korean and London tours. Selected stage credits include Moths, Strangers in Between, Three Sisters, The Matchmaker, Love Labour’s Lost, The Laramie Project, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Anything Goes, The New Black. Film, television and animation credits include I Love You Too, Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away, 10 Terrorists, Just Punishment, Power Rangers Jungle Fury, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, City Homicide, Noah & Saskia, Neighbours, Guinevere Jones, Bootleg, Legacy of the Silver Shadow, Blue Heelers, Horace & Tina and High Flyers. Aljin can also currently be seen in the web comedy series Hunter and Hornet.

Moira Finucane / Shen Te/Shui Ta Moira Finucane is a creator, performer, writer and live artist. Her work crosses genres from cabaret to provocative variety to dance to the gothic literary. One half of live performance creators Finucane & Smith, her usual artistic pursuit is the creation of performative worlds that hijack myriad genres to create images of humanity, freedom, power and desire. She is best known for her flagship work The Glory Box, now in its tenth year having toured festivals around the globe from Latin America to Scandinavia, played to 250,000 people in 12 languages, garnering eight international theatre awards including four Green Room Awards and Scotland on Sunday’s Hottest Temptation of the Festival. Other recent creations include Caravan Burlesque, touring to remote and regional Australia for 12 months in 2012, the surreal Carnival of Mysteries commissioned by Melbourne Festival (2010), and her new solo work The Cabinet, in creation with artists and museums in South America, Australia, the UK and Europe. She is the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Theatre Fund Fellowship, and the Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret Green Room Award.

Page 13: The Good Person of Szechuan

Daniel Frederiksen / Yang Sun Daniel Frederiksen has had an extensive career across film, television and theatre. After studying at NIDA, he first achieved recognition in the television series Blue Heelers, followed by a regular role in Stingers, for which he was nominated for a Logie for Best New Talent. His other television credits include roles in Underground: the Julian Assange Story, Underbelly 6: Squizzy Taylor, Redfern Now and most recently in ABC’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mystery. Daniel won an AFI nomination for Best Actor in a Television Drama for Bastard Boys. His feature film roles include a lead in Ten Empty, Closed for Winter and US telemovie Mermaids, as well as playing opposite Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider. Other film credits include Summer Coda and Vessell. Daniel is a founding member of Red Stitch Actors Theatre. His stage performances for Red Stitch include: After Miss Julie, The Pain and the Itch, Leaves of Glass, Fatboy and Ruben Guthrie. Other theatre performances include Robot vs Art (La Mama); Julius Caesar (Bell Shakespeare); and Cheech, Don Juan in Soho, Rockabye, Becky Shaw and Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Melbourne Theatre Company).

Genevieve Giuffre / Third God/Grandmother/Rent Boy Genevieve most recently performed in Hello There, We’ve Been Waiting for You as part of the 2014 Next Wave Festival (ACMI). Other recent theatre credits include: Summertime in the Garden of Eden (Sisters Grimm/Theatre Works/Griffin Independent); Salomé (Little Ones Theatre/Malthouse Theatre Helium); The Sovereign Wife (Sisters Grimm/Melbourne Theatre Company NEON); Sex Violence Blood Gore (MKA); and Psycho Beach Party (Little Ones Theatre), for which she won a 2014 Green Room Award for her performance as Berdine. The Good Person of Szechuan is Genevieve’s debut with Malthouse Theatre.

Felix Ching Ching Ho / Assistant Director Felix Ching Ching Ho is a Hong Kong-born, Melbourne-based independent theatre maker and performer. Felix’s directing credits include: Viet Kieu: The No.1 Vietnamese Outcast Cabaret (Melbourne Fringe Festival); The Horror Face (MKA); The Importance of Being Vulgar, Rotate 270° (MU Chinese Theatre Group); Crimson Spring: An Original Mandarin Musical, Mulan: The Original Mandarin Musical (MU Chinese Music Group). As assistant director Felix’s credits include: Trans-mute (Union House Theatre); Happy Ending (Melbourne Theatre Company); Cho Cho (National Theatre of China/Playking Productions/Arts Centre Melbourne). Her performance credits include: The Sovereign Wife (Sister Grimm/Melbourne Theatre Company Neon); 1938: An Opera (Union House Theare/Melbourne Fringe Festival) and Grave (Next Wave/Arts House).

Page 14: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 15: The Good Person of Szechuan

Pia Johnson

Page 16: The Good Person of Szechuan

Marg Horwell / Set & Costume Designer Marg’s recent design work includes Resplendence (Angus Cerini-Doubletap/Melbourne Theatre Company Neon); 8 Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography (Griffin Theatre Company/Perth Theatre Company); Cock, Constellations and Music (Melbourne Theatre Company); Summertime in the Garden of Eden (Sisters Grimm/Theatre Works/Griffin Independent); Savages and Do Not Go Gentle (Fortyfive Downstairs); By Their Own Hands (The Hayloft Project); The School for Wives (Bell Shakespeare); Tame (Malthouse Theatre); The Histrionic (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); Ophelia Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Bell Shakespeare/Chamber Made Opera) and Save For Crying (Angus Cerini-Doubletap). Marg has won four Green Room Awards, most recently for Savages (2013). Marg also won Sydney Theatre Awards in 2014 for Stage and Costume Design for Summertime in the Garden of Eden. Marg was the Designer in Residence for the Lawler Studio with Melbourne Theatre Company in 2011 and is designing shows for Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir, Malthouse Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company and Arena Theatre Company in 2014.

Bert LaBonté / Policeman/Yang Sun’s Dad Bert’s theatre credits include White Rabbit, Red Rabbit (Malthouse Theatre); Rupert, The Mountaintop, Elling, Clybourne Park, Next to Normal, A Behanding in Spokane, Richard III, The Hypocrite, Don Juan in Soho, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Tomfoolery and The Female of the Species (Melbourne Theatre Company); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Melbourne Theatre Company/Sydney Theatre Company); Phèdre (Bell Shakespeare); An Officer and a Gentleman (GFO); Grey Gardens, Chess, and Kismet (The Production Company); Guys and Dolls (Ambassadors Theatre Group); Pippin (Kookaburra); The Full Monty (IMG); Binned (Theatre Works); and Jesus Christ Superstar (UK tour for Really Useful Group). Bert’s credit list includes many appearances in TV series and the films including Animal Kingdom, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Rats and Cats, Evil Never Dies, and Salem’s Lot. Bert received a Green Room Award nomination for his role in The Mountaintop and a Helpmann Award nomination for 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. For his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman, Bert won a Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Role in a Musical.

Lyndie Li Wan Po / Assistant Stage Manager Lyndie graduated from VCA in 2013, specialising in Production & Stage Management, where she completed secondments with stage managers from Arts Centre Melbourne’s Famous Spiegeltent; and six weeks of technical rehearsals with King Kong at Regent Theatre. She also spent a month overseas with the Technical Consultant of the Prime Minister’s Office for the Mauritius Independence Day 45th Anniversary Celebrations. Lyndie most recently stage managed The Return of the Eric (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) and All Stars Aerial & Pole Competition at the Forum Theatre. She production managed Pop Up Playground’s Fresh Air Festival at Federation Square. She also casually works for Polyglot and Monash Academy of Performing Arts.

Page 17: The Good Person of Szechuan

Meng Jinghui / Director Meng Jinghui is one of the most influential theatre directors in China today. His spicy, humourous and critical drama style has brought sensations to the stage, giving a new look to Chinese drama and injecting energy to the diversity of Chinese theatre. His unique creativity and versatile artistic style has become a cultural phenomenon that draws attention. His works include: To Live, Guns, Lies and Roses, Punk Carnival, Invisible Love, Hitler’s Belly, Two Dogs, Metamorphosis of Butterfly, Soft, Three Oranges’ Love, Amber, Love is Colder than Death, An Exotic Encounter, Bedbug, Don Quixote de la Mancha, Rhinoceros in Love, Cien Años de Soledad, The Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Si Fan. He is the author of two books, Pioneer Theatre Archive and Cutting-Edge Theatre Archive. He is also the Art Director of Beijing Fringe Festival, Beijing Beehive Theatre and Shanghai Yihai Pioneer Theatre.

Emily Milledge / Second God/Wife Emily is a graduate of 16th Street Actors Studio and studied full-time music theatre at Showfit, Centrestage Performing Arts School. Her recent theatre credits include: Frankenstein (THE RABBLE/Malthouse Theatre); Room of Regret (THE RABBLE/Melbourne Festival/Theatre Works); Story of O (THE RABBLE/Melbourne Theatre Company Neon); Out of the Water (Red Stitch Actors Theatre); Gaybies (Midsumma Festival); The Silver Donkey (Showfit/Arts Centre Melbourne); The Women in Black musical development workshop (Queensland Performing Arts Centre workshop); and a reading of Michael Gow’s The Kid as part of the Melbourne Ring Cycle Festival. Emily’s television appearances include Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Paper Giants II: Magazine Wars, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab and The Saddle Club Series 3.

Genevieve Morris / First God/Mrs Shin Genevieve Morris has been a familiar face on Australian television since 1993, appearing in numerous programs. She appeared as a regular in Comedy Inc. playing a variety of characters (including parodies of Ozzy Osbourne and Margaret Pomeranz) and in 2006 received an AFI nomination for Best Performance in a Comedy Series. Other television credits include Blue Heelers, MDA, State Coroner, Secrets and City Homicide. She also appeared in Ben Elton’s Live From Planet Earth, and was a guest panelist on Talkin’ Bout Your Generation and QI Live with Stephen Fry. Recently Genevieve has been seen in Randling, Can of Worms, Tractor Monkeys and Wednesday Night Fever. Her stage work, which began in 1990 with Woolly Jumpers (for which she received a Green Room nomination for Lead Female Actor) includes a diversity of roles with Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Circus Oz, Arena Theatre Company and Back to Back Theatre, as well as ten years of performances with the completely improvised musical spectacular Spontaneous Broadway. Most recently she was seen in Joanna Murray-Smith’s play True Minds (Melbourne Theatre Company).

Page 18: The Good Person of Szechuan

Lisa Osborn / Stage Manager Lisa works as a freelance stage manager and production manager in theatre and on arts events. Her stage management credits for Malthouse Theatre include Night on Bald Mountain, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, Persona (with Fraught Outfit), Pompeii, L.A., On the Misconception of Oedipus, Blood Wedding, Opera XS: Another Lament (with Rawcus/Chamber Made Opera), The Wild Duck (with Belvoir), The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself, Baal (with Sydney Theatre Company) and Sappho…in 9 Fragments. Other credits include: When The Rain Stops Falling (Brink Productions); Me and My Shadow (Patch Theatre Company); Man Covets Bird (Slingsby Theatre Company); G, Devolution and Ignition (Australian Dance Theatre); Three Sisters, Metro Street, Attempts on Her Life, The Female of the Species, Triple Threat, Noises Off and The Government Inspector (State Theatre Company SA); Cake (Ladykillers); and Grug, Boom Bah!, Afternoon of the Elves, Two Weeks with the Queen and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (Windmill Theatre). Her recent production/stage management credits include The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself (Ride On Theatre/Performing Lines); and The Trilogy Presentation (Amplification, Miracle and Above) for BalletLab at MONA FOMA. Lisa has also worked in a range of roles on events including WOMADelaide, the Helpmann Awards and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 Cultural Festival.

Josh Price / Husband/Mi Tsu A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Josh’s theatre credits include The Dragon (Malthouse Theatre); The Histrionic (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); M+M, Menagerie, The Dollhouse, Life is a Dream and Peer Gynt (Daniel Schlusser Ensemble); Delectable Shelter (The Hayloft Project); Elektra (Fraught Outfit); Something Natural but Very Childish (Dirty Pretty Theatre); The Wives of Hemingway (Side Pony/Weeping Spoon); and Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert (Present Tense/Theatreworks). Film and television credits include Donnatelegrams, Underbelly: Infiltration, City Homicide, Australia on Trial, The Nurses and John Doe.

Page 19: The Good Person of Szechuan

Richard Pyros / Wang Richard’s previous work with Malthouse Theatre includes On The Misconception of Oedipus, A View of Concrete and Hamlet. Other theatre credits include: Gross und Klein (Sydney and international tour), Money Shots, The White Guard, Before/After, Leviathan, Comedy of Errors, Oresteia, Vs Macbeth, The Mysteries: Genesis, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Woman in Mind (Sydney Theatre Company); Collaboration (Royal Court Theatre, London); Inferno (Societas Raffaello Sanzio/Barbican); Amada (Arches Theatre, Glasgow and tour); The Crumbtrail (Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin); Hey Girl (Societas Raffaello Sanzio); Gilgamesh (Melbourne Festival/Barbican and international tour); Interval and At Sea (Miniaturists/Arcola Theatre, London); Coyote Canyon (Lyric Hammersmith, London); Scenes of a Massacre (Camden Theatre, London); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Bell Shakespeare); Hamlet (For A Poor Theatre); Remembrance of Things Past (Melbourne Festival); and Romeo and Juliet (Wentworth Festival). His film and television credits include: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Noise, Big Bite, Stand Up Australia. Richard has directed the operas Dido and Aeneas and Hansel and Gretel (Opera in Space, London). He was a part of the Sydney Theatre Company Resident Ensemble from 2009 to 2012.

Pete Goodwin (THE SWEATS) / Composer, Sound Designer & DJ THE SWEATS is Pete Goodwin, a composer and sound designer for theatre, film, television and advertising. Currently the Composer in Residence for Melbourne Theatre Company, THE SWEATS has created work for Cock and Constellations, as well as Yellow Moon, Helicopter and Random for Melbourne Theatre Company Education. He has provided soundscapes for Miss Julie and The Dark Room (Belvoir); The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, A Conversation, The Orphanage Project, Black Comedy, The Real Inspector Hound, The Memory of Water and Far Away (Queensland Theatre Company); Kingswood Kids (La Boite); Crossed (Platform Youth Theatre); and Tall Man and Status Update (La Mama). Pete has been the resident composer for RealTV, with writer Angela Betzien and director Leticia Caceres, since the company was formed in 2000, creating scores for productions including Hoods, Children of the Black Skirt, The Suitcase and War Crimes. THE SWEATS is also an electro-pop band having released several EPs of original material to date.

Page 20: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 21: The Good Person of Szechuan

Pia Johnson

Page 22: The Good Person of Szechuan

Richard Vabre / Lighting Designer Richard is a freelance lighting designer who has worked on productions for Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Victorian Opera, Windmill Theatre, Arena Theatre Company, NICA, Darwin Festival, Stuck Pigs Squealing, Chamber Made Opera, Rawcus, HIT Productions, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Polyglot, Melbourne Worker’s Theatre and Aphids. Richard has won four Green Room Awards, including the association’s John Truscott Prize for Excellence in Design (2004). He has been nominated for a further six Green Room Awards. Recent productions include Memorandum (Theatre Works/Kate Hunter); The Trilogy: Fugitive, School Dance and Girl Asleep (Windmill Theatre/Adelaide Festival), night maybe (Stuck Pigs Squealing) and Top Girls (Melbourne Theatre Company).

Tom Wright / Adaptor Tom has written a number of plays or adaptations, including A Journal of the Plague Year, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Castle, Ubu, This is a True Story, Lorilei, Medea, Babes in the Wood, Puntila and His Man Matti, Tense Dave, The Odyssey, The Lost Echo, Criminology (with Lally Katz), Tales From the Vienna Woods, The Women of Troy, The War of the Roses, The Duel, Baal, Optimism, Oresteia, On the Misconception of Oedipus, The Histrionic and Black Diggers. He has worked as an actor and director at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, La Mama, Belvoir, Anthill, Gilgul, Mene Mene, Bell Shakespeare, Chunky Move, Black Swan Theatre, Chamber Made Opera, and the Adelaide, Sydney, Edinburgh, Vienna, Perth and Melbourne Festivals. He was Associate Director of Sydney Theatre Company 2004 to 2012. The radio version of his play Lorilei won the Gold Drama Award (British Radio Academy) and BBC Radio Drama Award in 2007. The Lost Echo (Sydney Theatre Company) won five Helpmann Awards in 2007, including Best Play. His adaptation of Shakespeare’s History Plays, The War of the Roses (Sydney Theatre Company) won six Helpmann Awards in 2009, including Best Production. On the Misconception of Oedipus (Malthouse Theatre) won the 2012 Green Room for Best Writing.

Page 23: The Good Person of Szechuan

Pia Johnson

Page 24: The Good Person of Szechuan

Our Supporters

URANIA—Muse of The Stars—$25,000+ Annamila Pty Ltd, Craig Reeves, The Dara Foundation, The Danielle and Daniel Besen Foundation, Maureen & Tony Wheeler

CLIO—Muse of History—$10,000+ Betty Amsden OAM, John & Lorraine Bates, Michele Levine, The Pratt Foundation, Anonymous (1)

THALIA—Muse of Comedy—$5,000+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Eva Besen AO & Marc Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson AC, Val Johnstone, Neilma Gantner, Colin Golvan SC, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Berry Liberman & Danny Almagor, Mary-Ruth & Peter McLennan, Judith Maitland-Parr, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Carol & Alan Schwartz AM, Jon Webster, Anonymous (2)

MELPOMENE—Muse of Tragedy—$2,500+ Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, Michael Kingston, Sue Kirkham, Naomi Milgrom AO, Janine Tai

EUTERPE—Muse of Music—$1,000+ Ingrid Ashford, John & Sally Bourne, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Sally Browne, Diana Burleigh, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Min Li Chong, Marilyn and Andrew Cookes, Sieglind D’Arcy, Georgina Damm, Mark & Jo Davey, Maria Sola & Malcolm Douglas, Dominic & Natalie Dirupo, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, William J. Forrest AM, Kerry Gardner & Andy Inc Foundation, John and Helen Gibbins, D.L & G.S Gjergja, Marco Gjergja, Irene Kearsey, Alan Kenworthy, Virginia Lovett, Pamela McLure, Gael & Ian McRae, Rotru Investments Pty. Ltd., Jenny Schwarz, Gina & Paul Stuart, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Jason Waple, Jenny Werbeloff, Anonymous (3)

TERPSICHORE—Muse of Dance—$500+ Rowland Ball, Sandra Beanham, Taleen Gaidzkar, Paul & Genevieve Gardner, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Carolyn Floyd, Brian Goddard, Scott Herron, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Susan Humphries, Irene Irvine, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, Sir Gustav AC CBE & Lady Nossal, Robert Peters, Right Lane Consulting, Neil & Barbara Smart, Fiona Sweet & Paul Newcombe, Katherine Sampson, Morry & Anna Schwartz, Thea & Hayden Snow, John Thomas, Kerri Turner & Andrew White, Richard P. Watson, Jan Williams, Phil & Heather Wilson, Dr Roger Woock & Fiona Clyne, Angelika & Pete Zangmeister, Anonymous (3)

ERATO—Muse of Love—$250+ Simon Abrahams, Stephen & Diane Alley, Graham & Anita Anderson, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Douglas Butler, John Carruthers, Ros Casey, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Ros & Bill Chandler, Diane Clark, Chris Clough, Patricia Coutts, Mary Crean AM, Chree Kearney, Tania de Jong AM, Orla & Rachel, Paula Hansky OAM & Jack Hansky AM, Peggy Hayton, Roberta Holmes, Vas Katos, Patricia Keith, Ruth Krawat, Liquorice Studio, Kim Lowndes, William Lye, Brad Martin, John Millard, Dr Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, Tony Oliver, James Ostroburski, Wendy Poulton, Gerard Powell, John & Margot Rogers, Rae Rothfield, Ernie Schwartz, Jill Sewell, Lisl Singer, Janice Taylor, Rosemary Walls, Jan Watson, Joanne Whyte, Henry Winters, Barbara Yuncken, Anonymous (6)

CATALYST SYNDICATE Warwick & Lida Bray, John Carruthers & Rosie Purcell, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Nick Glenning & Jenny Proimos, Sarah Morgan, Corrie Perkin & Peter Loder, Maria Prendergast OAM, Robert Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Simon Westcott & Dr Ben Keith

You too can make a difference on our stages and behind the scenes.

Please call 03 9685 5162 or visit our website and contribute to the development of new work.

Thank you, Malthouse Muses, for supporting our artistic vision and helping us to create a unique and dynamic environment for artists and audiences.

Page 25: The Good Person of Szechuan

Our Partners

Program Partners

Government Partners

Corporate Partners

The Suitcase Series

Artist Program

Directors Exchange Project

Regional Education Program Trusts and FoundationsCompany in Residence

Indigenous Theatre Program

International Program

Venue Partners Media PartnersEducation Partners Accommodation Partners

New Australian Commissions

Regional Performance Project

Company Supporters

Corporate Associates

Australian Communities FoundationCopyright AgencySlome-Topol FamilyCharitable TrustThe Ian Potter FoundationThe R E Ross TrustThe Robert Salzer FoundationVera Moore Foundation

THE DANIELLE ANDDANIEL BESEN FOUNDATION

TOM KANTOR FUND

MAUREEN & TONY WHEELER

Female Director in Residence

CRAIGMEL INVESTMENT PTY LTD

Thank you, Malthouse Muses, for supporting our artistic vision and helping us to create a unique and dynamic environment for artists and audiences.

Page 26: The Good Person of Szechuan

Our Staff

What did you think of the show?Tell us on Facebook: facebook.com/MalthouseTheatre Tweet us on Twitter: @MalthouseMelb Snap us on Instagram: @MalthouseTheatremalthousetheatre.com.au

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michele Levine (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Frankie Airey, Ian McRae AO, Sarah Morgan, Nick Schleiper, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary

Artistic Director Marion Potts

Executive Producer Sarah Neal

Associate Artist (Composition) David Chisholm

Associate Artist (Writing) Lally Katz

Associate Artist (Direction) Matthew Lutton

Dramaturg Mark Pritchard

Female Director in Residence Clare Watson

Indigenous Engagement Jason Tamiru

Associate Producer Josh Wright

Administrator Narda Shanley

Company Manager Alice Muhling

Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni

Finance Administrator Liz White

Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Scicluna

Media Manager Maria O’Dwyer

Digital Strategy & Marketing Coordinator Alice Gage

Communications Coordinator Emily Fiori

Graphic Designer Jane Roberts

Philanthropy Manager Nicole Punte

Development Manager Rachel Petchesky

Development Coordinator Kim Brockett

Building Manager Peter Mandersloot

Ticketing Manager Emma Quinn

Assistant Ticketing Manager Lauren White

Executive Assistant Nicole Benson

Production Manager David Miller

Technical Manager Baird McKenna

Operations Manager Dexter Varley

Head of Lighting Stephen Hawker

Head Mechanist Andy Moore

Theatre Technician Nathanael Bristow

Head of Wardrobe Delia Spicer

Workshop Supervisor David Craig

Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli

Workshop Staff Mitch O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Whitten

Front of House Managers Sean Ladhams, Anita Posterino

Bar Manager Cherry Rivers

Box Office Staff Abbey Barnes, Paul Buckley, Mark Byrne, Kate Gregory, Suzie Hardgrave, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Jade Thomson, Liz White, Fiona Wiseman, Benjamin Woolley

Front of House/ Bar Staff Matt Adair, Thomas Banks, Hannah Bolt, Jacqui Brown, Emma Corbett, Ray Chong Nee, Nadine Dimitrievitch, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Kate Gregory, Mark Hoffman, Kathryn Joy, Evona Lee, Ian Michael, Anna Nalpantidis, Ruby Nolan, Syrie Payne, Claire Richardson, Sanne Rodenstein, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold, Noel Turner, Matilda Woodroofe

Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

Malthouse Theatre would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of its volunteers.

Page 27: The Good Person of Szechuan
Page 28: The Good Person of Szechuan