Is It Emotional Pornography Or Art?

Is It Emotional Pornography Or Art?

Silo Theatre presents THE ONLY CHILD Written by Simon Stone with Thomas Henning after Henrik Ibsen

Directed by Shane Bosher

Starring Claire Chitham, Josephine Davison, Stephen Lovatt and Sam Snedden

One of the major 19th century playwrights is being given a 21st century overhaul. Inspired by Henrik Ibsen's 1894 classic, Little Eyolf, Simon Stone and Thomas Henning (of The Hayloft Project in Melbourne) trade mountains for metropolis as THE ONLY CHILD tears the Herald Theatre a new one from August 26th 2011.

They were the golden couple, the couple most likely to. They were happy and in love. Flash forward. Rita is an imperfect mother. Alfred has withdrawn from his wife and their relationship has degenerated into a mess of resentment, sexual frustration and misdirected fury. When their son goes missing, they're forced to make unexpected adjustments to their life together. Worlds will implode and walls may crack. This is a portrait of their marriage - mercurial, malicious, tender and honest.

Australian theatre whizz-kid Simon Stone has carved a name for himself by blowing the cobwebs and the accumulated dust off classic texts: his self-funded company The Hayloft Project has fearlessly and radically transformed the work of Chekhov, Wedekind, Seneca and Gorky. Earlier this year, his bold new take on Ibsen's The Wild Duck at Belvoir St. Theatre took Sydney by storm. Some critics cried vandalism, others liberation. Audiences packed the theatre. At only 26 years old, his work as director, adaptor and provocateur has been picked up for mainstage production at Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir, where is now Resident Director.

Reworking Henrik Ibsen seems like a perfect fit for Stone; Ibsen's works' pick at the scab of society, exposing the moral collapse of contemporary society. In Silo Theatre's production, Artistic Director Shane Bosher's approach, after his sleeper hit The Brothers Size, will be employing a European sensibility to push and explore Ibsen's deconstruction of modern marriage. He'll be drawing influences from the work of film auteurs such as Lars Von Trier, Michael Winterbottom, Ingmar Bergman and Gasper Noe (Irreversible). He writes: "Not since Edward Albee's The Goat have I come across a work so visceral and charged, yet backed by such a real and profoundly human reality. The play exists in an extraordinary parallel space - some of the content will shock audiences, but at exactly the same time enable the audience to think about their own lives, their own relationships in a profoundly human way. I think it's a beautiful piece of work." Silo Theatre will really push the envelope theatrically with performances that bare all, both emotionally and literally. With three of the actors are required to perform fully naked, this is wonderfully confronting stuff.

Treasured Kiwi actress and Silo Theatre regular Claire Chitham (Outrageous Fortune; Shortland Street) returns briefly to New Zealand to join the powerhouse cast which includes Josephine Davison (Outrageous Fortune's Suzy Hong; Silo Theatre's The Scene) and Sam Snedden (Silo Theatre's The Ensemble Project; Mojo). Following his trail-blazing turn in Silo Theatre's sell out production When the Rain Stops Falling, acclaimed actor Stephen Lovatt will lead the company as the emotionally crippled Alfred.

Silo Theatre has commissioned Leon Radojkovic, of Doctor Colossus fame to compose the soundtrack. Last seen onstage at the Auckland Festival with his own revisioning of the cult film Carnival of Souls, Neil Finn has described Leon's music as "madly sophisticated, nutty and exciting".

The Hayloft Project have managed to buck the conventions of theatre in Melbourne - in much the same vein as Silo Theatre is casting aside the "usual" concepts of how theatre should be produced and performed and instead looking at how it could be adapted and evolved. THE ONLY CHILD is contemporary theatre at its best.

".A resounding success. A piece of tremendous poetry, truth and effect for today's audience."

CONCRETE JUNGLE

".9/10 . Even amidst the most shocking of revelations, THE ONLY CHILD has the power to also draw sympathetic, mirthful laughter from its audience. I loved it."

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

THE ONLY CHILD plays at the Herald Theatre, THE EDGE

August 26th - September 17th 2011

Monday and Tuesday: 7pm. Wednesday - Saturday: 8pm (No performances Sunday)

TWENTYSOMETHING: Monday 29th August 2011

OPEN DIALOGUE: Tuesday 30th August 2011

Herald Theatre, THE EDGE

Tickets: $25.00 - $49.00 (service fees apply)

Tickets available through THE EDGE - www.buytickets.co.nz or 09 357 3355

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