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Articles on Theatre

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Wife and husband duo Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton were co-artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company for five years. Upton was solo director for a further three. AAP

What is an artistic director, and why does the Sydney Theatre Company need one?

Sydney Theatre Company now has an interim artistic director, after the sudden departure of Jonathan Church. A flagship theatre company can transform a city’s view of its place in the world, which is why the role is so important.
Arthur Bolkas and David Woods in The Chat, in which the fate of a prisoner who has breached parole is decided.

Putting audiences, as well as actors, in the hot seat

When former prisoners – and audience members – come together in a play examining our justice system, the result is unruly, uncomfortable and worthwhile.
Joel Ormsby/flickr

Raising chisel to stone, and making art

The first Australian National Playwrights Centre (ANPC) was founded in 1973 – the age of bongs, thongs and social wrongs. Australian drama was by then well into its Biggest Renaissance Ever. The Pram Factory…
Ned, played by Johnny Carr and Mortimer (Marco Chiappi) in Edward II. Pia Johnson

One of Marlowe’s finest plays roars into the 21st century

A new production of Edward II by the ‘bad boy of Elizabethan drama’ breathes fresh life into the play, accentuating the story’s political and psychological dimensions.
The cast of Twelfth Night rehearse at the Belvoir St Theatre. Brett Boardman

‘A wise man’s art’: Twelfth Night and cross-mobility casting

Belvoir St Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night features veteran actor Keith Robinson, who returns to the stage after recovering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. There’s radical potential in cross-mobility casting – but Belvoir doesn’t quite get there.
Both Hamlet and ‘True Detective’‘s Rust Cohle make audiences wonder whether they’re deserving of sympathy or blame. Nick Lehr/The Conversation

In today’s most popular shows, Shakespeare’s iconic characters live on

The psychological complexity of Shakespeare’s characters has rendered them timeless. Today, we see The Bard’s influence in shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘True Detective.’
Whose story are you telling? Neil Armfield’s The Secret River is a chronicle of colonialism. The Sydney Theatre Company/Heidrun Löhr

The Secret River, silences and our nation’s history

The stage version of The Secret River gives us a deeper sense of our history. But can understanding the past from different perspectives help us confront the inequalities that linger in our present?
The wives win hands-down in The Merry Wives of Windsor. REUTERS/Toby Melville. An image of playwright William Shakespeare from The Herball, a 16th-century book on plants.

Vale Shakespeare, the (not always) patriarchal Bard

While London and Stratford-upon-Avon go into meltdown over the upcoming anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, a new production – shown recently in Western Australia – is worth looking at closely.

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