A love letter to the power of theatre, and a decades-hopping investigation into marriage, queerness and gender, New Theatre presents the Australian premiere of Samuel Adamson’s Wife this October.
Daisy is at a crossroads. Her moral compass tells her to go one way, society the other. What she chooses to do next will have consequences not just for her and her husband, but for four couples over the next ninety years.
With Ibsen’s classic drama of marital discord, A Doll’s House, as its unifying device, this bold and inventive play ranges across the fifties, the eighties, the present and the future.
In expat Australian playwright Samuel Adamson’s highly original dramedy, we meet intertwined characters, gay and straight, over generations, all invested in some way with the concept of ‘wife’, Ibsen’s rebellious Nora being the benchmark against which they judge themselves.
New Theatre welcomes director Darrin Redgate, making his New Theatre debut, along with assistant director Caroline L George. The creative team includes set designer David Marshall-Martin, whose previous designs for New Theatre include Loot, Off The Record, Beautiful Thing, Australia Day and The Heidi Chronicles, costume designers Aibhlinn Stokes (The Spook, Ink) and Burley Stokes (Ink), lighting designer Jay Murrin, sound designer Matthew Forbes and dialect coach Benjamin Purser.
The cast comprises returning actors Will Manton (Beautiful Thing) and Pete Walters (Fucking Men), playing the same character 30 years apart, and newcomers Alison Brooker, Henry Lopez Lopez, Imogen Trevillion and Julia Vosnakis.
“I was really drawn in by how the decision one of our characters makes In the 1950s affects the next three generations over the next 90 years. It reminded me of the 78ers here in Sydney,” said director Darrin Redgate.
“How the decisions and the actions those brave individuals took paved the way for how the queer community in Sydney lives today. It’s a wonderful reminder to never forget the struggles and pay tribute to those that have come before.”
“The play is both hilariously funny and deeply moving. An audience is going to experience the full range of emotions and hopefully leave the theatre thinking about prior generations and the challenges of the times in which they lived, how that’s played a part in shaping their own lives today, and perhaps even the next generation to come,” said Redgate.
Samuel Adamson is an Australian playwright and screenwriter who has lived and worked in the UK since 1991. He was born in Adelaide in 1969 and lives in London.
His works include: The Ballad of Hattie and James, Running Wild (based on the book by Michael Morpurgo), Gabriel, The Light Princess, Southwark Fair, Mrs Affleck (from Ibsen’s Little Eyolf), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (from the Trumane Capote novella), Frank & Ferdinand, Fish and Company, Clocks and Whistles, Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie, Grace Note, Some Kind of Bliss and All About My Mother (from Pedro Almodóvar’s film).
Adamson’s adaptation of Peter Carey’s Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Jack Maggs will be given its world premiere by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in November 2024.
“Challenging and thought-provoking, brimming with pathos, politics and laugh-out-loud moments.” – Diva Magazine (UK)
Director: Darrin Redgate | Featuring: Alison Brooker, Henry Lopez Lopez, Will Manton, Imogen Trevillion, Julia Vosnakis, Pete Walters | Set Designer: David Marshall-Martin | Lighting Designer: Jay Murrin | Costume Designers: Aibhlinn Stokes, Burley Stokes | Sound Designer: Matthew Forbes | Assistant Director: Caroline L George | Dialect Coach: Benjamin Purser | Stage Manager: Radhika Lal | Assistant Stage Manager: Carissa Quintana | Operators: Alice-Rose Nolan Lucchetti, Guy Verge Wallace
WIFE
New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown
Season: 9 October – 2 November 2024 (preview: 8 October)
Information and Bookings: www.newtheatre.org.au
Image: © NeydtStock/Shutterstock