Following a sell-out season at the 2017 Sydney Festival, Patricia Cornelius’ compelling, raw and powerful play, SHIT will take to the stage in an exclusive return season at the Seymour Centre from 18 July 2017.
Nominated for the 2017 Helpmann Award for Best Director (Susie Dee), SHIT examines the intersections of class and misogyny. It is provocative and tragic, heartbreaking, bracing and bitterly funny.
What of the women and girls who defy gender demarcations, who transgress the boundaries and restraints of social order and expectation? What happens when a girl spits, or swears, or screams, or laughs too loudly, or she fights, or cuts her hair too short, and wears too much lipstick? Out of control girls, angry girls, nasty girls are a sight to behold. They are terrifying, electrifying, they are everything girls should not be, and we hate them.
This is a work about three such girls, Billy, Bobby and Sam. In it there is not a single moment when they transcend their ugliness. There is no indication of a better life – or, in fact, any inner life. They don’t believe in anything. They are mean, foul-mouthed, downtrodden, hard-bitten, utterly damaged women. They are neither salt of the earth nor sexy. They love no one and no one loves them. They believe the world is shit, that their lives are shit, that they are shit.
Originally presented as part of Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEON Festival of Independent Theatre in 2015, it went on to win 4 Green Room Awards for Independent Theatre (Ensemble, Production, Set & Costume Design, Writing), a nomination in the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, and a return season at Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs in 2016.
Patricia Cornelius is a founding member of Melbourne Workers Theatre. She’s a playwright, novelist, film writer and dramaturge. She’s a recipient of a Fellowship from the Theatre Board of the Australia Council and the 2012 Patrick White Fellowship.
She has also been awarded the 2014 Victorian Premier’s drama award, 2011 Victorian and NSW Premier’s literary awards, 2006 Patrick White Playwright’s award, 2009 Richard Wherrett Prize, 2003 Wal Cherry Award, The Jill Blewitt Award and the R.E Ross Trust Award.
Patricia’s plays have earned her 10 Awgies for stage, community, theatre for young people and feature film adaptation. She has written over 25 plays. Her most recent works are: Big Heart, Savages, Do not go gentle…, Slut, Love and The Call.
For the past decade, Susie Dee has been developing new work with writers such as Angus Cerini, Melissa Reeves and Patricia Cornelius. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Australia Council residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where she observed the work of Theatre du Soleil and other French companies.
Susie has been the Artistic Director of three theatre companies: Melbourne Workers Theatre, Union House Theatre and ICE (Institute Of Complex Entertainment). She has been nominated for and won numerous awards, including a 2013 Green Room Award for her direction of Patricia Cornelius’s award-winning Savages and a 2014 nomination for her direction on The Long Pigs. Susie recently directed Peddling for Melbourne Theatre Company.
“Shit is provocative and tragic, bracing and bitterly funny. It’s the sort of bold theatre that will have us confronting our own prejudices…” – The Age
Director: Susie Dee Featuring: Peta Brady, Sarah Ward, Nicci Wilks Set and Costume: Marg Horwell Lighting Designer: Rachel Burke Composer: Anna Liebzeit Production/Stage Manager: Bec Moore Producer: Laura Milke-Garner
SHIT
Reginald Theatre – Seymour Centre, Corner City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale
Season: 18 – 29 July 2017
Information and Bookings: www.seymourcentre.com
Image: Peta Brady, Nicci Wilks and Sarah Ward feature in SHIT – photo by Sebastian Bourges