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Season 4 2008> 18th November – 6th December
Nuncrackers
By Dan Goggin. Directed by Alan Burrows
Matinee: Sunday 30th November
The Little Sisters of Hoboken have turned their convent basement into a TV studio and are producing their first Christmas special – a ballet based on “The Nutcracker”. Things go awry, of course, and what we see is a mixture of their prepared program and some of the shenanigans that go on during the down time, such as the Reverend Mother recalling the Christmases of her youth spent with a travelling carnival; tough-talking Sister Robert Anne singing about how all she wants for Christmas is a one-night stand - at Carnegie Hall, that is; and Father Virgil getting progressively drunker as he explains how to make holiday fruitcake.
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Shirley Valentine *
A comedy by Willy Russell. Directed by Doug Bennett
Season 1 2009: 10th March – 28th March
Matinee: Sunday 22nd March
Shirley Valentine takes the form of a monologue by a housewife before and after a transforming holiday in Greece. Shirley's a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chips 'n' egg, wondering what happened to her life. She compares scenes in her current life with what she used to be like and feels she's stagnated and in a rut. When her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two, she leaves the drudgery of cooking dinner for her husband, packs her bags and heads for the sun. The note on the kitchen table reads "Gone to Greece back in two weeks." Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light, finding romance and a new awareness of who she is and what her existence can be with just a little effort on her part.
A play by David Auburn. Directed by Catherine Carr
Season 2 2009: 2nd June – 20th June
Matinee: Sunday 14th June
Set in Chicago, Proof is a four character play by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Auburn, about Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius suffering from mental illness, who leaves behind a notebook containing proof of a mathematical theorem that mathematicians had thought impossible. Did Robert write the proof, or was it his depressed college drop-out daughter Catherine? As the mystery develops, the play explores issues such as what the link may be between genius and madness and whether either or both can be inherited. A story about human relationships, the play suggests that developing trust and love can be as difficult, and just as uncertain, as establishing the truth of a mathematical proof.
Caravan *
A comedy by Donald MacDonald. Directed by Adrian Carr
Season 3 2009: 1st September – 19th September
Matinee: Sunday 13th September
Caravan is a delightful comedy which takes a light hearted look at friendship, age and holidays that you should never have. Put six people in a caravan for two weeks with their eccentricities, moods and annoyances, and expose the shaky marriages and furtive sexual liaisons between them, and you've got all the material for an entertaining ride. An Australian farce, written in the early eighties and re-written in 2000, this is a comedy which plays heavily on stereotypes and predictabilities around Aussie culture, lifestyle and behaviour.
Jack O’Hagan’s Humdingers *
- A musical tribute to one of Australia’s greatest composers -
By Melvyn Morrow and David Mitchell. Directed by Alan Burrows
Season 4 2009: 17th November – 5th December
Matinee: Sunday 29th November
Jack O'Hagan was Australia's most prolific songwriter from the 1920's until the 1950's. His hits are part of the nation's psyche – “Our Don Bradman”, “Ginger Meggs”, “When the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox”, “Kingsford Smith” and so forth. Melvyn Morrow and David Mitchell have created a joyous musical tribute to this great Australian songwriter.
* PLEASE NOTE: All these plays are pending granting of rights