Download Theatrical Culture (Dramatic Plays, Opera and Fine Music) at the

Theatrical Culture (Dramatic Plays, Opera and Fine Music)
at the Forge Theatre and Arts Hub 2016
*All programs and details subject to change
For further information contact: Janice Haynes, Manager, Forge Theatre and Arts Hub, PH: 5153 9641,
Email: [email protected].
From March 2016
HIT Productions
All My Love
by Anne Brooksbank
Starring Kim Denman and Dion
Mills
Wednesday 16 March 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
The story of poet and writer Henry Lawson’ and his secret
betrothal to Mary Gilmore the literary icon and radical
socialist. The lives of these two heroes of Australian
literature could have been written so differently.
At the end of the 19th Century, Mary Gilmore was introduced
to the young Henry Lawson. As their friendship developed,
Mary found herself caught in the midst of an intense
relationship between Henry and his formidable mother, the suffragette Louise Lawson.
What followed was the beginning of a love affair, soon thwarted by a devastating deception.
After researching Mary Gilmore's memoirs, writer Anne Brooksbank first uncovered the tale of loving
promises between two of Australia's most famous writers. Taken from excerpts from the couple's
surviving letters, this is the first time Henry and Mary's forbidden relationship has been brought to the
professional stage.
Perfect for Senior Secondary students and those interested in history and writing this play is a
sensitive new work about a passionate love affair. Every Romantic will love it!
Show duration: 2 hours (includes 20 minute interval)
$30 Adults, $25 Concession and Groups 8+, $18 Children and Students
Forge Friend $25 Adult, $20 Concession
They Saw a Thylacine
Created and performed by Justine Campbell &
Sarah Hamilton
Produced by Human Animal Exchange
Thursday 21 April, 7.30 pm – Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
With all the suspense of a campfire story, a thylacine
tracker and a zoo keeper’s daughter weave a
lyrical tale of adversity and destruction. These two
gutsy and rebellious women are on a quest to protect
the now-extinct creature in this beautiful reimagining of
Australia’s lost history.
$25 Adults, $20 Concession and Groups 8+, $16 Children and
Students
Forge Friend $20 Adult, $15 Concession
Also appearing at:
Latrobe Performing Arts Centre 18 & 19 April
John Leslie Theatre - Sale 20 April
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Larrikin Ensemble Theatre
Boy Out of the Country
Written by Felix Nobis
Performed by Jane Clifton, Christopher Bunworth, Martin
Blum, Matt Dyktynski and Amanda LaBonte
Spokes tour
Friday 27 May, 7.30 pm – Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Saturday 28 May, 7.30 pm – Orbost Exhibition Centre
There’s more to land than real-estate. There’s more to family than DNA!
Jane Clifton leads a stellar cast to tell a story about family, loyalty and property prices in regional
Australia. A family block, worthless for generations is suddenly re-zoned as part of a regional housing
estate. Written with wit and in a crackling Australian idiom by award winning playwright Felix Nobis,
this is a fast paced, funny and highly satisfying piece of theatre about life beyond the big city.
Frequent Course Language. Appropriate for ages 15 +
Show duration: 95 minutes (no interval)
$25 Adults or $30 at the door, $20 Concession and Groups 8+ or $25 at the door, $18 students
Forge Friend $20 Adult, $15 Concession
*This play is on the 2016 VCE Theatre Studies Unit 3Playlist
Also appearing at: John Leslie Theatre – Sale – 26 May
HIT Productions
Educating Rita
by Willy Russell
Starring Francesca Bianchi and Colin Moody
Thursday 9 June 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
What happens when Rita, a naïve hairdresser, meets Frank, a cynical,
burnt-out English professor? She has a thirst for knowledge, but who
ends up teaching who? Two very different worlds collide in Willy
Russell’s charming and wonderfully entertaining comedy classic that has
been loved by audiences for over 30 years.
Perfect for Senior Secondary students and people with an appreciation
for literature.
Contains some strong language. Recommended 15+.
Show duration: Approx 2 hours and 15 minutes including an interval
$30 Adults, $25 Concession and Groups 8+, $18 Children and Students
Forge Friend $25 Adult, $20 Concession
Also appearing at: West Gippsland Arts Centre 4 June
Latrobe Performing Arts Centre 5 June
John Leslie Theatre – Sale - 8 June
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Death by Soprano
Written and performed by Isabel Hertaeg
Friday 17 June 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
It’s not over until the soprano is dead!
Sopranos must die, it's the rule of opera. Death by Soprano satirically
and comically catalogues operatic death scenes in an A-Z cliff-notes
of operatic demise. Using props, costumes, an impressive set of
pipes and a higher death toll than a Jean Claude Van Damme film,
Death by Soprano caters to the Opera-Curious and the seasoned
Operaphile. Appreciation of opera not required.
Show Running Time: 95 minutes (includes 20 minute interval)
Warnings: Not suitable for children under the age of 15.
$25 Adults, $20 Concession, $18 Students
Forge Friend $20 Adult, $15 Concession
Also appearing at: West Gippsland Arts Centre Thursday 16 June
ENCORE! Operatic Classics
Presented by La Prima Opera
Saturday 16 July 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Popular concert opera company La Prima Opera, featuring Opera Australia Principal Wagnerian
Tenor, Bradley Daley will take you on a journey through some of the most beautiful music ever
written. ENCORE! will entertain you with an array of opera’s most famous hits that everyone knows
through movies, television ads and sporting events, with highlights from The Pearl Fishers, La
Traviata, The Ring Cycle, Rigoletto, Carmen and Madame Butterfly.
Accompanying Daley are a stellar cast including international soprano Alison Rae Jones and Opera
Australia mezzo soprano Caroline Vercoe, concert pianist Len Vorster at the grand piano and
compere, Christopher McKenna. ENCORE! is directed by
Australia’s premiere opera and music theatre director Stuart
Maunder.
“Bradley Daley sang with a ringing timbre; a tenor of
considerable craft and stamina, too rarely heard in this
city…” Clive O’Connell, The Age
Show Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (includes 20 minute
interval)
$35 Adults, $30 Concession and Groups 8+, $22 Children
and Students
Forge Friend $30 Adult, $20 Concession
Also appearing at: John Leslie Theatre – Sale 14 July
West Gippsland Arts Centre – 15 July
Latrobe Performing Arts Centre 19 July
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MOZART’S PIANO WITH DAVID FUNG
Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
Thursday 11 August 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Two heavenly piano concerti and two joyous orchestral masterpieces - a
decadent all-Mozart delight! As well as his skills as a composer,
Mozart’s reputation in his day also rested on his exceptional
abilities as a pianist. Many of his 27 piano concerti were written
for his own concerts, and they are testament to his technique
and sensitivity at the keyboard.
Few Australian musicians have achieved an international career
like David Fung, whose performances of Mozart’s piano concerti
have earned significant international praise. Now based in New
York, Fung is a laureate of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth
competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein competition in
Tel Aviv, and performs for celebrated orchestras and festivals
across the globe. Fung joins the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra to perform two of Mozart’s most
beautiful piano concerti alongside the ebullient Symphony No 29 and the majestic Serenata Notturna.
Mozart Music Listing: Serenata Notturna K236 Piano Concerto No.11 in F major K413 Piano Concerto
No.14 in E flat major K449 Symphony No.29 K201
Show Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (includes 20 minute interval)
$35 Adults, $30 Concession and Groups 8+, $22 Children and Students
Forge Friend $30 Adult, $20 Concession
Also appearing at: John Leslie Theatre – Sale 14 July
West Gippsland Arts Centre – 15 July
Latrobe Performing Arts Centre 19 July
BRAVE Theatre
Miss Brontë
Written by: Mel Dodge and Charlotte Brontë
Directed by: Lyndee-Jane Rutherford
Performed by: Mel Dodge
Thursday 25 August 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Charlotte Brontë has a secret… In fact, secrets
seem to run in the family…
In 1845, Charlotte and her sisters wrote under male
pseudonyms and were the talk of London. People
presumed they must be men to be able to write with
such passion and dark humanity.
How could an unmarried woman living in a secluded
parsonage with only her sisters for company write one
of the world’s greatest love stories? She had tasted love and her secrets
echo in the pages of Jane Eyre.
Inspired by the letters and novels of Charlotte Brontë, Miss Brontë tells a
story of ambition, forbidden love and the bond of family.
Perfect for Senior Secondary students and people with an appreciation for literature and particularly
fans of Charlotte Brontë’s work “Jane Eyre”.
Running Time: 1 hour 15 minutes, no interval
Warnings: Adult themes, not appropriate for children under 12 years
$30 Adults, $25 Concession and Groups 8+, $18 Children and Students
Forge Friend $25 Adult, $20 Concession
Also appearing at: Nyerimilang Heritage Park – 26 August TBC
John Leslie Theatre – Sale – 27 August
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A BLUE COW THEATRE production
SIMON’S FINAL SOUND
a comedy by Finegan Kruckemeyer
Toured by Tasmania Performs
Saturday 3 September, 7.30 pm – Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
From the multi-award winning pen of Finegan Kruckemeyer, an Aussie
Comedy about four ordinary people who try, fail, try again and fail better.
Simon’s a bit of a no-hoper, and he’s going deaf. He goes in search of a
magical – but possibly mythical – island where, he thinks, he will find some
consolation. To make the journey, Simon teams up with Michael, a dull banker with a grey suit and a
grey life, and Michael’s wife, Ginny, who is disillusioned and about to leave him. Also along for the
ride is Claude, Michael’s boss, a blisteringly annoying blockhead with zero social skills.
Filling these four larger-than-life characters are four comic actors whose experience ranges from The
Lion King to Circus Oz, and who’ve displayed those talents around the country and the world. Simon’s
Final Sound takes the audience on a colourful South Seas voyage with plenty of hula skirts, high-jinx
and belly laughs, and makes land on an island of insight and compassion.
“Brilliantly crafted moments of perfect comedy have left my ribs aching.”
Ryk Goddard, ABC Radio.
Strong language and adult themes. Not recommended for young people under the age of 15.
$30 Adults, $25 Concession and Groups 8+, $18 students, $60 Family (2 Adults, 2
Children)
Forge Friend $25 Adult, $20 Concession
Also appearing at: Latrobe Performing Arts Centre – 6 September
West Gippsland Arts Centre – 9 September
Dust of Uruzgan
Written by and featuring Fred Smith
and his band
Spokes tour
Friday 7 October, 7.30 pm – Mud Brick Pavilion, Mallacoota
Saturday 8 October, 7.30 pm – Cabbage Tree Creek Hall
Sunday 9 October, 4pm - Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Fred Smith was the first Australian diplomat to be posted to Uruzgan in July of 2009 and his show
Dust of Uruzgan harnesses the unique ability of song to convey what words alone cannot – an
emotional sense of life for soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan. The show uses a powerful
combination of great song-writing, an extraordinary collection of photographs and first-hand accounts
of life on the front line to offer audiences a three dimensional experience of what it has been like for
our people in Afghanistan: the dust, the heat, the frustration, the camaraderie, the fighting and the
mundane day-to-day.
Contains Adult content.
$25 Adults or $30 at the door, $20 Concession and Groups 8+ or $25 at the door, $18 students,
Forge Friend $20 Adult, $15 Concession
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Bairnsdale Production Line Theatre Company Inc. and
East Gippsland Shire Council
present
Stepping Out
By Richard Harris. An Amateur
Production BY ARRANGEMENT
WITH ORiGiN™ THEATRICAL, ON BEHALF OF
SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD.
4 performances – Thursday 20, Friday 21 & Saturday 22 October at 7.30 pm and Sunday 23
October at 2 pm.
This good-natured comedy chronicles several months in the life of a beginning dance class for adults.
Led by Mavis, their patient instructor, and accompanied by the acerbic pianist Mrs. Fraser, the
students strive to master the basics of dance. But the steps and routines are just the background for
the real focus of the play which is the relationships between the ten students. Will they manage to
learn the steps and keep communicating with each other by show night?
$25 Adults, $20 Concession, $15 Child (16 years and under)
Forge Friend $20 Adult, $15 Concession
* Ticket prices subject to change.
HIT Productions
Always… Patsy Cline
by Ted Swindley
Starring award-winning country music sensation Courtney Conway as
Patsy Cline and popular stage actor
Mandi Lodge as Louise Seger.
Tuesday 25 October 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
ALWAYS… Patsy Cline is much more than a tribute to the
legendary country singer who died tragically at age 30 in a plane
crash in 1963. The show is based on a true story about Cline’s
friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger, who
befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in 1961, and continued a
correspondence with Cline until her death. This musical play,
complete with down home country humour, true emotion and even
some audience participation, includes 27 of Patsy’s unforgettable
hits such as Crazy, I Fall to Pieces, Sweet Dreams and Walkin’ after
Midnight. The show’s title was inspired by Cline’s signoff on her
letters to Seger: Love ALWAYS… Patsy Cline. ALWAYS… Patsy
Cline has been one of the most produced musicals in America and
has been enjoyed internationally by audiences in Canada, the UK
and Australia. This new production directed by AFI award winning
Denny Lawrence stars award winning Australian Country Music
singing sensation Courtney Conway as Patsy Cline and popular
stage star Mandi Lodge (Menopause The Musical, Just The Ticket)
as Louise Seger.
Always…. Patsy Cline explores hero worship and mutual respect and the pen-pal relationship that
struck up between these two unlikely women. The play focuses on the fateful evening at Houston's
Esquire Ballroom when Seger hears of Cline's death in a plane crash. Seger supplies a narrative
while Cline sings the songs that made her famous, in total 27 unforgettable hits.
Show duration: 2 hours (includes 20 minute interval)
$30 Adults, $25 Concession and Groups 8+, $18 Children and Students
Forge Friend $25 Adult, $20 Concession
Ask about our special Country Music “Get Up and Sing!” workshop Tuesday 25 October 11am –
3pm with Courtney Conway and other facilitators. Includes the opportunity to be invited to be part of
the encore at the end of the performance of Always... Patsy Cline in the evening. Only $30 includes
lunch, maximum 30 people.
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Flute Spirits and the Four Seasons
with Internationally renowned flautist Jane
Rutter
Saturday 12 November 2016, 7.30 pm
Forge Theatre and Arts Hub
Haunting, Meditative works for Solo Gold, Silver,
Bamboo & Ethnic flutes.
In this unique program Jane plays up to 12 classical and
ethnic flutes performing Spring by Vivaldi, The Four
Seasons arranged by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Baroque &
Classical Fantasies, Indian Ragas, Ancient &
Contemporary Incantations, works by Debussy, Devienne,
Vaughan-Williams, Ross Edwards & more, as well as
presenting prose by Shakespeare, Patrick White, Anaïs Nin.
Show duration: 2 hours (includes 20 minute interval)
$40 Adults, $35 Concession and Groups 8+, $27 Children and Students
Forge Friend $35 Adult, $30 Concession
Music students are also reminded about Jane’s unique masterclass program to help
students find the ‘belcanto’voice & inner joy within their instrumental playing as well as the unique
opportunity to perform with Jane in the Saturday 12 November concert. Friday 11 November 2016
from 1 – 3pm (date and time to be confirmed) $20 per student, maximum 25 people. Note: Students
need not be flute students: any instrument or voice will benefit from this program.
To book tickets Phone: 5152 1482, go online to: www.eastgippsland.vic.gov.au/forgetheatre or
purchase in person at Bairnsdale or Lakes Entrance Visitor Information Centres or Shire
Service Centres or at the Forge Theatre or performance venue from 1 hour prior to advertised
performance start times.
www.facebook.com/theforgetheatre
The Forge Theatre and Arts Hub is a
proud member of Theatre Gippsland http://www.theatregippsland.com.au/
and the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres (VAPAC)
http://vapac.org.au/
For further information contact: Janice Haynes, Manager, Forge Theatre and Arts Hub, PH: 5153
9641, Email: [email protected].
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