INTERNATIONAL TOURING MEDIA

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1 INTERNATIONAL TOURING MEDIA Newsletter Date A U S T R A L I A N M A J O R P E R F O R M I N G A R T S G R O U P MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY Caption describing picture or graphic. MTC was invited to present David Williamson s Rupert as part of World Stages: International Theater Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. It was the only Australian theatre company participating in the Festival. RUPERT is thoroughly entertaining I highly recommend it. You will learn to appreciate how this one man could achieve so much. Broadway World, 13 March This ensemble truly is everything you could want to represent a colorful group of characters with humor, pizzaz, and memorable versatility. CD Metro Theater Arts, 13 March the show entertains as much as it terrifies with its bubbling combination of myth and reality In fact, the show s delightful fusion of fact and fiction would make Fox News proud. MD Theatre Guide, 13 March CIRCUS OZ Circus Oz took From the Ground Up on a crosscontinental US tour performing in It performed to over 27,000 people, with excellent audience response and critical feedback, with many standing ovations. With the support of Virgin, Circus Oz returned to North America for a tour in February and March. We were delighted by the levels of depth in the production, and enchanted by the acts performed. Hats off to the performers who make the effort to speak the audience. It is very much appreciated when the artists show such consideration for their audience. Montreal Review, March Family-friendly, experimental, musical, eclectic, funny, absurd, From The Ground Up is a complete success. Circus Oz succeeds in winning over circus lovers as well as those who are new to this exuberance, circus-style. Le Journal de Quebec, March From The Ground Up is overflowing with goodwill, unleashes a thunderous energy, and makes the whole theatre burst into laughter with its amusing gags. Circus Oz, dynamite on stage. Planet Quebec Review, March

2 CIRCUS OZ cont. Family-friendly, experimental, musical, eclectic, funny, absurd, From The Ground Up is a complete success. Circus Oz succeeds in winning over circus lovers as well as those BELVOIR Belvoir toured Thyestes to Germany and The Netherlands in June. Directed by Simon Stone Thyestes is a re-imagining of an ancient tale. It was commissioned by Malthouse Theatre. Belvoir also toured The Wild Duck to the Barbican s International Ibsen Festival in October. About Thyestes: The original is distilled to its essence. This is the height of who are new to this exuberance, circus-style. Le Journal de Quebec, March From The Ground Up, although very physically demanding, doesn t take itself seriously. It s rock and roll theatre. De Volkskrant, 24 June Stone measures out the tension like a DJ, building up to the unbearable climax. We know what is coming. But because of the smart, exasperating build-up, the shock is still unprecedented. NR Handelsblad, 24 June About The Wild Duck: Stone s minimalism is powerfully compelling. While the glass wall between actors and audience would, you might think, overflowing with goodwill, unleashes a thunderous energy, and makes the whole theatre burst into laughter with its amusing gags. Circus Oz, dynamite on stage. Planet Quebec Review, March Thyestes, Mark Winter, Thomas Henning & Chris Ryan by Jeff Busby be distancing, in fact it draws you in like a glowing microscope slide. The Times, 28 October MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The MSO performed at the: BBC Proms (London), Edinburgh International Festival, Concertgebouw Summer Music Series (Amsterdam), Mecklenburg- Vorpommern Festival at Ulrichshusen (Germany) and Tivoli Concert Hall (Copenhagen). The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra their debut at the Proms tonight turned in an amazing performance. Electrifying. Taut. Totally in the zone. Jon Jacob, Thoroughly Good The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra made its debut at five series and Page 2 music festivals in August under the baton of Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis. the verve of Melbourne s output was among the best heard in some fifty years of concertgoing. Andrew Davis enthused the musicians while giving full regard to the interplay of the various sections. The brightness of brass and apposition of mellow woodwinds were carefully gauged. Ian Gilmour, Edinburgh Guide

3 INTERNATIONAL MALTHOUSE Malthouse Theatre s production of Bertolt Brecht s masterpiece The Good Person of Szechuan tours to China in October this year. It s heading to both the Shanghai International Arts Festival and the Beijing International Theatre Festival. The cast is exceptional, throwing itself into the demands of the show with a sense of almost reckless courage... Meng s tough and often very funny production, punctuated by contemporary songs, drags Brecht s imaginary Szechuan into the 21st century. The Guardian SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The SSO toured China in June this year its third tour of China in five years, but the first for chief conductor David Robertson. It played seven concerts in 12 nights including a sold-out performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. [Despite the soloist arriving in Shanghai the previous day and having only one rehearsal with the Orchestra], the outcome was still unbelievably good. In the concerto, the playing of the orchestra sounded like Tai Chi (Zhang) sounded like a wild duck drifting on a very quiet and beautiful lake. Chinese Music Weekly, critic Rudolph Tang THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET This October, the Australian Ballet returns to east coast of North America for the first time in over 20 years, to premiere an Australian classic, Graeme Murphy s Swan Lake. The company s 33rd international tour will kick off on 9 October in Los Angeles at the Music Center s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion before travelling to Berkeley, opening October 16 at Cal Performances Zeller- bach Hall. It also premieres Ostinato at the Fall for Dance festival at the New York City Center. Enough cannot be said about the unique visceral stamp of this company: weighty and momentous movement attack, deliriously seamless partnering, serious acting chops from all. Orange Country Register Reiko Hombo, The Australian Ballet 4 Times Square. Photo by Lisa Tomasetti Page 3

4 AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA In March, the ACO returned to Chicago s Orchestra Hall as part of the Chicago Symphony s Truth to Power festival, performed in a New York nightclub and embarked on a new creative residency in Canada. In September October an 18-day tour included concerts in London, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Cologne, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Dublin. This is one of the most precise, cutting-edge virtuoso string ensembles to be found anywhere in the world. Chicago Tribune,... the best chamber orchestra on earth. Daily Telegraph (UK), Sept... their alliance [Richard Tognetti & ACO] has evolved into one of the classical music world s enduring success stories. Irish Times, Oct STATE THEATRE COMPANY SA and WINDMILL THEATRE The companies coproduction of Pinocchio has been invited to perform a twoweek season at the prestigious New Victory Theater in New York City in March A merry-go-round of clever comedy, edgy music, immersing animated visuals and winning performances. Sydney Morning Herald BANGARRA Bangarra performed in the Netherlands for the Holland Dance Festival in February. Bangarra Dance Theatre is a modern dance company unlike any other remarkably imaginative and richly varied the stage becomes a place of mystery. New York Times Mesmerising beauty, sheer poetry and spiritual power Dance Europe Page 4

5 SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Maids opened in New York as part of the prestigious Lincoln Center Festival on Friday 8 August. Jean Genet s notorious 1947 tale of sibling rivalry and murder was directed by STC Artistic Director Andrew Upton and Benedict Andrews, with Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert and Elizabeth Debicki. Some real classy dames are tearing up the joint at City Center, where the Sydney Theater Company is performing its riproaring production of Jean Genet s The Maids I wouldn t have missed it for the world. Ben Brantley, New York Times [Blanchett] is particularly resourceful, and harrowing, in showing us Claire's desperation, which extends to using her mistress's personal items to land the master in legal trouble. Facing her employer (Elizabeth Debicki, in a deliciously vulgar performance) after her plot has been foiled, if not exposed, Blanchett's Claire crumples, and the thinness of her fortitude is made devastatingly plain. Elysa Gardner, USA Today One of the many achievements of the Sydney Theater Company s terrific new version of The Maids is that it restores audacity and high style to a genre that was looking pretty threadbare, its once mystifying metaphors now taught in AP English, its grammar of non sequiturs and visual puns co-opted by comedy and commercials a superb production of The Maids this is the best we re ever likely to get. Jesse Green, New York Magazine STC s production of Waiting for Godot is heading to London s Barbican as part of the International Beckett Season in It features Luke Mullins (Lucky), Philip Quast (Pozzo), Richard Roxburgh (Estragon) and Hugo Weaving (Vladimir) and is directed by Andrew Upton. I've seen many productions of this great play, including one directed by Beckett himself, but this is the best. John McCallum, The Australian It really does seem to encompass the whole of life. Unforgettable. Jo Litson, Sunday Telegraph September Page 5