Sydney Fringe and James Balian Present THE NEW DEAL

The Sydney Fringe and James Balian present THE NEW DEAL, written and Directed by JAMES BALIAN with lighting Design LARRY KELLY

With KAREN BAYLY, ALASTAIR BUCHANAN, KATE BUCHANAN, JIM GOSDEN,
CATHERINE HOLLYMAN, LYNDEN JONES, CHRISTOPHER MILLER, KATHERINE SHEARER

POWER IS THE GREATEST APHRODISIAC!

Alex (Lynden Jones) concludes that his problems with sexual performance have a lot to do with being powerless in the wider world. So, he makes a deal with the devilish Stan (Christopher Miller) to turn his failures around and gain political power, but Stan is very good at hiding the true cost of the deal. And then comes the time to pay the deal-maker's price. The New Deal explores themes of love, loyalty and personal/public integrity shifting time, space and, of course, political allegiances.

Following last year's successful production of The Viagra Monologues at the Sydney Fringe, director/ writer James Balian is producing another of his brand new plays for this year's Fringe. His previous writing credits include the play The Night After the Day Before (Ensemble Studios), the telemovie Thank You Jack, and the tele-play An Electric Day, which both screened on ABC -TV. James also wrote and directed the feature film Saturday Night which first screened on SBS-TV and was selected as "Film of the Week" by the Sydney Morning Herald then was invited to the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, USA. He has also written and directed many productions for Short and Sweet since 2007 and was a gala finalist in 2010 and 2011.

James has assembled a fabulous cast of 8: Lynden Jones plays Alex Simmons. An Ensemble Studios graduate, Lynden has a long list of theatre and television credits to his name and is currently appearing in The Farnsworth Invention at the New Theatre. Katherine Shearer, also currently in The Farnsworth Invention, plays Carol Simmons. Katherine is a graduate of Flinders Drama Centre and has performed in theatre festivals around the world. She has been living and working in Sydney for the last 10 years with many stage and screen credits to her name. Christopher Miller plays Stan, Christopher is a graduate of the University of Wollongong's Performance Program. His stage credits including Much Ado About Nothing. Maude is played by Catherine Hollyman, a student and practitioner of theatre since the days of performing in the backyard to an audience of one - generally the cat. This is Catherine's 4th production in 5 years working with director James Balian. Jim Gosden plays Sid, the politician. Most of Jim's acting work has been in Far North Queensland, where he worked with JUTE Theatre of Cairns, The Darwin Theatre Company, Tropic Sun of Townsville and as a co-founder of Shed Theatre in Kuranda. Kate Buchanan plays Lara the newsreader. Kate's credits include Home & Away, Bellamy, Big Sky and GP and she recently won Best Actress at the Movil Film Festival 2011 in Spain for the short film Happy Anniversary. Alastair Buchanan plays the various Hecklers. At 22, Alastair is a talented actor, writer and director with many acclaimed productions in the Short and Sweet Festival. Karen Bayly plays the various radio talk-back callers and office receptionist. Karen's long list of theatre credits includes Helena in Look Back In Anger.

SEASON DETAILS: THE NEW DEAL
VENUE: NEW THEATRE, 542 King Street, Newtown - www.newtheatre.org.au
DATES: Thur 15 to Mon 19 September at 7pm, Sat 17 Sept at 5pm and 7pm
PRICES: Full $27, Concession $24
BOOKINGS: Book online at www.thesydneyfringe.com.au or by phone on (02) 9020 6980

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