Greg Fleet and Ian Darling Lead THE TWINS at Adelaide Fringe

THE TWINS, a new Australian play starring Greg Fleet and Ian Darling, will have its world premiere season at The Studio, Holden Street Theatres for the 2021 Adelaide Fringe.

THE TWINS sees two old school friends, Greg and Ian, re-uniting 40 years after playing the twins in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, to rework it as a two-hander. A heart breaking and hilarious new play about trust; remembering and forgetting to remember; loss; regret; love; pain and glory.

Written by Greg Fleet, Ian Darling, Sarah Butler and directed by Sarah Butler and Terry Serio, THE TWINS is Produced by Shark Island Institute and The ArtsLab Kangaroo Valley (NSW). THE TWINS is one of only a handful of interstate productions crossing the border to take part in Adelaide Fringe.

The show has been coined 'theatre verite' because the characters are real people, played by themselves.

Although Greg and Ian's lives took different paths; they are now reunited, but who is playing whom? Are they who they say they are and should any of that matter? And once you've let go of your dreams, is there ever really any way back?

It's a play about fathers and the shadows they leave, the labels we give to others and ourselves and the burden and guilt these two friends carry as a result. An achingly honest account that sees privilege and heroin joined at the hip.

Greg Fleet is an award-winning actor, comedian, playwright and author. Born in Michigan, USA, his family moved to Victoria when he was aged four. He studied at Geelong Grammar School for twelve years and then attended NIDA for a year before being expelled.

His acting career began opposite Nicole Kidman in 1984 and he went on to star in, amongst other things, Prisoner, Underbelly: Squizzy, Neighbours and the series Wolf Creek, as well as treading the boards in Twelfth Night for the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Developing a stand-up career that saw him acclaimed all over the world, Greg's comedy across TV, film, radio and theatre, and the honesty with which he speaks about his long-term drug addiction, have made him one of the most respected, beloved and in-debt stand-up comics around.

Greg Fleet's hilarious and harrowing memoir, These Things Happen, was published in 2015 and his first novel The Good Son in 2018. He is currently writing the screen adaptation of The Good Son. His plays, This Is Not A Love Song and Signifying Nothing, both received numerous Best Theatre and Critics Choice awards across Australia.

Ian Darling is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, who returns to the stage for the first time in 40 years. His Director credits include The Final Quarter, Paul Kelly - Stories of Me, In the Company of Actors, The Oasis, Suzy & the Simple Man, Alone Across Australia, Woodstock for Capitalists and Polly and Me. He is an Executive Producer of Paper and Glue, On The Record, 2040, The Fourth Estate, The Bleeding Edge, Unrest, Inventing Tomorrow and How to Change the World.

He received the Byron Kennedy Award at the 2018 AACTA Awards, won the AFI/AACTA Award for Best Direction in a Documentary, has twice been a Walkley Awards Finalist and a winner of two Film Critics Circle Awards. His photographs have been finalists in the National Photographic Portrait Prize, the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, the Sydney Life Photography Prize, and the Head On Portrait Prize.

Ian is Executive Director of Shark Island Institute, Founder of voxdocs, Good Pitch Australia, Documentary Australia Foundation, and Patron of the ArtsLab, Kangaroo Valley. He has been Chair of The Caledonia Foundation since 2001, was a former Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and the STC Foundation, a Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and was a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board.

Director Sarah Butler (BA Drama; MEd Creative Arts) is an actor, director, designer, writer, teacher, producer and all-round lover of the performing arts. She has worked as an actor in theatre and TV (including for Adelaide Fringe Festival, New Theatre, Performance Space, The ARTSLAB and most recently in the new Australian film The Flood as well as working as a theatre director and designer in Sydney and regional NSW.

Sarah is a founder and Artistic Director of The ARTS LAB Kangaroo Valley - an arts program featuring new films, music, theatre, and conversations, with an emphasis on engagement with audience and community.

Director Terry Serio is well known for his performances in theatre, film, television and as a musician. He won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Bob Hawke and John Howard in the runaway success of 2006-08, Keating! (Company B - Belvoir Street Theatre). His numerous film and television credits include He Died With a Felafel in his Hand, Dirty Deeds and Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe, for which he received AFI nomination for Best Actor for his work in the leading role.

THE TWINS will tour to Sydney from late March and Melbourne later this year.

Performances run February 16 - March 21. Tickets are priced from $15.00 - $27.00 and may be purchased through FringeTix or www.holdenstreettheatres.com.

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