Peter Brook's THE SUIT Comes to Adelaide Festival Centre, Oct 1-12
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 28, 2014
State Theatre Company and Adina Apartment Hotels in association with Arts Projects Australia and the Adelaide Festival Centre present PETER BROOK'S THE SUIT in a run exclusive to Adelaide from the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. Based on THE SUIT by Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse and Barney Simon, the production will run 1 October through 12 October 2014, with an opening slated for Friday 3 October at 8pm at the Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.
In a coup for South Australia, it has been announced that the great British director Peter Brook's production of The Suit will play exclusively in Adelaide for State Theatre Company in October. Exclusivity for the Australian premiere has been secured with the support of the South Australian Tourism Commission, which will also support a targeted marketing campaign to theatre-goers from Melbourne and Sydney.
Regarded as the greatest director of his generation and the most influential theatre director in the world over the last fifty years, Peter Brook said: "There has been a wonderful connection between my work and Adelaide that dates back 34 years." The Suit will be Peter Brook's first English-language production to visit Adelaide since the legendary The Mahabharata came to the Adelaide Festival 26 years ago.
State Theatre Company CEO Rob Brookman said: "Ever since working with Peter Brook's famous CICT company on their tours to the Adelaide Festival firstly in 1980 and then with The Mahabharata in 1988, it has been a long-held dream to bring another work by this greatest of theatre directors to Adelaide. It is an absolute coup, 26 years on, to be bringing this work, so beautifully crafted and infused with humanity, to Adelaide as part of our 2014 Season."
Based on THE SUIT by Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse, and Barney Simon, the production features direction, adaptation & musical direction by Peter Brook, Marie-Hélène Estienne & Franck Krawczyk, lighting designs by Philippe Vialatte, costumes by Oria Puppo, and assistant director William Nadylam.
Starring Nonhlanhla Kheswa, William Nadylam and Ery Nzaramba, with musicians Arthur Astier (guitar), Mark Kavuma (trumpet), and Danny Wallington (piano).
The Tour
Based on the original novel The Suit, written by Can Themba and banned in his native country during the apartheid era, Brook's production has enthralled audiences and played to sell-out houses in the most prestigious theatres and festivals around the world since premiering at London's Young Vic Theatre in 2012. Adelaide will join Tokyo, Rome, New York, London and Shanghai in hosting The Suit, which will have visited 37 cities in 19 countries by the time the 2014/2015 tour concludes in June next year.
The Play
In the dusty heat of a 1950s South African township, a young worker returns home to find his wife in bed with her lover. The lover escapes, leaving behind his suit. In revenge, the betrayed husband instructs his wife to treat the suit as an honoured house guest. The suit becomes a constant and painful reminder of her infidelity and, through its presence, tension erupts, sorrow abides and the couple's inability to heal is invoked. How long can she endure this cruel and pitiless punishment?
The Production
Brook's moving and open-hearted production makes this beautifully crafted fable sing. Along with the trademark directness of his storytelling and sheer quality that he elicits from his superb troupe of actors, Brook has created seamless staging that integrates a wonderful band of musicians directly into the action. A hummed "Strange Fruit," African melodies, and Schubert lieder provide the emotional backdrop to this apartheid-era summer in which a shared wound was not allowed to heal.
Widely regarded as the most influential theatre director of his time, Peter Brook has distinguished himself in various genres through his career: theatre, opera, cinema, and writing. He directed his first play in London in 1943, and has gone on to direct over 70 productions in London, Paris and New York. His productions have travelled all over the world receiving critical acclaim wherever they go. For the last forty years Brook has led his Centre for International Theatre Creations at the Théâtre Des Bouffes Du Nord in Paris.
Brook's work was first seen in Australia at the 1980 Adelaide Festival when he brought his productions of Ubu, The Conference of the Birds and The Ik which were performed in a deserted quarry at Anstey's Hill in the Adelaide Hills. In the late 1970's, Brook, with writer Jean-Claude Carrière, began work on adapting the Indian epic poem The Mahabharata into a stage play which was first performed in French in 1985 and subsequently in English in 1987 as part of an international co-production between, amongst others, the Zurich Theatre Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Adelaide Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1988 the epic nine hour production was performed for the 1988 Adelaide Festival, once again in the Anstey's Hill Quarry. His French language production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead played a season at The Space in 2007.
State Theatre Company will again be partnering with Arts Projects Australia and the Adelaide Festival Centre to bring Adelaide some of the best theatre on the planet with this funny and heart breaking piece of theatre.
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