The Theatre Guild Celebrates 80 Years in 2018

The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild is delighted to announce the Guild's 80th Anniversary Season which will include a 4pm matinee performance on the first Sunday of each of the mainstage productions.

MARCH
Thursday 15, Friday 16 & Saturday 17 at 7.30pm, Little Theatre
THE WAY OF THE WORLD by William Congreve
A moved play-reading directed by Alexander Kirk

"If I continue to endure you a little longer I may by degrees dwindle into a Wife"

This finely wrought and deliciously witty play offers a tantalising glimpse at the glitteringly amoral world of Restoration comedy.

Director Alexander Kirk said "I chose this play for the Guild's anniversary year because it is one of the greatest English classical comedies, sadly now seldom performed. Although all the characters are types from the comedy of manners, Congreve has created each of them with amazing subtlety. Intricately plotted, the comedy's graceful dialogue and dazzling wit exude warmth and anticipation. We care that Mirabell will win Millamant. The Way of the World is a joyous celebration of the power of love."

MAY
Saturday 5 at 7.30pm, Sunday 6 (4pm matinee), Wednesday to Saturday 9-12 & 16-19 at 7.30pm, Little Theatre
MYTH, PROPAGANDA & DISASTER IN NAZI GERMANY AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICA by Stephen Sewell

"This is a dangerous time when everyone has to be very careful about what they do and say, because if we're not careful, we're going to bring the world down on top of us"

Stephen Sewell's chilling, multi award-winning commentary on the War on Terror was considered controversial and unrealistic when it premiered in 2003. Fifteen years later, it comes across as frighteningly perceptive with its stark and sinister portrait of a country teetering on the edge of democracy.

Director Erik Strauts said "My father was an educated European gentleman, a diligent follower of world current affairs and politics, and a passionate student of history. Not surprising given his background. He grew up in northern Europe between the wars, became a lawyer, started a family and a home. But he lost all of this as a result of WW2.

As a result his fervent hope was that the world would never again have to experience the horrors of extremist nationalism. When I was about to start year 12 at high school I had to drop a subject. I decided it was going to be History, and my father was most devastated. "We need to study history so that we can learn from it and not repeat out past mistakes". His reaction to my response was one of the few times that have seen him stuck for something to say. I replied: "The one thing that I have learned from history so far, is that society never learns from history..."

AUGUST
Saturday 4 at 7.30pm, Sunday 5 (4pm matinee), Wednesday to Saturday 8-11 & 15-18 at 7.30pm, Little Theatre
THE GOAT OR WHO IS SYLVIA? by Edward Albee

"... did you ever think you'd come back from your splendid life, walk into your living room and find you had no life left?"

It's Martin's fiftieth birthday and his journalist friend Ross is conducting a TV interview on Martin's tremendous career as a world-leading architect. Martin should be happy, but he's hiding a secret that will eventually destroy his life of success. 'The Goa't is an existential tragicomedy that explores love and grief; how we process it, and how it changes our behaviour and beliefs.

Director Matt Houston said "What grips me most about this play is its dialogue. Razor-sharp, bitingly funny and irreverent, it takes the audience on an absurd, mercurial journey. It's a confronting and timely examination of family, love, social prejudice and taboo, and asks us as an audience, as Albee puts it, to question "whether or not all the values [we] hold are valid." The play is structured like a Greek tragedy, and so what better place to present it as it should be, in the round at the Little Theatre? I hope to create an intimate, eye-opening and challenging theatrical experience."

OCTOBER
Saturday 6 at 7.30pm, Sunday 7 (4pm matinee), Wednesday to Saturday 10-13 & 17-20 at 7.30pm Little Theatre
The South Australian Première of
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK by Tom Wright, based on the book by Joan Lindsay

"I know you're there ... Miranda? Miranda!"

The year is 1900, the location Appleyard College, a private girls school near Melbourne. On St Valentine's Day, the pupils set off on a picnic to nearby Hanging Rock. It's a blistering summer's day and four students and a teacher venture up the rock. All but one vanish, never to be seen again.

Director Geoff Brittain said "I chose this play because it is an Australian classic story, it has a cast of five young female performers who will need to stretch their boundaries to take on the many and varied roles within the play. I like that it is a mystery and that no one knows whether it is true or not."

In addition to these major events on our calendar, the Guild will continue its tradition of supporting acting workshops and drama activities for students, two smaller scale student productions and we will end the year with a spectacular Outdoor Gala Presentation of Shakespeare's As You Like It, details to be revealed!

Theatre Guild Chair Sonja Graetz said "The Board is thrilled and privileged to be presenting this fabulous series of plays for the Guild's 80th year. It is an honour to be part of such a wonderful and historic theatre company with an incredible body of work behind it. With the 2018 Season, we look forward to celebrating that award-winning past and introducing our loyal and new audience members to the joys of theatre and hope they will continue to join us well into the future."

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