BLONDE POISON to Open in Melbourne

Given the choice, would you save your family and yourself from persecution or condemn others to certain death? Blonde Poison is a remarkable one-woman play about beauty, treachery and the high price of survival, starring Best Actress Nominee at the 2015 Sydney Theatre Awards, Belinda Giblin like you have never seen her before.

Following rave reviews in Sydney for its premier season in 2015, Blonde Poison will open in Melbourne, (following a return season at the Sydney Opera House) for a strictly limited season at The Lawler from 1 to 11 June

What is the price of survival? Stella Goldschlag was living illegally in war torn Berlin when she was betrayed and tortured. When offered the chance of saving herself and her parents from the death camps, she agreed to be a "greifer" or catcher for the Gestapo and inform on other Jews in hiding. She was extraordinarily successful in this and is "credited" with finding and capturing 3000 Jews. She continued working for the Gestapo even after her parents had been sent to their death. What would you have done to survive?

The vast dimensions of Stella's character range from tortured victim to cruel killer, from loving daughter and mother to betrayer of friends, from gentle lover to depraved promiscuity. She was given the name 'Blonde Poison' by the Gestapo who revelled in her treachery. Decades after the war Stella agrees to be interviewed by a childhood friend, now a respected journalist -her last chance at redemption. Can she ever be released from her past?

Critically acclaimed as a "90-minute tour de force" the Australian premiere of Blonde Poison enjoyed a sold-out season at The Old Fitz Theatre last year and garnered Belinda Giblin a Sydney Theatre Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role in an Independent Production.

The producer of Freud's Last Session (winner, Best off Broadway Play 2011) and co-producer of Howie the Rookie (winner, Best Actor in an Independent Production, 2014 Sydney Theatre Awards) is thrilled to bring this award winning play to Melbourne for the first time. "The response to the premiere of Blonde Poison was overwhelming," said producer Adam Liberman. "It had Sydney audiences and critics gripped from beginning to end and was a career-defining role for one of Australia's most talented actresses. Don't miss your chance to see one of the finest solo performances you're likely to see."

Gail Louw is an internationally acclaimed playwright/writer, whose Jewish background and maternal influence has informed much of her writing, including this production. Blonde Poison has found great success internationally winning an Argus Award for Artistic Excellence at the Brighton Festival and Fringe in 2012 and receiving excellent reviews both in the UK and in Los Angeles, where it was staged in January 2015.

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