Blanchett & Upton to Lead Sydney Theatre Company in '07

Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and her husband, playwright/translator Andrew Upton, will assume artistic leadership of the Sydney Theatre Company at the end of 2007.

Blanchett has been involved with the Australian theatre company for some time, having starred there in Hedda Gabler (which she later took to the Brooklyn Academy of Music), Top Girls, Oleanna and Kafka Dances.  Current artistic director Robyin Nevin will resign her post after having been with the Sydney Theatre Company for eight and a half years.

It was previously announced that Blanchett and Upton would each be making a directorial debut at the company.  Blanchett will helm David Harrower's Blackbird next year, but will first stage Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska in a double bill with David Mamet's Reunion (directed by Upton) this December.

Blanchett, who was previously seen in a West End revival of Plenty, won an Oscar for her work in The Aviator.  She was also Oscar-nominated for her performance in Elizabeth--the film that boosted her to film stardom. Other movie credits include Little Fish, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Missing, Bandits and Veronica Guerin.

Upton translated Ibsen's Hedda Gabler for its Sydney Theatre Company and BAM productions.  His plays include The Hanging Man and Death and Taxes, while Blue Eyes and Foucault's Pendulum are among his screenplays.  He has also penned adaptations of Cyrano de Bergerac and other classics.  Philip Seymour Hoffman will direct the world premiere of his Riflemind next year.

Visit www.sydneytheatre.com.au for more information.