Melbourne Theatre Company Unveils 60th Anniversary Season

Since its foundation in 1953, Australia's oldest theatre company has fed and sustained the theatrical lifeblood of its community. In 2013, MTC celebrates 60 years of presenting diverse, engaging contemporary and classic stories that continue to enrich lives with understanding and empathy through the storytelling power of the finest theatre imaginable.

In 2013 MTC presents four world premieres from some of Australia's most accomplished playwrights and five Australian premieres of works from UK, Europe, South Africa and USA.

Melbourne Theatre Company celebrates the opening of its 2013 season and 60th anniversary year with the Australian premiere of The Other Place by Sharr White. Catherine McClements and Philip Quast star in this poignant story of the slow unravelling of a brilliant mind, directed by multi-award-winning film and theatre director Nadia Tass with original music by Paul Grabowsky.

Two unlikely people meet in a single moment sparking infinite possibilities as quantum theory hits the stage. Alison Bell stars in the Australian premiere of CONSTELLATIONS, a funny, touching play by groundbreaking British playwright, Nick Payne. New Associate Director Leticia Cáceres makes her highly anticipated MTC mainstage debut.

The magnificent Robyn Nevin stars in OTHER DESERT CITIES by American playwright Jon Robin Baitz, creator of the hit TV series, Brothers and Sisters. MTC's new Associate Artistic Director Sam Strong directs this eagerly-awaited Australian premiere which mixes a nation's politics with a family in crisis.

Two guvnors means two meal tickets and two pay days, only if Frances Henshall can keep them apart! Direct from London's West End, Owain Arthur stars in Richard Bean's riotously funny, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, based on Goldoni's THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, with songs by Grant Olding. The National Theatre of Great Britain's smash hit production directed by Nicholas Hytner is presented by Melbourne Theatre Company and Arts Centre Melbourne.

Making her first return to MTC since her celebrated Oscar nomination, Jacki Weaver shares the stage with Pacharo Mzembe in the Australian premiere of SOLOMON AND MARION by award-winning South African playwright Lara Foot. This heartfelt tale of two very different lives brought together by loss in a rapidly changing nation is directed by Pamela Rabe.

Celebrated actor David Wenham stars opposite Anita Hegh in Arthur Miller's masterpiece, THE CRUCIBLE. Moral outrage and mass hysteria sees the God-fearing citizens of Salem turn on their own cloistered community with devastating results. Written at the height of the 1950s McCarthy witch-hunts, this timeless classic is directed by MTC's Associate Artistic Director, Sam Strong.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD is Simon Stone's radical re-working of a Chekhov classic. In denial about losing the family estate to bankruptcy, Ranevskaya is a woman unwilling to accept change and blinded by pride when a lifeline is offered by her former employee. Pamela Rabe stars as Ranevskaya in this brilliant, contemporary production.

The world premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith's hilarious new play TRUE MINDS, commissioned by Melbourne Theatre Company, is a wonderfully witty story about love and dysfunctional family relationships, directed by Peter Houghton.

Australia's most distinguished playwright David Williamson takes on the greatest media mogul of all time in the world premiere of RUPERT. This political fantasia commissioned by MTC and directed by Lee Lewis is guaranteed to hit the headlines.

In a first for the Company we present ZEITGEIST - an MTC Innovation. We've deliberately kept a space open in our programming season to bring audiences the freshest Australian or international work hot off the playwright's desk, stepping away from the constraints of the traditional programming model. MTC will reveal this new work in 2013.

A 2010 Olivier Award winner for Best New Play, The MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall is an imagined account of what took place the night before the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Following his recent success with Red, Alkinos Tsilimidos returns to MTC to direct Zahra Newman as the sassy, mysterious maid.

THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING is Richard Tulloch's magical stage adaptation of Dutch author Guus Kuijer's classic book. Neil Armfield will direct this funny, enchanting family production starring Matthew Whittet. This delightful addition to MTC's main season is the critically acclaimed co-production by Belvoir and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image.

For further information on the MTC 2013 Season visit the Melbourne Theatre Company website www.mtc.com.au

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