Sport For Jove Announces 2016 Theatre Season

Sport For Jove Theatre Company proudly presents its 2016 theatre season.

In December and January, Sport For Jove's acclaimed Outdoor Summer Season returns for its 7th year with a double bill of moonlit romance, of men behaving badly and women winning the day, with a swift kick up the backside for a culture that is still discussing the rights and rules of marriage equality centuries after our greatest poets shot Cupid's arrows right back at him.

These are two of the world's perfect comedies, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare's only entirely original comedy, Love's Labour's Lost, the play most closely tied to his staggering series of Sonnets, to this day the most popular love poetry ever written. Sport For Jove, the company that salvaged the forgotten All's Well That Ends Well to such acclaim, brings this unknown gem to the stage in a full Elizabethan setting, fusing the sonnets and the play into a passionate study of the act of artistic creation. Summer Season 7 will give these wonderful plays a vigorous outdoor life in the glorious surrounds of Bella Vista Farm and Leura Everglades Gardens.

Also playing as a bonus curtain raiser to Love's Labour's Lost throughout the festival season is the brilliant short one-act play Shakespearealism, by acclaimed Australian actor, writer and film director Josh Lawson, directed by Lizzie Schebesta.

Love's Labour Lost, By William Shakespeare Adapted & Directed by Damien Ryan Designed by Melanie Liertz

Featuring Emily Eskell, Sabryna Te'o, Tim Walter, Berynn Schwerdt, Madeleine Jones, Lara Schwerdt, Curtis Fernandez & George Banders

Playing with the ingenious curtain raiser, Shakespearealism, By Josh Lawson Directed by Lizzie Schebesta

Featuring Gabrielle Scawthorne, James Lugton, Aaron Tsindos & Ed Lembke-Hogan

The Importance of Being Earnest, By Oscar Wilde Directed by Damien Ryan and Terry Karabelas Designed by Anna Gardiner

Featuring Deborah Kennedy as Lady Bracknell with Claire Lovering, Eloise Winestock, Aaron Tsindos, Scott Sheridan and Wendy Strehlow.

December 12h - January 25th,

Bella Vista Farm, Baulkham Hills & The Everglades Garden, Leura

Moving indoors, Sport For Jove returns to the Seymour Centre, as its resident theatre company, to stage a neglected 20th Century masterpiece about censorship of the world's most innocent yet dangerous satirical device - the political cartoon.

Howard Barker's No End of Blame is a sublimely playful, challenging and pertinent political masterpiece. Set over 6 decades of the 20th Century across Europe's most significant historical moments, the story pits a passionate, provocative pair of artists, one a painter, the other a cartoonist, against the forces of censorship and insidious state control that corrupt and stifle the human right to freedom of thought and freedom of speech. This brutal and savagely funny play could not be more relevant to our modern world in light of the Charlie Hebdo tragedy and the world's new brand of warfare, journalism and censorship. A visual and aural feast for the senses, sharp, biting, hilarious and full of variety.

No End Of Blame, By Howard Barker

Directed by Damien Ryan

Designed by Lucilla Smith

Featuring Yalin Ozucelik, Lizzie Schebesta, Danielle King, Amy Usherwood

March 4th - March 19th

Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre, Chippendale

Moving into May, Sport For Jove is remounting its hugely successful production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew on the great Hollywood soundstage of the silent film era, in the York Theatre, Seymour Centre and the Riverside Theatre, Parramatta.

Shakespeare's love stories challenge us very deeply. They tend to be models of disharmony and madness in which trust, patience and finally, hope, are only reached through chaos and pain. They are as troubling as they are funny, and as beautiful as they are disturbing. The Taming of the Shrew captures that paradox perfectly, among the most challenging, confronting and exuberant plays ever written.

Sport for Jove's world-class production won unanimous critical acclaim in its 2011/12 Summer Festival Season, where it was nominated for 5 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Independent Production, Actor, Actress, Director and Design. This strictly limited season is not to be missed!

The Taming of the Shrew, By William Shakespeare

Directed by Damien Ryan

Designed by Anna Gardiner

May 5th - May 7th,

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta

May 19th - May 28th,

Seymour Centre, ChippendaleIn June, Sport For Jove is proud to be staging one of Australia's defining works of art on the big stage of the York Theatre. Michael Gow's Away is an extraordinary and moving story of family, community, awakening and forgiveness.

The 30th Anniversary of this seminal Australian work is marked by a powerful and inventive new production. Michael Gow's epic and intimate story of family renewal, death and awakening is brought to life with an exceptional ensemble cast, offering theatre goers a must-see experience. The coming of age story of Tom and Meg and their families celebrates a lost time and place in 1960s Australia that still expresses our deepest national, social and personal anxieties today. We are thrilled to present this national treasure in a vibrant new production.

AWAY, By Michael Gow Directed by Damien Ryan Designed by Lucilla Smith

Featuring James Bell, Georgia Scott

June 2nd - June 6th

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta

June 22nd - June 25th

York Theatre, Seymour Centre, Chippendale

Opening in late July, a lifetime dedicated to Chekhov's work brings Kevin Jackson to direct his greatest play, Three Sisters. Anton Chekhov's vision of the Prozorov family is one of the most atmospheric and complete portraits of the ordinary/extraordinary flux of human life and ebbing dreams ever penned and this production combines faith and bold invention for a beautiful and rewarding experience in the theatre.

This production will also be part of The Anton Project, a study over several months of Chekhov's life and work, including Russian history, dance, writing, and even cooking! This complete and immersive experience will allow people to become more engaged with the play, the people, and the culture, allowing for a deeper more appreciative understanding of the work. Anyone will be welcome to this series of talks and events in the months leading up to the production.

Three Sisters, By Anton Chekhov