magical magical - Black Swan State Theatre Company

black swan state theatre company
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The Year
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By Joan Di
starring
Helen Morse
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BASED ON H
musician
MEMOIR
Iain Grandage
Director
Kate Cherry
Christina Smith Lighting Designer Matt Scott Composer Iain Grandage
Associate Director Paul English Stage Manager Amy Leeder Assistant Stage Manager Rebecca Gibbs
Production Electrician Tess Reuvers Photographer Gary Marsh
Set & Costume Designer
A perth international Arts festival event
7 – 25 February 2009
Dolphin
Theatre
Duration approximately 1 hour 45 minutes
Win e Pa r t n e r
P r incipa l Pa r t n e r
ABOUT JOAN DIDION
Playwright
Joan Didion was born in 1934. In 1963 she published her first
novel, Run River. In 1968 Didion published a collection of essays
titled Slouching towards Bethlehem. Two years later, she
published her second novel, Play It As It Lays, a sharp satire that
skewered Hollywood culture. In 1971 Didion (and her husband,
John Gregory Dunne) collaborated on Panic in Needle Park, which
hit the big screen. A successful film adaptation, and a National
Book Award nomination for The White Album in 1981 cemented
Didion's status as one of America's preeminent literary figures.
The novel A Book of Common Prayer and The White Album,
another collection of essays about California, appeared in 1977
and 1979 respectively. Didion and Dunne's screenplay for the
1976 remake of A Star is Born secured their financial future.
In 1988 the couple relocated to New York, where Didion spent the
late 1980s covering American politics. The couple spent several
years writing and rewriting an adaptation of the biography of illfated reporter Jessica Savitch, which turned into the 1996 film Up
Close & Personal. Over the course of the 1990’s Didion regularly
contributed to The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker
and published several more novels and essay collections, mostly
about politics.
In December 2003 John died suddenly of a major heart attack. The
next year, Didion’s daughter was re-hospitalised with a subdural
hematoma. Her mourning process resulted in The Year of Magical
Thinking, a spare, thoughtful meditation on her personal
experience of grief. The book was released to massive critical and
commercial acclaim in October 2005, earning Didion the National
Book Award for nonfiction and a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
In 2006 Didion announced her collaboration with the actress
Vanessa Redgrave, set to star in a one-woman Broadway play
adapted by Didion from The Year of Magical Thinking.
Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/yearmagical/context.html
Quintana Roo Dunne, John Dunne
and Joan Didion, Malibu, California, 1976.
John Bryson/Time-Life Photos/Getty Images
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Joan Didion is a woman of many talents, a successful journalist,
screenwriter, novelist, chronicler of her generation and now a playwright as
well. The Year of Magical Thinking is a stage adaptation of Didion’s critically
acclaimed, award-winning, international best-selling memoir by the same
name, which chronicles how she survived losing her husband and daughter
in the same year.
More years ago than I care to remember, Joan Didion spoke at my
graduation from Bard College in upstate New York. I was struck then
by her slightly haunted beauty, her huge soulful eyes, her great sense
of style and yet total lack of vanity. When she spoke of growing up in
California, it had particular meaning for me. At that stage I had spent
a good deal of my life either in California or Australia. I found the
California of the eighties that she described in such loving detail had
much more in common with Australia than the strange world I inhabited
in upstate New York. Even then, her thoughtful prose and discerning wit
seared my imagination.
Twenty years later, as I read Didion’s script of The Year of Magical
Thinking, I became determined to do a production with Helen Morse.
Helen and Joan share many qualities. There are the obvious ones, like
their eyes and their similar slight stature, and there are the ones that
really matter. They both have a strong sense of grace and emotional
courage, they both value language and defy clichés and they have steellike discipline in their approach to their work. Didion’s work exposes
both her frailties and vulnerabilities with razor like precision, while also
revealing that she has the steely survival skills of an artist. Helen’s own
sense of artistry means that she can breathe fascinating life into the
complex and courageous character of Joan Didion.
Christina Smith’s set evokes the cave to which Didion refers throughout
the play reminding us of the beauty of the ephemeral and the isolation
of grief. Only by guiding us through her journey of imaginings, by
engaging in a shared experience, can Didion offer herself and us
solace. As Morse navigates through the landscape of Didion’s mind,
she is accompanied by the music of Iain Grandage. In the course of the
evening the cello plays different roles, sometimes acting as provocateur
but more often offering lyricism and beauty. Grandage’s presence on
stage reminds us of the importance of great art in many forms. Art can
take a profound and potentially isolating human experience and make
it a universal offering that celebrates the ephemeral nature of life. It is
the temporary state of our existence that makes life terrifying, but as
Didion reminds us it also makes it exquisite.
Kate Cherry
Helen Morse
Joan Didion
Black Swan: As Actor: The Year of Magical Thinking marks Helen’s debut with the Company. Other Theatre (includes):
Ariette Taylor & Co: Ivanov. Keene/Taylor Theatre Project: The Rain, The Violin, The Funniest Man in the World. State Theatre
Company of South Australia: Architektin, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Under Milk Wood. Melbourne
& Brisbane International Festivals & Belvoir St Theatre: The Aunt’s Story. Melbourne Theatre Company: Frozen, The Woman
in the Window, A Little Night Music, Arcadia, The Marriage of Figaro, The Crucible, Nothing Sacred, The Tempest, Mrs Klein,
Our Country’s Good, The Recruiting Officer, The Cherry Orchard, The Rivers of China, Hedda Gabler, Europe, Twelfth Night.
Sydney Theatre Company: Death and the Maiden, Arcadia (tour), The Rivers of China. Playbox: Away, Good Works. Nimrod: Not I. Hunter Valley
Theatre Co: A Happy & Holy Occasion, Private Lives. Marian St Theatre: Duet for One (& national tour) Hit Productions: The Breath of Life. Poetry/
Music: A Kind of Radiant Darkness, music by Gordon Kerry/ANAM. Martin Mackerras/New Music Lighthouse Ensemble: Poetry of Judith Wright,
Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath. Ensemble 21: Love & Other Catastrophes. Gate Theatre Company and Lou Reed: poetry of Samuel Beckett. Stork
Hotel Theatre: The Iliad, The Odyssey. Hardiman’s Hotel: Songs, Sonnets & Rock ‘n Roll. Film/TV: Syllable To Sound, (short film/dissident poets)
Iris/Out of Time (based on life and work of NZ poet Robin Hyde/Iris Wilkinson), Pozières, Caddie, Picnic at Hanging Rock, A Town Like Alice, Silent
Reach. Awards: Helen’s many awards include a Green Room award for The Woman in the Window, a NZ Best Actress award for Iris/Out of Time.
Iain Grandage Musician & Composer
Black Swan: As Composer: Cloudstreet, Plainsong, The Career Highlights of the Mamu, Copenhagen, The Year of Living
Dangerously, The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea, The Odyssey. Other Theatre: As Composer: Melbourne Theatre Company: The
Blue Room, Cloud Nine, True West. Company B: Svetlana in Slingbacks, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Malthouse: Vamp, Babes
in the Wood. In 1996 and 1998, Iain was musical director and arranger for the national tours of Jimmy Chi’s multi award
winning Corrugation Road and his involvement with indigenous musicians has continued through his collaborations with
the Spinifex people of central Australia in collaboration with WASO and Topology, and most recently with The Black Arm
Band. As Performer: Iain plays in the cello band wood, the Australian Art Orchestra, and moonlights with cabaret singer Meowmeow. Other:
Iain has composed an opera for children, scores for dance projects, and incidental music for BBC Radio3 and Radio4. He has orchestrated songs
for Ben Folds, Gurrumul, Augie March, Tim & Tex and The Whitlams. His concert compositions have been performed throughout Australia and
overseas by the Australian Voices, Australian Boys’ Choir, St Peter’s Chorale, Collegium Musicum, WA Youth Orchestra and the WA Symphony
Orchestra. Awards: He has won Helpmann and Green Room Awards for theatre scores, which include Cloudstreet, The Blue Room, Babes in the
Wood, Plainsong, The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea and True West. He has been a member of Bulletin Magazine’s Smart 100, and has won APRA/AMC
awards for his orchestral work. Positions: Iain has been Composer-in-Residence with the Youth Orchestras of Australia, WA Symphony Orchestra
and Black Swan Theatre Company.
Kate Cherry
Director
Black Swan: As Director: The Year of Magical Thinking marks Kate’s debut with the Company. Other Theatre: Queensland
Theatre Company: The Female of the Species. Melbourne Theatre Company: Take Me Out, Honour, The Glass Menagerie,
Humble Boy, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Cloud Nine, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Duchess of Malfi,
Three Days of Rain, Betrayal, Death of a Salesman, Art and Soul, All My Sons, The Clean House, Burnt Piano, the world
premiere production of The Woman in the Window and the multi-award-winning, world-premiere production of Life
After George, as well as its national tour. Playbox: The Sick Room, The Tempest, Miracles, Spring Awakening. Queensland
University Theatre: Our Country’s Good. Geelong Performing Arts Centre: Art Day. Victorian Arts Centre: Electra. WAAPA: Cloudstreet, Three Sisters.
Other International Theatre: American Conservatory Theatre: Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare and Company: Cymbeline. California Shakespeare
Festival: Pericles. As an inaugural member of Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab, Kate was invited to direct Speaking in Tongues and The Bay at Nice
(American premiere) for the Lab. She has also directed The Love of the Nightingale, Fen, Statements Made After an Arrest, Capoeira, and White
Trash in Love (the musical). Opera: As Director: Victorian Opera: The Coronation of Poppea. Opera Australia: Brundibar. Positions: Between 1999
and 2005 Kate was Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company, prior to which she was Artistic Associate at the Playbox. Kate has acted as
Professor of Directing at University of California and at Colorado College. Awards and Fellowships: As a New York Drama League Directing Fellow,
she directed Snowwhite ­The Anti-Fairy Tale at the Ensemble Theatre in New York. She has received the Gielgud Award for Best Emerging Director
of the Classics in the US, and numerous other awards for her direction in the US. She was also nominated for a Helpmann and a Green Room
Award for Life After George. Training: Kate received her MFA from UCLA and a B.A. in English Literature from Bard College.
The Year of
Magical T
Christina Smith
Set and Costume Designer
Black Swan: As Set and Costume Designer: Blackrock. Other Theatre: As Set and Costume Designer: Melbourne Theatre
Company: Blackbird, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Clean House, Dumb Show, Things We Do For Love, Daylight
Atheist, Honour, Cloud Nine. Frank Woodley/Token Events: Possessed. Queensland Theatre Company: The Female of the
Species. Sydney Theatre Company: Troupers. Jim McPherson Inc: Respect. Belvoir St/Malthouse Theatre: Black Medea. Bell
Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Company: Rainbow’s
End. Playbox: Julia 3, Ruby Moon, Svetlana in Slingbacks, Post Felicity, Inside 01. Red Stitch: Jesus Hopped the A Train.
Store Room: A Poor Student. La Mama: The Babe, She and Believe Me Oscar Wilde. Neonheart Theatre: The Eskimo. Opera: As Set and Costume
Designer: Victorian Opera: Cosi Fan Tutte. As Costume Designer: Melbourne Theatre Company: Humble Boy, Proof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Three
Days of Rain. The Australian Ballet: Personal Best. A Set Designer: The Hoist: The Government Inspector. La Mama: The Barbeque. Melbourne
Theatre Company: Boy Gets Girl. Other: In addition to her theatre work, Christina has recently redesigned the Circa Theatrette installation at
the National Museum of Australia, and was a member of the design team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Training: Christina studied set and costume design at WAAPA, where she was the recipient of the Town and Country Scholarship. Awards:
Christina was awarded the 2005 Green Room Award in theatre design for her work on Honour, Daylight Atheist (MTC) and Julia 3 (Playbox).
Matt Scott
Lighting Designer
Black Swan: The Year of Magical Thinking marks Matt’s debut with the Company. Other Theatre: As Lighting Designer:
Matt’s most recent credits include Melbourne Theatre Company: Grace, The Hypocrite, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Blackbird,
Frost/Nixon, Rock and Roll, Don Juan in Soho, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Pillowman. Queensland Theatre
Company: Heroes. Company B Belvoir: Paul. Bell Shakespeare: Titus Anatomy – Fall of Rome, As You Like it, Macbeth. Ballet:
As Lighting Desinger: The Queensland Ballet: Orpheus/Timeless Dance. Opera: As Lighting Designer: OzOpera: Madame
Butterfly. Awards: 2005 Helpmann Award for Urinetown – The Musical for Melbourne Theatre Company, 2003 Helpmann
Award for The Blue Room, also for Melbourne Theatre Company.
Paul English
Associate Director
Black Swan: As Associate Director: The Year of Magical Thinking marks Paul’s debut with the Company. Other Theatre:
As Actor: Ariette Taylor and Company: The Lower Depths, Ivanov. Keene/Taylor Theatre Project: The Violin, Homeland,
Beneath Heaven, What Remains of Dying, River, A Glass of Twilight. Melbourne Theatre Company: Includes All My Sons ,
Measure for Measure, Shark Fin Soup, The Woman In The Window, Much Ado About Nothing, Present Laughter, No Going
Back, Othello, The Dutch Courtesan, Racing Demon, Woman in Mind, Mad Forest, The Tempest, See How They Run, A
Respectable Wedding, and Europe. Playbox: Rapture, Salt, Crazy Brave, A Return To The Brink, Good Works. The Hole in the
Wall: Ghosts, Hamlet. Shy Tiger: Controlled Crying. South Australian Theatre Company: Cabaret, Closer. Sydney Theatre Company: Arcadia and
tour. Complete Works: A Man For All Seasons. TV: As Actor: SeaChange, MDA, Phoenix, Bootleg, Stingers, All Saints, City Homicide, The Forest,
Curtin. Other: Paul has recorded many audio books, including Peter Carey’s True History Of The Kelly Gang and Li Cunxin’s Mao’s Last Dancer. As
Director: In 2005 Paul directed the Malthouse’s Education Program exploration of Bovell’s Speaking in Tongues. Positions: Paul was a founding
member of the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project and Chairman of its Board for two years. Awards: Audiofile Magazine’s Earphones Award for Mao’s
Last Dancer.
THANK YOU
Black Swan State Theatre Company would like to thank Arts Workshop, The Arts Angels, All Things Theatre for the House Curtains, Geoff
Bickford and Dessein, Rebecca Davis, Peg Cherry, Stuart Halusz, Roger Hodgman, Janet Holmes à Court, Duncan Ord, Leisa Landres-Ord,
Caitlyn Beresford-Ord, Cathy Penglis, Spectacles of Mount Lawley and Ann Tonks.
The Year of Magical Thinking was originally produced by Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Debra Black, Daryl Roth, The Shubert Organisation and
Executive Producers; Stuart Thompson and John Barlow.
Thinking By Joan Didion
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THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING
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