This December, on the eve of its 60th anniversary, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) opens its doors to the public for the Directors’ and Designers’ Graduating Productions.
This season features original works inspired by Princess Diana’s iconic Panorama TV interview, Australian cult classic Wake in Fright, Peter Garrett’s autobiography set to Midnight Oil, notorious Australian ‘UFO abductions’, gay conversion facilities, scandalous sex playwright Frank Wedekind, ‘degenerate lunatic’ Hedda Gabler, and one classic French farce.
The Directors have chosen toxic masculinity, in a specifically Australian context, and iconic female figures, reexamined, as their common threads.
Big Blue Sky
By Peter Garrett; directed and adapted by Christopher Thomson; designed by Aislinn King
Big Blue Sky is a rock musical adaptation of Peter Garrett’s autobiography, set to the music of Midnight Oil.
Delta Sierra Juliet
Created by Darcy Green, Elliot Vella, and Jackson Used; directed by Darcy Green; designed by Olivia Rowlands
Based on true events surrounding the mysterious 1978 disappearance of Frederick Valentich, Delta Sierra Juliet is a new Australian work dealing with loss, grief and our obsession with the unknown. Are we alone?
DIANA
Devised by Tait de Lorenzo and Shannon Dooley; directed by Tait de Lorenzo; designed by Camille Ostrowsky
DIANA is an original live cinema production inspired by Princess Diana’s iconic Panorama TV interview. A glimpse into the private life of The People’s Princess.
Hedda
Based on Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler; adapted and directed by Mikala Westall; designed by Kate Beere
In a bold new staging of a classic, Hedda shines a light on a character who has been labelled ‘degenerate, morbid, bitter, something of a visionary, something of a lunatic.’
LULU: A Modern Sex Tragedy
Inspired by Frank Wedekind’s Lulu; directed and adapted by Claudia Osborne; designed by Kelsey Lee
Trapped inside Pandora’s Box, Lulu is whatever you want her to be. Lulu is mother, child, wife, object, beauty, muse and mistress. A bold new work exploring fantasy and desire.
Le Mariage Forcé
By Molière; directed by Ellen Wiltshire; designed by Lucy McCullough
How can the aged bridegroom be certain that his intended truly loves him and not another? As comically relevant today as it was in 1664.
Wake in Fright
Adapted by Samuel Lucas Allen from the screenplay by Evan Jones; directed and adapted by Samuel Lucas Allen; designed by Brianna Russell
Inspired by the cult classic, Wake in Fright is the story of an arrogant man, who trapped in the country town of the Yabba, is destroyed by the outback and himself.
We Are Gods
Devised by Riley Spadaro with the Company; directed by Riley Spadaro; designed by Grace Deacon
‘I feel like the blemishes are mine by choice, which, of course, they aren’t.’ He sits staring at a white wall trying to make it blue. He hasn’t been sleeping well. He’s been having dreams about legs in pink stockings again. Boy’s legs. In pink stockings. Again.
We Are Gods is part love story, part homoerotic fever dream.
