Extraordinary new work on show, Sydney

The Tamarama Rock Surfers are set to present the extraordinary new work The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman: AKA Bob Dylan (A Lie) – A Theatrical Talking Blues and Glissendorf  by award-winning poet and playwright Benito di Fonzo,bringing to life the story of one of the 20th Centuries most important cultural icons.

Dylan is a notoriously enigmatic cultural icon. But, rather than unscrambling Bob’s life in predictably realist biographical form and finding method in the madness, Di Fonzo embraces the madness of the method. He presents Dylan’s life through his own idiom of rhythmic wordplay, riffing on his many voices, phases, phrases, influences, epiphanies and styles of music and myth that the man himself created.

The Chronic Ills is a musical, theatrical, poetic and fast-paced journey through Dylan’s wild life.

After a sell-out late sessions season in Sydney in 2009, The Chronic Ills was developed by TRS in conjunction with Riverside and HotHouse Theatres and is wowing audiences at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe before returning to Sydney for its Main Stage season at the Old Fitzroy Theatre.

The Chronic Ills features Sydney actor/musician Matt Ralph as Bob Dylan, Lenore Munro as Joan Baez (and Bob’s wives, Jesus and Bono), Andrew Henry as Abraham Lincoln (and Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie and TS Eliot) and Simon Rippingale on Double Bass, Ukulele and Harmonica.

The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman was part of the Tamarama Rock Surfers 2009 ‘Late Sessions’ Season and is in development with TRS’s ‘Early Sessions’ development Program, and was supported by The Riverside Theatres as part of their BREAKOUT.

The play is at the Old Fitztroy Theatre in Sydney from April 6. Details and bookings: 1300 438 849.