Red Stitch announces forthcoming productions

Red Stitch Actors Theatre Artistic Director, David Whiteley last night announced the Company’s second season for 2010.

The program offers an exciting collection of new and diverse plays from around the globe, including the world premiere of Stop.Rewind by Melbourne writer, Melissa Bubnic. Stop.Rewind is the second play developed through the Red Stitch Writers Programme, following on from the award-winning Red Sky Morning, developed with Tom Holloway.

“The comedy Stop. Rewind takes us in a completely different direction from the first Red Stitch Writers developed work, Red Sky Morning,” Whiteley said.

“Melissa was fascinated by David Greig’s Yellow Moon (Red Stitch, 2009) and what grew out of her original idea was an hilarious and engaging portrait of a group of co-workers who, in their conversations about themselves, about each other and in their private missives, related a very human story of a group of people which is told by the group itself.”

After Stop.Rewind in July comes The City, a dark and intriguing comic mystery by British playwright Martin Crimp. October showcases the Australian premiere of Oh Well Never Mind Bye, a political drama exploring issues of distortion and bias in the media by Steven Lally.

The year closes with David Grieg’s (Yellow Moon, Outlying Islands) new version of August Strindberg’s Creditors, a comic tale about sex, guilt, revenge and jealousy.

Directors Anne Browning (The Pitch, The Colours) and Adena Jacobs join Red Stitch regular, David Bell (The Little Dog Laughed), and resident co-dramaturg, Gary Abrahams (Acts of Deceit) to present this exciting season of plays.

Since 2002, Red Stitch has developed and showcased work by new and established playwrights and has emerged as one of Australia’s most successful independent companies. They have produced around 70 contemporary plays, almost all Australian premieres, by acclaimed writers from the UK, the USA, Australia and Europe, including Martin Crimp, Edward Albee, Paula Vogel, Mark O’Rowe, Richard Bean, Sarah Kane, Leo Butler, Philip Ridley, Simon Stephens and Kenneth Lonergan.

The Company has won a number of major industry awards including Best Production, Best Direction, Best Actor and Best New Writing.

2010 marks nine years of work for the fledgling group and a major milestone for a company that is still growing as an organisation and raising standards in performance.