STC takes on von Mayenburg’s Perplex

Sarah Giles directs German playwright Marius von Mayenburg’s Perplex, a rollicking absurdist comedy about the capriciousness of reality and the unreliability of reason.

Andrea Demetriades, Glenn Hazeldine, Rebecca Massey and Tim Walter perform in the Australian premiere at STC’s Wharf 1 from 31 March, opening on Friday 4 April 2014. Set and costumes are by STC Resident Designer Renée Mulder, lighting by Benjamin Cisterne and music and sound design by Max Lyandvert.

As Perplex opens, a couple returns home to their flat from a holiday to find that nothing is quite as it should be. There’s a strange smell in the place, the electricity appears to have been cut off and even the plants look mysteriously different. Worst of all, another couple, their friends who were supposed to be taking care of things for them, are acting very strangely. Very soon a cavalcade of transformations begins, and everyone must scramble for some sense of security in a constantly changing reality.

Perplex premiered in Berlin in 2010 at the famed Schaubühne where Marius von Mayenburg has been writer in residence and dramaturg since the beginning of Thomas Ostermeier’s artistic directorship in 2000. Previous works by von Mayenburg performed in Sydney are Moving Target (2008) and The Ugly One (2011).

For more information and tickets contact STC Box Office: 02 9250 1777. sydneytheatre.com.au