Thursday on their mind – A new international co-production for Adelaide

Thursday, a new international co-production between Adelaide’s own Brink productions and England’s English Touring Company, will be presented by the Adelaide Festival at the Norwood Concert Hall from 25 February to 16 March 2013.

Written by controversial British playwright Bryony Lavery and directed by Brink’s inaugural Artistic Director Chris Drummond Thursday utilises the extraordinary story of Adelaide born Dr. Gill Hicks MBE FRSA. Hicks was the last person rescued alive in the July 7 2005 London Underground bombings. Both Hicks’ legs were amputated below the knee and she was not expected to survive the injuries. Clearly she did and has gone on to become a highly sought after speaker for charities, community groups and schools both in Australia and in Britain.

Thursday explores the varied human response to extreme violence.

“Thursday tells a number of extraordinary stories all spiralling around the one central narrative, creating a vast emotional human landscape that combines to evoke the inner life of a single person”, said director Chris Drummond.

“Through the theatricality of layering story, image, music and performance, the audience are drawn more deeply into what it feels like to be that person, and in a much richer way.”

Often sad, beautiful and unexpectedly (and joyfully) funny, the show has been in active development since 2009, evolving through workshops in London with both Australian and British artists.

“Writing a good play is really, really, really fiendishly difficult. But, if I had the choice, I would always make a play in the Brink way” said playwright Bryony Lavery.

“The first exploratory workshops in London in 2010 formed the DNA of Thursday and were immensely helpful to me and the writing process through the added intuition, expertise, instinct and skills of the other craftspeople who arrived on the project, much earlier on in the writing process. Crucially we met Gill Hicks on the first day of the workshop. Crucially, because her real experience and factual account had, somehow, to be honourably transformed into friable fiction for Thursday. This is a play, not a documentary. What we have made feels new, surprising and beautiful.”

The ensemble cast of 9 actors includes Paul Blackwell, Kate Mulvany, Nathan O’Keefe and Deidre Rubenstein from Australia and Emma Handy, Martin Hutson, Lena Kaur, Tom Mothersdale and Rochenda Sandall from the United Kingdom.

Other principle artists involved in the production include designer Dan Potra (Sydney 2000 Olympics), highly respected local composer Quentin Grant, veteran UK lighting designer Colin Grenfell and the show’s producers, Australian Kay Jamieson and Briton Jane Claire.

Running for 90 minutes without an interval Thursday promises to be a dynamic and challenging work at a truly international standard. Bookings at adelaidefestival.com.au or BASS on 131 246.