Top playwright handcrafts for Red Stitch
Red Stitch ends its 2011 season on a high this month with the world premiere of acclaimed playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s new play, Day One. A Hotel, Evening.
As cast member Sarah Sutherland told the Star Observer, Murray-Smith wrote the play specifically for the theatre company.
“She’s been a really great supporter of Red Stitch for a long time, and actually approached us and said, ‘I’ve written a play for you to put on’. It’s been exciting on so many levels,” she said.
The play tells the story of three middle-class couples, each struggling with the burden of spousal infidelity. But unlike the tortured suburban ennui of, say, The Slap, it’s played strictly for laughs.
“It’s a sparkling comedy, and it’s got a touch of the French farce to it. Of course beneath that there are the undercurrents of what it means to get older, particularly for my character, who’s just passed 40 and is — how should I put this? — feeling the decline,” Sutherland laughed.
The actress said she hoped the play would serve as a sweet dessert to the meatier main courses of some of Red Stitch’s more serious-minded works this year.
“A lot of our work can be quite gritty and hard-hitting, but this is something different for us — it’s so effervescent and just a whole lot of fun.”
INFO: Day One. A Hotel, Evening, November 18 – December 17, Red Stitch Actors Theatre.
You May Also Like
