2008 Event Media Release - Moving Target
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Issued Monday, 4 February 2008
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS MOVING TARGET
By Marius Von Mayenburg
Translated by Maja Zade
Directed by Benedict Andrews
An Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts, Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Opera House production
Set Design Robert Cousins Costume Design Fiona Crombie
Lighitng Design Paul Jackson Sound Design Hamish Michael Assistant Direction Hallie Shellam
Performed by Alison Bell, Julie Forysth, Rita Kalnejais, Robert Menzies, Hamish Micheal and Matthew Whittet
von Mayenburg is having a large influence on a generation of 20-something writers who have been inspired by his courage and success in exploring new territory. The Age
Abort mission. Don’t shoot. Abort Mission. Abort.
Six people wait in a non-descript room: dirty walls, an old carpet, a sofa, a small table, a few chairs, a sleeping bag. Without warning, someone walks to the corner and counts to 100. The room is ripped apart and turned inside out as the others desperately try to disappear. The thrill of the chase. The smell of fear. The very real game of ‘Hide and Seek’ is about to begin.
In the world premiere production of Moving Target, director Benedict Andrews and writer Marius Von Mayenberg present their particularly romantic, European version of the post capitalist dystopia in this urgent thriller, where the most innocent of gestures take on a sinister twist.
Something disturbing is happening to the last frontier of innocence, the natural order is in disarray – the children aren’t smiling, their faces have grown harder, they’re not laughing; lamps are flickering, strange stains are appearing on the carpet, a parcel appears in the bin, and they say there was a huge explosion on the rubbish tip. Questions are being asked; Should the parents call the hotline? Is it ok to torture a child for information? Could a ten-year-old plot mass murder?…Or an entire generation of children?
Continuing the disquieting vision they discovered in Eldorado, this new work is in turns hilarious and horrific as the nightmare of the everyday hypnotically reveals itself. Wrapped in the guise of innocent play, this collaboration with an ensemble of some of our most provocative actors, explore archaic terrors of being found or forgotten, of being hunted, of trying to escape.
Benedict Andrews (Eldorado, Julius Caesar, The Season At Sarsaparilla) most recently dazzled audiences with his revitalised version of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. Andrews and von Mayenburg (Fireface, Parasites, Eldorado) work together at the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin where they created productions of Sarah Kane's Cleansed and von Mayenburg's The Ugly One together. Spawning from this distinctive creative friendship Moving Target will mark von Mayenburg’s first premiere outside of a European theatre.
in an artform that needs to be both popular and pragmatic, Benedict manages to remain that rare thing: a poet Neil Armfield
Season Details: Moving Target
Dates/Times: Wednesday to Saturday at 8.15pm and Sunday at 5pm from April 2 to 13. Tuesday 8 April at 6.30pm.
Venue: The Studio
Tickets: $49 or $37 concession
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777
Duration: 90 minutes
Moving Target will be performed at Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts (28 Feb – 8 Mar) and at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre (Mar 12 – 19).