by LAURA WADE

W E LC O M E
Our 2020 season invites you to see the world
differently as we present a suite of plays that will
ignite imaginations, challenge preconceptions
and enrich lives. That sentiment could not be
more true for this Olivier Award-winning comedy
and our season opener – Home, I’m Darling.
In this Australian premiere production we meet
1950s archetypes Judy and Johnny, and get a
glimpse into their carefully curated lives. But
beneath the technicolour surface there’s more to
this 1950s dream than meets the eye, and what
unravels is a razor-sharp social commentary that
will leave you with plenty to contemplate about
our modern lives.
MTC Associate Artistic Director Sarah Goodes
has assembled a cast of unparalleled comedic
talents to bring this play to life and we’re thrilled
to have Jane Turner back on our stage alongside
Nikki Shiels, Toby Truslove, Peter Paltos, Izabella
Yena and Susie Youssef.
As we open a new season and embark on a new
decade, we couldn’t be happier to have our passionate audiences by our side. With productions
including the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, a glittering new production of
Shakespeare’s warm-hearted comedy As You Like It, four NEXT STAGE Originals and the
transformative Sunshine Super Girl in store, 2020 is a season not to miss. So if you haven’t yet got
your subscription in, now is the time to secure your seats before they’re all gone.
Enjoy the show.

Brett Sheehy ao Virginia Lovett

Artistic Director & CEO Executive Director & Co-CEO

Melbourne Theatre Company acknowledges the Yalukit Willam Peoples of the Boon Wurrung, the First Peoples of
Country on which Southbank Theatre and MTC HQ stand, and we pay our respects to all of Melbourne’s
First Peoples, to their ancestors and Elders, and to our shared future.
MTC is a department MTC is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, MTC is a member of Live
of the University its arts funding and advisory body, and by the State Government of Victoria through Performance Australia and the
of Melbourne. Creative Victoria. Australian Major Performing
Arts Group.
 MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

by LAURA WADE

20 JANUARY — 22 FEBRUARY 2020

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

— About the Play — — Creative Team —

Every couple needs a little fantasy to keep their Director Sarah Goodes
marriage sparkling, and Judy is always looking Set & Costume Designer Renée Mulder
Lighting Designer Paul Jackson
for little ways to brighten her husband Johnny’s
Composer & Sound Designer Jethro Woodward
day. Like cocktails, dancing, warm slippers … Voice & Dialect Coach Geraldine Cook-Dafner
all the usual jazz. But is their perfect 50s Assistant Director Bessie Holland
life a perfect lie? Intimacy Coordinator Michala Banas
Choreographer Steven Grace
Assistant Choreographer Tracie Morley
— Cast — Stage Manager Christine Bennett
Marcus Peter Paltos Assistant Stage Manager 1 Meg Richardson
Judy Nikki Shiels Assistant Stage Manager 2 Lucie Sutherland
Johnny Toby Truslove Sound Design Secondment Daniella Esposito
Sylvia Jane Turner VCA Stage Management Secondment Max Woods
Alex Izabella Yena Production Photography Jeff Busby
Fran Susie Youssef Rehearsal Photography Pia Johnson

For information regarding running time, please see a member of the Front of House team.

Production Partner Home, I'm Darling by Laura Wade was a Theatr Clwyd and National Theatre co-production which
premiered on the 25th June 2018, directed by Tamara Harvey at Theatr Clwyd. It transferred to the
Duke of York's Theatre, London on 26th January 2019.
By arrangement with Knight Hall Agency Ltd
 F R O M T H E D I R E C TO R
MTC Associate Artistic Director Sarah Goodes reflects on the classic
themes that underpin Laura Wade’s Olivier Award-winning play.

Nikki Shiels

W
e all like to play hide and
seek – it just varies from
individual to individual
what we are hiding from
and what we are seeking out.
In Home, I’m Darling, protagonist Judy
is hiding from the times. And who would
blame her? As the world outside swings
with pathological intensity between apathy
and hysteria, it makes sense to create
a safe port in the storm. It’s easy to
understand the act of creating and
inhabiting a world based on a bygone era
filled with shiny hopefulness. The home is a
place where Judy and her husband Johnny
feel safe, allowed to immerse themselves
in their passions and aesthetic pleasures.
Rebels against the times, of sorts.
But to keep this world quietly ticking over,
a series of choices – financial, social and
personal – have to be made. Many of these
choices lie on the fault lines of money,
gender and the role-play that arises within
marriage. The judgement they fear outside
the front door is very real. Their fragile
desperation to keep the real world at bay
gives the play its existential breadth; in the
same way all humans create a fragile web of
‘All great, simple images reveal
a psychic state. The house, even
more than the landscape, is a
‘psychic state,’ and even when
reproduced as it appears from the
outside, it bespeaks intimacy.
Psychologists generally, and Francoise Minkowska in particular, together with those whom
she has succeeded interesting in the subject, have studied the drawing of houses made
by children, and even used them for testing. Indeed, the house-test has the advantage
of welcoming spontaneity, for many children draw a house spontaneously while dreaming
over their paper and pencil. To quote Anne Balif: ‘Asking a child to draw his house is asking
him to reveal the deepest dream shelter he has found for his happiness. If he is happy,
he will succeed in drawing a snug, protected house which is well built on deeply-rooted
foundations.’ It will have the right shape, and nearly always there will be some indication
of its inner strength. In certain drawings, quite obviously, to quote Mme. Balif, ‘it is warm
indoors, and there is a fire burning, such a big fire, in fact, that it can be seen coming out
of the chimney.’ When the house is happy, soft smoke rises in gay rings above the roof.

If the child is unhappy, however, the house bears traces of his distress …
one becomes a psychologist of houses.’

— Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Lighting Designer Paul Jackson provided this quote, which was a springboard for the team’s creative direction,
says Sarah Goodes.
 Director Sarah Goodes with Toby Truslove,
Izabella Yena and Nikki Shiels
stories and illusions to keep us safe from
the brutality of real life.
When I first read this play I was struck by
how it homed in on both feminism and the
pressures of finance on a marriage. It also
made me ask the question: why does
feminism move in 'waves'? And to reflect on
how each generation responds to what has
gone before it, how mothers and daughters
react to each other’s life choices. Why,
instead of the baton getting handed on,
is it often thrown back in the face of the
previous feminist generation? Why do
daughters so often define themselves in
such direct opposition to their mothers?
Designer Renée Mulder and I talked a lot
about the influence of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
on Home, I’m Darling. Playwright Laura
Wade has very cleverly taken some of
the key structures of Ibsen’s work and
embedded them in her play. It is a doll’s
house of her own creation that Judy has
willingly locked herself inside. Of course,
in our times choice is freedom – but can
you really be free when you are financially
dependent on another person?
Renée is one of the most talented set and
costume designers working in Australia today
and together with Lighting Designer Paul
Jackson and Composer & Sound Designer
Jethro Woodward they make a dream team
to bring to life Judy’s perfect home.
Assembling this extraordinary cast for this
play was no simple task but one worth every
effort and now I simply couldn’t imagine a
better cast. Being able to lure the Australian
icon Jane Turner back from Paris, Nikki
Shiels and Susie Youssef from Sydney, as well
as Toby Truslove, Peter Paltos and Izabella
Yena and placing them together within this
world has been a dream come true.
Read more about Home, I’m Darling
at mtc.com.au/backstage
 H O W W E A R R I V E D AT # W I F E Y
Home, I’m Darling delves into the past
to help us understand our present.

Toby Truslove and Nikki Shiels

I
n Home, I’m Darling, mother-daughter
characters Sylvia and Judy have a
fundamental disagreement about what
constitutes feminism. For Judy, it’s about
choice, but for Sylvia it’s more complex.
Like many parents, she’s baffled by her
daughter’s choices; in particular, by her
lifestyle: Judy is a stay-at-home wife.
Sylvia cannot comprehend her daughter’s
adherence to the ideology known as the
Cult of True Womanhood, or the Cult of
Domesticity – a value system popularised in
the wake of the Industrial Revolution, which
cemented men’s work outside the house,
and paid; and women’s work inside, unpaid.
The four pillars or ‘virtues’ of the ideology
were piety, purity, submission and
domesticity. The ideology reached its zenith
during the 1850s, and again during the
1950s, but despite many challenges to its
dominance since then it’s a battle that’s
still being fought in 2020.
 ‘Most generations have an element of being horribly
ungrateful children. Judy acknowledges the gains feminists
of her mother’s generation have made, but
doesn’t really want to move forward.’

With Home, I’m Darling, Laura Wade
comments on 21st century issues – in
particular those around gender and
feminism – by looking at them through the
prism of the 1950s, and specifically through
the lens of the Cult of Domesticity.
When men were sent off to both World
Wars, women left their homes and took up
the jobs their husbands and brothers left
behind, picking up the slack on factory
floors and in office buildings alike. Then,
during the economic boom post-World War
II, women returned home, literally. They
gave up their wartime careers to become
full-time wives, mothers and homemakers
once more.
Soon mod-cons like washing machines and
dishwashers were sold to them as liberation
from their never-ending cycles of housework,
but socially the standards of domesticity
only increased to unattainably high
standards, while the introduction of
coloured television – and with it, a tsunami
of advertising – saw commercials that
encouraged women to participate in an
unsustainable arrangement of consumerism.
The 1960s brought with them the second
wave of feminism (the first having occurred
after women obtained the right to vote at
the start of the century), inspired by Betty
Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique,
which criticised the patriarchy for reducing
(Below) Izabella Yena; (opposite, from left) Peter Paltos; Jane Turner

a woman’s identity and worth to her ability
to marry, and to rear children. From the
1990s, a third wave of feminism caught on,
challenging the shortcomings of the first
two movements and seeking to improve
equality for all women, not just the middle-
class, educated, white women who had
dominated prior movements. At the start of
a new decade in 2020, we’re living in the
midst of the #MeToo era, with a renewed
push for perceived sex and gender roles in
our legal, social, economic and political
structures to be dismantled.
Despite all the gains of feminism, not much
has fundamentally changed at home. There
is still an enormous imbalance between
women and men when it comes to domestic
labour: according to the 2016 survey from
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in
Australia (HILDA), women in heterosexual
couples were spending almost twice as
many hours a week on domestic duties
compared with their male partners.
successful career as a writer for stage and
screen, it’s no wonder this Olivier Award-
winning mother contemplates the division
of domestic labour within her own four
walls. In the six years Wade spent penning
Home, I’m Darling, she gave birth to two
children; as did the play’s original director,
Tamara Harvey, and original lead actor,
Katherine Parkinson.
It was a bizarre coincidence, Wade reflects.
And perhaps one that subconsciously
influenced how the drama unfolds between
Judy and her husband Johnny as they divvy
up duties. Judy takes measures to live a life
almost the opposite of the one embarked
on by her mother, who raised Judy in
a commune-type environment where
vacuuming was considered anti-feminist

And in spite of increased awareness of –

and pushback against – this inequality, the
Cult of Domesticity hasn’t vanished; it’s just
gone digital. The hashtag #wifey has over
4.9 million posts on Instagram today, while
Pinterest’s overwhelmingly female users
create picture-perfect dream home boards.

For Wade, the conversation surrounding

gendered labour in the household is
on-going. With a young family, and a
 ‘… there are different flavours of feminism.
When Judy says she’s a feminist in the play,
she believes it.’ ­
and shoes were optional. Hence, she
responds in her adult-life by embodying the
very essence of what she lacked in her
‘filthy childhood’: cleanliness, order,
prettiness and care. ‘In some sense, Sylvia
created her,’ Wade suggests.
Implicit in Judy’s embrace of the Cult of
Domesticity is the quest to live simply.
‘There’s something to be said about this
lifestyle,’ the playwright explains. ‘Judy
creates a simpler existence, because she
can see the results of her endeavours
quickly. It’s not like a job where you make
products for people you’ll never see.’
But in her deep dive into this life, Judy
focuses on the perceived good and
ignores the bad, or reframes it through the
narrative of choice and feminism. Wade is
sympathetic to her character, however.
‘There’s an entitlement to that word
[feminist] in my generation and younger,
from women who haven’t necessarily had to
fight in the same way women who are older
than them have.’
‘Don’t Play Around With Love’. Written by: Joseph Burns / Claude De Metruis. Universal Music Corp. Administered by: Universal Music Publishing Pty Ltd.
‘Bouquet’. Written by: P. Faith. Drolet Music, Marpet Music, Universal PolyGram Int. Publishing, Inc. Administered by: Essex Music of Australia Pty Ltd.
Sylvia’s lived experiences and personal
memory of post-war England offer a stark
comparison to the life her daughter has
built for herself. ‘There had to be someone
in the play to say, “Firstly this is weird and
secondly, it’s pretty disrespectful to the
history that’s come before.” It made sense
for that person to be Sylvia.’
We’re always rebelling from what’s come
before us, Wade believes. ‘Most generations
have an element of being horribly ungrateful
children. Judy acknowledges the gains
feminists of her mother’s generation
have made, but doesn’t really want to
move forward.’
As Wade explores the nuances of these
clashing attitudes to feminism in Home, I’m
Darling, she reminds us that ‘it’s important
not to judge [Judy]. There are different
flavours of feminism. When Judy says she’s
a feminist in the play, she believes it.’
Words by Sarah Corridon
Read a extended interview with
Laura Wade at mtc.com.au/
backstage
(Clockwise from top left) Peter Paltos, Susie Youssef and Nikki Shiels;
Jane Turner; Susie Youssef and Nikki Shiels; Nikki Shiels
 P L AY W R I G H T
Laura Wade

Nikki Shiels and Jane Turner

Laura Wade is an Olivier Award-winning playwright and

screenwriter. Her most recent play Home, I’m Darling premiered
at Theatre Clwyd in 2018 before transferring to the National
Theatre where it received rave reviews; in February 2019 it
transferred to the West End at the Duke of York’s. Home, I’m
Darling won the award for Best Comedy at the 2019 Oliviers.

In 2018 Laura adapted Jane Austen’s unfinished novel

The Watsons for the stage for Chichester Festival Theatre; it will
open in the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre. In 2015 Laura
adapted Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet for the stage. The play premiered at the Lyric
Hammersmith before transferring to the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

Laura’s screenplay The Riot Club, an adaptation of her 2010 stage play Posh, premiered
at Toronto International Film Festival 2014. It opened in cinemas in September 2014.
Posh opened in the West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 11 May 2012. The original
production opened at the Royal Court Theatre in April 2010 to sell-out audiences.
 C A S T & C R E AT I V E T E A M

PETER PALTOS | Marcus
Peter Paltos’ previous credits for Melbourne Theatre Company include Gloria, Minnie & Liraz,
The Sovereign Wife (MTC NEON/Sisters Grimm) and MKA Double Feature (MTC NEON/MKA).
His other theatre credits include The Audition (Outer Urban Projects); Calpurnia Descending
(Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); Merciless Gods (Little Ones); The Resistible
Rise of Arturo Ui (Don’t Look Away), Playlist 2017 (Red Stitch); and Summertime in the Garden
of Eden (Sisters Grimm). Peter’s film credits include Holding the Man, Rebooted and the soon-
to-be released films The Taverna and Paper Champions. He has also made a number of
television appearances, including Sisters (Network Ten) and City Homicide (Seven Network).

NIKKI SHIELS | Judy
Nikki Shiels has previously worked with Melbourne Theatre Company in The Cherry Orchard,
True Minds, Top Girls and Don Parties On. Other theatre credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
A Cheery Soul and Three Sisters (Sydney Theatre Company); The Sugar House, The Rover and
Twelfth Night (Belvoir); Picnic at Hanging Rock, Night on Bald Mountain, The Dragon and
Elizabeth – Almost by Chance A Woman (Malthouse Theatre); The Last Wife (Ensemble
Theatre); The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (Griffin Theatre Company/La Mama); The Dream
(Bell Shakespeare); Joan (The Rabble); They Divided The Sky, M + M, The Dollhouse, Peer Gynt
(Daniel Schlusser Ensemble); Madeleine (Black Sequin Productions/Arts House); Romeo and Juliet (ZLMD
Shakespeare Company) and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (Theatre Works/Dirty Pretty Theatre). Screen credits
include Bloom, House Husbands, Childhood’s End, Rush IV and The Eye of the Storm. Nikki won Best Female Actor
in an Independent Production in the 2018 Sydney Theatre Awards for They Divided the Sky (25A Belvoir).

TOBY TRUSLOVE | Johnny
Toby Truslove has been a favourite on the Australian stage and screen for over 15 years.
Toby’s theatre credits include The Last Man Standing, The Speechmaker, The Cherry Orchard
(Melbourne Theatre Company); 33 Variations (Cameron Lukey); Bliss (Malthouse Theatre/
Belvoir); Private Lives, Strange Interlude (Belvoir); Children of the Sun (Sydney Theatre
Company); and Troilus and Cressida (Bell Shakespeare). Select television credits include Bad
Mothers, Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, True Story with Hamish and Andy (season 2),
The Wrong Kind of Black, Get Krack!n and ABC’s Utopia (seasons 1–4). Other lead roles
include Bleak, Outland, The Strange Calls, Randling, Scumbus, Tractor Monkeys, The Slideshow and Laid, for
which Toby received the Monte-Carlo TV Festival’s Golden Nymph Award nomination for Outstanding Actor. Film
credits include Koko: A Red Dog Story, I Love You Too, Squid, How to Make a Monster and Smoking Will Kill You.

JANE TURNER | Sylvia
Jane Turner is best known as co-creator of the multi-award-winning comedy series Kath &
Kim. Jane is delighted to be returning to work with Melbourne Theatre Company; her previous
MTC appearances include Jumpy, Man the Balloon and Blabbermouth. Jane’s other theatre
credits include David Williamson’s Rupert; the West End season of Holding the Man; a tour of
Ben Elton’s Popcorn; Big Hair in America; Away; and The Rocky Horror Show for Paul Dainty.
Jane’s television credits include Rake, Parlement (Cineteve, France), Who Do You Think You
Are, Big Girl’s Blouse, Full Frontal, Fast Forward, D Generation and several seasons of Kath
& Kim as well as the telemovie Da Kath & Kim Code. Jane has also appeared in a number of films, including Kath
& Kimderella, Guru Wayne, Above the Dust Level and Thank God He Met Lizzie. Jane has received three Logie
Awards, two AFI Awards and a nomination for a British Comedy Award.
 C A S T & C R E AT I V E T E A M

IZABELLA YENA | Alex
Izabella Yena appeared in Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Violent Outburst that Drew Me
to You – part of the 2019 Education Program – and creative developments for The House of
Bernarda Alba and 2020’s SLAP. BANG. KISS. A 2016 VCA graduate, Izabella’s previous theatre
credits include Lifetime Guarantee (Theatre Works); a Helpmann Award-winning national tour
of Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday (Performing Lines); Fierce (Theatre Works); Atomic
creative development (Malthouse Theatre); 2.20am (Anvil Production); and a stage reading
of Thigh Gap (La Mama).Izabella plays the role of Shirin Abbas in the upcoming feature film
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, directed by Tony Tilse. She was a 2017/18 Malthouse Theatre Vanguard Cohort
and Ambassador; a 2016 VCA Patricia Kennedy Award winner; a 2016 Melbourne Fringe Best Performance
nominee; and a recipient of the 2015 Pratt Bursaries Scholarship.

SUSIE YOUSSEF | Fran
Susie Youssef is a comedian, actor, writer and improviser. She has written, performed and
produced comedy for stage, radio and television in Australia and around the world. She is
making her Melbourne Theatre Company debut in Home, I’m Darling. Other theatre credits
include The Smallest Hour (Griffin Theatre Company); Accidental Death of an Anarchist
(Sydney Theatre Company); and The Boat People (The Hayloft Project). Her film credits
include The Flip Side (Corner Table Productions) and Scare BnB (Me+You Productions UK).
Her television credits include Rosehaven, Get Krack!n, Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia
(Guesswork Television); Squinters and No Activity (Jungle Entertainment). Susie is a co-host on The Sunday Project
(7PM Company), and also appears on Have You Been Paying Attention? (Working Dog) and Hughesy, We Have a
Problem (Screentime).

SARAH GOODES | Director
Sarah Goodes is Associate Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company. She is a
Helpmann Award-winning theatre director recognised for bringing over 14 new Australian
works to the mainstage. For Melbourne Theatre Company, Sarah’s work includes Così (with
Sydney Theatre Company), Golden Shield, Arbus & West, Astroman, A Doll’s House: Part 2,
The Children (with Sydney Theatre Company), Three Little Words and John. As Resident
Director at Sydney Theatre Company, Sarah directed The Hanging, Disgraced, Orlando,
Switzerland, Battle of Waterloo, The Effect, Vere (Faith), The Splinter and Edward Gant’s
Amazing Feats of Loneliness. Sarah’s other directing credits include The Sugar House (Belvoir), The Sweetest
Thing, The Small Things, Elling and Black Milk (B Sharp Belvoir); The Colour of Panic (Sydney Opera House);
Vertigo and the Virginia, The Schelling Point, Hilt and What Happened Was … (Old Fitz Theatre). In 2018, Sarah
won a Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play for her work on The Children, which also won Helpmann
Awards for Best Play and Best Female Actor.

RENÉE MULDER | Set & Costume Designer

Renée Mulder’s recent work includes: as Set & Costume Designer, Arbus & West (Melbourne
Theatre Company); The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Banging Denmark, The Torrents, Black is
the New White, Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark, Orlando, Battle of Waterloo, The Effect, Perplex,
The Long Way Home, Dance Better at Parties, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Marriage Blanc, In a
Heart Beat, The Splinter, Actor on a Box: The Luck Child (Sydney Theatre Company); Nearer
the Gods, An Octoroon, Rice, Sacre Bleu!, Fat Pig (Queensland Theatre); Prima Facie,
The Bleeding Tree, The Boys, A Hoax (Griffin Theatre Company); As You Like It, Ruben Guthrie,
I Love You, Bro (La Boite); Romeo and Juliet (Bell Shakespeare). As Costume Designer, Harp in the South, St Joan,
Top Girls, Chimerica, Endgame, Children of the Sun, Vere (Faith) (Sydney Theatre Company). As Set Designer,
Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Sydney Theatre Company). Renée was Sydney Theatre Company
Resident Designer from 2012–14. She is a graduate of NIDA and Queensland College of Art. Renée won a Sydney
Theatre Award for Best Costume Design for Top Girls and a Matilda Award for Best Design for Edward Gant’s
Amazing Feats of Loneliness.
 C A S T & C R E AT I V E T E A M

PAUL JACKSON | Lighting Designer

Paul Jackson’s lighting designs with Melbourne Theatre Company include Arbus & West,
The Children, Gloria, Hay Fever, Di and Viv and Rose, Three Little Words, Endgame, Miss
Julie, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Double Indemnity, The Ghost Writer, Ghosts, Frozen, The
Speechmaker, Enlightenment, Madagascar and Private Lives; and for Sydney Theatre
Company, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Mary Stuart. Other companies he has designed
for include The Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, West
Australian Ballet, Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera, Bell Shakespeare, Malthouse,
Belvoir, Chamber Made Opera and many others. He has lectured in design at the University of Melbourne, RMIT
University and Victorian College of the Arts. Paul has won a Helpmann Award, a Sydney Theatre Award, seven
Green Room Awards, and three Australian Production Design Guild Awards for Best Lighting Design. Paul was
Artistic Associate at Malthouse Theatre from 2007–2013. In 2017, he received an Australia Council of the Arts
Fellowship. Paul is accredited with the Australian Production Design Guild.

JETHRO WOODWARD | Composer & Sound Designer

Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musical director, arranger, musician and
sound designer recognised for his film, theatre and dance scores. He has worked with some
of Australia’s leading companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir, Malthouse
Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Victoria, Chamber
Made Opera, Back to Back, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, Aphids, Stuck
Pigs Squealing, Rawcus and more. Recent works include Astroman (Melbourne Theatre
Company); Apocalypse Meow, Solaris (Malthouse Theatre); Lazarus (Production Company);
Distant Matter (Staatsballett Berlin); Common Ground (Chunky Move/Dance Massive); Rumplestiltskin (Windmill/
Southbank Centre London). Jethro regularly tours his work internationally and has won Green Room Awards for
Song for a Weary Throat (Rawcus); For the Ones Who Walk Away (St Martins Youth Theatre); The Bloody Chamber
(Malthouse Theatre); Moth and Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre/Arena Theatre) and Irony
is Not Enough (Fragment 31). In 2018 Jethro was the recipient of the GRA Technical Achievement Award.

GERALDINE COOK-DAFNER | Voice & Dialect Coach

Geraldine Cook-Dafner previously worked for Melbourne Theatre Company on Golden Shield,
Wild, The Children, Hay Fever, Di and Viv and Rose, Melbourne Talam, John, The Odd Couple,
Straight White Men, The Distance, Birdland, The Waiting Room, Top Girls, The Heretic, The
Swimming Club, The 39 Steps, The History Boys, All My Sons, The Clean House, Boy Gets Girl,
Take Me Out and The Glass Menagerie. She trained at Middlesex University, the Guildhall School
of Music and Drama and has a doctorate from the University of Melbourne. Geraldine also works
for independent theatre companies Red Stitch and Hit Productions and as a voice consultant
in film, ABC Radio, SBS Radio and for local corporate and government bodies, NGOs and charities. Geraldine is an
Honorary Senior Fellow in the theatre department at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne
where previously she held positions as Head of Voice, Head of School of Performing Arts and Associate Dean.

BESSIE HOLLAND | Assistant Director

Bessie Holland’s theatre credits as an actor include Così (Melbourne Theatre Company/
Sydney Theatre Company), The House of Bernarda Alba (Melbourne Theatre Company);
The Sovereign Wife (Melbourne Theatre Company/Sisters Grimm); Accidental Death of an
Anarchist (Sydney Theatre Company); Blaque Showgirls (Malthouse Theatre); Summertime
in the Garden of Eden (Griffin Theatre Company/Sisters Grimm); The Lower Depths (Ariette
Taylor, fortyfivedownstairs). Her short-film credits include True History of Billie the Kid,
directed by Leticia Cáceres. Bessie’s other screen credits include Get Krackin', directed by
Hayden Guppy, and Beautiful Lie, directed by Peter Salmon (ABC); Wentworth (FOXTEL, Fremantle Media) seasons
2–6; and the soon-to-be-released film The Dry, directed by Robert Connolly.
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 M E L B O U R N E T H E A T R E C O M PA N Y
BOARD OF DEVELOPMENT Senior Publicist WARDROBE David Membery Bridget Mackey
MANAGEMENT Director of Georgia Fox Wardrobe Manager Bianca Moran Ross MacPherson
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Jonathan Feder Chris Walters Jacqui Bartlett Costume Hire Nathaniel Sy Lee Threadgold
Larry Kamener Major Gifts Manager Contributing Writer Liz Symons Michelle Thorne
Sophie Boardley Sarah Corridon Raff Watt CRM & AUDIENCE
Janette Kendall Costume Supervisor INSIGHTS
Sharmistha Law Philanthropy Kate Seeley Max Wilkie
Coordinator
TECHNICAL & Tom Willis Director of CRM &
Professor Duncan Maskell PRODUCTION Millinery
Patrick Crummy Phillip Rhodes Joy Weng Audience Insights
Susan Oliver am Technical & Production Wigs & Makeup Jeremy Hodgins
Brett Sheehy ao Partnerships Manager HOUSE & BAR
Katie Taylor Director Jurga Celikiene Database Specialist
Virginia Lovett Adam J Howe SERVICES Ben Gu
Partnerships Executive Art Finishing
FOUNDATION Isabella Wren PRODUCTION Josephine Johnson House & Bar Data Analyst
BOARD Partnerships Wardrobe Maintenance Supervisors Dale Menz
Senior Production Matt Bertram
Janette Kendall (Chair) Coordinator Manager Josephine Johnson COMMISSIONS
Paul Bonnici Alice Fitzgerald Stella Cadzow Paul Blenheim
Michele Preshaw Sarah Branton The Joan & Peter
Liz Chappell Production Manager Wardrobe Casuals Clemenger
Virginia Lovett EDUCATION Ellen Figgis Kasey Gambling
Head of Education Abe Watson Daniel Moulds Commissions
Louise Myer Production Coordinators Lyn Molloy Kylie Coolwell
Leigh O’Neill & Families John Van Gastel Paul Terrell
Jeremy Rice Michaela Deacon Drew Thomson Judith Lucy
Hilary Scott Marta Losiewicz Damien Millar
Rupert Sherwood Learning Manager STAGE Bella Vadiveloo
Nick Tranter Props Buyer/SM Swing MANAGEMENT House & Bar Ross Mueller
Tracey Sisson Jess Maguire Magda Szubanski
Richard Tegoni Education Christine Bennett Attendants
Administrator Production George Abbott Anthony Weigh
Administrator Ben Cooper Other Commissions
EXECUTIVE Isobel Taylor-Rodgers Brittany Coombs Rachel Adams
MANAGEMENT Alyson Brown Aisha Aidara Hannie Rayson (with
HUMAN RESOURCES Lisette Drew Manhattan Theatre Club)
Artistic Director & CEO TECHNICAL Jess Keepence Faida Angaika
Brett Sheehy ao Director of People Danillo Arantes NEXT STAGE Residents
& Culture Technical Manager Jess Maguire Declan Furber Gillick
Executive Director & Lighting & Sound Whitney McNamara Stephanie Barham
Co-CEO Peter Wade Tanya Batt Dan Giovannoni
HR Administrator Kerry Saxby Meg Richardson Elise Hearst
Virginia Lovett Senior Production Julia Smith Bear Baxter
Executive Assistant to Christine Verginis Briannah Borg Andrea James
Health & Safety Technician Lucie Sutherland Phillip Kavanagh
the Artistic Director Allan Hirons Pippa Wright Max Bowyer
& CEO Coordinator Zak Brown Melissa Reeves
Liz Mundell Production Technicians SOUTHBANK Natesha Somasundaram
Nick Doherty Geoff Adams Sam Diamond
Executive FINANCE Nick Wollan THEATRE Leila Gerges Chris Summers
Administrator to the Theatre Operations Evan Lawson Kylie Trounson
Finance Director Marcus Cook NEXT STAGE
Executive Director & Liz Chappell Gemma Rowe Director Laura Lethlean
Co-CEO Mark D Wheeler Thomas McCracken Commissions
Finance Manager Mungo Trumble Van Badham
Kathleen Higgs Andrew Slee Technical Manager – Building Services Will McRostie
Project Manager Special IT & Systems Manager Manager Natasha Milton Angus Cerini
Staging Patricia Cornelius
Projects Michael Schuettke Andrew Bellchambers Adrian Aderhold Yasmin Mole
Dale Bradbury House Services Ernesto Munoz Aidan Fennessy
IT Support Officer CAD Drafting Louris van de Geer
Receptionist Darren Snowdon Jacob Battista Manager Ben Nichol
David Zierk James Cunningham Emma Palackic Michael Gow
Assistant Accountant Alexander Rothnie Tom Holloway
Irene Budiono Staging Supervisor HQ Production Services Sam Perry
ARTISTIC Manager Adam Rogers Andrea James
Director of Artistic Payroll Officer Nicholas Stace Anchuli Felicia King
Julia Godinho Frank Stoffels Sophie Scott
Operations/Senior PROPERTIES Bar Manager Rain Shadrach Benjamin Law
Producer Payments Officer Joanna Murray-Smith
Lisa Maundrell Properties Supervisor Claire Marsh Myles Tankle
Martina Murray Geoff McGregor Lawler & Events Olivia Walker Joe Penhall
Associate Artistic MARKETING & Props Maker Technical Supervisor Alison Wheeldon Leah Purcell
Director COMMUNICATIONS Colin Penn Tom Brayshaw Rhian Wilson Ellen van Neerven
Sarah Goodes Marketing & Props Hire Lighting Supervisor Jamaica Zuanetti Chris Ryan
Associate Director Communications Kasey Gambling Richard Gorr Megan Washington
Petra Kalive Jacinta Keefe Staging Supervisor TICKETING Mark Leonard Winter
Director
Literary Director Vanessa Rowsthorn Yasmin Mole Grant Kennelly Director of Malcolm Robertson
Chris Mead Marketing Manager Emma Palackic Sound Supervisor Ticketing Operations MTC Foundation
Literary Associate Shelley King Terry McKibbin Brenna Sotiropoulos Commissions
Jennifer Medway Digital Manager
SCENIC ART Head Flyman Customer Service Sales Angela Betzien
Casting Director Scenic Art Supervisor James Tucker Manager
Janine Snape
Daniel Coghlan
Shane Dunn Jessie Phillips OVERSEAS
Marketing Campaign Stage & Technical REPRESENTATIVE
Casting Administrator Manager Scenic Artists Staff VIP Ticketing Officer
Carmen Lai Tansy Elso Michael Bingham New York
Bonnie Leigh-Dodds Matthew Arthur Kevin Emrick
Associate Producer/ Marketing Executives Colin Harman Sam Berkley Education Ticketing
Senior Company Simon Bond Officer
Manager
Riley Charles WORKSHOP Mellita Ilich
Rebecca Lawrence Workshop Supervisor Ash Buchanan
Stephen Moore Lead Graphic Designer/ Aldo Amenta Michael Burnell Box Office Supervisor
Company Manager Art Director John Carberry Kieran Gould-Dowen
Leah Milburn-Clark Acting Workshop Subscriptions &
Emma Wagstaff Supervisor Dale Cook
Programs Producer Graphic Designers Kieran Daniels Telemarketing
Karin Farrell Andrew Weavers Team Leader
Helena Turinski Set Makers Nathan Evers
Kylie Hammond Peter Dowd
CATERING Victoria U Ken Best Box Office Attendants
Catering Manager Senior Manager, Brian Easteal Adam Hanley
Communications & Chris Hubbard Brent Davidson
Andrea Purvis Nick Gray Kasey Gambling
Café Staff External Relations Philip de Mulder David Jenkins
Rosie Shepherdson- Louis Kennedy Min Kingham
Bev Reinmuth Peter Rosa Evan Lawson
Andrea Ruiz Cullen Robert Larsen
Jean Lizza

PROGRAMME CREDITS Managing Editor Rosie Shepherdson-Cullen Editor Melanie Sheridan Graphic Designer Helena Turinski
 CRICOS: 00116K
TAKE
THE
LEAD
At the Victorian College of the Arts,
we teach students to think, feel
and create in a way only they can.
Our undergraduate Theatre program
is designed to train actors and theatre
makers. Our graduate students focus on
performance writing, theatre direction,
dramaturgy and voice coaching.

finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au

Fine Arts
THE BRAVERY TO BE YOU and Music
 M TC C I R C L E S O F G I V I N G
MTC gratefully acknowledges our visionary donors

MTC LIFETIME PATRONS

Acknowledging a lifetime of extraordinary support for MTC.
Pat Burke Allan Myers ac qc and Maria Myers ac Maureen Wheeler ao and Tony
Peter Clemenger ao and The Late Biddy Ponsford Wheeler ao
Joan Clemenger ao The Late Dr Roger Riordan am Ursula Whiteside
Dr Geraldine Lazarus and Greig Gailey Caroline Young and Derek Young am

ENDOWMENT DONORS
Supporting the long term sustainability and creative future of MTC.
Leading gifts $20,000+ $5,000+
Jane Hansen and Paul Little ao Tony and Janine Burgess R & P Harkness
The University of Melbourne Robert A Dunster Jane Kunstler
$50,000+ Anne and Mark Robertson oam Anonymous
Geoffrey Cohen am $10,000+
Orcadia Foundation Prof Margaret Gardner ao and
The Late Biddy Ponsford Prof Glyn Davis ac
Andrew Sisson ao and Tracey Sisson

MTC’S PLAYWRIGHTS GIVING CIRCLE

Supporting the Next Stage Writers’ Program.
Louise Myer and Martyn Myer ao, Maureen Wheeler ao and Tony Wheeler ao, Christine Brown Bequest,
Allan Myers ac qc and Maria Myers ac, Tony Burgess and Janine Burgess,
Dr Andrew McAliece and Dr Richard Simmie, Larry Kamener and Petra Kamener

LEGACY CIRCLE
Acknowledging supporters who have made the visionary gesture of including a gift to MTC in their will.
Mark and Tamara Boldiston Peter and Betty Game Dr Andrew McAliece and Max Schultz
Bernadette Broberg Fiona Griffiths Dr Richard Simmie Jillian Smith
Adam and Donna Linda Herd Peter Philpott and Diane Tweeddale
Cusack-Muller Irene Kearsey Robert Ratcliffe Anonymous (13)

LEGACY GIFTS
Remembering and honouring those who have generously supported MTC through a bequest.
The Christine Brown Bequest The Kitty and Leslie The Estate of Prudence The Estate of Freda E White
Sandy Bequest Ann Tutton

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS

 ANNUAL GIVING

Donors whose annual gifts help MTC enrich and transform lives through the finest theatre imaginable.

BENEFACTORS CIRCLE MAJOR DONORS

$50,000+ $20,000+ $10,000+ Macgeorge Bequest
The Joan and Peter Krystyna Campbell- Joanna Baevski ● Susanna Mason ▲
Clemenger Trust Pretty am Erica Bagshaw Kendra Reid
John Higgins ao and Dr Geraldine Lazarus Sandy Bell and Craig Semple ▲
Jodie Maunder and Greig Gailey Daryl Kendrick Luisa Valmorbida ▲
Maureen Wheeler ao Jane Hansen and The Cattermole Family Anonymous (2)
and Tony Wheeler ao  Paul Little ao ● Tom and Elana Cordiner ●
Louise and Martyn Myer ao Christine Gilbertson ◆
Caroline and Derek Linda Herd ■ ●
Young am ▲
The Bonnici Family ●
Anonymous

BENEFACTORS CIRCLE
$5,000+ Bruce Parncutt ao Grant Fisher and Christopher Richardson
Bill Bowness ao Prof David Penington ac Helen Bird Anne and Mark
Dr Andrew Buchanan and and Dr Sonay Hussein Bruce Freeman ■ Robertson oam ◆
Peter Darcy Jeanne Pratt ac Nigel and Cathy Garrard Hilary and Stuart Scott ●
Ian and Jillian Buchanan Janet Reid oam and Gaye and John Gaylard Lynne Sherwood and the
Sandra and Bill Burdett am Allan Reid Diana and Murray Gerstman late Tim Sherwood
Lynne and Rob Burgess Paul Ross and Heather and Bob Jennifer Steinicke
Pat Burke and Jan Nolan Georgina Costello Glindemann oam Ricci Swart
John and Robyn Butselaar Renzella Family Henry Gold James and Anne Syme
The Janet and Michael In loving memory of Berek Roger and Jan Goldsmith Richard and Debra
Buxton Foundation Segan AM OBE – Marysia Lesley Griffin Tegoni ◆ ●
Barry and Joanne and Marshall Segan Ballandry (Peter Griffin Cheryl and Paul Veith
Cheetham Andrew Sisson ao and Family) Fund Price and Christine
The Dowd Foundation Tracey Sisson (a sub-fund of the Williams
The Gjergja Family Trawalla Foundation Trust Australian Communities Raymond and Margaret
Murray Gordon and Ralph Ward-Ambler am and Foundation) Wilson Foundation
Lisa Norton Barbara Ward-Ambler Fiona Griffiths and Gillian and Tony Wood
Robert and Jan Green Anonymous (4) Tony Osmond ◆ Laurel Young-Das and
John and Joan Grigg oam ADVOCATES CIRCLE Tony Hillery and Heather Finnegan
Jane Hansen ◆ Warwick Eddington Anonymous (7)
$2,500–$4,999
David and Lily Harris Jane Hodder ◆ LOYALTY CIRCLE
John and Lorraine Bates
Jane Hemstritch Peter and Halina Jacobsen
Marc Besen ac and $1,000–$2,499
Bruce and Mary Humphries Amy and Paul Jasper
Eva Besen ao Prof Noel and
Karen Inge and Rachel Kelly ◆
Jay Bethell and Peter Smart Sylvia Alpins am
Dr George Janko Elizabeth Laverty
Wendy and Paul Bonnici ◆ James Angus ao and
Anne Le Huray Leg Up Foundation
Diana Burleigh Helen Angus
Marshall Day Acoustics Alex and Halina Lewenberg
Jenny and Stephen Kate Aplin
(Dennis Irving Virginia Lovett and
Charles ao Mary-Louise Archibald
Scholarship) Rose Hiscock ●
Sandy and Yvonne Margaret Astbury
Ian and Judi Marshman Don and Sue Matthews
Constantine Ian Baker and Cheryl
Matsarol Foundation Kim and Peter Monk ◆
Debbie Dadon am Saunders
Ian and Margaret McKellar Ging Muir and
Ann Darby ● John and Dagnija Balmford
George and Rosa Morstyn John McCawley ■
Dr Anthony Dortimer H & B Bamford
Tom and Ruth O’Dea ■ Sandy and Sandra Murdoch
and Jillian Dortimer Jenny Barbour ◆
Leigh O’Neill ◆ Jane and Andrew Murray
Melody and Angelina Beninati
Dr Kia Pajouhesh Dr Paul Nisselle am and
Jonathan Feder ■ Tara Bishop ◆
(Smile Solutions) Sue Nisselle
Dr Helen Ferguson Jacquie Blackwell ◆
Diane and Graeme Boyer Elizabeth Foster Dr Hannah Mason Graeme Seabrook
Steve and Terry Bracks am Glenn Fryer ● Margaret and Prof Barry Sheehan
Jenny and Lucinda Brash John Fullerton John Mason oam and Pamela Waller
Bernadette Broberg Gill Family Foundation Garry McLean Jacky and Rupert Sherwood
Tania Broughman ◆ Sarah Gorman ◆ Elizabeth McMeekin Diane Silk
Nigel and Sheena Brian Goddard Emeritus Prof Peter McPhee Dr John Sime
Broughton Charles and Cornelia Goode and Charlotte Allen Jane Simon and Peter Cox
Hugh Burrill Foundation ◆ Robert and Helena Reg and Elaine Smith oam
Julie Burke Sarah Gorman ◆ Mestrovic – Earimil Gardens Charity
Katie Burke Ian and Wendy Haines John G Millard Tim and Angela Smith
Pam Caldwell Charles Harkin Ross and Judy Milne-Pott Annette Smorgon ◆
Alison and John Cameron R & P Harkness ◆ Susan and Michael Minshall Diana and Brian Snape am
John and Jan Campbell Mark and Jennifer Hayes ● Luke and Janine Musgrave Geoff and Judy Steinicke
Jessica Canning The Hon Peter Heerey am Barbara and David Mushin Dr Ross and Helen Stillwell
Clare and Richard Carlson qc and Sally Heerey Jacquie Naylor ◆ ● Suzy and Dr Mark Suss ■
Fiona Caro Emeritus Prof Andrea Nelson Bros Funeral Services Rodney and Aviva Taft
Chef’s Hat Hull ao Nick Nichola and Frank Tisher oam and
Chernov Family Ann and Tony Hyams am Ingrid Moyle Dr Miriam Tisher
Keith Chivers and Ron Peel Peter Jaffe & Judy Gold Michele and John Nielsen Graham Wademan
Assoc Prof Lyn Clearihan Denis and Elissa Joachim David and Lisa Oertle Kevin and Elizabeth
and Dr Anthony Palmer Ed and Margaret Johnson Susan Oliver am ● Walsh ■
Dr Robin Collier and Prof Shitij Kapur and Tony and Margaret Anthony Watson and
Neil Collier Dr Sharmistha Law Pagone ◆ Tracey McDonald
Deborah Conyngham Irene Kearsey and In Loving Memory of Pinky Watson
Margaret Crothers Michael Ridley Richard Park Marion Webster oam ◆
Ann Cutts Malcolm Kemp Dr Annamarie Perlesz Penelope and Joshua White
Mark and Jo Davey Janette Kendall ◆ Peter Philpott and Ursula Whiteside
Natasha Davies Julie and Simon Kessel Robert Ratcliffe Janet Whiting am and
Katharine Derham-Moore Fiona Kirwan-Hamilton Prof Hannah Piterman ◆ Phil Lukies
Amanda and and Simon E Marks qc Betty and John Pizzey Ann and Alan Wilkinson ●
Mark Derham ◆ Doris and Steve Klein Dug and Lisa Pomeroy Jan Williams ■
Katie Dewhurst ◆ Larry Kornhauser and Noel and Gaylene Porter Mandy and Edward Yencken
Robert Drake Natalya Gill ■ Sally Redlich Greg Young
Dr Sally Duguid and Josephine and Victoria Redwood Anonymous (25)
Dr David Tingay  Graeme Kraehe ao Julie and Ian Reid
Bev and Geoff Edwards Pamela Lamaro ◆ Phillip Riggio
George and Eva Ermer Verona Lea Roslyn and Richard Rogers
Anne and Graham Evans ao Joan and George Lefroy Family ●
Dr Alastair Fearn Alison Leslie B & J Rollason
Peter Fearnside and Peter and Judy Loney Sue Rose
Roxane Hislop Lord Family ◆ Anne and Laurie Ryan
Isaac and Judi Feldman Lording Family Foundation Edwina Sahhar
Cathryn Findlay Elizabeth Lyons Margaret Sahhar am
Jan and Rob Flew Ken and Jan Mackinnon Guy Sansom and
Rosemary Forbes and The Mann Family ●  Treena Quarin
Ian Hocking Chris and Bruce Maple Susan Santoro
Heather Forbes-McKeon ■ Marin Charitable Trust Elisabeth and Doug Scott

Acknowledging Donors who join together to support innovative and inspiring programs for the benefit of
our community.
▲  RTISTIC DIRECTOR’S
A ■  OUTH AMBASSADORS
Y ◆ WOMEN IN THEATRE ●E
 DUCATION
CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE GIVING CIRCLE

To find out more about supporting MTC please call 03 8688 0938 or visit mtc.com.au/support Current as of Dec 2019
 T H A N K YO U
MTC would like to thank the following organisations for their generous support

Major Partners 

Major Media Partners

Production Partners

Premium Season Partners

Season Partners

Marketing Partners

Southbank Theatre Partners

If you would like to join our corporate family or host a private event, please contact partnerships@mtc.com.au
2020 Partners current as of December 2019.
Words
have
power,
on and off
the stage.
You can quicker get back a
million dollars, than a word
you gave away.
— A View from the Bridge

Southbank Theatre is a respectful venue and workplace –

please help us ensure it remains a safe, inclusive place for everyone.