David Jobling
Godzone
:
GODZONE
GODZONE
By Guy Rundle and Max Gillies
AT THE SEYMOUR CENTRE
Sydney, Australia, January 2010
GODZONE - A Melbourne Theatre Company Production
Godzone is a political hot potato, tackling the elevation of religion on the national political stage, head on. Gillies' menagerie of characters strut the boards a political 'conference' at Sydney's Seymour Centre, from 23 February - 6 March; and the Parramatta Riverside Theatre 10-13 March 2010; burning a trail of destruction through the nation's affairs.
2010 National Tour Dates and Venues
Chaffey Theatre, Renmark
9 February, 8pm
Northern Festival Centre (Keith Michell Theatre)
12 February, 8pm
Middleback Theatre
15 February, 8pm
Nautilus Theatre
17 February, 8pm
Hopgood Theatre
20 February, 8pm
Seymour Centre, Sydney
23 February - 6 March
(Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar - Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm)
Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
10 - 13 March, 8pm (except for 11 Mar 6.30pm only and 13 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
Geelong Performing Arts Centre
16 - 20 March, 8pm (except for 20 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
There's a fervour in the revivalist tent, where Reverend Kevin of Rudd Ministries, in a sermon from the German translated via Mandarin, tells his congregation that religion is the new politics and vice versa ...
Sydney, welcome to Godzone: the latest creation of legendary chameleon Max Gillies - one of the greatest satirical actors of the Australian political stage; and collaborator renowned political satirist and commentator Guy Rundle.
Skewering political figures and taking aim at a whole new cast of victims, Gillies characters and Rundle's words are on fire. Sydney identities will not be safe! Seymour's preview night on Tuesday 23 February certainly sets the tone with 'Enquiring Minds' guest Bob Carr in Gillies' hot seat after the show.
Get ready for surprises; Gillies' expert adaptation to last minute changes has been tested. A flurried re-write when the Liberal leadership transformed from Turnbull to Abbott during the show' Melbourne rehearsals delivered up-to-the-minute satire to Melbourne audiences.
Godzone is Gillies' and Rundle's much anticipated fourth collaboration. Popular tours of the pair's The Big Con (2005), Your Dreaming (2001), and Club Republic (1996) saw the MTC immediately commission the proposed show and work began in 2007. The show comes direct to Sydney from Melbourne - where it premiered in December 2009, and will follow on to South Australia.
This time around, a political roasting is given to our very own 'Milky bar kid' - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Shadow Finance Minister Joe Hockey, Barnaby Joyce, and Andrew Bolt to name just a few.
Playing a multitude of characters, Gillies uses voices, prosthetics and ingenious make-up to impersonate and make mockery of key political figures and media personalities. With his razor-sharp wit, Guy Rundle shoe horns a cavalcade of political guests into the Revivalist tent of Reverend Kevin. Politics is the new religion - or vice versa.
WHERE: Seymour Centre
Corner Cleveland Street and City Road, Chippendale
WHEN: Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar
Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm
BOOKINGS: Box Office P: 02 9351 7940
W: www.seymourcentre.com PRICES - (including Enquiring Minds session on 23 Feb)
Adult - $58, Concession $50, Multi tix - $45, Concession Multi Tix - $45
Director Aidan Fennessy
Set and Costume Design Shaun Gurton
Lighting Design Matt Scott
Sound Designer/Composer Darrin Verhagen
Audio Visual Design Josh Burns
Composer Darrin Verhagen
Max Gillies - Author and performer
Max Gillies has won a Logie, a Mo Award, a Variety Club Award, two TV Penguin Awards, a Green Room Award for Best Actor and was named Best Actor in the National Theatre Awards. He is a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Australian Theatre. His television shows The Gillies Report, Gillies Republic and Gillies and Company are classics of the Australian screen and despite being last aired in 1992, are still remembered with great fondness by a generation of Australians. Max Gillies is a household name for many Australians and a political wit yet to be experienced by many younger audiences. This tour will appeal to those who have enjoyed Max Gillies' work for decades, as well as reaching a new generation of Australians interested in politics, satire and the state of the nation. The material is timely, the performer is a legend.
Guy Rundle - Writer
Guy Rundle has been a writer for print, stage and screen for 20 years in Australia, Europe and the US. Since 1994 he has worked with Max Gillies on a series of shows - Club Republic (1996), Your Dreaming (2001) and The Big Con (2005) (also with Eddie Perfect) - which have anatomised Australia's political and cultural pretensions, projections and abject failures, with Max performing a range of figures from John Howard to Germaine Greer, Dubya Bush, Bob Ellis and all the way back to John Howard again. Each show toured nationally with packed seasons at the Sydney Opera House, the Adelaide Festival, the Victorian Arts Centre and points west, north and south. Godzone is the fourth Gillies-Rundle show, this time sending up Kevin Rudd's charismatic god-centered nation-building Festival of Ideas.
Aiden Fennessy - Director
Aidan Fennessy is the award-winning director of Godzone. His directing credits include A Commercial Farce, Ruby Moon for Playbox/Neonheart, The Procedure for Melbourne Workers Theatre, his own play Chilling and Killing my Annabel Lee for Playbox/Chameleon and Matt Cameron's Eskimo Calling for Neonheart/Company B Belvoir. Aidan was cofounder of the highly successful Chameleon Theatre and is currently engaged as a member of the Artistic Directorate of Hothouse Theatre. As a playwright, Aidan's plays have been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Griffin, Playbox and many more, both in Australia and overseas. Aidan won the Wal Cherry Award for his play Chilling and Killing my Annabel Lee and was short-listed for the Premier's Literary Awards. His 2002 comedy festival collaboration, The Trade won the prestigious Barry Award. In 2001, he directed the short film Mr Wasinski's Song, which won the Melbourne International Film Festival's Erwin Rodo Award for Best Australian Short Film.
Shaun Gurton - Set and Costume Design
Award-winning designer Shaun Gurton lends his vast experience in professional and commercial theatre set and costume design to this production. Gurton has worked extensively with the MTC as well as the Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Company B Belvoir, Playbox, Opera Australia and the Victorian State Opera.
Regional Arts Victoria is touring Godzone to (Victoria) Geelong, Warragul, (SA) Mount Gambier, Renmark, Port Pirie, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Noarlunga, (NSW) Sydney, Parramatta during February and March 2010.
The Godzone tour is supported by Playing Australia
GODZONE - A Melbourne Theatre Company Production
2010 National Tour Dates and Venues
Arts Centre, Warragul
2 February, 8pm
Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre
5 February, 8pm
Chaffey Theatre, Renmark
9 February, 8pm
Northern Festival Centre (Keith Michell Theatre)
12 February, 8pm
Middleback Theatre
15 February, 8pm
Nautilus Theatre
17 February, 8pm
Hopgood Theatre
20 February, 8pm
Seymour Centre, Sydney
23 February - 6 March (Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar - Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm)
Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
10 - 13 March, 8pm (except for 11 Mar 6.30pm only and 13 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
Geelong Performing Arts Centre
16 - 20 March, 8pm (except for 20 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
By Guy Rundle and Max Gillies
AT THE SEYMOUR CENTRE
Sydney, Australia, January 2010
GODZONE - A Melbourne Theatre Company Production
Godzone is a political hot potato, tackling the elevation of religion on the national political stage, head on. Gillies' menagerie of characters strut the boards a political 'conference' at Sydney's Seymour Centre, from 23 February - 6 March; and the Parramatta Riverside Theatre 10-13 March 2010; burning a trail of destruction through the nation's affairs.
2010 National Tour Dates and Venues
Chaffey Theatre, Renmark
9 February, 8pm
Northern Festival Centre (Keith Michell Theatre)
12 February, 8pm
Middleback Theatre
15 February, 8pm
Nautilus Theatre
17 February, 8pm
Hopgood Theatre
20 February, 8pm
Seymour Centre, Sydney
23 February - 6 March
(Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar - Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm)
Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
10 - 13 March, 8pm (except for 11 Mar 6.30pm only and 13 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
Geelong Performing Arts Centre
16 - 20 March, 8pm (except for 20 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
There's a fervour in the revivalist tent, where Reverend Kevin of Rudd Ministries, in a sermon from the German translated via Mandarin, tells his congregation that religion is the new politics and vice versa ...
Sydney, welcome to Godzone: the latest creation of legendary chameleon Max Gillies - one of the greatest satirical actors of the Australian political stage; and collaborator renowned political satirist and commentator Guy Rundle.
Skewering political figures and taking aim at a whole new cast of victims, Gillies characters and Rundle's words are on fire. Sydney identities will not be safe! Seymour's preview night on Tuesday 23 February certainly sets the tone with 'Enquiring Minds' guest Bob Carr in Gillies' hot seat after the show.
Get ready for surprises; Gillies' expert adaptation to last minute changes has been tested. A flurried re-write when the Liberal leadership transformed from Turnbull to Abbott during the show' Melbourne rehearsals delivered up-to-the-minute satire to Melbourne audiences.
Godzone is Gillies' and Rundle's much anticipated fourth collaboration. Popular tours of the pair's The Big Con (2005), Your Dreaming (2001), and Club Republic (1996) saw the MTC immediately commission the proposed show and work began in 2007. The show comes direct to Sydney from Melbourne - where it premiered in December 2009, and will follow on to South Australia.
This time around, a political roasting is given to our very own 'Milky bar kid' - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Shadow Finance Minister Joe Hockey, Barnaby Joyce, and Andrew Bolt to name just a few.
Playing a multitude of characters, Gillies uses voices, prosthetics and ingenious make-up to impersonate and make mockery of key political figures and media personalities. With his razor-sharp wit, Guy Rundle shoe horns a cavalcade of political guests into the Revivalist tent of Reverend Kevin. Politics is the new religion - or vice versa.
WHERE: Seymour Centre
Corner Cleveland Street and City Road, Chippendale
WHEN: Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar
Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm
BOOKINGS: Box Office P: 02 9351 7940
W: www.seymourcentre.com PRICES - (including Enquiring Minds session on 23 Feb)
Adult - $58, Concession $50, Multi tix - $45, Concession Multi Tix - $45
Director Aidan Fennessy
Set and Costume Design Shaun Gurton
Lighting Design Matt Scott
Sound Designer/Composer Darrin Verhagen
Audio Visual Design Josh Burns
Composer Darrin Verhagen
Max Gillies - Author and performer
Max Gillies has won a Logie, a Mo Award, a Variety Club Award, two TV Penguin Awards, a Green Room Award for Best Actor and was named Best Actor in the National Theatre Awards. He is a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Australian Theatre. His television shows The Gillies Report, Gillies Republic and Gillies and Company are classics of the Australian screen and despite being last aired in 1992, are still remembered with great fondness by a generation of Australians. Max Gillies is a household name for many Australians and a political wit yet to be experienced by many younger audiences. This tour will appeal to those who have enjoyed Max Gillies' work for decades, as well as reaching a new generation of Australians interested in politics, satire and the state of the nation. The material is timely, the performer is a legend.
Guy Rundle - Writer
Guy Rundle has been a writer for print, stage and screen for 20 years in Australia, Europe and the US. Since 1994 he has worked with Max Gillies on a series of shows - Club Republic (1996), Your Dreaming (2001) and The Big Con (2005) (also with Eddie Perfect) - which have anatomised Australia's political and cultural pretensions, projections and abject failures, with Max performing a range of figures from John Howard to Germaine Greer, Dubya Bush, Bob Ellis and all the way back to John Howard again. Each show toured nationally with packed seasons at the Sydney Opera House, the Adelaide Festival, the Victorian Arts Centre and points west, north and south. Godzone is the fourth Gillies-Rundle show, this time sending up Kevin Rudd's charismatic god-centered nation-building Festival of Ideas.
Aiden Fennessy - Director
Aidan Fennessy is the award-winning director of Godzone. His directing credits include A Commercial Farce, Ruby Moon for Playbox/Neonheart, The Procedure for Melbourne Workers Theatre, his own play Chilling and Killing my Annabel Lee for Playbox/Chameleon and Matt Cameron's Eskimo Calling for Neonheart/Company B Belvoir. Aidan was cofounder of the highly successful Chameleon Theatre and is currently engaged as a member of the Artistic Directorate of Hothouse Theatre. As a playwright, Aidan's plays have been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Griffin, Playbox and many more, both in Australia and overseas. Aidan won the Wal Cherry Award for his play Chilling and Killing my Annabel Lee and was short-listed for the Premier's Literary Awards. His 2002 comedy festival collaboration, The Trade won the prestigious Barry Award. In 2001, he directed the short film Mr Wasinski's Song, which won the Melbourne International Film Festival's Erwin Rodo Award for Best Australian Short Film.
Shaun Gurton - Set and Costume Design
Award-winning designer Shaun Gurton lends his vast experience in professional and commercial theatre set and costume design to this production. Gurton has worked extensively with the MTC as well as the Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Company B Belvoir, Playbox, Opera Australia and the Victorian State Opera.
Regional Arts Victoria is touring Godzone to (Victoria) Geelong, Warragul, (SA) Mount Gambier, Renmark, Port Pirie, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Noarlunga, (NSW) Sydney, Parramatta during February and March 2010.
The Godzone tour is supported by Playing Australia
GODZONE - A Melbourne Theatre Company Production
2010 National Tour Dates and Venues
Arts Centre, Warragul
2 February, 8pm
Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre
5 February, 8pm
Chaffey Theatre, Renmark
9 February, 8pm
Northern Festival Centre (Keith Michell Theatre)
12 February, 8pm
Middleback Theatre
15 February, 8pm
Nautilus Theatre
17 February, 8pm
Hopgood Theatre
20 February, 8pm
Seymour Centre, Sydney
23 February - 6 March (Tues 23 Feb to Sat 06 Mar - Tue 6:30pm, Wed-Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm)
Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
10 - 13 March, 8pm (except for 11 Mar 6.30pm only and 13 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
Geelong Performing Arts Centre
16 - 20 March, 8pm (except for 20 Mar matinee performance at 2pm)
