Chasing something new
MOVING away from the classics, Soapbox Theatre will try something new with a revised version of Chasing the Whale as part of its program as artist in residence at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.
The local company and its members have become selfconfessed ‘‘sticklers’’ for the classics with their main stage productions – including Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and Louis Nowra’s Cosi – but are looking forward to performing the reworked, modern piece for ‘‘something different’’.
Chasing the Whale writer Matt h e w R y a n s a y s h e w a s delighted to rewrite the show for Soapbox, a small, independent company.
‘‘I can’t wait to see them premiere the new ideas and content,’’ he says of the company, an emerging local force.
‘‘The wonderful Gold Coast audiences and theatre-makers taught me my most valuable lessons about the stage and I can’t wait for them to see this play,’’ Ryan says. ‘‘This is a story about the pressure to succeed, set in a city on the ocean – who could understand that better than the Gold Coast?’’
To be directed by Soapbox cofounder Jessica Westhead, Chas- ing the Whale, originally titled The Dance of Jeremiah, will star Stephen Hirst, Sarah Kennedy, Garth Ledwidge, James Odenbreit and Kim Stewart.
The play follows Jerry, who is still reeling from the death of his beloved boss and mentor, when he is thrust into a competition for promotion as the head of a major advertising company. All his dreams come true but as he competes for the top job, strange things begin to happen – office desks chase him, self-help tapes talk to him and umbrellas rain from the sky.
Haunted by his own ad campaigns, Jerry struggles to keep his perfect world together.
Soapbox will be the first production company to stage this revised version of the popular Queensland play, which has bagged several awards including the 2005 Queensland Theatre Company 2000 George Landen Dann Award, and received numerous nominations at the 2005 Matilda Awards after its season at La Boite in Brisbane.
Ryan’s other works include The Harbinger, Boy Girl Wall and Kelly, The Queensland Theatre Company season of which opens in Brisbane later this month.