CELEBRATE THEATRE’S EPIC TALE
THE final touches are being made as Full Throttle Theatre Company prepares for opening night of its first production for 2021, Cloudstreet.
The production will launch the 35th anniversary season of the Townsville-based company.
Based on the beloved novel by Tim Winton and adapted by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo, Cloudstreet is an epic tale of two Australian families in the middle of the 20th century dealing with heartbreak and joy over the course of two decades, united by their cohabitation of a sprawling Perth house with a haunted past.
The production’s artistic director Todd Barty said Full Throttle always intended to do another big story that spanned generations.
“We have been considering a long play for many years, and Full Throttle’s 35th anniversary was an opportune time to produce its first epic play since 1999,” Barty said.
“Cloudstreet is a play that reexamines the idea of community and why it’s important, and following a year in which we’ve been physically separated and distanced and had to seek other ways to connect, it seems particularly pertinent.
“It reflects a contemporary Australian mythology, with very Australian settings and characters, but is universal in its themes.
“Families are challenged by crises,
fractured, and come back together again, but the play is also very funny, and never forgets to show the humour and camaraderie between brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, parents and children.
“It’s a play with everything:
romance, bromance, mateship, family, community. And the drama is balanced with plenty of laughs.”
Full Throttle’s production of Cloudstreet is directed by Todd Barty, Sonia Zabala and Bethany Hook, and includes a large cast of
diverse ages and backgrounds, including stalwarts of the Townsville theatre community and graduates of the CQU Theatre program.
Founded in 1986 as Tropic Line by Dr Jean-pierre Voos, Full
Throttle Theatre Company is
recognised as the longest-running professional theatre company in regional Australia.
>> Cloudstreet, presented by Full Throttle Theatre Company, will run at the Old Courthouse Theatre from April 24 to May 2.