Critical Stages & Finucane & Smith present "The Flood"
From the house of Finucane & Smith, comes a new Australian Gothic drama that ‘defines the genre’; 'The Flood'.
This new work from Patrick White Playwright Award winner Jackie Smith, realised by an extraordinary group of Australian artists that have between them won over 20 theatre awards, swept up audiences in its seething undertow throughout its sellout La Mama 2009 season and will now be co-produced by Critical Stages specifically for the demands of the national touring circuit.
The Flood. The sheep farm is now dilapidated. The farm house, dark and squalid, still sits by the river. A tiny rundown living room is lit by broken lampshades, throwing an uncertain light onto piles and piles of magazines, a life in wreckage, a mad old lady, and her isolated hard-drinking daughter. The memories are seeping through the floorboards. As the sun sets, the flood waters rise. The screen door bangs open in the soughing wind and rain, and Catherine returns home from London. Three women are now trapped in the house - a mother and her two estranged daughters; one who takes care of her, one who has been away for twenty years. Maude DAVEY & Caroline LEE play out the mesmerising terrible friction between bereft sisters in one sleepless night through alcohol, memories of their dead father and no way to get out. Shirley CATTUNAR is their mother, who can’t or won’t remember.
Against a vast dark painting of an Australian moonlit landscape - seen dimly through a veil of flywire - The Flood is brought to life by actresses who have won Best Actress again and again; starring in Cate Blanchett’s directorial debut at the STC (Lee), walking away with Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival (Davey), and, after 50 years in theatre, can’t keep up with the torrent of accolades (Cattunar); The Flood will seep in and affect forever.
“The best new piece of theatre I’ve seen this year” Aus. Theatre
“A dark and ingenious piece of Australian gothic” The Age
Audience Advice: Contains adult themes and strong coarse language.
