Underneath the Lintel
With DANNY MITCHELL

Director SARAH CARRADINE
Designer WENDY OSMOND
Lighting Designer SHANE STEVENS
Sound Designer SARAH DE JONG

Previews February 21 - March 2
Main Season from March 3

Underneath the Lintel tells the story of a mild mannered Dutch librarian who finds a book in the overnight slot that is 113 years overdue. His attempt to collect the fine and to find out who deposited the book leads him on an adventure half-way around the world, and smack in the middle of a centuries-old mystery.

In his tattered clothes and scuffed shoes, in need of a shave, he appears to be merely another self-absorbed eccentric. Gathering scraps of information – clues like the stub for an unclaimed pair of trousers from a Chinese laundry in London and the quarantine records for a dog named Zebrina – the librarian travels the earth in search of answers to the cryptic messages that unfold.

As the mystery unwinds and becomes more significant we are fascinated by his search. His life becomes our concern.

Performance Dates
Series C (Previews)
Feb 21 – Mar 2
Series A (Main Season)
Mar 9 – Apr 7
Series B (Main Season)
Mar 3 – Apr 5
Series D (11am matinees)
Mar 7, 14, 21, 28, Apr 4
Forum Night
Monday Mar 17
Audio Described Performances
Monday Mar 31, Friday Apr 4

Birthrights
With Lorraine Bayly, Michelle Doake, Andrew Doyle, Glenn Hazeldine, Katharine Jones and Kate Raison

Designer Colin Mitchell
Lighting Designer Shane Stevens

Previews May 29 – June 2
Main Season June 3 - July 12

“Helen (Kate Raison) and her husband Mark (Andrew Doyle) are devastated when they find out that Helen, at 29 will never be able to have children. Helen’s younger sister, Claudia (Michelle Doake), at the start of a distinguished legal career, and not thinking about marriage or children, is so moved by her sister’s plight that she offers her a wonderful gift. She decides on surrogacy – and so she bears Mark’s child via artificial insemination then hands over the baby immediately after birth to her sister for adoption.

Many years later Claudia starts to hear the ticking of her own biological clock, but she and her partner Martin (Glenn Hazeldine) can't conceive. Claudia becomes obsessed with having her own child but a number of attempts at IVF fail. She realises that the only baby she will ever bear is Kelly (Katharine Jones), the child she had for her sister, the child to which she became inadvertently bonded. She begins to compete with her sister for Kelly's love. It's a battle Claudia knows she shouldn't be fighting, because she's smart enough to realise there can't be any real winners. But when we're in the grip of a compulsion, who can be logical and fair?

The clash of our intellect and our emotions, our sense of fairness and our capacity for bastardry, are at the heart of all drama. It's what makes life difficult. It's what makes us human.”

David Williamson

Performance Dates
Series C (Previews)
May 29 – Jun 2
Series A (Main Season)
Jun 6 – Jul 5
Series B (Main Season)
Jun 3 – Jul 5
Series D (11am matinees)
Jun 5, 12, 19, 26, Jul 3
Forum Night
Friday Jun 13
Audio Descibed Performances
Thurs Jun 26, Sat Jun 28

Prices:
Adults from $46.00 - $55.00
Thur matinee concessions - $19.00 - $36.00

Bookings - (02) 9929 0644
Opera House - (02) 9250 7777

Broken Glass
Previews Aug 7 – Aug 14
Main Season Aug 15 – Sep 27

Broken Glass is one of Arthur Miller’s more recent plays, first produced in 1994. Brooklyn, 1938: Sylvia Gellburg is suddenly stricken by a mysterious paralysis in her legs for which her doctor, the passionate and empathetic Dr Hyman, can find no cause. Hyman soon realises that she is obsessed by the devastating news from Germany, where government thugs have been smashing Jewish stores. But this event is coiled around what he learns is her troubled relationship with her husband Phillip, an Eastern European Jew who has tried his utmost to assimilate into American culture. When the two seemingly unrelated situations collide, a tragic flare of light opens on the age.

Ensemble Theatre has produced more than a dozen Arthur Miller plays in its 45-year history, including the recent, highly successful productions of Death of A Salesman, The Price and All My Sons.

Performance Dates
Series C (Previews)
Aug 7 – Aug 14
Series A (Main Season)
Aug 15 – Sep 27
Series B (Main Season)
Aug 16 – Sep 27
Series D (11am matinees)
Aug 14, 21, 28, Sep 4, 11, 18, 25
Forum Night
Friday Aug 22
Audio Described Performances
Thurs Aug 28, Sat Aug 30

Why Kids?
reviews Dec 9 – Dec 14
Main Season Dec 16 – Jan 17

After the success of his previous autobiographical one-man show, I’m Not a Dentist (which also premièred at the Ensemble Theatre) Henri Szeps now brings us Why Kids? In I’m Not a Dentist Szeps examines his career; his new play focuses on his other great preoccupation and love – being married and raising children.

Packed with funny anecdotes about childhood, Henri also addresses the baggage he brought to parenting, including his own tumultuous early childhood in war-torn Europe, and growing up as a migrant kid in Australia. The show culminates in a brutally honest exposé of the dynamics between parents and teenage children.

Why Kids? is very personal and daring in its honesty. A skilled performer tantalisingly blurs the line between art and reality, between performance and simply recalling the past. A funny, at times gut-wrenching, entertainment on parenting by one of our master raconteurs. The show is a must for anyone who is bringing up kids, and for anyone who has brought up children and is still wondering, “What happened?”

Performance Dates
Series C (Previews)
Dec 9 – Dec 14
Series A (Main Season)
Dec 19 – Jan 17
Series B (Main Season)
Dec 16 – Jan 17
Series D (11am matinees)
Dec 11, 18, 31, Jan 8, 15
Forum Night
Friday Dec 19
Audio Described Performances
Thurs Dec 18, Sat Dec 20