IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SYDNEY THEATRE PREMIERE
Sarah Quand Même
On March 28th 1923, Sarah Bernhardt died, and a million grieving Parisians took to the streets to bid farewell to the phenomenon known as La Divine.
On March 28th 2023, SARAH Quand Même, marking this centenary, opened at Théâtre de Nèsle in Paris.
Now, just as La Divine did in 1891, the show makes its debut Downunder. Written & performed by SUSIE LINDEMAN and directed by WAYNE HARRISON, the Sydney Premiere Season plays August 28th to September 2nd at the MERAKI ARTS MAINSTAGE, 231 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Tuesday to Saturday 7.30pm, Saturday Matinee 2pm.
Tickets are available at meraki.sydney for $35 and $30 Concession.
Her life inspires a thousand tales – from playing Hamlet to being the world’s first film star and losing a leg. But SARAH Quand Même reveals La Divine’s story from the inside. This new Australian play has the honour of being the only theatrical tribute to Sarah Bernhardt in Paris, alongside the current exhibition at the Petit Palais, “Sarah Bernhardt: Et la femme Créa la Star”. She was always ahead of her time.
The plot: It is nearly show-time and Sarah is rehearsing. But when her granddaughter asks for a story, Sarah inspires a drama filled with the daring of a woman both celebrated and condemned. Caught between the myth and her monster (the audience), la scène and l’esprit, Sarah reveals her inner self for the first, and last, time. The play is performed in English with French.
“Hamlet had only two choices, but a woman? Il y a trois actes à l’interieur d’une femme: Feeling. Fight. Flight!”
Wayne Harrison and Susie Lindeman resume their collaborations following the Paris success of the Vivien Leigh play, Letter To Larry, by Australian playwright Donald Macdonald.
“A remarkable actress commands the stage with infinite grace… and a surprising dynamic. There are several trump cards to Harrison’s direction to which Lindeman lends herself marvelously. This is the revelation of a magnificent actress.”
Culturebox France.
“Astonishing, incarnated bewitchingly as if by magic by an actress without match.”
Le Nouvel Obs.
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Art By Yasmina Reza
Art by leading French playwright Yasmina Reza, the Olivier, Moliere and Tony Award-winning comedy classic, paints a satirical and witty portrait of the meaning of art and friendship with the scintillating English translation by Christopher Hampton a runaway success around the world. Starring international comedy legend, Shane Dundas with Christopher Carroll and Craig Alexander with direction from Shelly Higgs.
Are you who you think you are or are you who your friends think you are?
Fiendishly clever and wildly funny, ‘Art’ is a stylish meditation on the art of friendship and what it is that binds people together. A massive international hit and award-winning contemporary classic from the French powerhouse playwright Yasmina Reza, with a scintillating English translation by Christopher Hampton, ‘Art’ has enjoyed runaway success around the world since 1996.
It all starts in Paris. Serge has bought a modern work of art for a large sum of money. Marc hates the painting and cannot believe that a friend of his could possibly want such a work. Yvan attempts, unsuccessfully, to placate both sides with hilarious consequences.
The acclaimed French playwright, screenwriter and novelist, Yasmina Reza is best known for her plays Le Dieu du Carnage (God of Carnage) and Art, with Art winning the triple crown in the theatre world – the French Molière award, the British Olivier award and the American Tony award. The first non-English language piece to win a Tony, the play has been produced in 45 countries and translated into more than 30 languages. Reza is the only contemporary French author whose theatre is performed around the world.