FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 13

MALTHOUSE THEATRE PRESENTS

FURIOUS MATTRESS

BY MELISSA REEVES
DIRECTOR TIM MADDOCK
SET & COSTUME DESIGNER ANNA CORDINGLEY
LIGHTING DESIGNER PAUL JACKSON
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER
JETHRO WOODWARD
DRAMATURGE MARYANNE LYNCH
BESEN FAMILY ARTIST PROGRAM
(LIGHTING DESIGN): KATIE SFETKIDIS

WITH
RITA KALNEJAIS, KATE KENDALL, ROBERT MENZIES, THOMAS WRIGHT

BECKETT THEATRE
FEBRUARY 19 – MARCH 13

Running Time 2 hrs 10 min including interval

IF YOU LOOK FOR THE DEVIL,
YOU WILL SURELY FIND HIM...

Inspired by a true, if incredible, story from our own recent past, Furious Mattress uncovers just how terrible can be the things done in the name of good.

In the heartland of rural Victoria, a backyard exorcism is about to commence. Else has always been a little different, even a little difficult, but when her husband seeks support from his local religious community, what he invites into their home will take the very shape of the unspeakable.

This new work from one of Melbourne’s most daring and incisive playwrights, Melissa Reeves (The Spook), dashes cherished assumptions about guilt and free-will, innocence and redemption in a world of Christian religious values. Impossible events are rendered all-too-believable; unforgivable acts take on an unnervingly natural air. At the heart of Furious Mattress is the all too-human desire to belong to something bigger than ourselves. But at what cost do we subscribe to shared beliefs? And what risk do we run to deny them?

Furious Mattress recasts events torn from tabloid headlines with Reeves’ signature wit and wisdom to remind us that most fundamentalists are far more familiar than the fanatics paraded before us in cautionary tales.

Director Tim Maddock (The Serpent’s Teeth) assembles a fine cast including Kate Kendall (Kitten), Robert Menzies (Knives in Hens), Thomas Wright (Black Lung-Avast) and Rita Kalnejais (Moving Target), while Resident Designers, Anna Cordingley (Happy Days, One Night the Moon) and Paul Jackson (The Tell-Tale Heart), create a world of truly demonic possibility!

A MALTHOUSE THEATRE COMMISSION
FURIOUS MATTRESS WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPORTED BY MTC AND FURTHER DEVELOPED BY THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SCRIPT WORKSHOP

PHOTO MOSFILM/RGA
PICTURED MARGARITA TEREKHOVA

Furious Mattress contains horror, sexual and supernatural themes

Be advised this production includes strobe lighting