JANUARY 31 - FEBRUARY 28 (SEASON ENDED)

MALTHOUSE THEATRE PRESENTS

WOYZECK

BY GEORG BÜCHNER
ADAPTED BY GISLI ÖRN GARDARSSON
ORIGINAL LYRICS BY NICK CAVE
ORIGINAL SONGS BY NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS
DIRECTOR MICHAEL KANTOR
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER PETER CORRIGAN
MUSICAL DIRECTION & SOUND DESIGNER
PETER FARNAN
LIGHTING DESIGNER PAUL JACKSON
ASSISTANT DESIGNER ANNA CORDINGLEY

CAST INCLUDES:
MITCHELL BUTEL, MARCO CHIAPPI, HAMISH MICHAEL, BOJANA NOVAKOVIC, SOCRATIS OTTO, MERFYN OWEN, TIM ROGERS

MUSIC PERFORMED LIVE BY:
SIMON BURKE, XANI KOLAC, DAN WITTON

RUNNING TIME APPROX: 90 MINS

Expertly assembled through the military’s compelling architecture of institutionalised violence, an individual soldier becomes part of a machine. Identity is reduced to a number and each man reduced to a statistic of war. Prepare for combat.

Prowling the dustbowl of a dissolute army base, Woyzeck is forced to eke out a life of humiliating lab trials to support his indifferent mistress and her young son. A man of fragile mind, Woyzeck is slowly shorn of his self-possession by the military machine. As the war that never ends thuds dully in the distance, this soldier’s ordeal is only about to begin.

Georg Büchner’s 1837 masterpiece, Woyzeck is a timeless exploration of sexual jealousy and paranoia. Regarded as the first truly modern play, Woyzeck is an iconic work and arguably the first sustained theatrical investigation of modern warfare.

This stunning adaptation features original, heart- stopping and hauntingly lyrical songs composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Michael Kantor’s new production collides anarchic grandeur with a seductive brutality featuring a chorus of villainous angels - led by one of Australia’s seminal rock musicians, Tim Rogers.

The Merlyn Theatre, in the hands of designer Peter Corrigan, is set to shudder as we become witness – perhaps even collaborator - to a crime as old as man.