Final evening performance tonight, 2nd May 2012.

Hell hath no fury like an actor ignored… Meet Bruscon: national treasure, intellect nonpareil, and finest living actor to grace the stage.

But what happens when a talent that knows no bounds is dropped into a tiny hamlet more notable for the number of local pigs than its appreciation of the theatre?

Watch the trailer here

Playwright Thomas Bernhard, himself a relentless self-mythologiser and one of the great writers of the twentieth century, takes no prisoners in this Fawlty-Towers-meets-Beckett rampage of satire on art, celebrity and the cult of personality.

In Bruscon is crystallised the artist whose head won’t fit through doors — an ego that has outgrown reality itself. But beneath the wit lies the profound concern about how such monsters are created, and why their excesses provide us with an endless, grotesque fascination even while we abhor them.

Director Daniel Schlusser shapes this wry drama around the protean genius of Bille Brown while the inimitable Barry Otto’s beleaguered innkeeper attempts to meet Bruscon’s absurd demands.

Duration:  1 hour 30 minutes no interval. Warning:  Contains strong language.

Read the program

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About Thomas Bernhard

Read about playwright Thomas Bernhard in The New York Times.

Credits

Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company present
THE HISTRIONIC (DER THEATERMACHER)

By Thomas Bernhard
Translated by Tom Wright
Directed by Daniel Schlusser
Set and Costume Design Marg Horwell
Lighting Design Paul Jackson
Composition and Sound Design Darrin Verhagen

Performed by
Bille Brown
Kelly Butler
Barry Otto
Josh Price
Katherine Tonkin
Jennifer Vuletic
Edwina Wren

The Histrionic is proudly supported by Sofitel Melbourne on Collins.

Photo Ellis Parrinder Pictured Bille Brown

Rehearsal photography by Lachlan Woods