Blanchett and (husband) playwright Andrew Upton have announced their first season as the new artistic directors of the Australian stage company.
The 2008 season (subject to change) follows:
Julian Meyrick directs Victoria Longley and Pip Miller.
Simon Phillips directs Genevieve Picot and William Zappa.
Pamela Rabe and Tim Maddock directs the STC Actors Company.
Peter Evans directs Ben Guerens, Robin McLeavy and Toby Schmitz.
Jamieson directs the STC Actors Company and third year acting students of NIDA.
Ian Lawson directs Jonathan Brand, Sandro Colarelli, Judy Hainsworth, Andrea Moor and James Stewart.
(adapted from the Euripides play)
Kosky directs Melita Jurisic and Robyn Nevin.
(adapted from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera)
Max Stafford-Clark directs Noni Hazlehurst. Felix Cross composes.
Max Cullen appears.
Brendan Cowell directs Toby Schmitz. Available as an add-on for the season will be:
(Adapted by Tom Wright and Benedict Andrews)
Andrews directs the STC Actors Company and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett — who starred in Hedda Gabler at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music — is known worldwide for her film work in "Elizabeth," "Babel," "Veronica Guerin," "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and her Academy Award-winning turn in "The Aviator." She was again Oscar-nominated for her work in the Patrick Marber-penned "Notes on a Scandal"; her recent film credits include "The Good German" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." A Sydney Theatre Company veteran, she appeared in Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances and David Mamet's Oleanna. She also appeared on the London stage in David Hare's Plenty.
Blanchett and her writer-husband Andrew Upton will become the new artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company at the end of 2007. The duo recently directed the STC double-bill of Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (Blanchett's directorial debut) and David Mamet's Reunion (Upton) at the venue. Blanchett will next stage David Harrower's Blackbird (starting Dec. 15).
Upton provided the translation for the Hedda Gabler in which his wife starred. He also adapted Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac and (with Marion Potts) Molière's Don Juan for the company. His original works include The Hanging Man, Death and Taxes and Gatt The Fax. Sydney Theatre Company currently presents his Riflemind (through Dec. 8) with Philip Seymour Hoffman directing star Hugo Weaving.
The full 2008 season lineup can be found on the STC website at sydneytheatre.com.au.
