Celebrated Australian trio Splintergroup showcase incredible physicality and inspired storytelling harvested from myths and paranoia of the outback

TORONTO, ON (Jan. 12, 2010) – Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage 2009-10 performing arts series resumes this winter with the celebrated Brisbane-based company Splintergroup and the intense contemporary dance-theatre piece roadkill. This edge-of-your-seat show runs four performances only, Feb. 3 – 6, at Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre.

Choreographed by Gavin Webber, Grayson Millwood and Sarah-Jayne Howard, the trio of collaborators who currently comprise Splintergroup, roadkill is set in Australia’s legendary and treacherous outback. A couple are stranded with a car that won’t start next to a phone booth that doesn’t work with a mobile phone out of range. The vast and unforgiving outback offers them little salvation, until a stranger comes along who seems all too eager to help. Splintergroup brings exceptional physicality to the stage in this work that explores dark and terrifying themes.

With a cinematic feel, roadkill surveys both the hyper-realized folklore of the outback and the realities of being stranded in it’s almost limitless emptiness. Drawing on similar themes from news headlines – such as the recent and infamous Falconio case wherein an Australian man was convicted of murder and assault on a couple travelling through the outback – and the horror film genre, such as the 2005 film Wolf Creek, roadkill is a gripping foray into the psychology of isolation in the midst of imminent danger.

Splintergroup boast unorthodox movement and an arsenal of wildly inventive choreography, notably demonstrated with the use of the couple’s car – a red Toyota which sits centre stage throughout the show – as the site of many dazzling and innovative performance feats. The much heralded sound design of Luke Smiles’ sinister soundtrack adds to the unnerving drama, and the clever lighting design from Mark Howett creates a spine-chilling environment where the audience never knows what lies beyond the dark edges of the stage.

*Media images and resources: http://media.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage/

New for World Stage 2009-10: Visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage to learn about Harbourfront Centre’s commitment to developing artists and audiences through World Stage initiatives and programmes, such as special events, artist talks and more.

roadkill
Choreographed by Splintergroup
Produced by Brisbane Powerhouse and Dancenorth
Feb. 3 – 6, 8 p.m. Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto
Tickets: $30

Creative Team Choreographers: Gavin Webber, Grayson Millwood & Sarah-Jayne Howard
Performers: Gavin Webber, Grayson Millwood & Gabrielle Nankivell
Dramaturg: Andrew Ross
Sound Design: Luke Smiles / motion laboratories
Lighting Designer: Mark Howett
Rehearsal Director: Michelle Ryan
Stage Manager: Melanie Dyer
Production Manager: Liam Kennedy

Complete information about performance times, single tickets, packages and the Performance Card ($15 tickets for arts workers and students, Tues. – Thurs. performances only) is available through the Harbourfront Centre box office by phone at 416-973-4000, or harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage.

Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage 2009-10 gratefully acknowledges the support of Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and Westin Harbour Castle, the official hotel of World Stage.

World Stage to Host the World Premiere of Necessary Angel's Hamlet

The Bard's Tale of the Tragic Dane Gets an Agile and Savage Revision

TORONTO, ON (October 21, 2009) – Following the critical success of The Walworth Farce, Harbourfront Centre's World Stage is proud to host the world premiere of Necessary Angel's Hamlet. The second production of the World Stage 2009-10 performance series, Hamlet runs November 19 through November 29, 2009, at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON. A full listing of evening and matinee performance times, as well as ticket prices, is included at the bottom of this release.

Necessary Angel's Hamlet combines the aesthetic of European theatre with the poetry of the British stage; what has emerged is a unique, immediate and violent 110-minute live theatre experiment seething with amorality, where nothing is set and every performance is different. The play received standing ovations during sold-out workshop performances in November 2008.

This vital, severe and sexy production features Benedict Campbell, Laura de Carteret, Mac Fyfe, Steven McCarthy, Christopher Morris, Tara Nicodemo, Robert Persichini and Eric Peterson, with Gord Rand in the title role. Hamlet is directed and designed by the acclaimed Graham McLaren, Artistic Director of Scotland's Theatre Babel and first-ever Associate Artist of Necessary Angel. Best known to Toronto audiences for his Dora Award-winning production of Medea (with Theatre Babel) that played World Stage in 2002, McLaren's highly lauded work has travelled extensively across the globe. Lighting design for Hamlet comes from the award-winning Andrea Lundy, with music and sound design from Alexander MacSween. Necessary Angel's Hamlet is slated for international touring in 2010-11.

With Hamlet, Harbourfront Centre and Toronto's own Necessary Angel Theatre Company continue a time-honoured relationship; Necessary Angel has staged Tamara, Hysterica Passio and a reading of Clout as part of World Stage in its various manifestations over the years. Founded in 1978, Necessary Angel has been an influential and original presence on the national and international theatre scene for 30 years.

New for World Stage 2009-10, visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage to learn about Harbourfront Centre's commitment to developing artists and audiences through World Stage initiatives and programmes, such as special events, artist talks and more.

Necessary Angel's Hamlet
Necessary Angel Theatre Company
Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON
Previews: Nov. 17 – 18, 8:00 p.m.
Performances: Nov. 19 – 20, 8:00 p.m., Nov. 21, 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.,
Nov. 22, 4:00 p.m., Nov. 24 – 27, 8:00 p.m., Nov. 28, 2:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.,
Nov. 29, 4:00 p.m.

Tickets for Necessary Angel's Hamlet are $40 ($15 for previews). Complete information about previews, performance times, single tickets, packages and the Performance Card ($15 tickets for arts workers and students, Tues. – Thurs. performances only) is available through the Harbourfront Centre box office by phone at 416-973-4000, or harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage.

Harbourfront Centre's World Stage 2009-10 gratefully acknowledges the support of Department of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and Westin Harbour Castle, the official hotel of World Stage. Preview and School Visits matinee performances generously supported by BMO Financial Group.