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If you’re stupendously excited about the avalanche of massive main stage shows opening this summer, including not one but two dramatic big hitters from Sydney Theatre Company (STC) before the end of the year in Julius Caesar and Death of a Salesman, then you’re going to LOVE this news.
The illustrious company has signed a ‘first look’ deal with super-producers Michael Cassel Group (MCG). What that means in practice is that MCG will have first dibs on transferring or remounting any show that STC creates with a view to touring it interstate or internationally.
It’s the first time an agreement of this nature has been struck by a theatre company in Australia.
And it’s already up and running. The current lockdown may have postponed a planned encore run of artistic director Kip Williams’ Oscar Wilde adaptation The Picture of Dorian Gray, the one-woman show starring an astounding Eryn Jean Norvill as all 26 characters, but MCG have snapped it up. That ensures audiences all over the country and overseas stand at chance at seeing it for themselves in the very near future.
Reviewer Maxim Boon said of the star, “Norvill produces some of the most virtuosic theatre I have ever witnessed, on stage or screen,” and of Williams, “he has deftly explored an intersection between the cinematic and theatrical, creating productions on the bleeding edge of stagecraft that bridge the liminal space between these two modes of storytelling.”
Speaking of the newly inked deal, Williams said, “I am so thrilled to be partnering with the visionary Michael Cassel and everyone at MCG as we look to take STC productions to new audiences in Australia and overseas. I continue to be inspired by the brilliant work of Michael and his extraordinary team and I’m very much looking forward to working together, developing new work, and creating new opportunities for our artist.”
Cassel was just as thrilled. “As Australia’s pre-eminent theatre company, STC has a wonderful legacy of creating compelling, ground-breaking theatrical productions. The brilliant Kip Williams and his talented team clearly share our passion for creating incredible theatrical productions that inspire, engage and entertain. This innovative agreement allows us to be able to pursue opportunities for these productions to be shared with a greater audience, on stages in Australia and around the world.”