The Year of Magical Thinking May 28, 2008

Sydney Theatre Company in association with Riverside Theatres proudly presents THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING at Riverside Theatres from Wednesday 28 May for five performances only, following the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) season at The Wharf. Written by Joan Didion, one of the great American essayists and novelists of the past 50 years, the play is adapted from her celebrated memoir of the same name.

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING is directed by STC Co-Artistic Director Cate Blanchett, stars Robyn Nevin, designed by Alice Babidge and with costume design by STC Patron Giorgio Armani. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING is a major work of the international stage and has played to sell-out audiences on Broadway where it starred Vanessa Redgrave and was directed by David Hare

Robyn Nevin portrays Didion, who, over the course of one year loses her husband and soul-mate of 40 years, John Dunne, while also enduring the prolonged illness of their only child, Quintana. As the writer faces almost unbearable pain, she must also forego familiar, rational, logical ways of seeing the world, for what she comes to know as ‘magical thinking’.

Joan Didion is the author of five novels and seven books of non-fiction, including Sentimental Journeys, The White Album and Slouching Towards Bethlehem. The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award in November 2005. It explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good times and bad–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

Robyn Nevin was the STC Artistic Director from 1999 to 2007. Her stage credits include Love-Lies-Bleeding, The Cherry Orchard, The Breath of Life, The Glass Menagerie, Old Masters, A Cheery Soul and many others. Since graduating from NIDA’s first students in 1959 she has acted for all Australian state theatre companies. She has received the Sydney Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Actress and for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre, the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and Logie, Penguin and Sammy Awards for Best Actress.

Cate Blanchett is Co-Artistic Director of STC, where she directed Blackbird by David Harrower and
A Kind of Alaska by Harold Pinter. One of her earliest professional roles as an actor was with STC in 1993 opposite Geoffrey Rush in Oleanna. For the Company she has also performed in Hedda Gabler, Sweet Phoebe, Kafka Dances and Top Girls. Other theatre credits include Plenty for the Almeida Theatre, London; The Seagull, Hamlet, The Blind Giant is Dancing and The Tempest for Company B; and Kafka Dances, for Griffin.

“Robyn Nevin is ideally cast as the meticulous, driven, inquisitive ad doubting Didion. It is a skilful, mesmerising performance” - The Sydney Morning Herald

Director Cate Blanchett

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING
VENUE: Riverside Theatres, Cnr Market and Church Streets, Parramatta
DATES: Wednesday 28 May - Saturday 31 May
TIMES: Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat at 8.00pm and Sat matinee at 2pm
SINGLE TICKET PRICE:
Wed-Thu Eve & Sat Matinee Adults $47, Conc $42, Under 30 is $32, Under 16 $27
Fri & Sat Eve Adults $50, Conc $45, Under 30 is $35, Under 16 $30
RIVERSIDESAVER:
Wed-Thu Eve & Sat Matinee Adults $37, Concessions $32, 30 and under $27, 16 and under $22
Fri & Sat Eve Adults $40, Conc $35, Under 30 is $30, Under 16 $25
BOOKINGS: Riverside Box Office 02 8839 3399 or www.riversideparramatta.com.au

Official Website: http://www.riversideparramatta.com.au