BEAUTIFUL: A GHOST STORY
BY CARRIE MCLEAN
- premiere season -
JULY 2011| EARL ARTS CENTRE, LAUNCESTON (presented by Theatre North)
JULY 2011| THEATRE ROYAL BACKSPACE, HOBART (presented by Tasmanian Theatre Company)
“You look like my sister. She looked scared too. She’s dead. Would you like a cup of tea?”
In a seaside apartment block, in three rooms… George and Lily are having a romantic night in… Cecil celebrates his dead wife’s seventy-seventh birthday… Michael needs to finish his painting, but his canvas remains blank… And, amongst all this, a little girl hunts for her teddy…
Moody, provocative and stylish, Beautiful is a daring ghost story for modern times.
When a little girl draws together the lives of four tenants, their loyalties, frustrations and gruesome secrets are unleashed. With layers of simultaeneous action happening in enthralling counterpoint, Beautiful draws audiences into an unnerving psychological world with more than its fair share of chills.
"A rich tapestry of memory... McLean's crisp and choreographed script that is the driving force behind this production... captivating and poetic... It was challenging, confronting and exactly what I want to see when I go to live theatre..." - Kylie Eastley, write/response
"Mudlark's latest offering is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Carrie McLean's new script advances with poetic and persistent chill; Kate Gaul's production delights in disturbance; the actors fix their sights firmly on the second half of the show's title; and the play is genuinely creepy, thanks to the significant contribution of Daryl Wallis's soundscape... Beautiful asks us to consider what it is to be haunted - and, more interestingly, what it is to haunt. In death (literal or otherwise), do we become repositories for the fears, desires and losses of those around us? And if so, then how, in life, should we keep a sense of self?" - Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, The Mercury
"Mudlark Theatre has made its mark before but its latest production is an exceptional undertaking. It's impossible to describe in a few words the impact... but be warned: there are ghosts everywhere so you'll need to pay attention... a mind-tease play, thrillingly realised by the Mudlark team." - Jeff Hockley, The Examiner.
PLAYWRIGHT CARRIE MCLEAN
DIRECTOR & DESIGNER KATE GAUL
COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER DARYL WALLIS
LIGHTING DESIGN DARREN WILLMOTT
RACHEL JANE JOHNSON
CECIL MICHAEL EDGAR
LILY DONNA BROOKS
GEORGE ROWAN FREEMAN
MICHAEL MARCUS MCKENZIE
PRODUCTION/STAGE MANAGER STUART LOONE
TECHNICAL MANAGER DARREN WILLMOTT
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER REBECCA NILSSON
ARTS ADMIN SECONDEE (TAFE) NESS WALLACE
Image at top by Carrie McLean
BY CARRIE MCLEAN
- premiere season -
JULY 2011| EARL ARTS CENTRE, LAUNCESTON (presented by Theatre North)
JULY 2011| THEATRE ROYAL BACKSPACE, HOBART (presented by Tasmanian Theatre Company)
“You look like my sister. She looked scared too. She’s dead. Would you like a cup of tea?”
In a seaside apartment block, in three rooms… George and Lily are having a romantic night in… Cecil celebrates his dead wife’s seventy-seventh birthday… Michael needs to finish his painting, but his canvas remains blank… And, amongst all this, a little girl hunts for her teddy…
Moody, provocative and stylish, Beautiful is a daring ghost story for modern times.
When a little girl draws together the lives of four tenants, their loyalties, frustrations and gruesome secrets are unleashed. With layers of simultaeneous action happening in enthralling counterpoint, Beautiful draws audiences into an unnerving psychological world with more than its fair share of chills.
"A rich tapestry of memory... McLean's crisp and choreographed script that is the driving force behind this production... captivating and poetic... It was challenging, confronting and exactly what I want to see when I go to live theatre..." - Kylie Eastley, write/response
"Mudlark's latest offering is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Carrie McLean's new script advances with poetic and persistent chill; Kate Gaul's production delights in disturbance; the actors fix their sights firmly on the second half of the show's title; and the play is genuinely creepy, thanks to the significant contribution of Daryl Wallis's soundscape... Beautiful asks us to consider what it is to be haunted - and, more interestingly, what it is to haunt. In death (literal or otherwise), do we become repositories for the fears, desires and losses of those around us? And if so, then how, in life, should we keep a sense of self?" - Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, The Mercury
"Mudlark Theatre has made its mark before but its latest production is an exceptional undertaking. It's impossible to describe in a few words the impact... but be warned: there are ghosts everywhere so you'll need to pay attention... a mind-tease play, thrillingly realised by the Mudlark team." - Jeff Hockley, The Examiner.
PLAYWRIGHT CARRIE MCLEAN
DIRECTOR & DESIGNER KATE GAUL
COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER DARYL WALLIS
LIGHTING DESIGN DARREN WILLMOTT
RACHEL JANE JOHNSON
CECIL MICHAEL EDGAR
LILY DONNA BROOKS
GEORGE ROWAN FREEMAN
MICHAEL MARCUS MCKENZIE
PRODUCTION/STAGE MANAGER STUART LOONE
TECHNICAL MANAGER DARREN WILLMOTT
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER REBECCA NILSSON
ARTS ADMIN SECONDEE (TAFE) NESS WALLACE
Image at top by Carrie McLean
Beautiful was supported by the Australia Council of the Arts.
Beautiful was supported by the Minister of the Arts, through Arts Tasmania.
Beautiful was supported by the Launceston City Council.
Beautiful was supported by the Minister of the Arts, through Arts Tasmania.
Beautiful was supported by the Launceston City Council.
