December 5, 2011

CIRCA THEATRE 2012 SEASON:
MUSIC, MAGIC AND MASTERPIECES  

Since 1976, Circa Theatre has built a reputation as one of New Zealand’s liveliest and most innovative theatres. Champions of quality playwriting and performance for 35 years, home and host to New Zealand’s most influential theatre-makers, Circa continues to lead New Zealand theatre with a musical, magical, masterful season of work. 

Music threads throughout the 2012 Season with the dance infused Esencia del Flamenco and Meeting Karpovsky, the blooming micro-musical Floral Notes with Jane Keller and Geraldine Brophy, the new Roger Hall play about folk dancing – A Shortcut to Happiness, and the always entertaining BeatGirls with Spector. 

Magic is also ever-present, with the beginning and end-of-year pantomimes, Aladdin and Cinderella, the improv ‘magic’ that happens in all of The Improvisors shows, the magic that transports Anton Chekhov to present day London in Chekhov in Hell, and of course, as it states in the title, The Year of Magical Thinking is a kind of magic all of its own.

Circa will present a number of thought-provoking, masterful works in 2012, from the Miller classic All My Sons and the Pulitzer Prize winning Clybourne Park, to the new Kiwi masterpieces Sunset Road and the Ken Duncum adaptation of West End Girls. 

2012 is a year of truly exceptional programming that is sure to inform, challenge, inspire and entertain.

CIRCA THEATRE  2012 SEASON  
Brief Synopsis of Productions 

CIRCA ONE

Roger Hall’s Aladdin, the Pantomime  
Songs by Paul Jenden and Michael Nicholas Williams 
Directed by Susan Wilson
3-14 January

Back by popular demand for the first two weeks in January, those of you who missed out on seeing this spectacular treat before Christmas can hiss, boo, and aww along with Aladdin, Widow Twankey and the gang!

The Motor Camp 
A comedy by Dave Armstrong 
Based on a story by Danny Mulheron 
Directed by Danny Mulheron 
21 January – 18 February 

After the panto we have another return season by popular demand: The Motor Camp! Director Danny Mulheron once again helms this cracker Kiwi camping comedy by NZ playwright Dave Armstrong, bringing together the talented cast from the sell out 2011 season. Tickets are available now – get yours early to avoid disappointment! 

Peninsula
By Gary Henderson
Directed by Jane Waddell
25 February – 31 March

Up next is Circa’s contribution to the New Zealand International Arts Festival, Peninsula, by the award-winning team who scooped the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 2007 with Home Land. A touching, bitter-sweet look at life in the 60s, Peninsula provides a richly emotional journey amid childhood games and adventures and adult issues and events.

Roger Hall’s A Shortcut to Happiness 
Directed by Ross Jolly
14 April – 28 May

A fabulous new comedy about the lives, loves and misadventures of a folk-dancing class, A Shortcut to Happiness has all of the usual Hall trademarks: shrewd observations, much mocking of Kiwis’ curious customs and of course, plenty of laughs.

All My Sons  
By Arthur Miller 
Directed by Susan Wilson 
2 June – 7 July 

The director who brought us the epic dramas August: Osage County and When the Rain Stops Falling in 2011, takes on this powerful Miller classic for 2012. A brilliant and compelling family drama of love, guilt and the corrupting power of greed, All My Sons was the first great success of Arthur Miller’s supremely influential career. 

Spector 
With the BeatGirls
Devised, written and choreographed by Andrea Sanders
14-28 July 

A musical tribute to one of pop’s legendary producers, Spector showcases the best work from Phil’s career and recounts the stories around the music. Starring the always entertaining BeatGirls (performing for the first time in Circa One!) and featuring hit songs such as ‘Be My Baby’, ‘Da Do Ron Ron’, ‘Unchained Melody’ and ‘River Deep Mountain High’.

West End Girls 
Adapted for the stage by Ken Duncum
From the bestselling book by Barbara Tate
Directed by David O’Donnell
4 August – 1 September

West End Girls is a world premiere adaptation of Barbara Tate’s autobiographical bestseller, brought to you by the writer/director team behind the 2010 Circa hit, The Great Gatsby. An eye-opening, hilarious and moving story of love, life, laughter and sex. 

Clybourne Park 
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Ross Jolly
8 September – 6 October

Director Ross Jolly presents the NZ premiere of this Pulitzer Prize-winning play. A very sharp, clever and wickedly funny study of modern manners, Clybourne Park probes the contemporary fault line between property and prejudice. It is startling, unsettling and outrageously entertaining! 

The Truth Game 
By Simon Cunliffe
Directed by Danny Mulheron
Produced by Howard Taylor
13 October – 10 November

Sex, lies and the semicolon. The Truth Game is a fast-moving contemporary drama about journalism and the very “soul” of the news, which freeze-frames the crises of the age, while traversing universal themes of ambition, loyalty, love and betrayal. 

Roger Hall’s Cinderella, the Pantomime 
Songs by Paul Jenden and Michael Nicholas Williams
Directed by Susan Wilson
17 November – 22 December 

There he is! Oh no he isn’t. Oh yes he is! The team that brought you Aladdin, Robin Hood, Dick Whittington and his Cat, Jack and the Beanstalk and Red Riding Hood returns to the beginning to bring you the pantomime that started it all, Roger Hall’s Cinderella. A glittering fairytale with dazzling costumes and lots of fun and laughter – the perfect Christmas treat.

CIRCA TWO

Esencia del Flamenco 
With special guests from Barcelona Christina Lopez and Paul Bosauder
31 January – 5 February

First up in the 2012, Desde Sevilla Flamenco Dance Company returns to Circa Two with Esencia del Flamenco, which captures the essence of flamenco: haunting song, intense emotions and mesmeric rhythms.

Meeting Karpovsky 
With Helen Moulder and Sir Jon Trimmer
Directed by Sue Rider
10-25 February

Originally produced to rapturous response in 2002, Meeting Karpovsky toured New Zealand in 2003/4 and won Listener Best New Play and Chapman Tripp Actress of the year. By popular demand, it returns in 2012 for a strictly limited season. 

Floral Notes 
Written by Geraldine Brophy
Song book adapted by Jane Keller
4 -28 April 

A blooming micro musical about friendship, life and love, starring all-time theatre favourites, Geraldine Brophy and Jane Keller. Floral Notes is a glorious evening of super songs and first-rate entertainment. 

Chekhov in Hell 
By Dan Rebellato
Directed by Eleanor Bishop
12 May – 9 June

Director Eleanor Bishop brings us a bitterly comic new play that drops nineteenth century playwright, author and pitiless observer of Russian society Anton Chekhov in twenty-first century London. This New Zealand premiere asks where have we come from, how did we get here and what do we do now? 

Sunset Road 
Written and directed by Miria George
20 June – 7 July

Brought to us by Tawata Productions, the award-winning team behind 2011 favourites I, George Nepia and He Reo Aroha, Sunset Road is a beautiful story of family, personal history and coming of age. World premiere. 

The Year of Magical Thinking 
By Joan Didion
Directed by Susan Wilson
11 August – 8 September
Starring Catherine Downes

A NZ premiere, this dramatic adaptation of Joan Didion’s award-winning bestselling memoir transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and only daughter into a stunning and powerful one woman play.

Manawa 
Written and directed by Jamie McCaskill
15 September – 13 October

This world premiere play by playwright Jamie McCaskill (He Reo Aroha) examines the New Zealand justice system and the idea of community.

The Mourning After 
By Ahi Karunaharan
Directed by Miria George
16-27 October

Another contribution to the 2012 Circa Two programme from Tawata Productions, The Mourning After is a story of loss, love and family that travels from the shores of New Zealand to a village in Sri Lanka.

The Tigers of Wrath 
By Dean Parker
Directed by Jane Waddell
3 November – 1 December

A world premiere, The Tigers of Wrath is an intriguing play about the strange twists of life, about hopes and reams, about a developing and then disintegrating relationship. In the background run two astonishing political trajectories: The People’s Republic of China and The New Zealand Labour Party. 

And threaded throughout the Circa Two programme, The Improvisors continue their 22-year tradition of providing hilarious improv comedy for Circa audiences. We have Theatresports (29 April – 1 July), History Never Repeats (1-6 May), Improv Cage Match (19 August – 7 October) and three school holiday improvised shows just for kids (10-21 April, 2-14 July, 1-13 October). Don’t miss them!  

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