Category: Socratis Otto

The ILLIAD – OUT LOUD, adapted from Homer’s poem, began as an ABC Radio Drama commission seven years ago. William Zappa, using seventeen translations – from that of Alexander Pope’s of 1720 to a more recent from Caroline Alexander – and advice from experts in this contentious field of study, has developed a three part preparation as an oral presentation. Its tradition is that of an oral poem (sung), not a literary work, stemming from, most experts believe, from the 8th Century BC. Zappa was determined to find the Australian voice for this telling – its musical rhythms and sounds,…

Sydney Theatre Company in association with Frantic Assembly present STOCKHOLM by Bryony Lavery at Wharf 1. This is a co-production between the Sydney Theatre Company and an English company, Frantic Assembly. Frantic Assembly is a company that creates and explores physical theatre skills as part of the dramatic language of their productions. Steven Hoggett, one of the co-directors – choreographers of STOCKHOLM (the other being Scott Graham), was associate director of the National Theatre of Scotland’s BLACK WATCH, which was part of the 2008 Sydney Festival. (Best remembered for an inventive physical transformation sequence.) STOCKHOLM was developed in close collaboration…

  Sydney Theatre Company presents THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA by Anthony Neilson at the Wharf 1. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA by Anthony Neilson is a play about Lisa. In the first half Lisa experiences a journey in her world of mental illness, of “Dissocia”, (Dissociation). In the second half of the play we see Lisa in a hospital ward being chemically treated for her “mental illness”. This is a terrific play. Mr Neilson through the action of the first half has us experience the world that Lisa knows with her illness. The world in her mind. He has…

“Write what you know.” In almost every biography one has read about the great literary figures this “write what you know” is a constant mantra of advice. This is what Mr Murphy has gone on to do so well. Beginning with TROY’S HOUSE a “story of a group of teenagers at the end of their schooling”. STRANGERS IN BETWEEN about a young boy fleeing his home and attempting to discover who he might be in the alien world of a big city: Sydney’s King Cross, and confronting his relationship with his family through the demands of his brother. HOLDING THE…