Arty is huge. Ginormous. Morbidly and grossly obese, he’s in need of a gastric bypass to save his life. At over 400 kilos, he’s the world’s fattest teenager.
Arty is also being followed by a reality TV crew. Will he lose the kilos needed to have the op? Will he survive to eat another cream puff? Will Louise, his Pathways-to-Work officer, transform his life in ways he never imagined?
Unapologetically satiric, Beached is also the moving story of a man imprisoned in his own body. It lays bare the mercenary nature of reality TV, and turns the microscope on society’s insatiable appetite for human misery.
Beached won the 2010 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award and was shortlisted for the 2011 Griffin Award. It pairs the razor sharp wit of Melissa Bubnic with the imaginative direction of Shannon Murphy (This Year’s Ashes, Porn.Cake).
Director Shannon Murphy
Set and Costume Designer James Browne
Lighting and AV Designer Verity Hampson
Sound and AV Designer Steve Toulmin
Dramaturg Kit Brookman
Assistant Director Liz Arday
With Gia Carides, Arka Das, Blake Davis and Kate Mulvany
PERFORMANCE DATES
Previews 19, 20, 22, 23 July
Season 26 July – 31 August
Subscriber Briefing post-show 30 July
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 2pm and 7pm
Run time: approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes with no interval.
[Images by Brett Boardman]
Interview with Shannon Murphy and Melissa Bubnic, Beached
Behind the Scenes with Kate Mulvany, Beached
Behind the Scenes with Blake Davis, Beached
Behind the Scenes with Gia Carides, Beached
Behind the Scenes with Arka Das, Beached
“Writer Melissa Bubnic and director Shannon Murphy have given us a genuinely outstanding show, from the structure down to the detail… Beached is really fabulous theatre: unusual, incisive, and touching. Not to be missed.” Jodi McAlister, Australian Stage
“The always impressive director Shannon Murphy has done another fine job with a wonderful new work, deploying a cast that are, without exception, a deadset delight to watch.” Chris Hook, The Daily Telegraph
“Shannon Murphy and her fine cast have made something substantial and highly entertaining out of a confection that could so easily have been mere fairy floss.” Diana Simmonds, StageNoise
“Beached is a well-crafted play that gets to the heart of human weakness and exposes the vulnerable.” Bronwyn Fullerton, Sydney Arts Guide
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