A Note from Lee, 10 November

10.11.16

I was onstage with the cast of The Turquoise Elephant doing an audience post-show Q&A last week when the subject of the US election came up. Belinda Giblin, who magnificently plays Olympia, predicted a win for Trump, talking of the…

A Note from Lee, 27 October

27.10.16

Hello jacaranda, hello Sydney Festival, and hello to the wonderful production of The Turquoise Elephant. It’s colourful, it’s a restoration, apocalyptic, farce which has been described as a comic kick in the teeth to our political complacency, and it is…

A Note from Lee, 13 October

13.10.16

A love letter to actors There are a lot of elaborate costumes in The Turquoise Elephant. There is not a lot of space in the Griffin dressing room. We don’t have assistant stage managers  or dressers. And summer is coming….

Griffin Creative Development: Adam Deusien

First up, I have to confess: I’ve invaded the Griffin Studio this year. I am an Arts NSW Regional Artist Fellow for 2016, and my work with the Studio is supported through that program, generously welcomed by Griffin and the…

A Note from Lee, 29 September

29.09.16

The title of this newsletter is THE CONSOLATION OF SUBSCRIPTION. For subscription, my friend, is the only way to avoid missing shows like Gloria and The Literati which sold out early in their runs. In 2017 if you want to…

In Conversation: Stephen Carleton

What led you to write The Turquoise Elephant?The play was a fairly immediate response to the sense of exasperation I’ve been feeling about our economic and political classes’ ridiculous denialism about climate change.  It’s all a bit desperate, really, and…

A Note from Lee, 15 September

15.09.16

Spring has well and truly sprung, Gloria is well and truly soaring, the 2017 Season is well and truly launched, The Turquoise Elephant is furiously rehearsing, and we are all leaping towards the end of what has well and truly…

A Note from Karen, 1 September

31.08.16

In the Griffin office this week we can’t wait to… Open Gloria! We’ve just finished the fifth preview of Benedict Andrew’s dynamite new play, Gloria. It’s been interesting talking to audiences in the foyer throughout the previews, listening to them compare Act 1 and Act…

A Note from Karen, 18 August

19.08.16

I have just come from the last Production Meeting for Gloria. Unbelievably, we are in the fourth week of rehearsal, and bump-in to the theatre on Monday. I’ve been holding my breath, as Lee and the creative team calmly plot their way…

A Note from Lee, 4 August

04.08.16

What a week for Griffin! Last Monday at the Helpmann Awards Matilda may have won 13 awards (congratulations of course!) but Griffin became the theatre embodiment of the Matilda tag line “Even if you are little you can do a lot”. The…