Director Lee Lewis
Designer Renée Mulder
Composer Steve Toulmin
Lighting Designer Verity Hampson
Stage Manager Edwina Guinness
With Paula Arundell, Airlie Dodds, Shari Sebbens

Previews 31 July, 1, 3, 4 August
Season 7 August – 5 September

Performance Times
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 2pm and 7pm

Meet the Artists 11 August

Running Time
75 minutes, no interval

‘Lee Lewis’s great and complex production’ The Australian

‘They say it takes a village to raise a child. This excellent production suggests that it also takes a village to kill a bastard.’ The Australian

‘It’s a rare thing for every element of a production to converge in this fashion. The combined effect is thrilling.’ ★★★★ Crikey

‘Cerini’s writing exists in an almost abstract space — his use of language is sharp and evocative, using playful rhymes along the way — but it’s all narrative-driven, and the narrative structure of this piece is perfect, right down to the quiet, creeping ending.’ ★★★★ Crikey

‘powerful look at domestic violence…a short but potent piece, equal parts murder ballad and revenge thriller.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘Director Lee Lewis, designer Renee Mulder, composer Steve Toulmin and lighting designer Verity Hampson fashion a visually striking and aurally rich production around Cerini’s words. Arundell, Sebbens and Dodds… are spellbinding as his outback Furies.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘…you will find yourself powerfully swayed.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘bruising, bold and brilliant…..The performances in The Bleeding Tree are pitch perfect.’ Australian Stage

‘THE BLEEDING TREE addresses the issue with passion, compassion, irreverence and gravity that hopefully will have audiences going away with the feeling that they have not only seen a great piece of drama but also prompt them to think about the society in which they live.’ Broadway World

‘Angus Cerini’s wonderful script is so powerfully lyrical” The Australian 

‘Paula Arundell, as the mother, and Airlie Dodds and Shari Sebbens, as the daughters, play all this superbly. Arundell, particularly, is magnificent as a woman who has suffered so much and is now finally taking control of her life and defending her children.’ The Australian

‘Lee Lewis, the Director, takes hold of this contemporary gothic tale of self defence and revenge and hurls it out into the world onto the SBW Stage with a fearsome sense of this is a truth you all may have only dreamt about in the unconscious swirls of your deepest, darkest nightmares, but for some is a wish fulfilment of a lifesaving confrontation.’ Kevin Jackson

‘There is a contagious fever of daring and simpatico between these three actors that is breathlessly thrilling to witness.’ Kevin Jackson

‘Grotesquely beautiful. Morally cauterising. Glorious artistic daring from all.’ Kevin Jackson

‘As the mother, Arundell commands the stage, alternately self-possessed when cornered and giddy with relief at the end of their suffering.’★★★★ The Guardian

‘this is powerful, visceral and deeply exhilarating theatre – just as it should be.’★★★★ The Guardian

‘The dialogue spars and parries, words rush in over one another, and the plot powers ahead at a cracking pace.’ ★★★★The Guardian

‘It’s liberation through violence, it’s women as anti-heroes, and it’s thrillingly subversive and deeply affecting.’ Time Out

‘Director Lee Lewis has composed a stunningly lyrical production that centres squarely on three fierce performances. Arundell is blazing with rage and commanding in a way that is, for all the darkness, oddly beatific; Dodds and Sebbens are sharp, vulnerable sisters.’ Time Out

Developed with the assistance of Playwriting Australia.