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The Ghost Writer


Press Release

New Queensland theatre company presents Brisbane debut of acclaimed new Australian work

The Ghost Writer
Written by Ross Mueller
Directed by Andrea Moor
Produced by …and moor theatre
Opens 15 May until 31 May
Metro Arts, Sue Benner Theatre, Brisbane

No stranger to the stage or set, respected Australian theatre, film and television actor, Andrea Moor, will step out of the bright lights to direct an exciting new Australian work for Brisbane audiences – The Ghost Writer opens at Metro Arts’ Sue Benner Theatre on 15 May.

Moor is currently being mentored as a director through the Queensland Theatre Company’s Emerging Artists Program, returning to Brisbane in 2005 after 26 successful years training, acting and directing in Sydney, Melbourne, New York and London.

When Moor’s agent suggested she consider multi award-winning Victorian playwright, Ross Mueller’s, The Ghost Writer, as her company’s second directing project, Moor instantly knew Brisbane audiences deserved the opportunity to experience the piece.

Mueller’s theatre credits include the Wal Cherry Play of the Year (2007) award and his two nominations at the 2008 Green Room Awards for Best New Play.

“Ross Mueller is without doubt one of the most exciting playwrights in Australia today and I’m committed to ensuring Brisbane audiences don’t miss out on his work,” says Moor.

“Looking for my next work to direct, I considered a few different plays by Australian playwrights. When I picked up Ross’s The Ghost Writer it sharply stood out as the most sophisticated, intelligent and compelling piece.

“I immediately begged Ross for the rights to produce it.”

Mueller agreed, confident in Moor’s natural directing abilities as demonstrated in her debut directorial project, Beautiful, at The Loft in 2007 under her new company …and moor theatre.

Beautiful’s reviewers applauded Moor for bringing a fresh approach and great professionalism to her first play as a director and producer.

Mueller says, “For a playwright, if someone is longing to produce your play, it’s likely they’ll do it great justice. I could see Andrea was focused on bringing this script to Brisbane so I knew it wasn’t going to be just another production for her.”

Through her company, Moor is committed to discovering exciting new Australian and European scripts and presenting them as a first to Brisbane audiences.

The Ghost Writer was commissioned by the Melbourne Theatre Company and received rave reviews when it was presented as part of the company’s 2007 season at the Fairfax Theatre Victorian Arts Centre. Australian playwright David Williamson even mentioning he wished he’d written the script himself.

Moor says, “Since The Ghost Writer was first produced in Melbourne, Ross has sent me a new version – it is even tighter, with one less character – and I’m very excited and honoured to put …and moor theatre’s name to this piece.

“As a director, such a beautifully and intelligently crafted script challenges me to keep the writing at the forefront of the production.

“There is little room for trickery or distraction – but instead a need to create wonderful space around the words to allow the humour, dialogue, and themes to challenge the audience in the most exciting way.”

Featuring four experienced actors from around the country, the play is set in a Melbourne publishing environment in the heart of the city CBD where the political, media and business worlds overlap. As a narrative thriller, it follows the complexities of the four characters’ interactions as a part relationship drama, part murder mystery.

For media interviews, contact Anthony McCormack, Metro Arts, on (07) 3002 7100 or Anthony@metroarts.com.au

The Ghost Writer
Presented by …and moor theatre
Opening Thursday 15 May
Season 14 May – 31 May (Wed – Sat) 8pm
Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, 109 Edward Street, Brisbane
Tickets: Adults $22/ Conc. $16/ Groups of 10+ $12
Bookings: (07) 3002 7100 or online www.metroarts.com.au

Directed by Andrea Moor
Written by Ross Mueller
Featuring Louise Brehmer, Nicholas Cooper, Steven Tandy and Ling Hsueh Tang

Production design Kieran Swann
Lighting design by Jason Glenwright
Composer Jason Zadkovich

 

Biographies

Andrea Moor, director and producer …and moor theatre

Andrea Moor returned to Brisbane in 2005 after 26 years training, acting and directing in Sydney, Melbourne, New York and London. Andrea is a NIDA graduate and has studied at East 15 in London and with The Atlantic Theatre Co in New York. She is currently being mentored as a director through the Queensland Theatre Company’s Emerging Artists Program and in 2007 launched her own company, …and moor theatre.

As a director, Andrea has worked on numerous productions including Beautiful (The Loft), Mad Forest and A Dream Play (NIDA Young Actor’s studio), Lysistrata (QUT Performance Studies), Red Cap (Ass Director, La Boite), Heroes (Ass Director QTC), Prisoner of Second Avenue (Ass director QTC), The Works (Ass Director, QTC), Furious (NIDA first Year Actors), Stars (ATYP) and Henry V (Ass Director, ATYP).

As an Actor, Andrea’s theatre credits are extensive and include, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Absurd Person Singular and Vincent in Brixton (Queensland Theatre Company); The Narcissist (La Boite); Bitin’ Back (Kooemba Jdarra), Away (World Premiere, Griffin), Emerald City, Siren, A Map of the World, A Woman in Mind, Titus Andronicus, The Visit, Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, An Ideal Husband, Games of Love and Chance (Sydney Theatre Company), Away, The Return and Kayak, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster (Griffin); Witchplay (voted best actress Edinburgh Fringe 1991); A Little Like Drowning, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Belvoir), The Old Boy, The Ninth Step, The Family, Diving for Pearls (Ensemble); The Newspaper of Claremont Street (Marion Street); and The Aunts Story for the NIDA Company.

Andrea’s film credits include Travelling North, Round The Bend, Oscar and Lucinda, Strange Planet, The Man Who Sued God, Bitter and Twisted and many award winning shorts. Her television credits are extensive and include Passion, All Saints, Flying Doctors, GP, Country Practice, H2O, Mortified and her on-going role as the School Principle in Heartbreak High.

Andrea is a dedicated teacher of actors and is currently undertaking a Doctorate of Creative Industries at QUT. Andrea co-founded Practical Aesthetics Australia, the Sydney annex of the Atlantic Theatre Company of New York.

Ross Mueller, playwright

Ross Mueller is the winner of the Wal Cherry Play of the Year 2007 for his play, The Glory, and in 2008 was nominated twice for Green Room Awards for Best New Play. In March 2007, The Ghost Writer was premiered by Melbourne Theatre Company at the Fairfax Studio at the Victorian Arts Centre. In May 2007, his play, No Man's Island, had its American premiere with a production at Here in New York City. In 2006, he was short-listed for the New York New Dramatists Award for Construction of the Human Heart and it was short-listed for the 2007 AWGIE Award for Best New Play. In 2002 he was the Australian playwright at the International Residency of the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Ross has been commissioned by Playbox, Melbourne Theatre Company, Hothouse and ABC Radio National and has been an affiliate of the Melbourne Theatre Company and a founding member of Melbourne Dramatists. Two of his plays have been published by Currency Press. His other works include; A Party in Fitzroy, Little Brother, Great Ocean Road, Colosseum, Pinters Explanation and a pilot version of Something To Die For. His newest play, Concussion, was presented as part of the Inaugural Playwriting Australia Festival in Brisbane in 2008 and was short-listed for the Patrick White Award. The Glory premiered in March at Hothouse Theatre Company.

Steven Tandy, actor

A professional actor since graduating from NIDA in 1971, Steven has worked for most major theatre companies throughout Australia including: - Queensland Theatre Ccompany (Expresso Bongo, Juno and the Paycock, The National Health, Love for Love, Who Cares?, Loves Labours Lost); Melbourne Theatre Company (Translations, Three Sisters, The Winter’s Tale, The Maid’s Tradgedy); Nimrod Street Theatre (The Speakers); New England Theatre Company (Who Was Harry Larson); Riverina Theatre Company (The Threepenny Opera); Marion Street Theatre Co (What if You Died Tomorrow?, See How They Run, When We Were Married); La Boite (Amigos, Last Drinks, James and Johnno, Summer Wonderland), Twelfth Night (Dad’s Army, Run for Your Wife, The Rocky Horror Show, ‘Allo ‘Allo); Perth National Theatre (No Names No Pack Drill); Ensemble Theatre (Time and Time Again, Noises Off), ATYP (Old Queen Cole); Bondi Pavilion (When Did You Last See My Mother?);Opening NightProductions (Love! Valour! Compassion!); Ansata Productions (The Abdication of Queen Elizabeth II); Esoteric (My Night With Reg).

Steven has also completed a postgraduate diploma in Directing at NIDA, graduating in 1995. Productions he has directed include Busybody, Night Of The Iguana, Don’s Party, Deadly Nightcap, You can’t take it with you, Peggy for You, and recently, Bouncers.

Television credits include The Sullivans (as Tom Sullivan); All the Rivers Run; Redheap; Spyforce; Sons and Daughters; The Freemantle Conspiracy; Misery Guts; Possession and Mortified.

Film Credits include Jog’s Trot; Hurricane Smith; Rough Diamonds; Mercy mission; The Rescue of Flight 471; Gettin’ Square; The Horseman.

Louise Brehmer, actor

Louise is an actor, teacher, voiceover artist and corporate trainer. She has worked for many arts organizations both in Queensland and interstate. Her numerous theatre credits include Private Fears in Public Places (QTC), Summer Wonderland (La Boite), Crèche and Burn (La Boite), New Royal (Metro Arts/ SOOB), He Died with a Felafel in his Hand (La Boite), Cooking with Elvis (QTC), The Comedy of Errors (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble), The Greater Plague (Restaged Histories/Metro Arts), Children of the Black Skirt (Real TV/ QAC), Lovejunk (DeBase Productions), The Man Who Sold The World (Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre), Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations (rolling jaffa), Hermes and the Naked Flame (La Boite/QAC), In No Particular Order (BDP), Anne of the Thousand Days (Crossbow Productions), Mrs Klein (Crossbow Productions), The Pacific Solution (Brisbane Festival Theatre Fringe/SOOB) to name a few.

As an actor and improviser, she has worked and traveled throughout most of Australia and has twice represented Queensland in the National Theatresports Championships. She has performed public readings of new works including The Wiredancers' Waltz and Australian Gothic (National Playwrights Festival), The Narcissist (La Boite/ Noosa Long Weekend Festival), Baited and The Critic (Duende/ Metro Arts Creative Development Festival) and Faith (QLD Poetry Festival). Louise has appeared in feature length and short films and is also a Clown Doctor at The Royal Children’s Hospital Brisbane.

She has extensive experience in teaching and in working with children and adults alike. Louise is a graduate of the Acting Program at QUT and has trained with Shakespeare and Company (USA), Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre, Society of Australian Fight Directors, DeBase, Angry Mime, NIDA Open Program & Trinity College of London.

Ling Hseuh Tang, actor

Ling grew up in Brisbane and trained at QUT, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts- Drama. She has appeared on stage in Beautiful for …and moor theatre, La Boite’s Amigos and Griffin’s Songket at the Sydney Opera House.

She has worked extensively in television as a main cast member of All Saints, Breakers, Children’s Hospital, Trackers, Tribe and New Zealand’s Spin Doctors. Other television work includes Sea Patrol, Playschool, Fireflies, Go Big, Murder Call, Big Sky and Fallen Angels.

Ling has also provided character voices on children’s shows Tracey McBean and Spellbinder- Land of the Dragon Lord. Film work includes Ghostrider, Son of the Mask and Strange Planet.

Nicholas Cooper, actor

Since graduating from QUT with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) in 2003, Nicholas has appeared on stage in Edmond, Romeo & Juliet, La Ronde, Cabaret and St Kilda Tales. In Sydney he has been involved in the production of new Australian works including, The Mediator, Actors Anonymous and The Marriage Wreckers.

His film and television credits include working on McLeod’s Daughters, All Saints, Through My Eyes, Mermaids, Monster!, Cybergirl, Code Red, Fool’s Gold and most recently on HBO’s The Pacific War.

Kieran Swann, designer

Kieran is one half of performance making duo the Restaged Histories project, which has staged Omon Ra, The Greater Plague, Marat/Sade (educational residency at QUT) and The Jack Tragedy. Kieran was engaged in 2007 as the first designer under the emerging artist program by Queensland Theatre Company, for whom he has designed I Am My Own Wife, The Estimator, Property of the Clan, Caucasian Chalk Circle, and worked as assistant designer of Away, and design assistant of Hamlet, Private Fears in Public Places, Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset, and Vincent in Brixton, and taught workshops in design for theatre and performance for high school students. Kieran has also worked as designer of The Laramie Project (Forward Movement/Springboard Theatre Company), Ivy Shambitt and the Sound Machine (Backbone Youth Arts), Mad Forest (NIDA Open Program), Tashi Stories (Imaginary Ltd), The Physics Project (QUT Postgraduate Program), and in capacities of assistant designer, design co-ordinator or design assistant of Walking by Apple Tree Creek, The Mayne Inheritance (La Boite Theatre Company), Charters Towers The Musical (Queensland Music Festival 2005) and the 2006 Brisbane Festival, encompassing work on Coorparoo Sk8 , Paradise the Musical, the Theatre Fringe, and the Courier Mail Spiegeltent. Kieran's work as a Performance Maker includes An exercise in cohabitation (or Zygotes, Lo! A Mysterious Symbiosis Of Yolk And Albumen!) (Metro Arts Creative Development Festival) and the first stage development of a new visual performance work based on Gulliver's Travels. In 2006 he was awarded a place in the SPARK national arts mentorship scheme.

Jason Glenwright, lighting designer

Jason is a freelance lighting designer and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Technical Production from QUT. Recent lighting design credits include The Kursk (Metro Arts), Beautiful (…and moor theatre), The Science of Falling (CIRCA), Metamorphoses and Much Ado About Nothing (Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble), Gaijin (Ben Knapton), Stop Violence Against Women (Anna Yen, Amnesty International), Living Like Alice (Maria Pasquarelli), The Maids (Plague Theatre) and The Logan Project (Daniel Santangeli). Jason has also designed the lighting for four original musical productions including Of Our Own Volition (Spangled Drongo Productions), Pipedreams, Sapphires Theatre Restaurant and Ataxis (KSHS). Jason has also been a lighting mentor for the 2nd year lighting design students on Production One 2007.

Jason Zadkovich, composer

Jason Zadkovich graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Music in 2000. For the performing arts, he works as a musician, producer and technician, specifically in audio engineering, sound design, multimedia, new media and digital environments. He provides sound manipulation and editing for the Queensland Theatre Company, La Boite Theatre Company, Opera Queensland, Queensland Performing Arts Complex, Brisbane Powerhouse and the Queensland Art Gallery. His arts related credits also include sound composition for …and moor theatre’s production of Beautiful in 2007 at The Loft; as the feature guitarist on the Ten Tenors 2004 CD release, Larger than Life, and the Australian Film Commission’s film, Travelling Light in 2003. He was also co-musical director and lead guitarist in The Wall project for QUT in 2002. He is a theatre technician at the Creative Industries at QUT Kelvin Grove and performs with his band, Flipside.

He has successfully produced CD recordings for Currency Press, The Lateral Music Company, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Eli Lilly, Phizer, Merino Wool, Queensland Saxophone and Clarinet Society, Brolga Music, Somerville House and Board of Senior Secondary School Studies.

Reviews

Exciting New Theatre in Brisbane

Emma Hegerty — last modified 2008-05-19 17:34 VIBEWIRE

Stirring, thought provoking, sophisticated. Ross Mueller’s 'The Ghost Writer' certainly brings an exciting new drama to Brisbane audiences, challenging the public's perception of truth and stimulating the mind.

Stirring, thought provoking, sophisticated. Ross Mueller’s The Ghost Writer is a well written piece of theatre bringing to life a world that highlights a society’s ever growing ignorance of a sometimes difficult and complex reality in favour of an easy ‘truth’. This world seems to be the one in which we live today - a world where society’s opinion can be altered by the media, where facts are replaced with assumption and where each magazine and TV screen has a different take on the truth. So how does society figure out the real story?

The Ghost Writer tells the story of every day people – people familiar to us, battling with lies, relationships, secrets, justice, avoidance and eventually confrontation with the truth. It is set in Melbourne and seems to touch on Australia’s connection with the missing child. It tells the story of a mother whose daughter Megan was murdered at the age of four. One night Megan went missing from her room, and six months later was found in the lake near her house. The mother’s boyfriend Brian was immediately branded as a suspect despite any real forensic evidence. The media’s portrayal of Brian soon lead society to believe that he was indeed this little girl’s killer. Illiterate, witty, and not afraid to speak her mind, Megan’s mother Brihanna (Louise Brehmer) employs the expertise of businessman Robert (Steven Tandy) and his publishing firm in Melbourne’s CBD to help her tell the real story – the truth. Seeing a book on Roberts’s desk about an Olympic athlete (written by one of his ghost writers) Brihanna decides she wants the same ghost writer to bring her story to life. That ghost writer happens to be Robert’s daughter, Claudia (Ling Hsueh Tang).

Claudia is an intense and complex character, struggling to conceal her own truths from everyone including her father and her love interest - West (Nicholas Cooper), refusing to tell him anything about her job, her life or even her first name. She has something to hide. She is an excellent writer and, after some persuasion, agrees to take on Brihanna’s story. She starts off by letting her own opinions, shaped by what she has read in the papers and seen on the news, cloud her actual factual knowledge of the situation. Much like real life cases such as Lindy Chamberlain, once a person is portrayed in a negative light by the media, it is quite likely that society will assume the worst of that person. Claudia believes that the case is closed. Brian was the killer. Brihanna on the other hand, claims that she knows who the real killer is, and that she wants everyone to recognise the real story.

This relationship and investigation drama is really enhanced by a clever set which takes us from the office to the bedrooms and homes of the characters, as well as the local café. Lighting and sound add to a smooth transition of scenes, whilst a superb cast really bring the writing off the page and onto the stage. Steven Tandy does an excellent job at creating Robert, the egotistical image of a quick talking, business savvy editor. Appealing to a somewhat mature audience, every second line spoken is met with a burst of laughter and quite a few nods suggesting ‘I know what you mean’. The scene between Claudia and her father just after he has, in effect fired her is very intense, as well as upsetting as we see Claudia struggle to come to terms with the injustice that is being done on Megan’s behalf, as well as the pain of her own hidden truths. When Brihanna reveals the truth behind Megan’s death to Claudia and West the room is completely silent. It is awkward and quite unsettling. The cast has done a fantastic job at engaging the audience in this story and expressing intense emotion which was felt through the entire theatre.

The Ghost Writer is a believable story of characters and events that could indeed relate to people we know and places that we live. It definitely raises the question of a society which seems to be growing ever more ignorant and somewhat communally distant. How do we decide what is truth and what is just a version of the truth? How do we accumulate information and what does it lead us to believe? A great piece of theatre that definitely provokes thought and really engages its audience.


Review grabs for flashes
Beautiful: It is a satisfying and faultless directorial debut, with Moor already having distinguished herself in acting, teaching and coaching acting. 



Andrea Moor can be very proud of her first show as a professional director.

This play is simply beautiful in its starkness, but its dark embrace draws us closer.

It’s a gem of a play, as fragile and as multi-layered as a rose, and the sensitivity of the text, so elegantly translated by May-Brit Akerholt, is mirrored in a truly magical set, where the walls of the boathouse, especially under the lighting of the talented Jason Glenwright, echo the moods of the characters as well as the time of day.

It’s a brilliant start for a new theatre company, and Andrea Moor can be very proud of her first show as a professional director.

 

The Ghost Writer is a believable story of characters and events that could indeed relate to people we know and places that we live.

Exciting New Theatre in Brisbane

The cast has done a fantastic job at engaging the audience in this story and expressing intense emotion which was felt through the entire theatre.

A great piece of theatre that definitely provokes thought and really engages its audience.