Small Companies, Big Names

Intriguing article today in Australia’s The Age about how small companies are increasingly relying on big-name playwrights to sell tickets, but are also wary of the financial and production pressures involved. One company in particular is Red Stitch Actors Theatre, an actors co-op that produces mostly ‘overseas’ plays. Their artistic director, David Whiteley says,

"There's a lot of excellent work out there and, the fact is, Australian audiences just won't see it. In London you might have 10 or 20 companies that are presenting new international plays but here you have one or two — the choice of what we can do is amazing."

They’ve presented the Australian premieres from such writers as Edward Albee, Paula Vogel, Mark O'Rowe, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Richard Bean, Martin Crimp, Austin Pendleton and most recently, Neil LaBute’s The Mercy Street.