By Tony Smith
The Sydney Theatre Company demonstrated a modern approach to the sale of its 1997 season of plays by inviting media and friends to the theatre for an upbeat launch. The set was dominated by strawberry mountains and champagne lakes big enough to temporarily distract the sophisticated Sydneysider's view of the harbour glowing in the golden rays of the setting spring sun.
The serious business was conducted in a friendly and relaxed fashion — with the plays announced variously by anecdote, a video cross to Perth and a burlesque commercial which implausibly featured the titles of the season's dramas.
The STC has compiled a very strong bill for 1997. There are classics such as Moliere's Tartuffe, Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, Coward's Private Lives and Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? There are Australian works by David Williamson, Michael Gurr and Nick Enright, and of special interest Tony McNamara's The John Wayne Principle developed locally this year in the New Stages program. And there is more — Master Class, Vita and Virginia and The Herbal Bed.
The program will not please everyone. Female playwrights may feel that the choice was unadventurous and that the commercial has dominated the artistic. The directors promise, however, that their productions will be challenging and exciting, and that audiences will be so moved that post-performance drug testing may be necessary. Nothing safe about that in Olympic City!
The subscription system offers a choice of bulk booking between six and 11 plays, so the keen theatregoer can make considerable savings and avoid the disappointment of finding a performance booked out.