Graduating theatre students from the University of Tasmania are proud to present the world premiere of Perfect Stranger, directed by the acclaimed Ben Winspear and produced in a promenade format, with rolling performances starting at 15-minute intervals and moving through several locations in Launceston.
Perfect Stranger was written by award-winning playwright Hilary Bell (Wolf Lullaby, Splinter, The Hypochondriac). The students are working in collaboration with QVMAG, Winspear’s Archipelago Productions and Ralph Myers (Belvoir Street, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company), who has steered the production design process.
“This innovative project has presented the student cast and crew with the challenge of making passionate theatre in a COVID world, in a time where most of the world’s theatres are dark,” the Head of Theatre and Performance in the School of Creative Arts and Media, Dr Jane Woollard, said.
Students will stage four performances of the play each night from October 8 to 10, each performance starting 15 minutes apart and with a maximum audience of 10 guests, which will ensure that it is COVID-safe. The play, and the audience, move through multiple locations, and cast members play multiple characters appearing at different times in different locations.
Dr Woollard said the unique performance would lead audiences through the heritage textures and rusted backdrops of the Traverser Lane at QVMAG, with the disturbing and magical play set in moody and lonely spaces.
Four actors play the female protagonist Ruth, who wanders through a city both familiar and strange, trying to find her way home. Ruth’s descent into chaos is marked by encounters with eccentric characters and the events of a world that has transformed while she was sleeping.
Perfect Stranger begins at the Academy of the Arts in Inveresk on October 8 (until October 10). Tickets are limited.
For bookings and showtimes head to https://www.trybooking.com/660995, or find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/perfectstrangerutas.