MONARCH. MAIDEN. SUPER-FREAK.
The Virgin Queen is about to be dragged into the twenty-first century...
...and she’s not coming politely.
You are invited, by Her Majesty’s appointment, to a right royal arse-kicking. Mid the comforts of her boudoir and the ministrations of motley cronies, Elizabeth has a few bones to pick. There are the constant conspiracies and assassination attempts. There are the boob-lifts and leech-o-suction. But most of all, there’s the lack of sex – er – Essex, first name Robert, who holds her heart in his treacherous hands. It‘s not easy being Queen.
Featuring the incomparable Julie Forsyth (Happy Days) and Bille Brown (The Judas Kiss) we suggest you leave any preconceptions about the court of Elizabeth firmly at the door: this riotous new production, directed by Michael Kantor, is an enema to the dry recesses of history. Savage and hilarious, it puts a velvet-heeled stiletto into targets high and low, saving its sharpest blows for the conventions of theatre itself. Hang onto your armrests.
Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo (Accidental Death of an Anarchist) delivers one of his most brilliant and uninhibited rewritings of history reminding us that perhaps our favourite Monarch’s most notorious legacy is actually the modern Police State. One minute a mad burlesque, the next an unexpectedly poignant portrait of an ageing woman, but always speaking to the excesses of our age.
Luke Devenish (Fun and Games with the Oresteia) and Louise Fox (Tartuffe) have concocted a brilliant new translation true to the anarchic spirit of Dario Fo whose Elizabeth, Almost By Chance A Woman, is one of the most unforgettable creations of modern theatre: a hell-raising tornado of paranoia, lust, vanity and giddy delight - with a mouth that would put a sailor to shame.
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ELIZABETH: Almost by chance a woman
By Dario Fo
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
2nd - 24th April 2010
Translated by: Luke Devenish and Louise Fox
Director: Michael Kantor
Set and Costume Designer: Anna Cordingley
Lighting Designer: Paul Jackson
Composer: Mark Jones
Dramaturge: Maryanne Lynch
Cast includes Bille Brown, Julie Forsythe, Mark Jones, David Woods
"...a scatological farce... wielding more dirty Spoonerisms than a blackboard has flecks of chalk dust, it is almost hard to keep up for laughter." Sunday Herald-Sun
"This farcical and yet strangely moving play is at once a gloriously wicked satire on the backstage insanities of power and a paean to human mortality. Kantor's production is stunning: surely one of the most visually luscious works you'll see on stage this year, it achieves a classic simplicity that is unexpectedly faithful to the spirit of Fo. This new translation preserves Fo's linguistic wit and, importantly, his poetry... the final fifteen minutes are simply breathtaking." Alison Croggon, The Australian
"From its opening to its end, the Malthouse's new production of Dario Fo's Elizabeth, Almost a Woman by Chance, adapted by Luke Devenish and Louise Fox, is a delight. The latter writing team have successfully retained Fo's distinctive combination of hilarious comedy with the broaching of more serious themes... Elizabeth is that rare combination: a team of creators that excels in all areas: from performance, to written material, to music, lighting and set and costume design. Elizabeth is quality material played by a tremendously talented cast who carry it off with contained but infectious energy." Amelia Swan, Arts Hub
