SOPHIA=(WISDOM): THE CLIFFS

by RICHARD FOREMAN

10 – 27 January 2024

AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE,
PRODUCED BY PATRICK KENNEDY PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEATRE

“I’ve always desired your body but since you were a goddess, I thought it would be an impossible physical relationship.”

Rhoda, a local artist in Potatoland, is struggling to keep her relationship with her husband Max interesting. In a nightmarish dreamscape, she conjures replica versions of themselves, inviting them into their home through the spiritual invocation of Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom. When this second Rhoda and this second Max enter their cliffside home, Rhoda is forced to decide between whether to confront or to flee the mayhem she has introduced. Only the abominable snowman and a group of factory workers stand in the way of her escape.
 
Part dada, slapstick comedy; part philosophical vaudeville interrogation into the human psyche and fully a production of the true avant-garde. This mind-bending play throws its five misfit central characters into an opulent madcap world of gang violence, sexual awakening and human eroticism.

SOPHIA=(WISDOM): THE CLIFFS is the archetype of Foreman’s uniquely stylized theatre which employs an unconventional fusion of art forms to evoke another world on stage. Characterized by complex interplays and tensions between spoken language and visual tableaux, with actors functioning like objects in a series of impactful still-lifes, Foreman’s play eschews dramatic narrative action in favour of a funhouse of human creatures cluttered amongst dreamlike curios.

“Foreman’s frame warps and melts like a Salvador Dali clock.” New York Times

“Astonishingly energetic and wildly imaginative, Patrick Kennedy is one of the country’s most fascinating theatre practitioners.” BritishTheatre.com

cast

Rhoda – Kirsty Saville
Max / Karl – Agustin Lamas
Sophia – Beatrice McBride
Ben – Luke Visentin
Hannah – Lara Kocsis
Mountain Climber – Izzy Azzopardi
Factory Workers – Charmaine Enculescu, Nehir Hatipoglu,
Celeste Loyzaga, Katie Regan, Heather Tleige

tickets

Full $37
Concession, Groups (6+) $32
New Theatre Member $25
Thrifty Thursdays $25
Preview $20

A production by arrangement with Richard Foreman and Patrick Kennedy Phenomenological Theatre

Patrons please note: New Theatre is now EFTPOS-only
at Front of House for both ticket and bar sales.

COVID- Safe protocols:
QR code and vaccination checks are no longer required.
Face masks are not mandatory, but recommended.

Production images: Daniel Boud