Archived

A Cheery
Soul

By Patrick White
Director Neil Armfield

  • Venue Drama Theatre
  • Dates 1 – 29 Jan 2001

    A joint production by Belvoir and the Sydney Theatre Company.

    It was perhaps Patrick White’s greatest dramatic achievement and few performances on the Australian stage have been more celebrated in the last thirty years than Robyn Nevin’s glorious clown, Miss Docker.

    A pint-sized Godzilla, she mows a path through suburban Sarsaprilla, looking for valency, looking to take custody, looking for somewhere to belong. She can’t get a foothold in the contented Cunstance household, is rejected by the Sundown Home for the Elderly and finally can’t even find peace in God’s house, the Church of England. Alone on the street, pummelled by the wind, she receives God’s benediction as a mangy, yellow-eyed cattle dog delivers the final bitter judgement.

    Cast

    Vanessa Downing
    Ronald Falk
    Chris Haywood
    Claire Jones
    Gillian Jones
    Kris McQuade
    Geoff Morrell
    Lynne Murphy
    Robyn Nevin
    Rohan Nichol
    Lois Ramsay
    Dinah Shearing
    Kerry Walker

    Team

    By Patrick White
    Director Neil Armfield
    Designer Dale Ferguson
    Composer John Rogers
    Lighting Designer Nigel Levings
    Sound Designer Paul Charlier
    Assistant Director Rachel McDonald
    Musicians Warwick Alder, Duncan Bent, Dominique Guerbois & Heather Shaw

    Production images by Heidrun Lohr

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