Red Stitch Actors Theatre Artistic Director, David Whiteley has announced the Company’s second season for 2010.

The program offers an exciting collection of new and diverse plays from around the globe, including the world premiere of Stop.Rewind by Melbourne writer, Melissa Bubnic. Stop.Rewind is the second play developed through the Red Stitch Writers Programme, following on from the award-winning Red Sky Morning, developed with Tom Holloway.

“The comedy Stop. Rewind takes us in a completely different direction from the first Red Stitch Writers developed work, Red Sky Morning," said David Whiteley.

"Melissa was fascinated by David Greig's Yellow Moon (Red Stitch, 2009) and what grew out of her original idea was an hilarious and engaging portrait of a group of co-workers who, in their conversations about themselves, about each other and in their private missives, related a very human story of a group of people which is told by the group itself.”

After Stop.Rewind in July comes The City, a dark and intriguing comic mystery by British playwright Martin Crimp. October showcases the Australian premiere of Oh Well Never Mind Bye, a political drama exploring issues of distortion and bias in the media by Steven Lally. The year closes with David Grieg’s (Yellow Moon, Outlying Islands) new version of August Strindberg’s Creditors, a comic tale
about sex, guilt, revenge and jealousy.

Directors Anne Browning (The Pitch, The Colours) and Adena Jacobs join Red Stitch regular, David Bell (The Little Dog Laughed), and resident co-dramaturg, Gary Abrahams (Acts of Deceit) to present this exciting season of plays.

Since 2002, Red Stitch has developed and showcased work by new and established playwrights and has emerged as one of Australia's most successful independent companies. They have produced around 70 contemporary plays, almost all Australian premieres, by acclaimed writers from the UK, the USA, Australia and Europe, including Martin Crimp, Edward Albee, Paula Vogel, Mark O’Rowe, Richard Bean, Sarah Kane, Leo Butler, Philip Ridley, Simon Stephens and Kenneth Lonergan. The Company has won a number of major industry awards including Best Production, Best Direction, Best Actor and Best New Writing.

2010 marks nine years of work for the fledgling group and a major milestone for a company that is still growing as an organisation and raising standards in performance.

Put these dates in your Moleskins:

July 21 - August 21: Stop. Rewind by Melissa Bubnic

Directed by Anne Browning (The Pitch, The Colours)

Is it too late to live the life you’ve always wanted? As a disparate group of co-workers at a departmental office struggle to hold on to their dreams, we glimpse the series of compromises that has led each to their place in the eclectic community.

The second work developed through the Red Stitch Writers programme, Stop. Rewind is a deft and recognisable comedy with heart that begs the question, how well do you know the person at the next desk? A must see for anyone who’s planning on being a rock star.

“Traverses the shadier parts of the human condition with wit and frankness” Aussie Theatre

September 1-25: The City by Martin Crimp

Directed by Adena Jacobs

Groundbreaking British playwright, Martin Crimp, presents strangely compelling fragments of dramatic intimacy that are gradually rent apart by absurdity to reveal a profoundly unsettling ‘city of the mind’. The result is a surreal and often amusing mystery, which explores urban life, the threat from outside, and the nature of fiction itself.

“Immaculate and expertly paced” The Independent

October 6 - November 6: Oh Well Never Mind Bye by Steven Lally

Directed by Gary Abrahams (Acts of Deceit)

James Fisher’s news team are struggling to write up the day’s events in time for the evening deadline. When police shoot a man dead at Stockwell underground station, their responsibility to report the truth is tested by political pressure, professional rivalry, career expediency and personal resentment.

Oh Well Never Mind Bye is a an engrossing and wryly understated political drama that explores the rise of “churnalism” fueling the 24-hour news cycle, against the backdrop of the 2005 terrorist attacks in London.

“…guaranteed to make journalists twitch uncomfortably in their seats” - The Guardian

November 18 - December 18: Creditors by August Strindberg

in a new version by David Grieg

A darkly comic tale of vengeance, jealousy and psychological warfare, Creditors unfolds as a young husband, anxiously awaiting the return of his new wife, falls under the sway of a confidant. In this savagely witty version by playwright, David Greig, Strindberg’s disturbing and often hilarious battle of the sexes emerges as one of his most modern works.

“A rollercoaster of sex, lies and revenge” - Time Out, New York

For more info on these shows and the other exciting things Red Stitch are up to, visit www.redstitch.net.