This November will see Tantrum Theatre and acclaimed Newcastle playwright Carl Caulfield come together for the first time with an exciting new collaboration titled 2039 which will close out the Civic Theatre’s 2010 Inspirations Playhouse season.

2039 is an edgy, satiric, black comedy that looks to the future to examine the present. Directed by Brendan O'Connell, this dark, dystopian political thriller will use eye-catching multimedia techniques, including the integration of live and pre-recorded video and sound.

Featuring the diverse acting talents of Tantrum's Senior Ensemble, this new play by one of Newcastle's most popular dramatists will explore ideas about religion, freedom, uses of technology, surveillance, terrorism, celebrity, and notions of reality.

The play is set in a futuristic location know as Betaville and follows Gretchen Appleby, a young woman who lives in Zone Two and spends her life dreaming of living like a celebrity in Zone One. She is a member of the Church of Kronos, an organisation that controls Betaville and to which all citizens must be loyal.

A series of troubling events alter the course of Gretchen’s path when she is thrust headfirst into a maze of lies and violence that endangers not just her own life, but that of the people closest to her. In her search for the truth about her own past, Gretchen becomes inextricably linked to a greater plot to overthrow the political regime and change the course of the future.

Playwright: Carl Caulfield
Director: Brendan O’Connell
Cast: Rachel Jackett, Ellen Osborne, Timothy Blundell, Mitchell Bourke, Dean Blackford, Kia Pugh, Matthew Sandford, Bradley McDonald, Chris Newton, Dean Johnson, Natalie Bradbery, Jesse Robertson, David Hopkins, Andrew Swan, Cordelia Hamilton-Russell
Dramaturg: Timothy Daly
Lighting Designer: Adam Zakarauskas
Sound Designers: Liam Bird and Ben Freeman
Dates: Thursday 18th November - Saturday 27th November
Times: Week One - Thurs to Sat 8pm | Week Two - Wed to Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm
Venue: The Playhouse, Civic Theatre Newcastle (375 Hunter St)
Tickets: $30/$26 concession or groups 8+
Bookings: Ticketek - (02) 4929 1977 or through ticketek website or at the Hunter Street, Newcastle office
* 20 tickets at $20 each will be available each night for people aged 30 and under *

Visit the Tantrum Theatre website or see the Tantrum Company Profile on Lowdown Magazine Online