Revenge is a dish best served cold…

Hot on the heels of the creative and popular success of The Black Lung’s Avast I & II and My Darling Patricia’s Africa, Malthouse Theatre is delighted to announce that their 2010 Company in Residence will be The Hayloft Project. Led by director Simon Stone, this dynamic company are fast gaining notoriety as Australia's most startling and prolific new theatre-makers.

On the Tower Theatre’s menu is the most barbarous and bloody of any Greek legend: the tale of Thyestes, the deposed king whose sons were slaughtered and served as a feast to their own unwitting father.

Seneca’s play is tragedy at its most violent and melodramatic… no exploration of moral dilemma, no surprising plot twists, no salvation. Instead we are witness to a cursed and endless cycle of violence, with little faith that gods invoked by Thyestes will right this terrible wrong.

The Hayloft Project’s radical reinterpretation of Chekov last year in 3x Sisters (Arts House Meat Market) was the contentious hot ticket of Melbourne’s independent theatre scene, as was their contemporary imagining of the annunciation in B.C (Full Tilt/The Arts Centre). The company have also recently drawn high praise from audiences and critics alike at Sydney’s Belvoir Downstairs with their productions of The Only Child and The Suicide.

Now in the Tower Theatre, Simon Stone, together with Black Lung Theatre's anarchic Thomas Henning and Mark Winter and the stunning voice of Chris Ryan (Elizabeth), cooks up this merciless and brutal tale served as a visual feast for our pleasure.

"As around the theatre industry about emerging directors to watch and Stone will invariably be one of the first mentioned...Stone has been making waves as Hayloft's Artistic Director since founding the ensemble in 2007 with a group of like-minded actors." - The Australian

Thyestes is co-written and directed by Simon Stone and co-written and performed by Thomas Henning, Chris Ryan and Mark Winter. It features set and costume design by Claude Marcos; lighting design by Govin Ruben; sound design by Stefan Gregory; and dramaturgy by Anne-Louise Sarks.

You can catch The Hayloft Project's production of Thyestes September 16 - October 3 at Tower Theatre. Bookings and more information can be found at www.malthousetheatre.com.au or by calling the friendly folk at Malthouse on (03) 9685 5111.