MOSQUITOES
By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Jessica Arthur
Australian premiere
Can sisterly love survive the chaos of the universe?
The Australian premiere of this international hit is a spellbinding tale of sibling rivalry set against a backdrop of scientific discovery.
Alice (Jacqueline McKenzie) is a scientist working towards an important new discovery. Jenny (Mandy McElhinney) is her sister, and believes any conspiracy she reads on the internet. They couldn’t be more different. So, when tragedy forces them together, the impact has unexpected consequences.
It’s 2008 and Alice’s team of physicists at the Large Hadron Collider are searching for the Higgs Boson, stitching together the fabric of the cosmos. But at home, Alice’s family is falling apart at the seams.
Mosquitoes is a story of facts and feelings that reaches to the edges of time and space without ever losing touch with its very human heart.
The Guardian said “Lucy Kirkwood has proved that she is a dramatist of dauntless ambition. She pushes the boat out even further with her new play [Mosquitoes].†Likewise, Australian audiences raved about STC’s acclaimed productions of Kirkwood’s intelligent, affecting and ambitious work; Chimerica in 2017 and The Children in 2018.
Mosquitoes is perhaps her best yet – a perfectly focused family drama woven together with big questions about the universe and our very existence. This moving and witty story “tackles giant themes with a swaggering showmanship†(The Telegraph, UK).
Two of Australia’s most beloved screen and theatre actors, Mandy McElhinney (Channel 9’s Love Child and Bad Mothers, ABC’s Paper Giants) and Jacqueline McKenzie (The Present, Orlando) come together as the sisters at the centre of the story, with the award-winning Annie Byron (Hedda Gabler) as their mother.
STC’s Resident Director Jessica Arthur (Lethal Indifference) leads this Australian premiere production. The superb cast includes STC favourites Jason Chong (Chimerica) and Charles Wu (Chimerica, Channel 9’s Doctor Doctor).
Director Jessica Arthur
Designer Elizabeth Gadsby
Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper
Composer and Sound Designer James Brown
Assistant Director Jennifer Rani
With
Annie Byron, Jason Chong, Mandy McElhinney, Jacqueline McKenzie, Angela Nica Sullen, Louis Seguier, Nikita Waldron, Charles Wu