100 REASONS FOR WAR

by Tom Holloway

23 – 25 April 2015 at 8pm
Theatre Royal
 

Commissioned by Blue Cow Theatre; World Premiere production.

The world premiere of a major new work by one of Australia’s leading playwrights. Grandly ambitious, 100 Reasons for War is Tom Holloway’s funny, angry, provocative and ultimately optimistic response to a century of “man’s inhumanity to man”, 100 years after Gallipoli.

This is no battlefield-drama or period piece. Holloway’s war is played out in the here and now, in kitchens and classrooms, boardrooms and bars. A big play about big things: Big Bang, the power of words, technology and social media, Edward Bernays, Anna Freud and Bill Clinton, gender, age and class divides, sports-rage, phone-rage and queue-rage, evolution, faith and chimpanzees.

“Why? Why so much anger? Why so much war?”

ENSEMBLE

Andrew Casey
Aleksandra Mirjana Crossan
Guy Hopper
Karissa Lane
Jeff Michel
Campbell McKenzie
Tim Paige
Fiona Stewart 

PRODUCTION PERSONNEL

Director/Designer Robert Jarman
Associate Director (Movement) Trisha Dunn Associate Director (Text) Alex Rigozzi
Composer Dylan Sheridan
Lighting Designer Aron Webb
Televisual Content Justin “Pyrate” Smith
Costumier Roz Wren
Production/Stage Manager Jen Cramer
Set realisation Jon Bowling, Jake Sanger, Paul Colgrave
Set artwork William Dowd
Props Helen Cronin
Publicity John Xintavleonis
Graphic Design Karen Kluss             
Theatre Royal technicians Chris Harris, Richard Causby, Rowan Smith 

WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT “100 REASONS FOR WAR” 

“… the completely stripped back Theatre Royal stage …  a uniformly impressive cast of eight actors … an open invitation to stare into the innards of things … the tumbling bodies of an empire setting; the doomed couple’s bodies enmeshed; the ensemble explodes. … This major new commission by Hobart’s premiere actors company is both flawed and deeply memorable.” – The Mercury

“Move mountains to see this Tasmanian play. Worth it.” – Ryk Goddard, ABC Radio

“Robert Jarman has once again demonstrated that he is the shining light of Tasmanian and, arguably, Australian theatre with a production that is superbly simple in concept and multi layered and complex in execution. Almost every moment and nuance of this highly sophisticated play is landed by the director and his cast with such a clarity and a naturalness you have to remind yourself at moments that they aren't just making it up as they go along. … This is the world premiere of a major work by a company that belongs to us and which exists to provide just this kind of fresh and relevant experience for us right here in Hobart.” – Rod Anderson

“An incredible ensemble and a provocative script from a bold Tasmanian writer, this is truly not to be missed. So don't.” – Maeve MacGregor

This production was assisted through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts.