Merrigong Productions
Since Merrigong's first full-scale production in 2006 (Van Badham's Camarilla), we have produced a major work every year: Athol Fugard's Valley Song in 2007 and Thieves Like Us, a world premiere from Australian playwright Marcel Dorney in 2008. In 2009, Merrigong produced 4 Plays about Wollongong, the first project the company has developed all the way from commissioning through to production. The works were commissioned in 2008 from playwrights Van Badham, Mary Rachel Brown, Marcel Dorney, and Simon Luckhurst. In 2010, we will produce Caleb Lewis' Death in Bowengabbie, a beautifully written script which won the Judge's Commendation for Best Writing at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival.
On Tour
In 2008, Merrigong remounted our 2007 production of Athol Fugard's Valley Song for a NSW tour. The following year we brought Kahlil Ashanti's US hit comedy Basic Training to Australia for a very successful 14-venue tour. And in early 2010, Merrigong and Richard Jordan Productions brought Canadian Rick Miller over for a short Australian tour of Brisbane, Sydney, Bathurst and Wollongong with his internationally acclaimed comedy MacHomer.
Projects in Development
Since Merrigong began commissioning work in 2007, the company now has a busy slate of new work in development for future seasons. Current works in development are:
The Itch by Kate Smith and Drew Fairley with songs by Phil Scott
Drew Fairley and Kate Smith have delighted audiences from Wollongong to Hong Kong with their shows Bangers and Mash and The No Chance in Hell Hotel. Based on the huge success of their productions in Wollongong, Merrigong decided to commission their next hilarious show. The Itch is currently being developed with Phil Scott (The Wharf Revue) and had a work in progress showing as part of Ruff! New Works in Progress in 2009.
The Table of Knowledge by version 1.0
In 2009, Merrigong entered into a creative collaboration with Sydney based company version 1.0. Highly respected and critically acclaimed for their innovative, accessible, and entertaining blend of documentary theatre, contemporary performance, and media spectacle, version 1.0 are turning their forensic theatrical vision onto recent events in Wollongong. The project in development will be presented as part of Ruff! New Works in Progress in August 2010.
Investing in other companies' work
Merrigong also invests resources into the development and production of works by other companies, such as Soft Tread Production's Lying Cheating Bastard and Hothouse Theatre's Australia! The Show!, both of which were produced in association with Merrigong, and are part of our 2010 season. As part of the launch of Merrigong's Commissioning Program in 2007, the company co-commissioned Garry Stewart's ‘G' for Australian Dance Theatre, with the Joyce Theatre (New York) and the Southbank Centre (London).
Image 1: Amy Usherwood. Photo: Heidrun Lohr.
Image 2: Terry Serio, Adam Booth and Clare Bowen in 4 Plays About Wollongong.
Image 3: Phillip Hinton and Alexandria Steffensen. Photo: Heidrun Lohr.
