QUILLS
The Victorian premiere of Doug Wright's Obie Award-winning play Quills - a provocative and daring study of sexuality and madness. What happens when the lunatics rule the asylum!
"Mockingbird Theatre is very excited to be staging the Victorian premier of Quills. It is a play that is, without a doubt, not for the faint- hearted. Doug Wright tackles the imagined final days in the life of the Marquis de Sade with all the aberrant and degenerate vigour that is usually assigned to de Sade himself," says Director and Company Artistic Director Chris Baldock. "This makes for a highly provocative, violent, perverse and controversial story that is simultaneously charged with thought-provoking philosophical tirades about the nature of man. Censorship vs. Art. Pornography vs. Sex. Sanity vs. Insanity. Religion vs. Atheism. Humanity vs. Inhumanity. Man vs. Man - such are the debates that run rampant within the work. Such are the opportunities for enquiring minds to ponder. Quills is grand, theatrical and wickedly satisfying. It will penetrate the watcher to the very core - enter if you dare!"
The play contains violence, nudity, sexually explicit action and language. Adults Only.
Chris Baldock is a highly respected director and actor in the Melbourne theatre scene. He directed the acclaimed production of The Laramie Project at Chapel off Chapel which won the 2005 Victorian Green Room Award for Best Independent Production. He revived the production in 2012 to critical acclaim as the inaugural production for his own company, Mockingbird Theatre. He also received critical praise for his productions of Love! Valour! Compassion! for Midsumma, Burning starring Logie Award-winner Libby Tanner and the Australian premiere of Shining City for Hoy Polloy. Chris has also directed Mockingbird Theatre's critically acclaimed productions - Blue/Orange, How I Learned To Drive, Equus, Kiss of the Spiderwoman and The Temperamentals.
Doug Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 and the Tony Award for Best Play for I Am My Own Wife. Other works include Dinosaurs, The Stonewater Rapture, Watbanaland, Interrogating the Nude and Unwrap Your Candy along with musicals The Little Mermaid, Grey Gardens, Buzzsaw Berkeley, Hands on a Hardbody and the film, Quills. Doug Wright lives in New York City with his husband, singer/songwriter David Clement
Mockingbird Theatre present another powerful production of an
important play.... confirming the company’s blooming reputation
as theatre-makers of calibre.
- Arts Hub
Mockingbird Theatre proves beyond any doubt that it is one ensemble
to really sit up and pay attention to
- Time Out
Mockingbird will quickly be a contender for the crown as the best independent theatre company in Melbourne
- Theatre Vibe
Mockingbird Theatre Company has well and truly made its mark on Melbourne's independent theatre scene
- Melbourne Observer
Feedback/Comments
Questions to ask yourself
Outstanding production. Was transported into the era and surroundings. Absolutely brilliant!
Amazing ! Thank you
Confronting but amazing!
Mostly strong acting, fitting venue and great dialog. The interplay around the audience was just brilliant. Theatre at its best.
The acting was superb with amazing performances especially from the Marquis de Sade lead actor. He was truly incredible. The play itself was very interesting, however a little over the top for me. I did thoroughly enjoy it though!
The venue was outstanding. Interesting play, some exceptional acting.
Great entrance, strong cast (very convincing lead), good set (though it was pretty hard to see at times & we were only in the 2nd row. I didn't personally find it confronting but rather intriguing to see other audience members confronted by it. Very well done.
Great setting in old meat market helped capture the mood. Superb ensemble work. Strong performances by all. Exceleent direction.
I have been a fan of Mockingbird since the day dot ... And always enjoy what they do.
Quills is an important play that needed to be staged in Melb and mockingbird did a great job with it.
I really enjoyed the night & might even want to go back again for seconds. I loved it.
Seating configuration made it difficult to see all the action, would have preferred a staggered arena, but the show itself was intriguing. I applaud the lead for such a wonderful performance considering he was naked for most of it and it was a freezing night!!
Interesting vision of the Marquis's last days. Well directed and good performances. As a long-term fan of de Sad, I'd say his essence was well captured except perhaps the falling in love with Madeline bit. Overall a very good play, every mother should recommend her young daughter to see ;-)
Interesting
Unashamed fan of Chris Baldock and Mockingbird Theatre and they did not disappoint.
Though some of the dialogue did get lost in the cavernous surrounds of the old Meat Market it was still the perfect setting adding to the atmosphere and tone of the story.
In a word, ambitious. A strong cast meets high production values.
Hopefully this play will settle and find it's feet over the course of its run.
Not everone's 'cup of tea'.
Felt for the Marquis somewhat - the cold venue did him no favours.
Absolutly amazing!
The acting was brilliant, the setting was perfectly eerie, and I was enthralled the whole time! I cant recommend this enough!
would've preferred if the actors wear headsets so that audience can still hear them when they were facing the other way. Was a little messy and distracting with the big group of actors in the background, but was good when it was just the main actors performing. A little overacting in some parts but overall performance was good. Recommended.
Great venue
Performances were well performed
Entertaining night out
Thoroughly engaging and original production. The lunatics really set the scene as did the staging in the round, the lighting design and sound design.
Highly recommend!
Great acting, a really interesting interpretation of the play and i nice venue! I'll recommend the play to all my friends!
Loved the venue and set-up. Well done but a little too much for me!
Fantastic! Really great cast, atmospheric venue... being theatre in the round you need to get to venue early for good seats. We were down the back and missed a lot of dialogue & low action acting by the lunatics. Tremendous effort by all involved & really great night out.
Brilliant performances by all. Bravo
Some interesting acting.
Good venue.
Overall, seriously weird, gross at times.
Totally of the wall to be fair!
Really interesting play. Great venue. Very fitting
great