Scenes from a Marriage — Queensland Theatre

Overview

Don't even dream of calling Queensland Theatre's latest production inauthentic. In tackling Scenes from a Marriage, the company have jumped into bed with real-life married couple Marta Dusseldorp and Ben Winspear. You've seen the Aussie actors separately in Jack Irish, Janet King, Underbelly and The Babadook, and together in A Place to Call Home — and that's just on screen — and now you can see them on stage in an iconic dissection of domestic disharmony.

The duo step into the roles of Marianne and Johan, who have two daughters, great careers and a seemingly happy life, but prove far from content after a revelation highlights the kind of problems they'd usually rather not talk about. From November 11 until December 3, just what happens next will play out at QPAC's Playhouse, as given extra energy and resonance given the relationship between the performers.

The play itself is based on a 1973 Swedish television miniseries of the same name by the great Ingmar Bergman, with the filmmaker winning best foreign-language film at the Golden Globes for his efforts. Stage adaptations started following from 1981, and plenty of movies and TV shows have done the same since. Basically, if it was made in the past four decades, and features arguing spouses, then it probably took inspiration from Scenes from a Marriage.