Wake in Fright — Malthouse Theatre

Overview

A seminal piece of Australian gothic horror is coming to the Malthouse Theatre — but not in the way you might expect. Kenneth Cook's landmark novel Wake in Fright has been adapted a number of times over the past 50 years, captivating audiences as a famed motion picture as well a recent miniseries on Stan. Now, it finds new life as a one-woman show, with actress Zahra Newman taking centre stage in this grim tale of violent masculinity in the dark heart of the Australian outback.

When bookish school teacher John Grant finds himself stranded in the isolated mining town of Bundanyabba, his ideas of polite society soon fall away as he descends into a haze of drunkenness and brutality. Under the direction of acclaimed theatre-maker Declan Greene, and aided by a score from art-electronica band, friendships, Newman will bring the oppressive menace of Cook's work to the stage, forcing us to look inwards in ways we might otherwise avoid.