Month: March 2016

CREATED BY KATE MCLENNAN AND KATE MCCARTNEY (THE KATERING SHOW) 

Half hour pilot episode screening on ABC1 May 2016.  Self-obsessed screw-up Anna O’Brien (Kate McLennan) loses her terrible boyfriend, her septic tank of a house and her dead-end job all in one day. With no friends, no money and nowhere to go, she crawls back to the warm embrace of her well-to-do family, only to be given a drink and then shown the door. Cast out onto the street, with both her life and her mental resolve disintegrating like old jocks, Anna stumbles upon an Open for Inspection at a nearby townhouse. And it’s here, surrounded by empty cupboards and hire furniture, that the unhinged Anna O’Brien seeks to reinvent herself, and her luck. 

 Also stars: Shane Bourne, Jean Kittson, Brooke Satchwell, Toby Truslove, Sammy J and Kate McCartney. 

An original, contemporary, comedic opera, The Divorce stars a stellar line-up of Australian performers from stage and screen including; Lisa McCune, Marina Prior, Hugh Sheridan, Kate Miller-Heidke, Melissa Madden Gray, Matthew McFarlane and John O’May, and features a libretto by multi-award winning playwright Joanna Murray-Smith and internationally acclaimed composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

After a long and satisfying marriage, glamorous and wealthy couple Iris (Marina Prior) and Jed (John O’May) are happily getting divorced and are throwing an extravagant party at their country estate to celebrate.  It’s a sign that Iris and Jed proudly do things their own way – even falling out of love.  But secrets are revealed over the course of the evening and, by the end of the night, Iris and Jed’s divorce has triggered a renegotiation of all certainties amongst those closest to them and all of the characters are set on an unanticipated course.

Written specifically for the screen and fusing cinematic language with operatic conventions, this lavish musical extravaganza playfully explores the universal themes of love, passion, regret, greed and longing – a “soap opera” with the flavour of a modern Mozart.