By Andrew Bovell. 25 October - 4 November 2023. Directed by Dr Cate Clelland.
Speaking In Tongues
Events from nine lives interconnect and overlap in a network of interwoven threads that meet and are drawn together throughout Andrew Bovell’s play Speaking in Tongues.
Complex in plot and structure, the play is a powerful study of love, marriage, infidelity and betrayal; it demonstrates the connection – and disconnection – between individuals, partners and communities.
Cast
Arran McKenna as Leon and Nick
Steph Roberts as Sonja and Sarah
Robbie Haltiner as Pete, Neil and John
Jess Waterhouse as Jane and Valerie
Director - Dr Cate Clelland
Cate has been an active participant in the Canberra theatre scene as a director and designer (and a few other things) for over two decades. She is interested in all types of theatre – from Fringe to Opera – and has worked with many professional, pro-am and community groups in Canberra, and previously in other cities. Cate is the recipient of several Canberra Critics Circle and Canberra Area Theatre awards.
The play
Two couples set out to betray their partners, a lover returns from the past and a husband doesn’t answer the phone. A woman disappears and a neighbour is the prime suspect.
Andrew Bovell's 1996 play 'Speaking in Tongues' is about marital infidelity, with multiple narratives and a mystery at its core. Love, marriage, infidelity and betrayal are all tackled in this tense, electrifying play about the relationships between lovers, strangers, and the infinite ways people may wound one another.
Speaking in Tongues won the AWGIE* for best play, before being adapted by Bovell into the screenplay for the multi AFI award winning feature film Lantana (2001).
(*AWGIE = Australian Writers' Guild award for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing.)