FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brilliant ensemble cast brings ‘Bastard territory’ to life
Cairns 21 May 2014
Bastard Territory
by Stephen Carleton
6 – 21 June 2014, JUTE Theatre Company/Knock-em-down Theatre (NT)/Brown’s Mart (NT),
Centre of Contemporary Arts, 96 Abbott St, Cairns.
JUTE Theatre Company, Knock-em-down Theatre (NT) and Brown’s Mart (NT) are excited to
present an exceptional ensemble of actors in the latest production to hit the JUTE stage;
Stephen Carleton’s epic Bastard Territory. The play features JUTE Artistic Director Suellen
Maunder, veteran Steven Tandy; much loved for his role as Tom Sullivan in the famous series
The Sullivans, Ella Watson-Russell (Soph and the Real World), popular Brisbane based actors
Peter Norton and Kathryn Marquet, and NIDA graduate and musician Benhur Helwind.
Founding member of JUTE, Suellen Maunder, whose hats include those of Artistic Director
and CEO of the Company, will make a rare appearance on stage for ‘Bastard Territory’ playing
‘Nanette’. Suellen, who is usually behind the scenes in the role of director, is an award
winning actor in her own right, and is relishing the chance to take to the stage again,
Stephen has written a fabulous play. Nanette is hysterical; she’s a lot of fun, and goes on a
great voyage throughout the play.
Steven Tandy who plays ‘Neville Senior’ became a household name in the 70s and 80s playing
Tom Sullivan in the seminal Australian Drama series, The Sullivans. He has since worked in a
variety of television series and countless theatre productions nationally, and is enjoying the
opportunity to tell a story about a region not often featured in Australian theatre,
It’s a fascinating play about a region that I’ve not known much about.
The play also features Benhur Helwend in multiple roles including central character ‘Russell’,
who is on a quest to determine his patrilineal identity. Since graduating from NIDA, Benhur
has been focusing primarily on his musical career, and it’s great to see him returning to the
stage for ‘Bastard Territory’.
Cairns favourite Ella Watson-Russell once again brings her impressive talent to the JUTE
stage, and is full of praise for Carleton’s script,
I think it’s really telling that with Stephen’s script, it’s so performance ready that we could get
up and start working with it at a really early stage.
The cast also includes Peter Norton as ‘Young Neville’ and ‘Alistair’, and Kathryn Marquet as
Russell’s bohemian ex-TAA hostie mother, Lois. Both Peter and Kathryn have extensive
careers in stage, television and film and are well known and loved in Brisbane, where they
are both currently based.
Kathryn’s theatre performances include The Glass Menagerie (La Boite Theatre Company),
Faustus (Bell Shakespeare/QTC), (Queensland Theatre Company), and her film credits
include Secrets and Lies (Hoodlum/network 10), Sisters of War (ABC) and various short films.
Audiences can expect enthralling performances from an extraordinary cast of actors in this
landmark production.
Peter has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (QUT), and his credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
August: Osage County, Cosi (QUT), and [Disordered] Action of the Heart (Adelaide Fringe
2014).
‘Bastard Territory’ will open in Cairns on 6 June, and performances will run until 21 June.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.jute.com.au, by phone on 4050 9444 or in person
between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday from the Centre of Contemporary Arts, 96 Abbott
St Cairns.
ENDS
Fast Facts
Bastard Territory by Stephen Carleton
DATES
May 7-18 Darwin: Brown’s Mart theatre, 12 Smith St, Darwin.
June 6-21 Cairns: JUTE Theatre Company, Centre of Contemporary Arts, 96
Abbott St, Cairns.
TICKETS
$34-$39 - on sale from www.jute.com.au (Cairns Season)
RATED
M
About JUTE Theatre Company
Established in Cairns in 1992, JUTE Theatre Company is a significant regional theatre
company driving the development, co-production and national touring of contemporary
Australian plays from the regions. JUTE is a house of ideas and action that exists to fan the
fire in the bellies of regional theatre artists. JUTE inspires and supports these artists to create
new stories that contribute to its regional identity, social history and future possibilities.
Passionate, dynamic and savvy JUTE will not rest until all of the stories have been told, until
there is no regional artist needing support and the audience and community need for stories
is fully sated.
About Stephen Carleton
Stephen Carleton is a Darwin-raised, and Brisbane-based practitioner. He is the winner of the
2004/5 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award with his play ‘Constance Drinkwater and the Final
Days of Somerset’, which was also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Award (QTC), and
produced by the company in July 2006. The play was also produced by Stablemates at Griffin
Theatre Company in Sydney in October, 2006; and Darwin Theatre Company, JUTE (Cairns)
Page 2 of 4
and Tropic Sun (Townsville) in 2007. His play ‘The Narcissist’ played at La Boite Theatre
Company in March 2007, and opens at the Sydney Opera House for STC in September.
Stephen co-founded Knock-em-Down Theatre with Gail Evans in Darwin in 1997. He is also
the winner of the 2006 New Dramatists’ Award (New York)– a 3 week residency and play
reading in New York. Stephen currently convenes the Drama major at the University of
Queensland, where he teaches playwriting, dramaturgy, Australian drama and theatre
history.
About Suellen Maunder A founding member, Artistic Director and CEO of JUTE Theatre
Company, Suellen has played many roles over the years, spanning actor, director, workshop
facilitator and producer. Her performance credits include Bag O’Marbles (1994), Love Child,
Barmaids, Latitudes, The Chicken Play, Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset,
Tiptoe, Macbeth and Dancing Back Home. Her directing credits are numerous having directed
more than 20 new works over the years the most recent including At Sea, Staring Up, Soph
and the Real World, Half & Half and Propelled. Suellen has also directed and nurtured
multiple creative developments within the Enter Stage Write, script development program
and over the years has served on a range of boards including Playing Australia; Theatre Board
of the Australia Council and QPAC to name a few. Suellen is committed to the development
of regional artists and the regional theatre sector.
About Steven Tandy A NIDA graduate in both Acting (1971) and Direction (1995), Steven
achieved fame as Tom Sullivan in the Crawfords-produced wartime TV series The Sullivans.
He has worked for Melbourne Theatre Company, Harvest Rain, Queensland Theatre
Company, Nimrod Street, Riverina, New England, La Boite, Marian Street, Twelfth Night in
Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ayckbourn, Williamson and countless stage productions throughout
the country. Television roles include: Secrets and Lies, All the Rivers Run, Sons and Daughters,
Mortified, and Sea Patrol. Films include Getting’ Square, Rough Diamonds, Girl Clock!, The
Horseman and Talking Back at Thunder. Steven worked at Warner Bros Movie World on the
Gold Coast for several years as Commandant Lassard in the Police Academy Stunt Show, and
was a co-founder of the Victorian Green Room Awards in 1983.
About Ella Watson-Russell Ella trained as an actor at the Victorian College of the Arts,
graduating in 2005. She has worked in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and New
Zealand as an actor, theatre maker, producer and drama tutor. Her acting credits include
work for Darwin Theatre Company, Darwin Festival, ArtBackNT, JUTE, Optic Nerve
Performance Group, Melbourne Fringe Festival, National Gallery of Victoria& La Mama; as
well as work in film, TV, voiceovers and for the corporate sector. Ella has trained in a number
of different physical theatre disciplines and is particularly interested in the development of
new theatre works in a collaborative context.
About Kathryn Marquet Kathryn’s theatre performances include The Glass Menagerie, As
You Like It, Ruben Guthrie and The White Earth (La Boite Theatre Company), Faustus (Bell
Shakespeare/QTC), The Crucible, Maxine Mellor’s Mystery Project, 25 Down (Queensland
Theatre Company), Prehistoric (Elbow Room/Metro Independents) After All This (Elbow
Room / Brisbane Festival), April's Fool (Empire Theatre), Tender (...and Moor/Metro
Independents), Risk (Umber/Metro Independents), Catholic School Girls (ThreeSisters/Mad
Cat/ Metro Allies), Brontë (ThreeSisters/Metro Independents), Cinderella, Jane Eyre, Little
Women,
Two
Weeks
With
the
Queen, The
Taming
of
the
Shrew (HRTC), Inmates (Springboard/Emerge), Critters (Out of the Box 2008), and This Way
Up (Theatre Anyplace). Her film credits include Secrets and Lies (Hoodlum/network 10)
and Sisters of War (ABC) and various short films, commercials, and training videos.
About Peter Norton Peter has been active in theatre for over 10 years. Some of his notable
performances were in The Accrington Pals, Equus and Closer (BAT), The Sum of Us (Nash),
Page 3 of 4
Rope (Centenary), One by One (Loullabelle), A Month of White Sex (TAW/Red Shoe) and
Deception, Illusion and Nate (Over the Top, London). In 2013 completed his Bachelor of Fine
Arts (Acting) at QUT where he featured in Wild Honey, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, August:
Osage County, Cosi and Wintertime. He has also trained with The Actor’s Workshop and was
a member of the 2010 Backbone Ensemble. Peter is Creative Director of 3rd Room Theatrical
and recently performed in their critically acclaimed debut production of [Disordered] Action
of the Heart, a coproduction with One of a Pair, at the 2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival.
About Benhur Helwend Benhur was born in Darwin. In his early days he was a member of
Corrugated Iron Youth Theatre. After High School he attended NIDA and completed his
Bachelor of Dramatic Art in 1998. In 2000 Benhur moved to the Northern Rivers of NSW and
worked as a vocal coach and assistant director with Theatre Theatre Company and during this
period also worked in Hospitals across regional NSW and Sydney as a Clown Doctor for the
Humour Foundation using the humble ukulele as his weapon of mass distraction. It was at
this time he discovered music and formed a band called the Blackbirds. Their performance in
the semi finals of Australia’s Got Talent in 2010 caught the eye of Eric Bibb’s promoter. The
band was invited to open his shows on his Australian leg of his world tour and then later in
2011 the band performed on stage at Splendour in the Grass and Byron Bays Blues and Roots
Festival. Benhur has also performed at almost every Ukulele festival as a solo performer
(better knows as Bigger than Benhur) across Australia and in 2012 headlined the Blue
Mountains Ukulele festival and 2013 was asked to headline Darwin’s first ukulele festival
Mandorah Ukulele Folk Festival.
For more information:
Suellen Maunder, JUTE Theatre Company Artistic Director/CEO
T: 07 4050 9444, M: 0419 757 231 E: suellen@jute.com.au W: www.jute.com.au
Issued by:
Samira Montgomery, JUTE Theatre Company Event, Sales & Marketing
T: 07 4050 9444 E: samira@jute.com.au W: www.jute.com.au
Page 4 of 4