In the Company of Actors

Last updated

In the Company of Actors
In The Company Of Actors Official Movie Poster.png
Directed by Ian Darling
Produced byIan Darling
Susan MacKinnon
CinematographySimon Smith
Edited by Sally Fryer
Running time
75 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

In the Company of Actors is a 2007 Australian documentary film directed by Ian Darling and produced by Shark Island Productions. It features Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Justine Clarke, and Aden Young as they prepare a stage production of Hedda Gabler , from rehearsals at the Sydney Theatre Company to opening night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

The documentary shows actors rehearsing for a play in the rehearsal room. [2] While the action of re-staging the play Hedda Gabler, the film also has interspersed talking heads of the cast talking about the craft of acting. [3] The education materials also have short films from the technical crew and production staff.

Release

The film was broadcast in Australia on ABC1 February 2008. [4] It was selected for screening at the following film festivals:[ citation needed ] Sydney Film Festival in 2007, Melbourne International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, St Tropez Internationales du Cinema des Antipodes, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, OzFliz Ontario, the London Australian Film Festival, River Run International Film Festival.

Education and outreach

The film and study guide [5] package was donated to English, Drama and Media departments in all secondary schools across Australia with support from the Caledonia Foundation. The education version of the film is available online and has specific Australian Curriculum linked lessons developed in association with Sydney Theatre Company.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Hedda Gabler</i> 1891 Play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen

Hedda Gabler is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been canonized as a masterpiece within the genres of literary realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama. Ibsen mainly wrote realistic plays until his forays into modern drama. Hedda Gabler dramatizes the experiences of the title character, Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want. Overall, the title character for Hedda Gabler is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theater. The year following its publication, the play received negative feedback and reviews. Hedda Gabler has been described as a female variation of Hamlet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Roxburgh</span> Australian actor

Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including four AACTA Awards, three Logie Awards, and two Helpmann Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis O'Rourke</span>

Dennis O'Rourke was an Australian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Emerson</span> American actor

Michael Emerson is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost (2006–2010) and as Harold Finch in the CBS series Person of Interest (2011–2016). Other prominent roles include Zep Hindle in the horror film Saw (2004) and as Dr. Leland Townsend in the Paramount+ thriller series Evil (2019–2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Friels</span> Australian actor

Colin Friels is a Scottish-born Australian actor of theatre, TV, film and presenter.

Lindy Davies is an Australian actress, director, actor trainer and performance consultant. She played Ruth Ballinger in the Australian soap opera Prisoner in 1985, and won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Malcolm. She went on to be the head of drama at the Victorian College of the Arts for over 11 years until 2007, and worked as a performance consultant on films including Afterglow (1997) and Away From Her (2006) with Julie Christie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Conigrave</span> Australian actor, activist and author

Tim Conigrave was an Australian actor, activist and author of the internationally acclaimed memoir, Holding the Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Graham</span> Australian actor

Marcus Graham is an Australian film, television and stage actor, writer and director, with roles including Mulholland Drive and Josh Jarman. He was known as a teenage heartthrob in the early 1990s while starring in the Australian TV soap E Street as the character Stanley 'Wheels' Kovac He is also known for his role as Harvey Ryan in Home and Away

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pyros</span> British-Australian actor (born 1987)

Richard Pyros is a British-Australian actor, who first achieved fame in the hit Australian Channel Seven TV show, Big Bite whilst still studying at drama school. Pyros was selected to create an array of characters including the memorably disheveled newsreader, 'Tee Pee Moses', and for his impersonation of personalities such as Rob Sitch, Michael Caton, Harry Potter and Detective Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robyn Nevin</span> Australian actress (born 1942)

Robyn Anne Nevin is an Australian actress, director, and stage producer, recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. Former head of both the Queensland Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company, she has directed more than 30 productions and acted in more than 80 plays, collaborating with internationally renowned artists, including Richard Wherrett, Simon Phillips, Geoffrey Rush, Julie Andrews, Aubrey Mellor, Jennifer Flowers, Cate Blanchett and Lee Lewis.

The National Black Theatre (NBT) was a theatre company run by a small group of Aboriginal people based in the Sydney suburb of Redfern which operated from 1972 to 1977. The original concept for the theatre grew out of political struggles, especially the land rights demonstrations, which at the time were being organised by the Black Moratorium Committee. The centre held workshops in modern dancing, tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate and photography, and provided a venue for new Aboriginal drama. It also ran drama classes under Brian Syron, whose students included Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris.

Brian Gregory Syron was an actor, teacher, Aboriginal rights activist, stage director and Australia's first Indigenous feature film director, who has also been recognised as the first First Nations feature film director. After studying in New York City under Stella Adler, he returned to Australia and was a co-founder of the Australian National Playwrights Conference, the Eora Centre, the National Black Playwrights Conference, and the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust. He worked on several television productions and was appointed head of the ABC's new Aboriginal unit in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanna Murray-Smith</span> Australian playwright

Joanna Murray-Smith is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist, and newspaper columnist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aden Young</span> Canadian-Australian actor

Aden Young is a Canadian-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Daniel Holden in the SundanceTV drama Rectify, for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He has appeared in American, Canadian and Australian productions and since 2024 has performed the lead role of Det. Henry Graff in Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.

Paul Charlier is an Australian composer and sound designer who works primarily in theatre and film. He has also worked in radio and was a founding member of the Sydney post-punk band SoliPsiK. His theatre work includes the Sydney Theatre Company productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Uncle Vanya, as well as the Company B productions of Faith Healer (Composer) and The Diary of a Madman. His film credits include The Final Quarter (Composer), Looking for Alibrandi, Candy, Paul Kelly - Stories of Me and Last Ride (Composer).

Shark Island Productions is a documentary film production company based in Sydney, Australia, creates extensive education, outreach and community engagement campaigns with its films. It is the production arm of Shark Island Institute.

Hunter Djali Yumunu Page-Lochard is an Australian stage and screen actor of both Aboriginal Australian and African-American descent. He is known for his roles in the films The Sapphires (2012), Around the Block (2013) and the 2016 TV series Cleverman.

Annie Byron is an AFI Award-winning Australian film, stage, and television actress best known for Wolf Creek 2, Fran, Muriel's Wedding, and Doing Time for Patsy Cline.

Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor, known for performances in film, television and on stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Darling</span> Australian filmmaker

Ian David Darling is a documentary film director and producer.

References

  1. "In The Company of Actors". ABC Television.
  2. "In The Company of Actors". Rotten Tomatoes.
  3. "In The Company of Actors". Variety.
  4. "In The Company of Actors". ABC TV. 7 February 2008.
  5. "In the Company of Actors Study Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.