The Australian Theatre Company Launches in L.A.

By Pauline Adamek

Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Nicole Kidman. Phil Noyce, George Miller, Baz Luhrmann . . .

Ever since the swashbuckling days of Errol Flynn, people have been marveling at the wealth of talent that emerges from Australia, sometimes even complaining about the “Aussie invasion” of US screens.

Well, hang on to yer hats, mate, because the Gum Leaf Mafia is about to storm Hollywood’s theater stages as well — welcome to Aussiewood!

Intent on sharing Australian stories, voices, culture and talent — as well as collaborating with topnotch American practitioners — co-producers Nick Hardcastle and Nate Jones have formed the U.S.A.’s very first Australian stage troupe — Australian Theatre Company. Following initial discussions late last year, by mid-March the company had raised over $50,000 via a Kickstarter crowdsourcing campaign in order to get going. The ATC will mark its debut with the Los Angeles premiere of Holding the Man, adapted by Tommy Murphy from the best-selling memoir by writer, actor and activist Timothy Conigrave. Featuring an all-Australian cast and directed by Hollywood acting coach Larry Moss, opening night is set for May 10 at the Matrix Theatre.

Initially set at Xavier College, an all-boys Jesuit Catholic school in Melbourne during the 1970s,  Holding the Man tracks the 15-year-long love story between two young men. The title refers to a term used in Australian football rules, referring to a transgression that incurs a penalty.

The original stage version of this emotional memoir remains one of the most successful Australian theater productions of recent times. The play premiered in 2006, enjoying a critically endorsed, sold-out season at Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company (one of Australia’s leading theaters dedicated to new-writing), and became the troupe’s highest-grossing production in its 30-year history. After multiple productions around Australia, the play transferred to London’s West End in 2010.

Nick Hardcastle with Karen Lanyon

At the Australian Consul General’s home in Brentwood, Stage Raw spoke with the company’s co-founders Nick Hardcastle and Nate Jones about their launch, and asked them why form an Aussie theater company here in L.A. Why now?

Nate Jones (left), with Adam J. Yeend

Hardcastle expressed amazement that nobody had done this before. “We only started talking about this last November, and we are launching it in April, with our first full-scale production opening in May. When I met Nate it felt like — ‘yes!’ — two people who shared the same enthusiasm, the same vision.”

“It’s very exciting,” added Jones. “. . . a bit of a whirlwind!”

Hardcastle mentioned the breadth and quality of Australian talent here, “but also L.A. has so many theaters and different spaces . . . We can turn over many projects and tell more stories and involve people — but really, the first thing for me was the range of talent here.”

Hardastle and Jones are really plugging into the ethos of the 99-Seat Theater plan in L.A., and why it has generated such a burst of activity.

Harcastle explains: “We’re all desperate to be busy and be creative. ‘Oh my gosh — I’ve had 17 television auditions this week, maybe two call backs, but I haven’t booked anything for six months. I’m an actor — I wanna work. I’m a director — I wanna direct. I’m a writer — I want to see my words come to life.’

“So we just want to harness that talent, as well as provide an opportunity for us all to develop and take advantage of the American practitioners that we have access to here, who are so amazing at what they do and are willing to shepherd us and help us grow us as well.”

ATC’s cast of “Holding the Man”

Why Holding the Man for ATC’s launch? First, they’d worked on it before.

“I had been involved with it for a really long time,” Jones said. “Most of our cast members, as well as Nick, have some attachment to this amazing story.”

Hardcastle said he’d use The Matrix as the company’s home base, if possible. But he’s looking outside those walls.

“We want to develop a broad range of theater, and theater isn’t just plays. We’re hoping to stage all sorts of independently produced live entertainment, cabaret, musicals, romance — we’re very open. We’ll stage rehearsed readings that we can do in pubs, that kind of thing.”

Holding the Man opens on May 10 and continues through June 29, with performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Previews Thursday, May 8 and Friday, May 9, 8 p.m. General admission is $34.99. The Matrix Theatre is located at 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (west of Stanley Ave., between Fairfax and La Brea). For reservations and information, call 323-960-7735 or go to www.holdingtheman.us.

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