NINE
Little Triangle
September 2019, Seymour Centre
MUSIC AND LYRICS Maury Yeston
BOOK Arthur Kopit
DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER Alexander Andrews
MUSIC DIRECTOR Antonio Fernandez
CHOREOGRAPHER Madison Lee
PRODUCER Rose McClelland
STAGE MANAGER Christoper Starnawski
LIGHTING DESIGNER James Wallis
SET, PROP AND SOUND DESIGNER Hayden Rodgers
ACCENT COACH Michael Mandalios
PRODUCTION AND MARKETING PHOTOGRAPHER Blake Condon
POSTER AND PROMOTION Alexander Andrews
“Director Alexander Andrews has slipped past Yeston and nodded toward Fellini, such that he is able to call forth something more complex than the musical has been able to accomplish in the past.”
— Lisa Thatcher
“The women in Guido’s life are manifested with a sense of agency and urgency, and there is an aura of retributive power in their collective presence.”
— Audrey Journal
“Taut direction from Alexander Andrews capably navigates the labyrinth of Contini’s intersecting worlds in this complex piece.”
— Stage Whispers
Set in 1960s Italy, NINE follows film director Guido Contini as he suffers a midlife crisis fuelled by his crumbling marriage and a smattering of unsuccessful films. His failure at the box office is mirrored in his life behind the silver screen—caught in a web of romantic entanglements, involving his wife, his mistress, his muse, and every girl in Venice. Haunted by images and memories from his past and bereft of an idea for a new film, Guido watches as his reality blurs into fantasy. The women in his life, emerge from the shadows of his mind to serenade, seduce or scold him. Though his body is clearing forty, his mind is nearing ten; Guido must grow up if he is to recapture his creativity and save his marriage.
CAST
Andy Leonard (Guido), Tayla Jarrett (Luisa), Petronella van Tienen (Claudia), Caitlin Rose (Carla), Sarah Murr (Saraghina), Tisha Kelemen (Guido’s Mama), Michele Lansdown (La Fleur), Kelly Goddard (Mama Maddelena), Katelin Koprivec (Stephanie), Phoebe Clark (Our Lady of the Spa), Megan Walshe (Lina), Victoria Luxton (Diana), Matilda Moran (Maria), Maddison Burton (Francesca), Ellyn Gwillim (Anabella), Sophie Perkins (Olga), Sophia Charters (Giulietta), Amy Humphreys (Heidi)
BAND
Antonio Fernandez (Keyboard), Miguel Sonnak (Violin), Josh Sun (Violin), Steve Koroknay (Cello), Natasha Dubler (Cello), Sean Niven (Reed), Lisa Cartwright (Reed), Kerryn Blanch (Reed), Daniel Blanch (Reed), Cathy Moran (Reed), Jeremy Kindl (Reed), Ryley Gillen (Trumpet), Matthew Bell (Trumpet), Jerome Studdy (Trombone), Alexander Antoniou (Percussion)
Director’s Note
One man and the seventeen women who lift him up and place him back on his pedestal as genius filmmaker. Is that the story we need to be telling in 2019? No. However, a story about how seventeen women reject the objectification of their self-appointed saviour may be exactly what we need. NINE is about reality and illusion. Theatre is an illusion that responds to and reflects reality, its purpose is to highlight what is happening in our world. In his own assessment of NINE, Maury Yeston stated that he “always likes to draw lessons from things that happen.” I took this idea and ran with it. Our production takes place in a dream, a world of illusion, yet rooted in reality, as it shines a spotlight on the treatment of women in the arts. The world of illusion is created through Guido’s nightmare: an empty sound stage, devoid of set or colour; an imposing film reel floating in midair, its film unraveling just like the filmmaker himself. The women in his life, his cast of nursemaids it would seem, are given film scripts in a last bid for control, to have them read his dialogue and follow his cues. But they can only play his characters for so long. The women, in rejecting Guido’s authority, uncover his fatal flaw, revealing him not as a man worthy of admiration, but instead as what he truly is: a misogynist. Why did we choose a musical that is rooted in ideas of misogyny and objectifying women? Because there is power in reversing the lens and turning the camera back on the actions of men. NINE is about Guido, which remains the same. However, when his creative powers are in a state of chaos and his life falls to pieces, it is not the women who have to pick him up from the cutting room floor. He must do it. As a man, I don’t have the most valuable perspective on how NINE can create a dialogue about the treatment of women in the arts. So, just as I did in the rehearsal room, I handed the proverbial microphone over to the women of NINE:
“This show perfectly encapsulates the feelings of frustration and helplessness that women have had to put up with in the past as we were constantly viewed through the lens of the male gaze. We have come a long way, but we’re not there yet.”
— Michele Lansdown
“Much of what the #MeToo movement reckons with is the idea that men are finally being held accountable for behaviour they would previously ‘get away with’ due our society’s systemic sexism, and the silencing of women. NINE portrays the story of a man with a problematic relationship with women, who faces consequences for his behaviour. The women of NINE decide that #TimesUp.”
— Rose McClelland
“NINE deals with the idea of not having to apologise for being who I am. We need creatives and audiences who can see beyond the obvious characteristics and consider the possibility of the performer as a creative being, unconstrained by the container.”
— Tisha Kelemen
