AustLit

'Curious and passionate Rita is falling in love with hilariously pedantic Manfred. Together, they are fearless. East Germany is in generational turmoil: post-war trauma in conflict with youthful optimism.

'Utopias seem possible. Marxism! Socialism! Revolution! But the Cold War is underway and when Manfred’s professional ambitions are thwarted, he looks to the West. The Soviets put a man into space and a Wall is about the split the city. Will their love go the way of their beloved country, or will Rita’s idealism, and seemingly boundless capacity for sacrifice triumph?

'Christa Wolf was one of the most beloved German authors of her generation. Her first full-length novel They Divided the Sky was hailed at the time for its artistic achievement and excoriated for its “decadent” politics. This timely adaptation by Daniel Schlusser has been written for two of our finest young performers, Nikki Shiels and Alexander England.' (Production summary)

'HOW DO THE UNWRITTEN LAWS OF PERSONAL CONSCIENCE SURVIVE WHEN SET AGAINST THE LAWS OF A SOCIETY AND A NATION?

'Antigone is a child of war, like too many in our world. She asked a simple question thousands of years ago that remains too difficult for us to answer even to this day, as so many recent events have demonstrated. What do we do with the body of a terrorist, a murderer, who has brought destruction, death and horror to our community when that terrorist is our brother. Our own flesh and blood?

'Like Hamlet, Joan of Arc, Galileo and Sir Thomas More, Antigone inspires us with her courage, fortitude and impenetrable strength of conscience. But her excess of feeling and fundamentalist zeal are hard to reconcile in a world crying out for unity, order and the rule of law in a time of chaos. Her uncle, Creon, selflessly places his state above the welfare of his family, pursuing a principle with the sort of consistency of will that we cry out for in politicians who so often stand for nothing. Where is justice between these extremes? Antigone stands against the monolith and brings her society to a reckoning it sorely needs.' (Production summary)