Photo taken by Thomas McCammon
THE GARDEN
By Emily Steel
11-14 October 2023 | Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Evelyn is the volunteer coordinator of a community garden. She’s a single mum with a lot on her plate. Adam is a refugee on a humanitarian visa. He wanders into the garden one day with the hope of becoming their newest member.
But not all members are treated equal.
As the seasons change and vegetables grow, the unlikely pair unearth uneasy tensions bubbling just beneath the soil and reckon with truths that smash through borders and transcend cultures.
Award-winning playwright Emily Steel returns with The Garden, a searing drama about communities big and small and how we treat each other across borders and garden plots - real and imagined.
Pulsing with Steel’s razor-sharp wit and uncanny insight, The Garden is an unmissable world premiere drama from one of South Australia’s most important voices.
Featuring: Rashidi Edward and Elizabeth Hay | Director: Corey McMahon | Production Designer: Meg Wilson | Lighting Designer: Chris Petridis | Composer: Jason Sweeney | Producer: Manda Flett
Theatre Republic wishes to acknowledge the generosity of Lesley Forwood and Roger and Helen Salkeld in helping make this production possible.
This production is supported by the Department of Premier and Cabinet (through Arts SA), the Adelaide Festival Centre and by donations made through the Australian Cultural Fund and Creative Partnerships Australia’s Plus1 Program.
THIS PRODUCTION HAS NOW CLOSED
Click HERE to download the program
Click HERE for production photos
WHAT THE REVIEWERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE GARDEN
“In a compact 60 minutes, Emily Steel has produced a crowded hour of questions and perspectives that are gnarly and unsettling. Theatre Republic director Corey McMahon has again produced a brisk, deftly integrated production. Meg Wilson’s set, consisting of a decking floor and raised wooden garden beds with a part-finished wooden slat and wire fence, provides an earthy but well-resourced reality, sumptuously lit by Chris Petridis”
Murray Bramwell, InDaily
“Emily Steel’s new script is deceptively mundane, as she distils the big questions of life down into everyday language, grounded in the soil of a community garden. The wit and charm of this play lie in between the lines, and in the misunderstandings that abound with a clash of cultures. Corey McMahon has done a fine job of directing, giving full rein to the talents of the excellent actors, Lizzie Hay and Rashedi Edward”
David Cronin, The Clothesline
“The neutrality of the promotional material for The Garden belies the punch it packs. We’re told that Evelyn is the coordinator of a community garden, and doesn’t know quite how to handle the inquiring Adam, hoping to be their newest member. It takes actors of some mettle to take on roles like these, and Rashidi Edward and Elizabeth Hay are terrific. Director Corey McMahon’s deft touch is especially evident in the terrific timing, not just of words and actions, but of silence and stillness”
Peter Burdon, The Advertiser
“Theatre Republic have delivered us a beautiful gem with award-winning playwright Emily Steel’s The Garden. This piece of theatre has a quiet confidence and maturity in its approach. A joy to experience. Congratulations to Director Corey McMahon on a wonderful achievement with this piece of of work. Theatre Republic are doing solid theatre and I cannot wait for their next offering”
Markus Hamence, On Your Markus
