By Matthew Whittet

Director: Chris Drummond

Designer : Wendy Todd

Composer: Stuart Day

Lighting Designer : David Gadsden

Sound Designer: Mick Jackson

Producer : Kay Jamieson

Cast: Alex Menglet, Nathan O’Keefe and Yael Stone

It's a rare and thrilling treat when contemporary, blood-soaked horror disgraces the stage, and Harbinger does just that. A tender 'boy meets girl, girl eats boy' love story caked in crimson humour, Harbinger by Matthew Whittet is as hilarious as it is unsettling. A nightmarish dreamscape and black comedy rolled into a rich theatrical brew. Think David Lynch meets Flight of the Conchords. Think Hitchcock meets True Blood. Think Freddy Krueger meets - actually, stop thinking and start preparing for what will be the funniest, juiciest, most disturbing theatre experience of 2010, or possibly even your life ...

Chris (Nathan O’Keefe) doesn’t talk to girls; they can be a bit intimidating. But when he discovers Maddy (Yael Stone) alone on a city street at dusk, disoriented and bleeding, he figures he should offer her a hand. It turns out Maddy has been attacked – the problem is, she can’t remember by who. After a chilling turn of events the two begin a quest to discover the truth of what has befallen her.

“Harbinger opens up unexpected worlds. It’s vivid exciting theatre. A brilliant combination of romantic horror and deadpan wit, it twists and bucks and shimmers like a disturbing and beautiful dream. It goes into very dark places but it’s got a huge heart. I think Harbinger is one of the most intelligent, generous, playful and imaginative shows I’ve ever worked on” says Brink Productions’ artistic director Chris Drummond.

The leading South Australian theatre company, which commissioned the play by Sydney-based writer and actor Matthew Whittet, has been developing the work for eighteen months in collaboration with an artistic team that includes designer Wendy Todd, composer Stuart Day, lighting designer David Gadsden, sound designer Mick Jackson and producer Kay Jamieson.

Joining Adelaide actor Nathan O’Keefe (who played both the young lover and the little sister in Brink’s hilarious 2009 production of The Hypochondriac) are Alex Menglet (from Melbourne) and Yael Stone (from Sydney). Russian-born Menglet studied at the Moscow State Institute of Drama before immigrating to Australia and has since performed extensively on stage and screen, while the in-demand Stone has received numerous awards for her roles on stage and TV.

 

Photo Meg Hansen Image Linehan Scott Design