The Arts Centre Gold Coast Presents

From Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee, The Zoo Story features in The Arts Centre Gold Coast’s black box from Wed 16 May until Sat 19 May. Albee’s one-act play concerns two characters, Peter and Jerry.

Best known for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), Albee delivers a controversial one act play. His works are considered well-crafted, often unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition.

The Gold Coast season sees the two characters played by Gold Coast talent Luke Townson and Hayden Jones with esteemed director and actor Bille Brown on board as a directorial consultant for the play.

Bille Brown, is an Australian Shakespearean actor and acclaimed writer of plays. Brown began his career at Queensland Theatre Company, working alongside Geoffrey Rush.

Luke Townson (plays Jerry) Bio

Actor - Luke Townson

Graduating with an Acting Degree in 2007 from QUT, Luke has worked on a variety of projects from TV to Film and Theatre.

TV series include The Strip and All Saints, and short films including 9 Miles Beautiful which won the People’s Choice Award at Brisbane International Film Festival, The Bondi and Mudgee Film Festivals.

Luke has co-written a play with Bille Brown based on Oscar Wilde’s story The Portrait of Mr. W.H.  W.H. has been presented to UQ’s English Department twice and workshopped at RADA.  In theatre, Luke has worked with Grin and Tonic, La Boite’s Scratch series and Zen Zen Zo, to name a few.

Hayden Jones (plays Peter) Bio

	Actor - Hayden Jones

Hayden is a Gold Coast based actor who has been acting and performing for over 15 years. In this time, Hayden completed a three year screen and stage acting course (Wild Child Studios) and a Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Applied Theatre and Screenwriting (GUGC).

At 19 Hayden was invited to MC the Gold Coast Show Arena Spectacular in front of more than 15,000 people.

He then spent many years acting in main stage shows in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast, as well as touring the country in both solo and cast productions, with some of Queensland and New South Wales most respected touring theatre companies (Grin and Tonic, Queensland Arts Council, Brainstorm Productions).

Hayden then co-founded Gold Coast based Soapbox Theatre Productions in 2006.

Most recently Hayden has appeared in television commercials (Suncorp, Subway), as ‘Bottom’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Grin and Tonic), and The Zoo Story. He has also recently worked on various creative development projects with Bille Browne, CIRCA and The Bell Shakespeare Company, in addition to teaching school holiday drama workshops.

Bille Brown - Directorial Consultant

Bille Brown has come on board as a directorial consultant for the play. His time with Luke and Hayden will be spent fine tuning and polishing the production. The play will be self- directed up to that point. Bille will be at the Centre working with the actors in the last week leading up to plays opening night on Wed 16 May.

Synopsis

This story focuses on two men who meet on a park bench. Peter is a middle-class publishing executive. Jerry is an isolated and disheartened man. Jerry is desperate to have a meaningful conversation with another human being. He intrudes on Peter’s peaceful state by interrogating him and forcing him to listen to stories like The Story Of Jerry And The Dog, and the reason behind his visit to the zoo.

Anecdotal stories infused with ironic humour are underpinned with unrelenting dramatic suspense before the climax sees Jerry imposing upon Peter his savage world.

The play takes a look through a microscope at social class; what are the dividing lines between low, middle and high class.

It asks the hard questions about human connectivity, about love and personal boundaries.

The character - Jerry

Abandoned by his mother at 10 and a half before his father committed suicide a year later, Jerry slips through life without creating any kind of connection with people.

Ever the observer, Jerry conducts a series of social experiments including a dog that lives in his boarding house.  The purpose of the bizarre trial - to see whether he might engage with something - anything.

The character - Peter

A middle classed executive from a publishing house.  Non-assuming, and non-confrontational by nature... the unexpected turn of events comes left field in the story.

What happens when you are pushed to your psychological limits.  What unfolds for the audience is a twist that re-defines definition.