Watch the YouTube trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt9wKIaL6GE

Hobart Pavement Projects, supported by Tasmanian Theatre Company, presents
DEATH BY TELEVISION
by Briony Kidd

“This is about television itself…There’s been too much pain already, it can’t go on!”

12 to 16 October 2011. Opening Night: Wednesday 12 October at 8.15pm
The Backspace, The Theatre Royal, Hobart

Could pop culture be affecting you in ways you can’t begin to imagine?

Briony Kidd’s highly anticipated play, Death By Television, is a black comedy exploring the idea that television damages the brain… literally.

Initially emerging as a short play staged for Melbourne Fringe, Death By Television was developed into a full-length piece in 2011 and debuts as part of Tasmanian Theatre Company’s Festival of New Tasmanian Theatre.

After being part of the studio audience for a banal talk show a young man called Phineas finds that his life is falling apart, but he has no idea why.  He encounters Evelyn Kalasky, a personal injury lawyer, and Dr Silk, a crusading psychiatrist with a few screws loose.  They tell him the terrible truth: that being in the audience has irretrievably damaged Phineas’s brain. He has Schoenberg’s Syndrome, meaning that when he is happy he cries and when he’s miserable he bursts out laughing.  He decides to sue the Network for damages, but powerful forces align against him. Can one man take on television and win?

Featuring live video techniques, this production is an innovative mix of cinematic and theatrical techniques.  Stylistically, its a mash-up of influences, including the comedy style of Joe Orton and the dystopian fantasies of films like Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976) and Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983). It’s dark but broadly comic, appealing to audiences across the spectrum.

The Death By Television team includes writer/director Briony Kidd, lighting and systems designer Jason James, composer and sound designer Heath Brown and media dramaturg Nancy Mauro-Flude. 

The play stars 23-year-old Campbell McKenzie (Beautiful Thing, Romeo and Juliet) in the challenging role of Phineas, a man who finds that his emotions are ‘scrambled’ after a traumatic experience with live television.

The cast is rounded out by an ensemble of established Tasmanian actors: Sara Pensalfini (The Accused, Exit Pursued by a Bear), James Casey (Anniversary, Richard III), Bryony Geeves (The Waltzing Tree, The Room at the Top of the Stairs, Anniversary), Matt Wilson (Filth, Tidal Pools, The Golden Age), and Mark Thomson (Hamlet, The Accused).

Briony Kidd has had recent success with her short film The Room at the Top of the Stairs (2010, Adam Walker Film). She recently attended the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles, where the film took out the audience vote in the ‘Focus on Australia’ session. She’s also been recently announced as a semi-finalist at the Canberra Short Film Festival, the Moondance International Film Festival (USA) and has upcoming screenings at Show Me Shorts (across New Zealand), the St John’s International Women’s Film Festival (Canada) and Daggers (Museum of Arts and Design short horror festival, New York). 

Death by Television 12 – 16 October
Wednesday – Saturday at 8.15pm and Sunday at 2.15 & 6.15pm

Writing & direction: Briony Kidd
Composer & sound design: Heath Brown
Lighting design & systems design: Jason James
Media & design elements: Nancy Mauro-Flude
Cast: Campbell McKenzie, Sara Pensalfini, Matt Wilson, James Casey, Bryony Geeves, Mark Thomson

Briony Kidd has been supported by the HyPe Program during the making of Death By Television.
HyPe is an initiative of Salamanca Arts Centre to support the creation of innovative contemporary hybrid theatre in Tasmania, funded by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, by Hobart City Council, and Arts Tasmania.

Adults: $29
Seniors Card Holders: $25
Concession Holders: $20
Under 30 (door sales only): $15 (U30 Festival Pass available online to TTC FRIENDS members)
Bookings: 03 6233 2299 or online: http://www.theatreroyal.com.au/now_selling.html