The President

THE PRESIDENT
By Thomas Bernhard
Translated by Gitta Honegger
Directed by Tom Creed

A theatrical masterpiece performed by two icons

Hugo Weaving returns to the stage, joined by one of Ireland’s greatest actors, Olwen Fouéré (Terminus). In a first-time co-production, Sydney Theatre Company will join forces with the renowned Gate Theatre, Dublin to mount this genius piece of twentieth century playwriting. For this rare and remarkable international collaboration, the cast and creative team will be drawn from the finest Irish and Australian theatre-making talents to create an unique, global theatrical event.

Weaving and Fouéré play the President and First Lady of a small, unnamed country, whose regime is under siege. Despite a revolution brewing right outside their front door, the couple seem frozen in time. What follows is a mysterious trip into a complicated marriage and an unravelling political system.

Playwright Thomas Bernhard is one of the most respected European writers of recent times. On par with Beckett and Camus, his darkly comic vision and prophetic voice are both modern marvels.

At the helm is Tom Creed, the award-winning Irish director behind critically-lauded productions at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Barbican Centre in London, and The Public Theater in New York City. With a creative team featuring world-class Australian talent, including Designer Elizabeth Gadsby (Appropriate) and Associate Director Ian Michael (Constellations), Creed will bring this searingly relevant story of ambition, power and change to an Australian audience for the very first time. Along with these two titans of acting, we are in for an extraordinary night of theatre.