Rising star Ashleigh Cummings (Puberty Blues, Tomorrow When the War Began, Gallipoli) makes her Brisbane stage debut in this darkly beautiful tale of the resilience of the youth.
La Boite Theatre Company is delighted to be producing the world premiere of Samson with Sydney’s iconic Belvoir, under the internationally-regarded direction of Kristine Landon-Smith.
Samson is playing at the La Boite Roundhouse Theatre 17 April to 2 May and comes from the pen of one of Queensland’s brightest new playwrights Julia-Rose Lewis. Samson is a big-hearted, brutal and raw play that offers a window into the world of what it means to be young in Australia.
Lewis developed Samson as a La Boite Artist-in-Residence in 2013. The program aids in developing new works and in 2015, our five Artists-in-Residences are from distinct cultural backgrounds, seeding a range of projects that we will continue to develop across the coming years.
Among the culturally diverse cast is Australian screen sensation Ashleigh Cummings and ACPA (Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts) graduate Benjamin Creek. La Boite Artistic Director Todd MacDonald said he was committed to bringing diverse actors to the Roundhouse stage, commenting that through its 90 years La Boite has “provided a platform for distinctive new Queensland voices”.
Samson fizzes with truth; it is brutal yet gentle, funny yet sad, young yet old. At its heart is the startling idea that the death of someone important can be the start of something excellent. Together in a small Queensland town, Essie, Beth and Sid are on the cusp of adulthood at the arse-end of the world. They laugh, sunbathe, fight, dream and pray for some kind of future that they can’t quite picture.
