For the first time in 10 years, John Fords’ violent, sensual and thought-provoking tragedy Tis Pity She’s a Whore is brought back to heaving, hot-blooded life on Sydney stages by newly formed theatre group – The Company. This thrilling and controversial classic will leave audiences slack-jawed and gripping their seats at Flow Studios in Camperdown from November 2nd – 13th for a strictly limited season.
The love shared between Giovanni and Annabella is the kind you read about in fairytales. It’s pure, passionate, and it ends just as hot and fiery as it started. The only thing standing in the way of their happy-ever-after is their parentage. Their shared parentage. John Fords’ 17th Century response to his contemporary’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “Titus Andronicus” is an experience that will satisfy any Game of Thrones viewers’ lust for incest and violence, whilst also provoking a nuanced investigation of modern morality, justice and love.
“It’s a wild story.” said director, Harry Reid. “Yes it’s a satire. Yes it’s a thriller. But really it’s a play about family who has lost it’s mother, and that wonderfully cruel force that turns us into monsters and angels – love.” Tis Pity stars Olivia Hall-Smith as Annabella and Bayley Prendergast as Giovanni. It also marks Maeliosa Stafford’s reunion with the play since his performance as Bergetto opposite Ciaran Hinds in the 1985 production by Druid Theatre Company, this time playing the philosophical and morally upright Friar.
The Company thrusts the story of star-crossed siblings Annabella and Giovanni out of 17th Century Italy and into a much more modern world. The play has been praised widely as “outrageous, shrewd and shocking”, “thrilling” (the Times) and “a study of the irresistible force of rampant passion” (The Guardian).
The Company Theatre is formed by a small group of alumni from the Actors’ Centre Australia’s COVID Graduates of 2020 – a group who are keen to push the boundaries of theatre and investigate it’s ongoing potential as a vessel for the human experience. This production of ‘Tis Pity will debut their distinct style of the classic fused with the experimental, and will be the first of many productions for Sydney’s newest and most exciting theatre company.
“It’s been in the making for a long time,” Harry continues, “And we’re so excited to finally put it out into the world. COVID was hard for everyone, and graduating into an industry that was actually closed to you, especially with theatre, was particularly challenging, but we’ve come out of it with our pot overflowing with ideas and an unbearable itch to jump into the deep end.”
‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore
by The Company Theatre
Tickets are $25 for Concessions, $35 for Adults, and $20 to attend the preview on November 2nd.
November 3rd – 13th 7:30pm.
Sunday matinees begin at 5:30pm.
Flow Studios, Camperdown
