Sydney’s Flight Path Theatre have teamed up with Melbourne-based Divergent Theatre Collective to present the Sydney premiere of Teenage Dick.
The story follows Richard (Dick) Gloucester, a teenager who has been bullied his entire life because of his cerebral palsy.
We watch as Richard transforms from bullied to bully in his quest to become senior class president, taking down anyone in his way in a vengeful and greed hungry plan.
A Play About Love, Coming of Age and Disability
Based on Shakespeare’s Richard III, this modern retelling mixes love, manipulation, loneliness and fear, to present a hilariously sharp play about perception, disability and coming of age.
“There’s this idea that you’re a saint because you’re disabled, but these stories never really look at the person. So, the impetus behind the play was to look at disabled tropes then and now and try to carve out a more human portrayal,” playwright Mike Lew said in an interview with The Boston Globe.
Directed by Dan Graham
Bringing awareness to disability in both the play and its cast, Teenage Dick features four creative artists with a disability, showcasing their immense talents.
One of these artists with a disability is Director and St Leonards local, Dan Graham.
Dan Graham, is an Australian Theatre Director and a Disability Advocate that resides in our local community.
Dealing with the challenges that accompany his own neuro-diverse disability, Graham has a vested interest in supporting neuro-diverse performing artists.
“My being neuro-diverse, doesn’t impede what I can do. To keep going. To create. To work. To inspire others. And that’s what makes me the artist that I am now,” he said.
Noting the subject matter and the cast involved, this production of Teenage Dick is very close to Graham’s heart.
In 2021, Graham was recognised for his advocacy work, being celebrated with the 2021 Access and Disability award at the Lane Cove Citizenship Awards that took place in 2022.
Dan is a co-Chair of Artists with a Disability (part of the MEAA), and his work, which is informed by his own Neuro-Diverse experience, has taken him from Lane Cove across the world to places such as New York, London, Chicago, and Barcelona. He has worked on the ‘Mad or Bad’ show which explored neuro-diversity in Shakespeare and ‘Sam I Am’ in partnership with deaf artist, Sam Marin.
He has been involved with companies such as Bell Shakespeare, MTC, Sydney Festival, Sydney Fringe, Antipode Theatre Company, all of which have made him into the incredible director and leader that he is.
On top of this, Dan is a fellow of the Australia Council’s Future Leaders Program, an Ian Potter Foundation Scholarship, and Create NSW Fellowship recipient. He is also a board director for Arts Access Australia and a regular peer assessor for the Australia Council for the Art.
Cast and Crew
Cast and crew include:
Production Team:
Director – Dan Graham
Assistant Director & Stage Manager – Pearl Junor
Assistant Stage Manager – Keira Fairley
Production Designer – Holly-Jane Cohle
Sound Designer – Dean Nash
Intimacy Director – Shondelle Pratt
Movement/ Choreographer – Roman Berry
Accent/ Vocal Coach – Robert Lewis
Co-Producers:
For Flight Path Theatre – Kate Bookallil & Siobhan Lawless
Divergent Theatre Collective – Roman Berry (Production Manager)
Cast:
Richard (Dick) Gloucester – Dean Nash
Barbara Buck – Holly Jane Cohle
Anne Margaret – Chloe Ho
Elizabeth York – Amy Victoria Brooks
Eddie Ivy – Rocco Forrester
Clarissa Duke – Gemma Dart
Ensemble/ Understudy Richard – Thom Blake
Understudy – Keira Fairley
Season Premiere
Teenage Dick is running from July 19 – August 5 at the Flight Path Theatre, Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville.
Book Tickets
You can access tickets and more information about the shows here.
Help Support Local and Independent News
You can support us in three ways:
- Become an ITC reader sponsor – Feel free to be a reader sponsor if you have enjoyed our local news coverage and would like to be an ITC reader sponsor. You can sponsor us with a monthly sponsorship fee. We have reader sponsors who sponsor us for $5.00 a month and some who sponsor us for $100 a year – no amount is too small or too big. Thank you so much to the people who have already supported us via our press Patreon account. Help Us Here.
- Buy the ITC team a coffee – We now have a team, and they need to be paid – buy the ITC team a coffee (or two) and that will help us pay their wages and shout then a coffee Buy a Coffee here.
- Do you own a Lane Cove Business or a Lane Cove resident who owns a business, you can advertise with ITC. Email us here for our rates card.
