Sydney Theatre Company and Lendlease present
A Griffin Theatre Company Production
THE BLEEDING TREE
By Angus Cerini

“Girls, I think your father’s dead.”

In a dirt-dry town in rural Australia, a shot shatters the still night. A mother and her daughters have just welcomed home the man of the house… with a bullet. The only issue now is disposing of the body.

From the pen of Victorian playwright Angus Cerini, The Bleeding Tree premiered at Griffin Theatre Company in 2015. It immediately earned praise as “a great and complex production” (The Australian) and went on to win three Helpmann Awards – including Best Play, Best Direction and Best Female Actor – as well as a 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Award. In 2017, STC is proud to be bringing the original production back to a new audience.

Triggered into thrilling motion by an act of revenge, The Bleeding Tree is an Australian murder ballad blown up for the stage, with three strong women fighting back. Throughout, Cerini’s writing is powerfully lyrical, bracingly funny and a highly original take on Australian gothic.

Paula Arundell (Disgraced), Shari Sebbens (Battle of Waterloo) and Airlie Dodds (Tusk Tusk) make a fearsome trio of performers. In the hands of Griffin Theatre Company Artistic Director Lee Lewis and designer Renée Mulder (Battle of Waterloo) this is theatre that is, in all its elements, “brutally brilliant” (Daily Review).

“This is powerful, visceral and deeply exhilarating theatre.”
The Guardian

Duration 1hr 15mins (no interval)
Content warning Strong language, adult themes, violent imagery

Production patron Gretel Packer