THE WEEKEND
BY HENRIETTA BAIRD
Dancer-turned-playwright Henrietta Baird’s one-woman play blends laughter, hope, love, and loss into a young family’s search for a new beginning.
Lara, a Sydney mum working interstate as a dancer, receives a distress call from her youngest son. Dad hasn’t been seen for days and they are running out of food. Lara has only the weekend to traverse the world of high-rise public housing, drug dealing and addiction to track him down. And if she succeeds, what will she find?
The Weekend is a rollercoaster ride into one woman’s nightmare scenario, one from which she emerges a little wiser about the world and herself.
The Weekend by Henrietta Baird was first developed at Yellamundie Festival 2017, had its world premiere with Moogahlin Performing Arts at Carriageworks as part of the 2019 Sydney Festival, and subsequently presented at BATS Theatre in Wellington for the Kia Mau Festival.
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright - Henrietta Baird
Director - Liza-Mare Syron
Cast - Shakira Clanton
Producer - Lily Shearer
Choreography - Vicki Van Hout
Sound Design and Composition - Nick Wales and Rhyan Clapham (Dobby)
Lighting Design - Karen Norris
Set Design - Kevin O’Brien
PRODUCTION HISTORY
11 - 15 June 2019 - BATS Theatre, Kia Mau Festival, Poneke, Aotearoa / Wellington, New Zealand
19 - 23 January 2019 - Carriageworks, Sydney Festival, Gadigal / Sydney Australia
16 November 2017 - rehearsed reading at Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival, Tkaranto, Turtle Island / Toronto, Canada
NOTES & ACCESSIBILITY
70mins, no interval.
Coarse language, references to drug use.
SUPPORTERS
The Weekend was developed and commissioned by Moogahlin Performing Arts as part of the Yellamundie National First Peoples Playwriting Festival 2013 and premiered on Gadigal land at Carriageworks as part of the 2019 Sydney Festival. The Weekend is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts and the Catalyst — Australian Arts and Culture Fund.
UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, our upcoming tour of The weekend by Henrietta Baird has been suspended for 2020.
Please stay tuned for future announcements on tour dates and online activity.
REVIEWS
“Baird’s writing is full of thrills, brimming with keenly observed humour, and a modern attitude that boldly pushes Australian playwriting into exciting new realms.”
“Lara's journey, more familiar than it should be, is told comically but finally with great power.”
“Baird has a good ear for vernacular speech and her characters speak with both poetry and fury: telling jokes, swearing liberally... Most of all, Baird writes with compassion…”
“…written with breathtaking reality and white knuckle tension…”
