The Lewis Trilogy

One of Australia's most legendary dramatists, Louis Nowra is synonymous with the beating heart of Kings Cross.

It's only fitting, then, that Griffin bids a temporary farewell to its home at the SBW Stables Theatre as we know it by staging The Lewis Trilogy'Nowra's colourful portrait of a life well lived.

Three plays. One ensemble. Ten glorious weeks. What better way to celebrate the Stables' Darlinghurst legacy before the theatre undergoes its major redevelopment'

• Summer of the Aliens
• Cos'
• This Much is True

With an ensemble of eight of Sydney's favourite actors including the great Paul Capsis (Angela's Kitchen), Griffin's Artistic Director Declan Greene stages three of Nowra's most iconic plays like you've never seen them before'bursting the seams of the SBW Stables Theatre with love, loss and glorious Australiana. Choose to watch all three plays on separate nights or enjoy a magical full-day experience'The Lewis Trilogy is a special event of epic proportions that is not to be missed.

Summer of the Aliens

When times are tough and you're a teenager with an overactive imagination, extraterrestrial life forms don't seem all that absurd.

It's 1962, and Lewis is an average fourteen-year-old on the outskirts of working-class Melbourne. In the blistering heat of summer he forages for shell casings at the rifle range, sneaks into sci-fi double features, and tries to understand how the hell you talk to girls.

Then, lights start flashing in the night sky. The adults start acting weird. And strangers arrive from distant lands.

Set against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis, Summer of the Aliens is a sun-soaked coming-of-age classic all about class, closed doors and global catastrophes of galactic proportions.

Cos'

One of Australia's great classics is given a fantastical makeover.

Lewis is a fresh university graduate who's been enlisted to direct a production of Mozart's Cos' fan tutte with the in-patients at a mental health ward. As rehearsals begin, visions of theatrical grandeur soar'contrary to the lack of budget, talent and willingness of most cast members.

Outside, Australia's anti-Vietnam war movement is reaching fever pitch. Inside, tensions are becoming operatic.

Cos' is Louis Nowra's most beloved play'a comic commentary on everything from the healing power of art as therapy, to Australia's shifting approach to mental health, to the nature of theatre itself.

This Much is True

Pull up a bar stool, pour yourself a chardonnay and get ready for a good old-fashioned Darlinghurst yarn.

The maraschino cherry on the Trilogy, This Much is True is Louis Nowra's ode to the old timers, motley crews and unknowing raconteurs that commune at the local watering hole. Now middle-aged and divorced, Lewis weaves together the tales of the larger-than-life characters he calls friends at a historic inner-city pub.

Plonked between social housing and multi-million dollar apartments, high flyers and low-lying criminals, This Much is True is a divine comedy that examines the everyday. As the sun sets on The Lewis Trilogy, you'll leave the SBW Stables Theatre seeing Kings Cross in a magically different light.

• Director Declan Greene
• Associate Director Daley Rangi
• Set Designer Jeremy Allen
• Costume Designer Melanie Liertz
• Lighting Designer Kelsey Lee
• Composer & Sound Designer Daniel Herten
• Stage Manager Isabella Kerdijk
• Consultant, Disability Christopher Bryant
• Consultant, Inclusion Bayley Turner
• With Thomas Campbell, Paul Capsis, Philip Lynch, Nikki Viveca

Dates:

• Start: 09 February 2024
• End: 21 April 2024