Date: Tuesday, 26 February 2019
Time: 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Location: Panino Restaurant, Wollombi, NSW
A new production of Australia’s beloved modern classic comes to Cessnock!
THE SAPPHIRES is one of Australia’s best-loved stories. Winning multiple awards as a play, film and soundtrack album, this new production brings the raw energy, fun and emotion of this story directly to the CPAC stage on Tuesday 26 February from 8pm.
Set in the heady days of the late ’60s, a quartet of young, talented singers from a remote Aboriginal mission, are discovered and guided by a kind-hearted, soul-loving manager.
Plucked from obscurity, the four spirited women with powerhouse voices are given the opportunity to entertain American troops in Vietnam. Wearing sequins and armed only with microphones, they find themselves trying to spread joy in the hell that is the Vietnam War. Catapulted onto the world stage as Australia’s answer to The Supremes, their journey of discovery offers them not only the chance to show off their musical skills, but also to find love and togetherness and experience loss and grow as women.
Motown soul hits like I Heard it Through the Grapevine, He’s So Fine, Respect and My Boyfriend’s Back promise to transport audiences back to the screaming ‘60s.
THE SAPPHIRES theatre production enjoyed triumphant sell-out seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, winning two Helpmann Awards for Best New Australian Work and Best Play in 2005. The 2012 film of the same name won 11 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, and writer Tony Briggs also received AWGIE Awards for the Most Outstanding Script of 2012 and Best Feature Film Adaptation.
Whilst THE SAPPHIRES explores issues such as race, prejudice and pleas for acceptance, it remains an energetic and engaging play that affirms life and the realisation of dreams.
Featuring a talented young ensemble of First Nations performers as well as multicultural performers, Tony Briggs will direct his play for the first time, heading a highly credentialed Indigenous Australian directing and design team.
Briggs promises that this will be the most intimate telling of THE SAPPHIRES story yet.
“I hope the audience will feel a fresh sense of connection to a story that has already successfully infiltrated the psyche of the Australian theatre and movie-going public,” says Briggs. “I hope they get a sense of joy and understanding of who Aboriginal people are and walk away from THE SAPPHIRES with a smile on their faces.”
Presented by Christine Harris & HIT Productions.
Tickets on sale at the CPAC Box Office, by phone on 4993 4266 or online.
