CARE INSTRUCTIONS

"In Margaret Cameron's hands, and with her marvelous trio of performers, Care Instructions becomes an enchanting evening of theatre ... Some kind of magic is going on in this incantatory language; a summoning of the sensual pleasures of clean sheets and crisp linens, the smell of washing in sunlight."
- Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes

"Not so much a play as a spell. It enchanted me at its premiere at La Mama last year, and it's no less enjoyable to revisit. This production is sharper, its theatrical gestures heightened and thrown into relief."- The Australian, July 13th 2009

In a post-Beckettian, dream-like laundry, the Sleeping Beauty’s thirteenth godmother is re-imagined as a triptych of washerwomen, possessed of a language that is at once melodious and daringly potent. In anticipation of the perfect drying day, performers Jane Bayly, Liz Jones and Caroline Lee (Alias Grace, La Douleur) shine as the mythical trio of women in-waiting, and women at work, as they delve deeply into rhyme, sing-song, and the allusive poetry of piles of washing.

Care Instructions sparkles without bleach, but there’s no telling what may come out in the wash. Cynthia Troup’s whirl of words unleashes an unstoppable force, teasingly irreverent, fuelled with the spirit of Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.

Do not tumble dry! Exposure to direct sunlight may cause rapid deterioration.

DIRECTOR Margaret Cameron
WRITER Cynthia Troup
MUSIC David Young
LIGHTING Danny Pettingill
PRODUCTION MANAGER Dario Vacirca
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Emma Gillingham
VIDEO Eugene Schlusser
PHOTOGRAPHY Yatzek

CAST Jane Bayly, Liz Jones, Caroline Lee

Care Instructions Performance Seasons and Tours:

. MALTHOUSE PERFORMANCE SEASON
July 7th to 27th, 2009

. Transit VI Festival, Denmark
6-16 August 2009
Odin Teatret
Transit VI Festival
Holstebro, Denmark

Care Instructions
Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts

October 31 - November 8, 2009
Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts
26 Acland Street, St Kilda

Care Instructions Script for Single or Multiple Voice
By Cynthia Troup

Published by Aphids in collaboration with Idlewild Press, Care Instructions: Script for Single or Multiple Voice has been published to coincide with the opening of Care Instructions at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre.

With a cover designed and letterpress printed by Carolyn Fraser at Idlewild Press, this is a strictly limited edition of Cynthia Troup’s incantatory text. Each copy is hand-sewn.

Foreword by Alison Croggon.
RRP $27.50