Sydney Theatre Company presents the Abbey Theatre / Amharclann Na Mainistreach production
Terminus
by Mark O’Rowe

Continuing the recent precedent of presenting an acclaimed international production in our Main Stage Season, we’re delighted to bring this astonishing show from Ireland’s iconic Abbey Theatre to the Drama Theatre of Sydney Opera House. A roaring hit when it received its world premiere in 2007, this acclaimed, award-winning production comes to Sydney as part of an extensive world tour.

…we go, see the slo-mo ebb and flow; the mill, the babble, the rabble of wobbling waywards, exiled and aimless, unlike us as, purposeful and double-file, like kids on a dare, we head who the hell knows where?

From bustling streets to the skies above Dublin, then deep into the bowels of the earth, Terminus whisks us away on an incredible journey through a night of strange and fantastical occurrences. Three people, ripped from their daily lives and catapulted into chaos, narrate their seemingly disconnected tales which will eventually collide in a brutal head-on smash.

A mother is working in a suicide prevention call centre when she hears a familiar voice on the other end of the line. It’s a voice that will lure her on a violent vigilante crusade. Meanwhile, a lonely heart who has ditched her microwave dinner for one in favour of a possible romantic liaison is also being lured into danger… this time to the top of a crane. A moment of unsteadiness sends her plummeting towards certain death until an unlikely saviour catches her, stealing her heart with his gentle heroism.

Across town a solitary man is on a bar crawl, desperately searching for a woman to touch. Despite his feelings of inadequacy, shyness and desperation he finds a woman willing to take him home but a virtuosic talent for singing is not all this lost soul has to hide.

Mark O’Rowe’s previous plays have included Howie the Rookie and Crestfall, and for cinema, he wrote the screenplay of the cult film Intermission. In Terminus his writing is vivid, engaging and technically brilliant. Colloquial, contemporary language is sculpted into tight verse with exceptional skill to create an epic work. These vast, elaborate and enthralling narratives are presented with stark simplicity in a thrilling and breathtaking production.

Warning: Contains strong language, sexual themes and violent descriptions

105 Minutes, no interval
Venue: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House

Tickets for this production are available as part of a 2011 Season Ticket.