Australian Theatre For Young People (ATYP) launch their 2020 season with the presentation of award-winning playwright Mary Anne Butler's newest work 'Cusp'.
A new work generated for young people, 'Cusp' is set in the Northern Territory (NT) and revolves around the specific issues that young people in the region are forced to confront as they enter adulthood.
“'Cusp' is about three young people on the cusp of their adult lives, each facing a major life choice which will determine their path forward in life,” Mary Anne explains.
“One faces life as a single parent, another has to choose between staying fully connected to country and community, or going ‘down south’ to study a University course which isn’t available in the NT, and a third has to change his behaviour in every way to avoid returning to prison.”
Contrasting the vast Northern Territory landscape with the turbulent lives of three emerging adults, 'Cusp' examines the balance between choice and fate where some people are given better choices than others.
'Cusp' stars Stevie Jean, Joshua McElroy and Nyasha Ogden, and is directed by ATYP Artistic Director Fraser Corfield, who initially contacted Mary Anne with the prospect of producing a new work.
Image © Helen Orr
"This is a play for audiences that enjoy the extraordinary in everyday characters,” Fraser says.
“These are not the type of people we usually see on stage. The teenagers are self-deprecating and avoid the spotlight. Mary Anne's exquisite writing takes the complexity of their lives, mixes it with the rich landscape of the Top End and serves it to us as a work of complex beauty."
A carefully-constructed tale about adversity and expectation, 'Cusp' also brims over with hope, humour and plentiful action.
“'Cusp' is an incredibly fast-paced play – it’s life lived at full-tilt,” Mary Anne says.
“I hope audiences also emerge with a strong sense of the energy and unharnessed potential of many of our young people. They’re the ones who I genuinely feel are already changing this world for the better. We oldies are best left standing back while supporting them any way we can.”
