'Take a deep dive into the extraordinary, turbulent artistic partnership of Brett and Wendy Whiteley.
'Together since they were teenagers, Brett and Wendy made an indelible impression on a burgeoning Australian contemporary art scene. They blazed a trail from Sydney in the late 1950s, to London in the swinging 60s, to New York City in the tumultuous Vietnam War years.
'Eventually, they settled at Lavender Bay, where Brett captured Sydney Harbour in his signature ultramarine blue. But there were dark times ahead – restless years of separation and addiction that ended with Wendy alone, building and tending her magnificent “Secret Garden”.'
Source: Riverside Theatre.
Produced by Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image in association with Riverside Theatres, at Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, 18-27 January 2019.
Director: Kim Carpenter.
Choreographer: Lucas Jervies.
Music: Peter Kennard.
Costume Designer: Genevieve Graham.
Lighting Designer: Sian James-Holland.
Cast: Paul Gleeson (Brett Whiteley); Leeanna Walsman (Wendy Whiteley); Jeanette Cronin (Brett’s sister Frannie); Tony Llewellyn-Jones (Lloyd Rees); and Olivia Brown, Yasmin Polley and dancers Robbie Curtis, Dean Elliott, Naomi Hibberd.
'This show, coming on the 30th anniversary of Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, is subtitled A Love Story Bound by Art, but it is more a breathless mixed-media documentary. It relates, in brief flashes, some of the principal events in Brett and Wendy Whiteley’s long life together, especially Brett’s painting and his addictions.' (Introduction)
'This show, coming on the 30th anniversary of Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, is subtitled A Love Story Bound by Art, but it is more a breathless mixed-media documentary. It relates, in brief flashes, some of the principal events in Brett and Wendy Whiteley’s long life together, especially Brett’s painting and his addictions.' (Introduction)