One of Australia’s favourite films, The Castle, is coming to the live stage.
30 years on since its release, the movie will be reimagined as a major theatrical show by Michael Cassel Group and Working Dog and is set to premiere at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne from March next year.
“When the team at Working Dog first approached me about bringing ‘The Castle’ to the stage, I knew we had to do this,” Cassel said.
“The film miraculously captures the specificities of Australian life and yet feels so universally true; family love, the challenges change presents, and the warmth and humour and dignity of ordinary people standing up for what matters. It makes you laugh, and then, before you know it, it makes you cry.
“That is exactly what live theatre does at its best and why ‘The Castle’ was always destined for the stage. To sit together in a theatre and feel the laughter, tears and pride in real time will be incredibly special. I cannot wait to share this story with Australian audiences in a completely new way with our extraordinary creative team.”
Released in 1997, The Castle is widely considered one of Australia’s greatest ever films and grossed over $10 million at the box office on a budget of just $750,000. It also won a string of AACTA Awards that year, including Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Michael Caton).
The show has been written by the film’s original creators, Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro and Jane Kennedy, who will also serve as co-producers, while Paige Rattray (Netflix’s “Heartbreak High,” “Fangirls”) will direct.
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“Over the best part of 25 years we have never lost our desire to turn ‘The Castle’ into a live stage show,” the creators said in a statement.
“Not just a retelling of the story but a quarter of a century of funny updates! A celebration of all we love about the Kerrigan family. We wrote this new, fully updated show in the same way that we wrote the film screenplay all those years ago – the four of us in a room trying to make each other laugh. Our goal was to capture the warmth and humour (dare we say, ‘the vibe’?) of the original story in a way that will hopefully resonate with new and long-term fans alike.”
Casting will be announced in the coming months. Click here for more details.
From Variety Australia
