Chalkface

Event details

Description

Bullying behaviour, tantrums and tough lessons are all part of a typical day at public-school St Jude’s – and that’s just in the staffroom!

Creatures of habit, the tired teachers of St Jude’s find themselves jolted awake by the arrival of a young and enthusiastic new teacher, Anna Park, a recent graduate known as “the child whisperer”.

Pat Novitsky, the school’s brilliant but bitter and longest-serving teacher, thinks Anna’s Masters of Neuroplasticity and new-age thinking has nothing on her 35 years of experience. Anna thinks Pat is stuck in the past. When the principal assigns school terror Hurricane Little to Anna’s class, the two teachers come head-to-head in a brutal smackdown of old versus new guard, exposing everyone’s darkest secrets.

A farcical new black comedy from multi-award winning Australian writer Angela Betzien (Total Control, Mortido) and starring acclaimed actor Catherine McClements (Water Rats, Tangle, Wentworth) as Pat, Chalkface shows us it’s never too late to change, and you’re never too old to learn, or laugh.

I have long been a fan of Angela Betzien’s writing – tough, wise, but also spit-your-drink-out funny. Just as her TV writing career takes off as a co-writer of the magnificent Total Control with Deborah Mailman, I’m delighted that we and Sydney Theatre Company could lure her back into the theatre to share her hilarious twist on schoolteacher tales. And what a thrill to welcome Catherine McClements back to the Company after her dazzling turn in The Events. Mitchell

Content: Coarse language, adult themes, smoking
Age Guide: 15+
Run time: 1 hours 45 mins (no interval)

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Audio description

Audio Described performances:

Saturday August 13th, 2pm (matinee)
Monday August 15th, 6:30pm (evening performance)

Accessible toilets are available at all Adelaide Festival Centre venues.