Splendour
About the show
By Abi Morgan
Directed by Nat Randall and Anna Breckon
“I select the best shot.”
An opulent drawing room in the Presidential Palace. Outside: civil war. A Western photojournalist awaits the return of the dictator. She is here to take his portrait. The dictator’s wife, her best friend and an interpreter wait with her. Prada shoes, vodka glasses and light fingers tap out the time. He is late, very late…
All four women harbour secrets and suspicions. All four are in danger. This is the day.
Abi Morgan is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Skinned, Splendour, Tiny Dynamite, Tender,and 27. Her television work includes My Fragile Heart, Murder, Sex Traffic, White Girl, The Hour and The Split. Her films include Brick Lane, Iron Lady, Shame, The Invisible Woman and Suffragette.
Nat Randall and Anna Breckon createat the intersection of live performance, contemporary art and film. The Second Woman has been presented both nationally and internationally, including at Harbourfront (Toronto), Weiwuying (Taiwan), BAM (NYC) and at London’s Young Vic for the 2023 London International Festival of Theatre. Rear View was commissioned for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Set Piece played at the 2022 Rising festival in Melbourne and at Carriageworks in Sydney. Their work has been featured in The New Yorker Vogue (US) and The New York Times.
About the directors
Anna Breckon
Anna Breckon is an independent artist, filmmaker, film studies scholar and critic. She has a PhD in English in queer and feminist film theory from The University of Sydney. Her thesis considers queer politics of happiness in a selection of contemporary auteur films. Anna has published on John Waters (2013) and Todd Solondz (2018) in Screen (Oxford University Press). Anna has worked as a director and writer for projects presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Performance Space, Dark Mofo, Rising Festival, Perth Festival, Adelaide Festival, Weiwuying: National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), BAM (New York) and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
Nat Randall
Nat Randall is an artist working at the intersection of performance, video and film. Randall has presented work at major institutions, galleries and festivals nationally and internationally. Randall has presented work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Performance Space, Dark Mofo, Rising Festival, Perth Festival, Adelaide Festival, Weiwuying: National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Taiwan), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), BAM (New York) and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Randall and her collaborator Breckon are currently undertaking a Theatre Fellowship from the Australia Council of the Arts. Randall studied at the University of Wollongong where she developed a breadth of performance practice including devised work, site-specific practice and participatory work. Randall is currently on the Artistic Directorate at PACT Centre for Emerging Artists.
