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A Stretch of the Imagination: Press Release SOLUS Productions returns to Holden Street Theatre this June with award-winning playwright Jack Hibberd’s poignant, captivating and poetic one man play. A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION premiered at The Pram factory, Carlton in 1972. It is regarded by most connoisseurs as Hibberd’s finest work, embodying a radical advance in the character of Australian theatre, embracing and remoulding as it does many of the strong strands in theatrical modernism. This play is a surreal black comedy, which introduces us to the painfully lonely world of Monk O’Neill, one of the great comic creations of Australian dramatic literature. (Made famous by Max Gilles) Monk’s colourful, rambling monologue cuts to the quick of what Australia once was and what one day it could become. Neil Jillet described the play as “probably the most beautiful Australian play ever written” Monk is a distinctly unpleasant man. But he is also, at the end of the day, a very honest one and there is a strong impression that he has gone into this voluntary exile, living in a humpy on One Tree Hill (he has actually chopped down the tree in a fit of pique), in order to confront his past and through this confrontation to explore his own creativity – in effect, to create himself all over again using the raw materials of the life he has already lived. Beneath Monk’s aggression, crudity and callous rejection of other human beings, there is despair. He has lacked the courage to commit to intimacy… and is now on a quest to find his Self. But his quest is paradoxical: he must learn to be alone, but literal aloneness is both solipsistic and narcissistic and can only result in a distorted view of the Self. Bob Crimeen said “Hibberd’s masterpiece of hallucinations and shattered dreams gives the actor the chance to prove his mettle in tragic-comedy” “If time was slower there’d be more of the present to dwell upon the past” Do not miss Solus Productions staging of this iconic piece of work Holden St Theatre 9 Performances June 24th - July 5th 2025 @ 8pm
Holden Street Theatres
The Studio
Presented by Holden Street Theatres Inc. Directed by Peter Goers Featuring Martha Lott, Brant Eustice and Chris Asimos Martha: Truth or illusion, George; you don't know the difference. George: No, but we must carry on as though we did. Martha: Amen. Featuring some of South Australia’s finest in the scorching classic tale of reality and illusion. First staged in October 1962 and famously adored by the film adaptation released in 1966, written by Ernest Lehman, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis . It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive unwitting younger couple Nick and Honey as guests and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. By Arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical On Behalf of Samuel French A Concord Theatricals Company
Holden Street Theatres
The Studio
A Stretch of the Imagination: Press Release SOLUS Productions returns to Holden Street Theatre this June with award-winning playwright Jack Hibberd’s poignant, captivating and poetic one man play. A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION premiered at The Pram factory, Carlton in 1972. It is regarded by most connoisseurs as Hibberd’s finest work, embodying a radical advance in the character of Australian theatre, embracing and remoulding as it does many of the strong strands in theatrical modernism. This play is a surreal black comedy, which introduces us to the painfully lonely world of Monk O’Neill, one of the great comic creations of Australian dramatic literature. (Made famous by Max Gilles) Monk’s colourful, rambling monologue cuts to the quick of what Australia once was and what one day it could become. Neil Jillet described the play as “probably the most beautiful Australian play ever written” Monk is a distinctly unpleasant man. But he is also, at the end of the day, a very honest one and there is a strong impression that he has gone into this voluntary exile, living in a humpy on One Tree Hill (he has actually chopped down the tree in a fit of pique), in order to confront his past and through this confrontation to explore his own creativity – in effect, to create himself all over again using the raw materials of the life he has already lived. Beneath Monk’s aggression, crudity and callous rejection of other human beings, there is despair. He has lacked the courage to commit to intimacy… and is now on a quest to find his Self. But his quest is paradoxical: he must learn to be alone, but literal aloneness is both solipsistic and narcissistic and can only result in a distorted view of the Self. Bob Crimeen said “Hibberd’s masterpiece of hallucinations and shattered dreams gives the actor the chance to prove his mettle in tragic-comedy” “If time was slower there’d be more of the present to dwell upon the past” Do not miss Solus Productions staging of this iconic piece of work Holden St Theatre 9 Performances June 24th - July 5th 2025 @ 8pm
Holden Street Theatres
The Studio
Presented by Holden Street Theatres Inc. Directed by Peter Goers Featuring Martha Lott, Brant Eustice and Chris Asimos Martha: Truth or illusion, George; you don't know the difference. George: No, but we must carry on as though we did. Martha: Amen. Featuring some of South Australia’s finest in the scorching classic tale of reality and illusion. First staged in October 1962 and famously adored by the film adaptation released in 1966, written by Ernest Lehman, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis . It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive unwitting younger couple Nick and Honey as guests and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. By Arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical On Behalf of Samuel French A Concord Theatricals Company
Holden Street Theatres
The Studio
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