Award-winning Cypriot Australian director Margaret Thanos is set to make her Sydney Theatre Company debut with Jez Butterworth’s 2012 play The River.
The River‘s intimate and unsettling story follows a man and his girlfriend on a nighttime fishing trip, with the woman swapping roles with other actors, raising questions about his past relationships.
Previously staged in small, immersive theatres with actors like Dominic West and Hugh Jackman, the play now opens at the Sydney Opera House, starring Ewen Leslie and Miranda Otto, her first stage role in over ten years.
Thanos received a call from Sydney Theatre Company’s new artistic director Mitchell Butel to direct the play. The call came after Miranda saw three of Thanos’ plays last year and recommended her to Butel. Miranda was impressed by Thanos’ ability to maintain a balance between humour and horror.
Thanos has directed The River like a cautionary dating tale. “There is probably nothing more terrifying than going away with your new boyfriend and realising while you are there that you have no idea who he is,” Thanos tells The Australian. “And that’s what happens to Miranda’s character in the show.”
This debut comes as Thanos also recently directed A Mirror for Belvoir St Theatre, a comedy first performed in London which skews politics, war, egotism and bureaucracy. 25-year-old Thanos also completed a term as the Andrew Cameron artist in residence at Belvoir.
Raised in Melbourne, Thanos remembers turning to her mum after her first drama class aged seven and saying “I’m doing that forever.”
While acting is what started Thanos’ love affair with theatre, she acknowledges that she was “always a director” and as President of the University of Sydney’s Drama Society she was able to harness her passion for directing.
Her taste for scandalous theatre started in high school when she staged a play with themes of suicide. “There was no greater feeling to me than watching a group of people bring to life something that I helped facilitate,” she said.
Thanos also mentioned her ambitions to direct cinema and win an Oscar award.
The River is at the Sydney Opera House until May 9.
Source: The Australian
