WATCH OUR JUMP FOR JORDAN INTERVIEW
17.02.14
The luminous Alice Ansara and Anna Houston excavate their characters, Sophia and Sam, in our behind-the-scenes look at the hilarious and multi-layered Jump for Jordan.
Read More +“It’s like SBS in there. Aunt Azza comes out of customs, and mum transforms. Ultra Arab. Instantaneous. One minute she’s cooking Frank steak and chips, next thing she’s asking me where to buy goat. Frank won’t eat goat.”
About
Aspiring archaeologist Sophie left home when she was only 20, much to the shame of her traditional Jordanian mother. Six years later, losing sleep and petrified by the judgement of her visiting ‘mad Arab’ Aunty Azza, Sophie is forced to lie about her life, her career and the existence of her Aussie partner. Worst of all is the fear that she’s also lying to herself.
Looking deep into the heart of Sydney and beyond, Jump for Jordan unpacks the experience common to countless second-generation Australians of being caught between two cultures. Sifting through shifting layers of past and present, farce and fantasy, it’s one woman’s mad, messy excavation of her own history, and her attempt to piece together the broken bits of her identity. Donna Abela’s Jump for Jordan took out the Griffin Award in 2013, wowing the judges with its vitality and ambition. This world premiere production is directed by Griffin Studio director Iain Sinclair.
The development of Jump for Jordan has been supported by Playwriting Australia, the University of Wollongong University and the Department of Performance Studies at the University of Sydney.
Winner Best Stage Production, Australian Writer’s Guild Awards, 2015
Cast & Creatives
Director Iain Sinclair
Designer Pip Runciman
Lighting Designer Nicholas Rayment
Composer Nate Edmondson
Dramaturg Jennifer Medway
Stage Manager Edwina Guinness
Voice Coach Gabrielle Rogers
Production Assistant Sarah Harvey
Costume Buyer Emma Reyes
Production Secondment Carissa Licciardello, Diana Piera
With Camilla Ah Kin, Alice Ansara, Sheridan Harbridge, Anna Houston, Sal Sharah and Doris Younane
Thanks to Cath McKinnon, Margaret Hamilton, Jane Bodie, Claudia Chidiac, Dana Dajana, Catherine Fargher, the School of the Arts, English and Media at the University of Wollongong, Playwriting Australia, and the Department of Performance Studies at the University of Sydney for their support of the development of Jump for Jordan.
Performance Times
PERFORMANCE DATES
Previews 14, 15, 17, 18 February
Season 21 February – 29 March
Subscriber Q&A after the performance on 4 March
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Monday – Friday 7pm
Saturday 2pm and 7pm
RUN TIME
Approximately 90 minutes with no interval
VENUE
SBW Stables Theatre
10 Nimrod Street
Kings Cross NSW 2011
Image Gallery
[Images by Brett Boardman]
Video
Trailer, Jump for Jordan,
Reviews
‘The result is an incredibly rich storytelling experience;….It’s many great tales, all well told (and in around 90 minutes) – by an impeccable cast whose energy explodes off the tiny Griffin stage.’ ★★★★ TimeOut Sydney
‘Jump For Jordan is a joyous, tearful, hilarious and heartfelt experience and yet another success for Griffin …an entirely absorbing 90 minutes that zoom by in frequent flashes of brilliance.’ Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
“A large part of the success of this production is the ebullient cast Sinclair has assembled. Alice Ansara’s Sophie is so energetically alive…” John McCallum, The Australian
“Jump For Jordan is amazing…..This show is incredible. It is complicated and funny and bold and tragic and just so, so, SO good.” Jodi McAlister, Australian Stage
“..this lively and intelligent production from director Iain Sinclair…The performances are bright and very engaging, led by the comically adept Ansara, and by Younane, who excavates all the pain of a cultured woman who feels she has been lured to Australia and abandoned in a “cockroach box in a paddock” Jason Blake, Sydney Morning Herald
“The word playwright declares that we do something much more muscular than put words on a page.” Donna Abela, The Guardian – Australia Culture Blog
“Abela has clearly gone beyond the usual sources and adapted the best stories to suit this work, stories that effortlessly tell us much about human nature, morality, kindness and contemporary Australia.” Judge’s comments, 2005 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
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