Following a smash-hit West End run, Nina Raine’s dazzlingly clever play about truth, justice and consent will be brought to Seymour Centre by the award-winning Outhouse Theatre Co.
To discuss ‘Consent’, we spoke with Anna Samson, who will play Kitty in the Australian premiere from 1st to 24th June.
Tell us a bit about your journey to your acting career.
Gosh, ‘career’ feels like such a big and luxurious word. It’s hard to see it from the outside, but the experience of being an actor does feel like a totally encompassing vocation.
I’ve been extremely satisfied at times and I have had stretches of feeling totally unmoored and unable to do the work I’d like to be doing. But there is a constant, that feeling of being an actor never leaves, even if the career side of things stalls and stutters and restarts and runs away and takes off and stops again. As it inevitably does.
I took the idea of being an actor awfully seriously from a very young age and was strident about wanting to go to drama school and be taken seriously even as a very young woman. When I realised that acting was a reality and that I had the support and opportunities to properly pursue it, I relaxed a bit. I went to a performing arts high school here in Sydney, I realised those dreams of drama school and have been fortunate to work in theatre for a while now.
The stage has always been where I feel most vital and theatre gets the best of me.
When you’re not acting what are you doing?
I’m studying again, doing a master’s of writing at Sydney University, and I’ve previously done a literature degree.
After the pandemic, I felt a great pull to be outside Australia, to travel again, and to do so solo. I went back to West Africa where I spent some of my childhood and to London where I was born. I was craving adventure and challenge I think, and a return to defining places from my childhood.
I’m currently reading Bad Art Mother and Shirley, two great contemporary Australian novels.
I spend a daft amount of time on the phone with my friend Ellie, who lives in Melbourne and who I miss terribly. My friends are defining and incredibly important to me.
What is the show ‘Consent’ all about? Who should come to see it?
Consent is centred around the private lives of three couples, all of whom are friends. Two of the lawyers are on opposing sides of a case where a key witness is a woman who seems worlds apart from these people. The world of these couples unravels when the very nature of truth comes into question.
Anyone who wants an exciting night out should come along. The play is electric and challenging and witty and funny and important.
How is ‘Consent’ relevant to Australian audiences?
The themes and characters of the play are so very close to home. The failures of our legal system. The foibles and fallacies of relationships. The realities of class we don’t like to face. The comedy and madness of marriage and friendships.
Describe ‘Consent’ in three words.
A modern classic.
DATES: 1st – 24th June 2023
TIMES: Tuesdays – Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 7:30pm
LOCATION: Seymour Centre, Corner City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale
BOOKINGS: https://www.seymourcentre.com/event/consent/ or 9061 5344
TICKETS: Full $49 / Seniors, Groups 8+ $39 / Concession, Under 35s $35 / Previews $33
WRITER Nina Raine DIRECTOR Craig Baldwin PRODUCER Jeremy Waters STARRING Anna Samson, Nic English, Jeremy Waters, Jennifer Rani, Sam O’Sullivan, Anna Skellern & Jessica Bell