Saturn's Return

"Saturn's Return" is a new Australian play by Tommy Murphy. The play was commissioned for the Sydney Theatre Company 2008 season by incoming co-artistic directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton.

It plays August 15-September 6, 2008.

The project is from the writer-director team behind "Holding the Man" and "Strangers in Between".

"Saturn's Return" is published by Currency Press.

ynopsis

Saturn has returned, and a moment of doubt changes everything. The universe conspires against Matt and Zara, and Zara is jettisoned into orbit.

Sex on drugs has become sordid, but the allure of the threesome is still tempting. The prospect of having children is no longer odious, but mortgages and responsibility remain objects of contempt. It's time for lock down. But who's playing?

Shifting perspectives on identity and Tommy Murphy's trademark comic flair combine to create lively theatre of insight and ingenuity.

What is a Saturn return?

Creative Team

Playwright Tommy Murphy
Director David Berthold
Designer Adam Gardnir
Lighting Designer Luiz Pampolha
Sound Designer/Composer Basil Hogios

Actors Matt Zeremes, Leeanna Walsman, Socratis Otto

Related Article

"'TO HAVE AND TO HOLD ONTO FOREVER - IT'S THE SIREN CALL FROM PLANET POSSIBILITY

"'SYDNEY MORNING HERALDLisa Pryor May 3, 2008"'

Just when you thought modern life could not get any busier, another must-have life event has emerged, to be slotted into the diary. Wedged between the quarterlife crisis and the midlife crisis, just before the age of 30, comes another meltdown, known as Saturn's Return.

According to flaky astrological wisdom, this is a time of upheaval, as Saturn completes its orbit of the sun and returns to the same place in the universe it occupied when an individual was born. This process takes a little more than 29 years, but advanced individuals can commence their crisis as early as 27.

Being of a certain age, I have noticed much talk about this celestial happening in the past year, as smart people who should know better try to find a name for the madness which can engulf a person on the eve of true adulthood, when choices must be made between stability and exploration, house buying and travel, children and partying, sensible ways and the urge to run screaming from them.

Then last week when gatecrashing a party I came across the playwright Tommy Murphy, who is best known for his plays Strangers In Between and Holding The Man, and who I happen to think is brilliant. I discovered he is writing a play for the Sydney Theatre Company on this very topic. Titled Saturn's Return, no less. It opens in August.

Zara, the heroine of the play, is happily settled in a relationship with her partner, Matt. Marriage, mortgages and midwives lie on the horizon. Then, as the big planet does its thing, doubt creeps into Zara's mind. She must decide whether to continue on the path of the three Ms or break free from the constraints of rational living.

Murphy describes Saturn's Return as a crisis of confidence and identity, as you reach an age where you are "asked to lock some things in and it tests some decisions and choices you have made". While Zara is "not only restless but reckless", in milder cases this crisis may simply manifest itself as a desire to travel and try new things.

For women who plan to have children and heed the warnings about shrivelling ovaries, there is a particular biological imperative to this meltdown. "Very early on I chose a female character because I thought that would give more urgency in terms of her problems, in terms of what her body was doing," Murphy says.

The metaphor of Saturn's Return is not brand new. The bands Tool, No Doubt and R.E.M. have all referred to this phenomenon in their work. Saturn's Return was also the title of a short film by the writer Christos Tsiolkas, best known for his novel Loaded. But Murphy wonders whether our generation will feel this crisis more acutely than previous ones because we have enjoyed such an extended adolescence and feel unwilling to give it up.

So many of our key issues can be traced back to the fear of not having everything, all at once, forever: the frenzy about housing affordability, the panic about fertility, even our tendency to accumulate credit-card debt is a sign we feel entitled to spend more than we earn in order to exercise our right to have our heart's desire without compromise.

As a generation we are experience junkies, terrified of making a choice and locking things in, driven by the fear that we might miss out on something. We want to be able to buy a house in a suburb we believe in while still having enough money for travel, we want a career but also freedom, we want children but also a life.

Perhaps the heartening thing is that this generation is finding ways to get through this crisis with fewer compromises. Rising fertility rates in inner-city suburbs show that more parents are finding ways to have babies without the obligatory move to the 'burbs. Cheap airfares make it easier to keep travelling even with responsibilities like a job and a house. If the push for better-paid maternity leave succeeds, it will be easier to take time off without compromising on the ability to pay the mortgage. Our high expectations are slowly being met.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/02/1209235149834.html

External links

* [http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/performance.asp?pID=253 Sydney Theatre Company website]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/to-have-and-to-hold-onto-forever--its-the-siren-call-from-planetpossibility/2008/05/02/1209235149834.html Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece on Saturn Return]
* [http://www.currency.com.au/search.aspx?q=Saturn's+Return Publisher's website]
* [http://www.starobserver.com.au/entertainment/2008/07/23/murphy-returns-to-saturn/888 "Sydney Star Observer" interview with Tommy Murphy about "Saturn's Return"]
* [http://sxnews.e-p.net.au/feature/out-of-this-world-3587.html "SX News" interview with Tommy Murphy]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/brought-back-to-earth-so-it-seems/2008/08/13/1218307001394.html "Brought Back to Earth, so it seems..." Article by Tommy Murphy for Sydney Morning Herald about the play]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts-reviews/saturns-return/2008/08/14/1218307079765.html "Sydney Morning Herald" article on the play, and interview with creative team]
* [http://www.samesame.com.au/features/2815/The-Return-Of-Tommy-Murphy.htm "The Return of Tommy Murphy" - interview with the playwright]
* [http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/saturns-return--wharf-2loud-1791.html Review: Australian Stage Online]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts-reviews/saturns-return/2008/08/14/1218307079765.html Review: "Sydney Morning Herald"]
* [http://www.samesame.com.au/reviews/2885/Theatre-Saturns-Return-Sydney-Theatre-Company.htm Review: samesame.com.au]
* [http://sxnews.e-p.net.au/theatre/saturns-return-3776.html Review: SX News]
* [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24240737-15089,00.html Review and Article: "The Australian"]
* [http://wentworth-courier.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/in-the-lions-den1/ Review: Courier Newspapers]
* [http://www.stagenoise.com/reviewsdisplay.php?id=263#Comments Review: Stage Noise]