Life After George

Written by Hannie Rayson, Directed by John Graham

October 2011

Life After George is a multi-award winning play which broke box office records when first presented in 2000 by the Melbourne Theatre Company and has since been staged across Australia and overseas.

It is set in the world of Professor Peter George, a left wing historian from England who settled in Australia. He is a charismatic academic, an idealist and lover of life, who has died in his late fifties. He is survived by three wives, a son and a daughter. His current wife, two ex-wives and his daughter gather for his funeral. As the true nature of the man and his life unfolds, so these women discover much about themselves and the lives they have lived both within and outside his shadow. 

The play moves backwards and forwards in time as the characters draw on memories of their life with George over a period of 32 years. Each of the wives represent an era. The first Mrs George, Beatrix is an artist, a stay at home mother of two and roughly a pre-feminist. Lindsay, George's second wife, forges her own academic career eclipsing that of George's, leading to conflict between them over the direction in which Australian univeristies are heading. Poppy, twenty six years his junior, becomes the third Mrs George. She is an individualist, a 'post modern cyber chick'. George has died in a plane crash with a mysterious woman on board. Is she the latest in his procession of serial affairs?

Cast

George - Ernie Tinesz
Beatrix - Shona Benson
Lindsay - Shelley Hampton
Poppy - Angelique Houston
Ana  - Miriam Keane
Duffy - Malcolm Walton

Director
John Graham
Production Manager
Helen Yakovleff