A Stages regular, Sheridan Harbridge talks shop about THE SUGAR HOUSE at Belvoir Theatre!

Written by Alana Valentine this personal account tracks the changing years of Pyrmont as it goes from a working class industrial wharf suburb to the shiny water-front apartment domain that hugs the harbour.

Belvoir is set to continue its commitment to new Australian writing with the world premiere season
of The Sugar House, by critically-acclaimed playwright, Alana Valentine from 5 th May to 3 rd June.

Starring the inimitable Kris McQuade (TV’s Wentworth, Rosehaven and Belvoir’s Cloudstreet)
alongside Sheridan Harbridge (The Dog, The Cat), Sacha Horler (The ABC’s Sando), Lex Marinos, Josh
McConville and Nikki Shiels (The Rover), The Sugar House is directed by MTC Associate Director
Sarah Goodes (MTC’s Helpmann Award nominated John and Belvoir’s The Sweetest Thing).

Narelle (Harbridge) is a high achiever with working-class roots and political clout. But something
keeps pulling her back to Pyrmont. This peninsula was her family’s bedrock, and the home of her
extraordinary grandmother June (McQuade), who held everything together through the decades: a
son’s brush with the law, a daughter’s battles with demons, a husband’s decline. Life revolved
around the sugar refinery. For a time this was the sweetest neighbourhood in the country. But the

family foundation, like the sugar, has dissolved away. Narelle knows she cannot fix the past, but
perhaps she can fix the future.

The Sugar House is a story of Sydney – work, corruption, and brutal social change. It is a story of
how Australia went from working class to middle class, set in the back-streets of Pyrmont. At its
heart, however, The Sugar House is about family, in particular, three generations of women, going
back to the factory days of the 1960’s – women who have borne witness to and taken part in some
of the most pivotal times of the past 50 years.

Featuring a trio of extraordinary performances from three leading women McQuade, Horler and
Harbridge, The Sugar House is a play every Sydney-sider should see.

Eamon Flack, Belvoir’s Artistic Director said “This is a play about family. It’s also a Sydney story. It
takes us from the Pyrmont of the factories and the working class to the Pyrmont of today. But the
soul of the play is family, particularly three extraordinary women”.

“The battle for the heart and soul of Sydney is ongoing and has been since our grandmothers were
kids. How did we get this prosperity and how have we really paid for it? Alana Valentine has written
a gift to Sydney in The Sugar House”.

THE SUGAR HOUSE
Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre
Dates: 5 th May – 3 rd June, 2018.
Times: Tuesday & Wednesday 6:30pm, Thursday & Friday 8pm,
Saturday 2pm & 8pm and Sunday 5pm
Prices: Full price $77, Seniors $67, Concession $54, 30-Down $47, Student Saver $37
Tickets: https://belvoir.com.au/productions/the-sugar- house/ or (02) 9699 3444