Things that people have said and are saying about TTC – this post will be updated daily.

What kind of government of an island with more history, story-tellers and artists per square foot takes funding from its only professional theatre company? It’s a mystery.

Meridy Eastman – actor & author

I met Charles Parkinson at the Australia 2020 summit and was duly impressed with his passionate vision and articulate knowledge of what it would take to initiate the theatre company. I found his approach ambitious without any frivolity, which convinced me that indeed, if funded properly it could certainly flourish.

Kristy Edmunds Artistic Director Melbourne International Arts Festival 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008

“The theater is the only institution in the world which has been dying for four thousand years and has never succumbed. It requires tough and devoted people to keep it alive.”
John Steinbeck (Ok so Steinbeck didn’t actually say this about TTC but he might as well have! Thanks to Brenna Hobson at Belvoir Street for the quote))

Charles Parkinson’s Tasmanian Theatre Company is a long overdue re-introduction of professional theatre into Tasmania, which as both a performer and consumer of theatre, I recognise as an important cultural and social landmark in Tasmania’s theatrical history.

Hugh Jackman

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Tasmania is a Mecca for artists of all descriptions and we can only benefit if we take the initiative.  Let us encourage this industry in our beautiful State and create employment for our local talent.

We have award winning writers in Tasmania. We have exported numerous talented actors from Errol Flynn to Genevieve Picot and most of all we have the ideal film set in the diversity of our natural scenery. Lets use it and show it off to the rest of the world. We keep speaking of tourism as our growth industry so lets put ourselves on the map, instead of tourists beating tracks to Pride and Prejudice country and Heartbeat country and Pie in the Sky towns in England, or if you look closer to home – Ramsay Street in Melbourne – let us draw them here with the interest local productions could generate.

Lara Giddings – maiden speech 8th May, 1996

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If Charlie could inspire us to work with him in regional Australia, he’s the man who could get us all working with him in Tasmania.

So he can do it. He just needs enough money to do it well.

We at MTC – artists and administrators, directors and designers, ex-Tasmanians and others –believe that Tasmania deserves a theatre company.

Ann Tonks,  General Manager, Melbourne Theatre Company

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Some of the earliest proscenium arch performance in Australia occurred in Hobart, so, on the one hand, its place in the history of the form in Australia really deserves acknowledgement, and on the other, it requires a properly resourced theater company, which will in turn provide a cultural focus and hub for the dreams and aspirations of all of its citizens, particularly the young.

Paul Grabowsky, Artistic Director, Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts

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An immediate benefit of this new company is that with Charlie Parkinson at the helm, professional standards will be demanded, and in the long-term, raised in order to successfully compete with theatre production across Australia. Charlie has a history of innovative theatre production and is highly-skilled at devising new ways to produce, co-produce and tour excellent new plays. In addition to this, is/Tasmanian Theatre Company will also work as a crucible, a new centre for the networking of professional theatre artists in Tasmania.

Chris Mead, Artistic Director, Playwriting Australia

Political Cartoonist Graeme Dazeley comes out of retirement in support of TTC

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Last Saturday evening, my partner Richard and I had the very great fortune to see Robert Jarman’s performance in “I Am My Own Wife” and we felt we just had to let the Tasmanian Theatre Company know that we were blown away by the brilliance of both the play itself and particularly by Mr Jarman’s performance.  Thanks to you all for scheduling Bendigo in your touring program; we do get touring shows in both the Engine Room and The Capital theatre in Bendigo which are usually very good, but this production was outstanding and perfectly suited to the small and intimate Engine Room.

Our congratulations to one and all involved, both in Tasmania and on the road.  We salute you!!

Best regards ………. Geoff Logan

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Charles Parkinson’s plan, to give Hobart residents, not to mention International and Australian visitors, access to new works and Australian works, is important, not just because it offers alternative entertainment, but that it keeps the Australian voice alive.

Claudia Karvan