The wharf theatres are set to come alive again next year with tales old and new, as Andrew Upton presents his seventh annual program at the helm of Sydney Theatre Company. The season opens in mid-January and will feature an exciting list of Australia’s top theatrical talents and a total of 15 productions. 2015 will see the return of actors such as Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in Chekhov, Geoffrey Rush and Robyn Nevin in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hugo Weaving in Beckett and Susie Porter in Dorfmann.

“Sydney Theatre Company’s 2015 program has some great alignments, many of which have been touched on before,” said Andrew Upton, of his second program as solo Artistic Director. “Some of our greatest theatre artists are returning to the wonderful, fertile, creative ground to be found inside the canon for reinterpretation and reinvention.”

Not only has Upton assembled an impressive collection of creative talent, but he has also chosen a well-rounded program of works from the classic and contemporary canon. Of this decision, he said: “a number of works kept coming to the fore that presented fresh angles on familiar material, or that used language in ways that suggest more experimental theatrical form”. Admirably, Upton’s...