Gwen in Purgatory

31 July - 19 September

Namatjira

25 September - 7 November

The Bougainville Photoplay Project

9 November - 28 November

The Diary of a Madman

4 December - 6 February

SEASON SOLD OUT!

Presented by Company B and Sydney Festival

When Rudy plays Chopin, it is as if a window has been opened, revealing a beautiful world beyond the destruction.
The Independent on Sunday

It’s more than charming. It’s a generous way of being in the world. A truth. A full presence.
Le Figaro

Based on the memoirs of
Wladyslaw Szpilman

Original concept by
Mikhail Rudy

Translated by
Anthea Bell

Rachel McDonald

With
Mikhail Rudy and Sean Taylor

In September 1939, concert pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman was midway through a performance of Chopin’s Nocturne in D Flat Major for Polish Radio when the Nazis pulled the power. Six years later, after an infernal odyssey of survival during which he saved his sanity by playing silently on a tabletop every day, Szpilman returned to Polish Radio and completed his recital. The Pianist is his memoir of those six years.

Half a century down the track another great concert pianist, the internationally acclaimed Mikhail Rudy, read Szpilman’s memoir and dreamt up a sublime retelling of the story. Part concert, part play, The Pianist is a duet for two Szpilmans: Rudy on piano and a Sean Taylor recounting the story.

Rudy’s been performing the work around the world. Now he’s coming to Belvoir St for a special production with Company B.