AustLit

Described by the author and director, Marcel Dorney as a 'wicked black comedy' the play was written during his current Playwright Residency (2006) at Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney. New Royal is played out in a world of unlimited credit, bizarre sex and impeccable design. In explaining his decision to write a comedy (his first) Dorney notes : "'Joe Orton said that accepting people to be irredeemably bad is what makes them incredibly funny." Up until recently, I'd never cracked the first part of the equation. Then I spent some time in Sydney...' (Metro Arts media release)

The story concerns Hera, Gold Coast girl, aspiring designer, and one of the most charismatic and resourceful heroines on any stage anywhere, who gatecrashes the opening of her hometown's new Centre for Excellence in Science and the Arts out of genuine curiosity. She doesn't intend to strike an unlikely rapport with Lachlan Vaunt, recent inheritor of a vast media empire, nor to become involved in a bizarre and lucrative arrangement. The moment the couple hit Sydney, however, Hera meets the twisted, flamboyant architect Pritikin, and begins to learn a game - as played by a new global elite - where the most important relationship is, as always, the one between Form and Function.