About the Play:

Speaking In Tongues is a full-length drama by Andrew Bovell. Two couples set out to betray their partners... nine parallel lives, interlocked by four infidelities, one missing person and a mysterious stiletto, are woven through a fragmented series of confessionals and interrogations that gradually reveal a darker side of human nature. Speaking in Tongues is a mystery for grown-ups laden with love, infidelity and mistrust, complete with twists, turns, flashbacks and surprises.

Speaking in Tongues is an all time Australian classic about marital infidelity, with multiple narratives and a mystery at its core. In the first act of this psychological thriller two couples in unstable marriages inadvertently exchange partners in a night of adulterous encounters. The situations in the separate hotel rooms are so similar that at times both couples speak the same words. While Leon and Jane go through with the infidelity, Pete and Sonja do not, and the repercussions for both marriages are profound. In the second act we are introduced to a psychologist and her husband. The psychologist has disappeared on a deserted road after her car broke down. Was she murdered and, if so, why? As Speaking in Tongues progresses and revelatory details accumulate, these two seemingly disparate stories become linked in a chain of coincidences that leads to an utterly unexpected conclusion.

Speaking In Tongues premiered in 1996 at the Griffin Theatre in Sydney, Australia and went on to win the AWGIE for best play before being transformed into the multi AFI award winning hit film Lantana. Since then the play has enjoyed many successful productions worldwide, including its American premiere in 2001 by Roundabout Theatre Company in New York. It has been mounted by colleges and community theatres.

Cast: 2 women, 2 men (doubling)

What people say:

"…clever, provocative, elliptically resonant and writerly…." — New York Times

"What Andrew Bovell does is to show us multifaceted characters, fragments of the whole and how we project ourselves to others … a mix of innovative drama and suspense … [and] stylish wit…." — CurtainUp

"Bovell explores love, marriage, strangeness, intimacy, trust, betrayal, obsession, self-punishment and detachment with generous emotional intelligence." — Observer (London)

"A play of shimmering, iridescent beauty, revealing the marvelous in the everyday." — Financial Times (London)

About the Playwright:

Andrew Bovell is one of Australia's most celebrated writers for both stage and screen. His theatre credits include Speaking in Tongues and When the Rain Stops Falling, both of which have been seen throughout Australia as well as in Europe and the US. His plays have won numerous awards in Australia, including the Victorian Green Room, State Premier's Awards, and the peer-judged AWGIE awards. Equally successful are his films, which include Strictly Ballroom and Lantana (based on his stage play Speaking in Tongues), which won over ten major awards in Australia and was critically acclaimed internationally.