Sydney Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, Edinburgh International Festival and Malthouse Melbourne

By Tom Wright
After Voltaire
Director: Michael Kantor

'A rollicking good night.' - The Glasgow Herald

'[A] surreal, visually stunning and at times shocking take on Voltaire's picaresque satire.' - Metro

Turning a quizzical eye to the woes of the heart, and reeking with scandal and scurrilous vice, this production transforms Voltaire’s classic satire of enlightened insanity, Candide, into a cutting commentary on the ‘no-worries’ bravura of the Australian swagger.

Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide (Frank Woodley) is an openminded young man whose tutor, Pangloss (Barry Otto), has instilled in him the belief that ‘all is for the best’. But when his love for the Baron’s rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is expelled from the land – forced to make his own way in the world.

Directed by Michael Kantor, the irresistible Woodley leads a wonderful bunch of clowns on a road trip like no other. Our hero’s resolve never waivers as he travels across continents in search of his beloved.

Join the criminally cheerful Candide for a journey to Utopia and back again.