FINEGAN KRUCKEMEYER

Now published by Currency Press: Hibernation
Image by Andy Ellis theartofandyellis.com

Five stars – A brilliantly executed three-act treat that suspends dramatic tension over a complex construction with the success of a perfectly balanced biodiverse ecosystem.

Limelight Magazine

Five stars – The writing is sharp, elegant, witty and world class. The staging is epic, gladiatorial, conspiratorial and sensitive. I was entertained, outraged, moved and provoked by this exciting new work by a playwright whose voice will echo around the world. An extraordinary piece of work that forces us to think… We have been waiting a while for another Australian playwright of worth to emerge and Kruckemeyer has proved, with the opening of Hibernation, that he is a force to be reckoned with.

Glam Adelaide

State Theatre’s engaging and theatrically inventive new play, is not only a wake-up call about the climate crisis, it reminds us that to fix the planet we really have to fix ourselves. Like all good sci-fi and speculative fiction, it proposes a parallel world to illuminate our own. Hibernation is witty, intriguing, poetic and full of energising provocations. It refreshes our thinking, with excellent performances from this diverse ensemble in this terrific new play.

InDaily

Creative and imaginative brilliance. Elegant, thoughtful, exhilarating and visually stunning. Hibernation is an important and landmark work on the contemporary Australian theatre scene and a triumph for our State Theatre.

Theatre Travels

Hibernation invites the audience to think seriously about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in such a short time. Mitchell Butel has done a mighty job in directing a uniformly excellent company in this expansive piece, and is very ably supported by Jonathon Oxlade’s superlative design – this is one of the most beautiful shows we’ve seen for some time – and Gavin Norris’s well-judged lighting.

The Advertiser 

It’s the year 2030 and there is an immediate climate crisis. With little choice remaining, world leaders make a collective, pragmatic decision to save the planet. For an entire year, all 8.5 billion humans on Earth will hibernate.

Gas will be launched into the atmosphere and the human population will be immediately plunged into a deep sleep, leaving the natural world to reset. The reset of the human world is not what was expected.

For years we have been making our beds. Now we must sleep in them.

CAST SIZE

9-30 actors
Previous seasons: 5F, 5M

AUDIENCE SIZE

A work for teenagers and adults

LENGTH

140 minutes

SEASONS

2023

European premiere, Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, Germany
Theater Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany

2021

World premiere, The State Theatre Company of South Australia

State Theatre Company of SA production 2021, starring Ansuya Nathan, video by Matt Byrne

FIRST PRODUCED