Updated: 2007-12-27 09:09
SYDNEY - Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett has won praise for her sensitive direction of a Sydney Theatre Company drama dealing with the controversial issue of child sexual abuse.
Blanchett, who will take over co-directorship of the country's biggest theatre company with her playwright husband Andrew Upton next week, directed Thursday's opening of Scottish playwright David Harrower's 'Blackbird'.
The play, which deals with a sexual relationship between an underage girl and a middle-aged man, was directed with "a great sensitivity for the rhythms and silences of Harrower's spare, fragmented but theatrically poetic dialogue," critic John McCallum wrote in The Australian.
"It is Blanchett's second stint in the director's chair and she shows a sure touch for the subtleties of a humanly complex dramatic situation," he said.
Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Bryce Hallett said "Cate Blanchett's assured production draws strong and gripping performances".
