RETROGRADE

About the show

In this gripping Australian premiere, Bert LaBonté (Topdog/Underdog) directs a taut dramatisation of a young Sidney Poitier’s career-defining encounter with Hollywood powerbrokers, starring Donné Ngabo (Last Days) and Alan Dale (Lost). It’s the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, fuelled by big money and heady ambition. Paranoia simmers beneath the surface and McCarthyism casts a shadow of fear. A young Sidney Poitier arrives at a television studio with a career-defining opportunity on the table. All that stands between him and a breakout lead role is a signature on a contract – or so he thinks. When the network’s fast-talking lawyer begins firing loaded questions, and the screenwriter’s loyalty to Poitier is called into question, the meeting takes a sinister turn and the cost of ambition becomes alarmingly clear. One room, one conversation, everything at stake.