In her first film since Jesus’ Son ('99), Alison Maclean adapts Man Booker Award Winner Eleanor Catton’s debut novel The Rehearsal.
18-year-old Stanley is a naïve young man who has come to Auckland to become a stage star, joining a prestigious drama school in the hopes of realizing his dream. Under the tutelage of the intense Hannah, the senior tutor, Stanley must “deconstruct himself,” and open his emotions and his private life onstage in order to become a true artist. Blinded by his ambitions, our hero cruelly uses a sex scandal involving his 15-year-old girlfriend’s sister in a final end-of-the-year show, with devastating results… and great acclaim.
Co-scripted by the novelist, and brilliantly acted and directed, Maclean’s The Rehearsal is a return to form, a sharp and original movie that “is the rare paean to art and performance that makes you want to join in on the experience.” — Indiewire
Director’s Biography
Alison Maclean: Alison Maclean was born in 1958 in Ottawa, Ontario to New Zealand born parents. She emigrated to New Zealand, later graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland. Her first short film, Kitchen Sink, debuted at Cannes, as did her debut feature, Crush. Her last feature was the acclaimed Jesus’ Son ('99).