Cloudstreet (miniseries)

Cloudstreet
Genre	Drama
Created by	Tim Winton
Starring	Essie Davis Stephen Curry Emma Booth Shannon Lively Kerry Fox Geoff Morrell Callan McAuliffe
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
Production
Executive producers	Kim Vecera Des Monoghan
Producers	Greg Haddrick Brenda Pam
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Showcase
Release	May 22, 2011

Cloudstreet is an upcoming Australian television drama series for the Showcase subscription television channel, set to screen from the 22 May 2011. It is based on Cloudstreet, an award-winning novel by Australian author Tim Winton. It will screen in three parts, each part is two hours.

The television miniseries Cloudstreet is an adaptation of the book, filmed in 2010 in Perth with Matthew Saville as the director, and script written by Tim Winton. The first episode of the miniseries is set to premiere at 8:30pm AEST on the 22nd of May 2011 on Showcase.

Click here for the official site.

Overview

Precipitated by separate personal tragedies, two families flee their rural livings to share a "great continent of a house", Cloudstreet, in the Perth suburb of West Leederville. The two families are contrasts to each other; the Lambs find meaning in industry and in God’s grace; the Pickles, in luck. The Lambs’ God is a maker of miracles; the Pickles’ God is the ‘Shifty Shadow’ of fate. Though initially resistant to each other, their search and journey for meaning in life concludes with the uniting of the two families with many characters citing this as the most important aspect of their lives. As a novel, Cloudstreet is tightly structured, opening and ending with a shared celebratory family picnic - a joyous occasion which, ironically, is also the scene of Fish’s long sought-after death or return to the water. The novel is narrated effectively by flashback "in the seconds it takes to die" by Fish Lamb, or the 'spiritual' omniscient Fish Lamb, free of his restricting retarded state. As such the novel gives a voice to social minorities, the Australian working class and the disabled.

Historical Context

Cloudstreet is framed by many key events in world history, including World War II, the Korean War and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. The novel takes place during the prime ministership of Robert Menzies, where Australia was, for the most part, comfortable and conservative, characterised by backyard barbecues, by wives - who were no longer needed for the war effort - consigned to the home, and by the growth of the Australian dream of owning a new home. World events influence the Lambs and Pickles, but distantly, like an echo that sends ripples across the surface of their lives. The novel focuses on the domestic, and this serves as the filter through which history is measured. The most prominent historical character within Cloudstreet is the Nedlands monster, whose real name is Eric Edgar Cooke, a serial killer whom the book states single-handedly "made Perth into a real city". He represents an alternative aspect of life, his journey used in juxtaposition with Quick Lamb's journey.

Cast

• Dolly Pickles - Essie Davis
• Sam Pickles - Stephen Curry
• Rose Pickles - Emma Booth
• Young Rose Pickles - Lara Robinson
• Ted Pickles - Sean Keenan
• Young Ted Pickles - Will Mattock
• Chub Pickles - Shannon Lively
• Young Chub Pickles - Reece Sardelic

• Lester Lamb - Geoff Morrell
• Oriel Lamb - Kerry Fox
• Fish Lamb - Hugo Johnstone-Burt
• Young Fish Lamb - Tom Russell
• Quick Lamb - Todd Lasance
• Young Quick Lamb - Callan McAuliffe
• Young Hat Lamb - Freya Tingley
• Lon Lamb - Adam Sollis
• Red Lamb - Amanda Woodhams
• Young Elaine Lamb - Annie Smith