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Forget
the big shows that are on at the moment, the best night of theatre in Melbourne for the
next couple of weeks is at the Short and Sweet 2006
festival at The Arts Centre. Anne-Marie Peard was there to check out all the week one
fun...
Short and Sweet has arrived! From over 800 entries, 60 short plays have been
selected, which are presented in three weekly programs. Each week has a top ten running
nightly and a Saturday afternoon ten play “wildcard” session. Of the 60 plays,
ten are chosen by the audience and a professional judging panel to complete in the final.
With so many outstanding writers, directors and actors involved in the program, I
can’t begin to name everyone, but must give suitable cheers and accolades to Carla
Hartog and Alex Broun from the Arts Centre program team for creating and producing this
positive, supportive and exciting program. Short and
Sweet proves the abundance of original and well written work that is being created,
whilst showcasing so many of Melbourne’s independent and emerging directors and
actors. It’s fabulous.
Week One Top Ten
Memoirs
Beautiful, captivating physical theatre that proves you don’t need words to
create emotion and capture an audience’s heart. (And choreographically – it does
for couches what Fosse did for chairs.)
The 11 O’Clock.
Wit and word play worthy of Shaw. A psychiatrist treats a patient who thinks he is
a psychiatrist.
Moving Fast
What happens when you come home from getting milk and your unemployed husband has
decided to convert to Islam, claim his aboriginal heritage and stage a political coupe?
Absurdism is alive and well, but it would have benefited by a clear decision about whose
story it is telling – his or hers?
When We Fall
Slow to develop, but worth the wait. “An angel is floating in front of me and
waiting to fall.” Poetic without sounding contrived, with direction that allows us to
care about each character, whilst slowly revealing their tragic connection.
The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown
Undoubtedly and deservedly the crowd favourite of the night. Standard dumper and
dumpee story made complex and compelling by having six actors represent different facets
of the two characters. This enabled a unique and complex picture of the each person, which
was supported by a simple, yet perfect design, very tight direction and an excellent cast.
Relics
This one just got better as it went along. Three of the most unlikely characters
create genuine tension, mystery and surprises.
Charlie
Nice characters, well performed, but was too dependent on its offstage story and
needed more of an onstage story to create the empathy needed with each character.
Eight Gen X Women
I’m too young to be a baby boomer and too old to be Gen X, but nothing ever
changes about women talking about love, sex, men and babies. This was material that could
have so easily been clichéd and boring, but it maintained a sense of humour and relevance
and didn’t allow its characters to slip into stereotypes.
Jack Rabbit
Good performances and well written characters, but the writing seemed to
concentrate too much on showing the similarities between the disparate group, rather than
telling an engaging story about them.
Spring Session
Simply a funny, cleaver and original piece about Canberra, politics, picking up,
work and dogs.
Week One Wildcards
Miracleman – 1956
Possibly the most original staging I’ve seen in along time, but it didn’t
work a venue with an audience on either side. A very funny and cleaver work about a 1956
comic book hero, but the staging didn’t allow for clear story telling and we never
really got to know the characters. Right venue and a bit of a re-work will make this a
winner.
Bound for Jerez
I really liked the concept of showing a woman’s changing perceptions from her
latter years backwards to her to teens; each presented by a different actor. What didn’t
work was telling the audience the end of her story in the first scene. We know that she
never achieves her dreams, so are never allowed to hope for her on her backward journey.
The writing also seemed to just be about women reacting to men. Of course, most writing is
about relationships, but characters become more real when they are given a broader
spectrum of experiences.
Black Dog
Well performed, with a surprising and fabulous twist. This piece shows the shame of
depression and its external control on the sufferer. Where it did suffer was its
concentration on the topic. It was a play about depression, rather than a play about
Melanie – who suffered from depression. It needs to be her unique story to create the
emotional impact that this work should have.
Is His Hers
Another physical theatre piece, with highly creative and engaging choreography that
takes us on an exploration of what lies under the flannelette shirts of the ‘burbs.
North by East of Eden
Actors Studio versus Hitchcock……. What could have happened if James Dean
had been cast by Alfred Hitchcock? It’s a great scenario and it a well written work,
but the audience’s knowledge of the characters made it difficult to fully enjoy. In the end it wasn’t more than a set up for the
final joke – which was funny – but could have been anyone – not
specifically Dean and Hitchcock.
Mirrors and Smoke
Two actors face each other in a mirror. They are the same woman twenty years apart.
This was another one that I really wanted to work, but it suffered the same problem as Bound for Jerez – we knew the end of her
story, so how could we care what happened to her at the beginning? The flashback to her
early marriage didn’t reveal anything new or offer any surprises.
Full Spectrum
Another work about women, but - finally - one not just about their relationships
with men. Three women of very different incomes and “social standings”
experience the loss of work. Written to show their changing expectations and show the
unexpected similarity between having your AMEX declined and being forced into a homeless
shelter. The direction allowed us to understand and care about each woman, without judging
their lives or their choices. The writer also knows that drama comes when your characters
face serious challenges and make unexpected choices.
The Entrepreneur
Non-stop laughs, with broadly drawn characters that could easily appear on Kath and Kim. It would not have worked so well if
the characters were not taken to the comedic extreme. The ending should have stopped at
the punch line - the explanation of the final ironic joke (what was in the bag) wasn’t
needed.
Celebrity is the New Bleak
One of the most original concepts I’ve seen. Magazines personified. It could
have gone so wrong, but it went so right. Pure fun, topical, relevant to right now and the
best plastic wrap joke ever.
Paradise Can
Acapella, pirates, bananas and disease! Another delightfully enjoyable and totally
absurd work by another writer who understands that you have to do bad things to the
characters you love in order to make good drama.
Week One Top 30
Judges’ Choice
1st – Memoirs
By
Les Etoiles Perdues (VIC)
Created and performed by Emma Henshall, Ella Fenwick, Skye Gellman and Brian Opedal
Presented by Les Etoiles Perdues
2nd - The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown
By
Suzie Miller (NSW)
Director: John Sheedy
Presented by Fascination Street Productions
Cast: Sean Barker, Caroline Brazier, Tom Davies, Karen Day, Scott Gooding and
Jacinta Stapleton
Memoirs
and The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown now go on to the Gala
Final.
People’s Choice
1st
with 21.4% of the vote - The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown
By Suzie Miller (NSW)
Director: John Sheedy
Presented by Fascination Street Productions
Cast: Sean Barker, Caroline Brazier, Tom Davies, Karen Day, Scott Gooding and
Jacinta Stapleton
2nd with 21.2% of the vote - Spring Session
By Chris Hodson (VIC)
Director: Yvonne Virsik
Cast: Natalie Carr, Christopher Broadstock, Sophie Lampel, Angus Brown
Since The Emotional Anatomy of a Relationship Breakdown has already progressed
to the final as one of the Judges’ Choice, the runner up in the People’s Choice
– Spring Session – will now go through to the Gala Final.
WILDCARDS - WEEK ONE
1st
- Full Spectrum
By Catherine Krejany (VIC)
Director: Christina Cass
Assistant Director: Josie Daw
Cast: Milijana Cancar, Heather Lythe and Wahibe Moussa
Full Spectrum,
as the weekly Wildcards winner, stays in the race for the Gala Final. |
