WEEK 1 | SHORT+SWEET THEATRE ILLAWARRA 2018
4th to 7th October 2018
at the Harbour Theatre - home of the Roo Theatre Company
Addison Street Shellarbour Village
Performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30pm + Sunday at 5:30pm
Short+Sweet – the world’s largest little play festival – launches in the Illawarra for the very first time in 2018 which will produce twenty short plays over two weeks in Shellharbour and Wollongong.
Week 1 launches at the Harbour Theatre, Shellharbour Village – home of the Roo Theatre Company and runs evening performances from Thursday 4th to Saturday 6th October at 7:30pm with the final performance on Sunday 7th October at 5:30pm. The Sunday performance will be immediately followed by the Presentation Ceremony where the two best plays as voted by our audience and expert judges will be offered a performance season at Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney 2019.
The first short play to ever be staged at Short+Sweet Theatre Illawarra is HIS MOTHER’S CURTAINS - written by Illawarra playwright and stand-up comedian Diana McLaren and is directed by Sophie Bentley. After a weekend of family gatherings, Jeremy (Nelson Blattman) and his long-suffering girlfriend Sasha (Annie May Roberts) have a hilariously petty argument on haircuts, peeing in front of taxidermy, dealing with in-laws, and most importantly - his mother's curtains. However there is a lot more going on than either of them are willing to let on.
Our second play of the week is one of the most highly-anticipated short plays of our inaugural season – a play with all four actors aged less than twelve years old! The play DARE is presented by Kind Art Ed. Director Honora Jenkins has written this piece for the cast – the young actors’ auditions for the festival were too strong to ignore!
Dare is set on the stage in a TV studio, contestants are expected to compete in a new kind of reality game where they are being judged on how true to themselves they can be. The problem is, by being themselves they don't conform to the expectations of the game show host. Starring Mitchell Fahey, Rachel Cairncross, Emily Cairncross and Minna Lehman-Kuit.
Next up is THREATENED PANDA FIGHTS BACK written by NZ playwright Rex McGregor and directed by Cara Severino. The World Wildlife Fund’s poster boy for endangered animals Ling enjoys a comfortable life full of adulation and all the bamboo he can eat. But when a rival species challenges him for the role, he risks losing everything. Starring Kaylee Ashton, Isabella Whitcher and Patrick Harrison.
Following on from Panda’s we move on to Zombie’s – in Bernadette Le Mesurier’s comedy romp BRAINS directed by Rob Bruce. Sooner or later in the zombie apocalypse - most of the humans in the world are gone, which means brains are going to be hard to find. Starring Jon Meakin (Get Smart, SignAl), and Andrew Gobran (Adams Family, HAIR, Jekyll and Hyde, Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, Sweeney Todd).
Brains also features future star in-the-making - Ricky Gamble (The Birds, The Outside Man, Little Monsters) whose love for performance is obvious. Ricky is a previous member of Altogether Drama (The Disability Trust) and NIDA Drama for People with Intellectual Disabilites. Brains also features a guest appearance of Inga Silfr Jon.
First-up after interval will be FOR HIRE - written by prolific young playwright Alexander Cuff who has achieved ongoing success in Short+Sweet Sydney, including writing and acting in the highly acclaimed Sydney Gala Final production of Time Squad.
Making her directing debut is the talented Sevgi Murphy who herself achieved success in the 2018 Short+Sweet Sydney Gala Finals with her moving piece The Quality of Life. An assassin is hired to kill their close friend, who also used to be an assassin. Starring Julian Levanic and experienced Short+Sweet Sydney actor Alex Groombridge (Time Squad, The Human Trap).
Making the trip down to Shellharbour from Sydney is CRY FOR ME - presented by The Monologue Project and is written and directed by Short+Sweet International’s Literary Manager and former Sydney Festival Director Pete Malicki. In Cry For Me, ‘Alicia’ from Argentina is very proud of her greatest achievement in Australia: she found herself a job as a ‘funeral cryer’. She is paid to cry at funerals to get the sadness rolling. Cry For Me stars Cris Bocchi – a talented Brazilian actress who has returned to Australia after starring in a feature film in Brazil earlier this year.
Our next little play is TIMESAVERS written by UK playwright Barry Wood and is directed by Byron Faulkner who makes his stage directorial debut. A new store has opened, offering a unique way to save time - but is it all a scam? Starring Abbey McDonald and Jon Meakin who backs up from his Zombie experience in Act 1.
Our final play for week 1 was the highest rated Illawarra script submitted to our inaugural festival – IS THIS A DREAM? – written by Katrina Samaras and directed by Lily Christie Daly. Our depressed young heroine navigates a set of surreal encounters with a trio of famous female icons. Throughout these bizarre and often absurd experiences, she examines her inner emotional state, rediscovers her sense of hope and begins the process of healing. But is this a dream? And what does it all mean? Starring Olivia Harris, Naoise Champion, Lillian Woods, and Annie May Roberts.
Tickets for week 1 are available through Trybooking.com and are $27 Adult, $22 Concession and $17 for Children requiring a seat.
Book now at https://www.trybooking.com/XUIN