Water Falling Down by Mark Swivel
Dir: Andrea Moor
With Ron Haddrick and Andrew Buchanan
See season details on QTC website
This Week in Queensland Theatre: 12-18 July
For more details check company websites
Opening:
Advanced Screening by Markwell Presents at Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Wednesday.
I Love You Bro’ by Adam J Cass Dir David Berthold for La Boite Theatre at the Roundhouse, Friday. PS They are calling for tweet reviews of the show. You’ll need to follow them @LaBoiteTheatre first!
Continuing:
Tender by Nikki Bloom Dir Andrea Moor for !Metro Arts Independents 2010 at !Metro Arts
The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl Dir Kate Cherry Queensland Theatre Company, Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Other:
Circa’s Term 3 Circus Training for adults and children commences on Monday 12. Details on their Facebook page
Leon Cain’s daily videocasts of his rehearsals for the upcoming I Love You Bro’ are worth a look. Check them out on La Boite’s You Tube channel
Review: ‘Forensic poetry’ Tender – and moor theatre and !Metro Arts Independents 2010
I’m sure Nicki Bloom, like that other playwrighting wunderkind Polly Stenham (That Face), is tired of hearing how marvellous it must be to write so well at such a young age. We tend not to gush quite so much over absurdly talented young musicians and sports stars but, somehow when it comes to writing plays, you’re not supposed to hit all the marks until you’re much older. Just why you can’t be as prodigiously clever with imagination and words as you can with bat, ball or musical notes certainly escapes me.
Having got that off my chest, I have to say that Nicki Bloom’s first play Tender, currently playing at !Metro Arts for the Independents 2010 season really does demonstrate an impressive mastery of dialogue (I understand she also writes poetry) and, with this work at least, an equally striking command of dramatic form – not bad for someone aged 22 when she wrote it, had it performed by Belvoir Street’s B-Sharp and then Hothouse Theatre (Albury-Wodonga) and back to Griffin in Sydney. Continue reading “Review: ‘Forensic poetry’ Tender – and moor theatre and !Metro Arts Independents 2010”
Clearly and simply: Andrea Moor actor, director, teacher (Interview 7)
Andrea Moor has been back in Brisbane for some years now, and she’s loving it – feeling privileged in fact.
‘The political landscape has changed so much since I was last here. It’s a lot like Sydney felt in the early 80s – it’s such a supportive community.
The standard of acting in Brisbane is incredibly high, as good as any in the world, probably because local actors have been working constantly here and so practising their craft.
The standard of acting in Brisbane is incredibly high, as good as any in the world, probably because local actors have been working constantly here and so practising their craft.’
As an example she segues into last year’s production by Queensland Theatre Company of Arthur Miller‘s The Crucible directed by Michael Gow – for which, incidentally, she won a Matilda for her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor. ‘The big … Crucible acting company (19) was composed of several generations, Queensland actors many of whom had gone away and come back. It was such a harmonious and good feeling during that period, a microcosm of the theatre industry here.’ She goes on to note, ‘There’s a different focus here in Brisbane, not the preciousness and egos of those constantly being watched. Here actors are genuinely happy to see colleagues get work, and on opening nights, it’s about the show. Elsewhere,’ she says, ‘it’s about me – who’s out front to help me get my next job. It’s liberating here … mind you,’ she adds drily, ‘ it’s not to say we wouldn’t like this.’ Continue reading “Clearly and simply: Andrea Moor actor, director, teacher (Interview 7)”
“Shut up, listen, and just do the work!” Kathryn Fray and 23rd Productions (Interview 1)
It’s late morning, and I’m interviewing Kathryn Fray via Skype. The artistic director of the Brisbane-based independent theatre company 23rd Productions looks and sounds … well … almost too perky for someone who is in the middle of producing a brand new play. She’s clearly busy; for a start her Facebook status has been showing ‘Living in the land of Pinter’ for a while now. The Pinter in question is, of course, the one and only, late and great Harold Pinter, British playwright and Nobel Prize winner. The play in question My Night With Harold is a new work, a team-written “massive challenge and wild experiment” she says, “which we were unsure we could pull off. It was a great idea, but there was nothing really for a producer to hang anything on.” That initial idea has already gone through a creative development process, and is now in the middle of rehearsals for its first full production. Whether or not Kathryn and 23rd Productions pull it off will be known at the end of this week when My Night With Harold opens as part of the Under the Radar independent theatre festival within the wider orbit of the Brisbane Festival. On opening night 19 September 23rd Productions will be very much front and centre on the city’s theatre radar. Continue reading ““Shut up, listen, and just do the work!” Kathryn Fray and 23rd Productions (Interview 1)”