Tag: Interviews

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Flloyd Kennedy (Interview 3)

Image of Flloyd Kennedy

Brisbane has the right to a healthy layer of DIY theatre – partially supported and encouraged, venue or company based – in professional, independent companies that evolve.  People need to be empowered to work outside the prevalent bureaucratic funding model. My passion is theatre where performers do their thing – performers in an empty room – not big sets and costume stuff.  Then the audience brings its own life, energy and imagination to it; that’s the kind of theatre I love – that’s fringe.

I spoke a little while back with Flloyd Kennedy actor, blogger, voice-coach, theatre-maker and enthusiast.  She’s so committed to the importance of theatre-making that she (initially) single-handedly organised the inaugural one-day Bits Festival of fringe theatre held in Brisbane last November.  I was intrigued by the concept and keen to talk with Flloyd about what brought her to do such an extraordinary thing – creating a fringe festival event from scratch is hardly for the faint of heart, but then that’s not a label that would stick long to Flloyd.

… there is still not the opportunity here for audiences to experience new ideas or for rough, raw, experimental work to get a first showing. There’s still a missing layer.. Continue reading “Flloyd Kennedy (Interview 3)”

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Out of bed and on the job: David Burton (Interview 2)

David Burton

I was delighted to speak with David – Dave to his friends – Burton late last week about his playwrighting, and especially his latest work Lazarus Won’t Get Out of Bed.  I can tell from the outset that he is upbeat – excited even.  It was a good opening night the preceding evening – the buzz is good he tells me.  But as we talk I can see that he’s just as excited by the opportunities that are out there for a young playwright. “I can’t keep up; anyone who says there aren’t enough creative development opportunities or support programs for young writers is not trying hard enough, or not looking in the right places.” We go on to speak a lot about support during the course of our conversation; it becomes a theme almost. Continue reading “Out of bed and on the job: David Burton (Interview 2)”

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“Shut up, listen, and just do the work!” Kathryn Fray and 23rd Productions (Interview 1)

K_Fray

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)”