The Imagine Festival was started in 2009 at Cleveland St Theatre, as a means of connecting creative people to each other. At that time, I had a little script in my top draw that I desperately wanted to see or at least hear. And I had, since 2008, wanted to work with Sally Blackwood a director who from all accounts knew how to talk to actors- how to make work which was beautiful and heartfelt. The Imagine Festival 2009, gave me that opportunity to take the great leap into approaching Sally with my little play “A Letter to the Man I’ll Never Kiss”… Read more

Last Saturday night, under a clear dark blue sky, fifty people stood on the street in Chippendale, waiting for the latest showing at Queen Street Studio to start. Busy talking amongst themselves, it took a while for the audience to notice the elephant walking towards them- holding a sign which said:

“4am”

and another that said

“Follow Me”

We made our way en masse under the roller door of Studio 10- into a new world. Or a familiar world re-invented by the artists within.
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I’ve been carrying this platform paper around with me for a couple of months. It’s only a slim book, so it hasn’t been a great burden. There’s just alot for me to think about… and that’s why I love it.

There’s a row of platform papers in the bookcase in my office. They stand with black or brightly coloured spines in rainbows on my shelf. Regardless of the date on the cover, they are a timeless contribution in my thinking about art, practice and culture. At times I have felt challenged, or confronted by the papers- but mainly engaged and stimulated and I always look forward to seeing what comes next. On this occasion, a paper on Digital storytelling by Dr Shilo McLean. I first met Shilo when I was working at the then NSW Film and Television Office (now Screen NSW – a telling transformation as the industry shifts from “film” to Screen, don’t you think?). I had always considered Shilo’s interests in digital media/effects and my own practice in theatre was utterly opposed. In fact, I found myself cringing, repelled by the idea that the theatre would be usurped by cyborg avatars- Amazonian women and rippling men whose flesh-selves were pale, anti-social, nerds hunched over a mouse or control pad, pecking away at a keyboard as blue light cast shadows of flickering action over a cluttered bedroom. My fear that reality would become substituted for fantasy. That the digital would ultimately be more satisfying to the general public than a live event- lingered as a fear all the time. My life’s passion and work in the theatre trampled by a storm trooping digital boot attached to the impossible thigh of a woman I could never hope to look like. The fear- huge. And upon reading Shilo’s paper- ridiculous. Read more

The Old Fitzroy Hotel theatre (aka The Fitz) is a much loved Sydney Independent Theatre. Full of its own charms and challenges as a venue- but one of the true champions of new Australian work. Programmed by Leland Keane and with dedicated team of practitioners (Lucinda Gleeson and Phil Spencer- this is a nod in your direction) running the company. There is something grungy, urgent and fun about heading to the theatre… and this year, I think I have attended this theatre more than any other. Primarily because I am keen to support writers- and it is a great space for practitioners to come together and forge new work in front of an audience. There have been excellent Fringe- transplants this year: namely The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman aka etc and Death In Bowengabbie by Caleb Lewis… and a couple of more wild and experimental shows (you know the ones I am talking about). Anyway- it’s a great venue and I am a fan. Read more

Woyzeck by Georg Buchner is one of the best loved German tragedy of the dramatic canon. In particular it is a favourite amongst directors, perhaps because of it’s inherent “tragic story” as a text- it allows itself to be a vehicle for directors keen for new interpretations. Woyzeck was written by Buchner when he was only 23 years old and when he died that year, he left behind an unfinished draft. The script was later adopted by Karl Franzos and finished. Because of this combined authorship- or perhaps the origins of the story as a creative dramatisation inspired by actual events- it seems that directors most keen to make their mark, favour the text as a vehicle for their vision. Read more

A fading August afternoon. Wednesday. I’m in my coat. It’s cold. Hands in gloves. Waiting. Standing in the terrace of Nimrod Street.

It’s been a big day. meeting with directors, potential directors, reading scripts submitted by aspiring playwrights, thinking about the Griffin Award.
I had just finished talking to an emerging writer about the director who is interested in working with her on her script, when I arrived for a coffee at the Tropicana. I ring another playwright. She’s lovely and I tell her I love her script. I’ve been reading for three weeks solid. I have started to get emails from playwrights assuming bad news- I delay them with a kind “not yet”. There have been lists of to-do’s. I’ve been spending all my time thinking about playwrights, producing playwrights, directing, dramaturgy. These thoughts swarm. I am simultaneously inspired and honoured by the hugeness of what I don’t know- what I haven’t seen- what I haven’t read of Australian playwriting. And Australia is only two hundred years or so old- at times like these I’m glad I am not Greek. Three thousand years of catching up of playwriting- sheesh! Read more

Unlike the recent debacle with the NSW Premier’s Literary award, there was absolutely no problem for a shortlist to be generated by The Griffin Theatre Company.

A beautiful list of writers and some fascinating plays- a grand mix of established and developing writers- an exquisite cross section:

Elise Hearst The Sea Project
Nathaniel Moncrieff Sleepyhead
Caleb Lewis Clinchfield
Lally Katz Return To Earth
Aiden Fennessy Brutopia
Ross Mueller A Beautiful Gesture
Vanessa Bates Porn Cake
Kit Brookman Close
Tom Holloway Faces Look Ugly
Reg Cribb Damned
Alana Valentine The Sugar House
Raimondo Cortese The Dream Life of Butterflies Read more

I braced myself for the blinding white north- snow and fur trimmed hoodies. Actors huffing into their hands and rubbing them to keep them warm… Something overly patriotic from the US perhaps?

No.

Instead, the debut play from a young writer DC Moore whose first production stood on it’s feet Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2007. On the opposite side of the world, three years later, ATYP’s Under the Wharf season in conjunction with Raw Hide, houses an intelligent and taut production, crafted by the eye and ear of director Janice Muller. Read more

Fresh out of Drama school, fresh in Sydney. Bright eyed and bushy tailed- four directors (Fiona Hallenan-Barker, Justine Campbell, Marcel Dorney and Travis Green) embark on a Directing Collaborative, pool resources and vision for the challenge of producing Howard Barker’s The Possibilities at the freshly revived Sidetrack Theatre. Read more

Beyond Fringe and short play festivals, there are precious little opportunities for directors to practice their craft on a regular basis. Actors can learn new audition pieces, writers can set themselves exercises, but a director’s work only comes into effect when in a room with actors… and sometimes without an end point, without the pressure of an audience to view the work, director’s can be stuck in endless cycles of workshopping… there is something about the promise of an audience that sharpens a directors focus.

It is this reason which I applaud short seasons of full length plays… Read more