‘The biggest little theatre festival in the world’ returns to the Sydney stage to complete the 2021 season heats in a post-lockdown world hungry for its tasty bite-size serves of original drama, comedy & romance!
Over two weeks packed with almost 20 short plays (each no longer than 10 minutes and performed up to six times each), Short+Sweet will round off its popular festival heats, ahead of a planned finals series in February ’22.
With each weekly selection named for an iconic Sydney beach, the combined Clovelly & Palm Beach programs kick off at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills on 18 Nov with 10 plays nightly: Fri & Sat at 7.30pm plus Sun at 2pm and 6pm. The next week from 25 Nov sees the Malabar and Balmoral programs follow a slightly different timing with Thurs & Fri 7.30pm; Sat 11am and 2pm, 5pm and 8pm.
Featured in the first stream is Homage to Edith Cowan, a dance piece by Mira Mansell featuring Anna Querin, celebrating the life of Edith Cowan, a voice for women and children from colonial days. A social reformer, she was the first Australian woman to serve as a member of Parliament in W.A. and her face appears on our $50 notes.
In We Regret to Inform You That by Eric Jiang, a young couple apply for the same prestigious opportunity, but discover that they might not be able to cope with any of the potential outcomes.
As Nice As Pie by Barry Wood (UK) is directed by Lachlan McWilliam and sees ‘Adam’ take in a tenant… but what they expect in return for doing the housework means Claire might take some convincing!
Lachlan McWilliam directs Alice Furze, Rebekah Dove and Don Ferguson.
Judgement Day by Katrina Samaras puts ‘Kate’ in one of Heaven’s smaller courtrooms, quite unprepared to argue her case for eternal life… until an unexpected friend comes to her defence. Clare Burgess directs Sarah Marie Reynolds, Geoff Cordner, Elizabeth Newman, Pat Wells and 14-year-old Tahlia Ransley.
Heartland by Andrea Clardy is directed by Gregory Dolgopolov and stars Eliane Morel and Elizabeth Newman. Two women in a crowded, hot, foreign airport wait for the same plane bound for a war-torn country – one to take her home, one to search for her son. As delay follows delay we feel their growing connection.
Andrea Clardy’s Code is an all-female piece portraying the dark tech world of government surveillance. Kristina Ingegneri stars and directs Lainey Baldwin & Rachel Seeto, asking: what if Google were a government agency?
Short+Sweet plays Thurs 18 to Sun 21 November (“Clovelly/Palm Beach” programs) and then Thurs 25 to Sat 27 November 2021 (“Malabar/Balmoral”) at the Tom Mann Auditorium 136 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills. Full program, information and bookings at www.shortandsweet.org/sydney
Download the great new StageCenta app for all Short+Sweet online bookings & digital voting here
Featured image : A scene from Katrins Samaras’ play ‘Judgment Day’