One of the most appealing aspects of the Short and Sweet Festival, a celebration of the ten minute play form, is the variety of subjects that the playwrights explore every week, and the different approaches that they take. Some productions are more successful than others, and as theatregoers we are simply able to tune out of the plays that don’t take our fancy, in the confidence that there will at-least be some plays that will strike a chord and bring rewards.
Play 1. The Least Impossible Thing That Happened This Evening
Matthew Friedman displayed some nice touches in his self devised, directed and performed piece exploring a young man’s quest for love and the turbulent emotions surrounding it. Friedman choose a light touch in his exploration.
2. Insert Name Here
Alle Segretti’s adaptation of Dan Bateman’s original story (directed by Alle Segretti) explored a very painful subject- A married couple, played by Alexandra Rigby and Haki Crisden, are shattered when the baby that they have longed for, for so long, is still born. This kind of intensely dramatic piece is very hard to pull off. It just felt a bit too over-heated.
3, Presto
This was a fun, quirky piece by Michael McRae (directed by Henrietta Stathopoulos) performed in good spirit by an enthusiastic cast:- Mario Fouad, Cynthia Florek, Patrice Rielly, Mandy Sugar and Emma Webb.
Presto takes us into the world of magic. The main character is a very unhappy rabbit who has decided he has had enough of jumping into his boss’s hat. The piece ends up being a bit of a head trip about the whole world of magic, of reality and illusion…..
4. Chat To Death
Robert Renshaw’s piece (director Melinda Latsos), performed by Robert Rosina and Natasha McDonald, explored the world of internet chatting/flirting. This play didn’t work for me- it felt a bit flat and melodramatic.
5. So Says The Sea
No masterpiece, but this was a fun, cute fantasy piece by Rachel Welch (director James Hartley) energetically performed by Maddy Stedman, Aleks Mikic, Petrie Porter and Alex Cubis,Two young women head to the sea after being spurned by their boyfriends. They are joined by two very different young men who turn their heads around.
6. Screamers! The Wizard Of Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
An interesting piece that was a take on the current state of Australian politics and society. Billed as a ,’a camp and crazy mash up of Mad Max and the the Wizard of Oz’,- a fair description. Very energetically performed by Joseph Chetty, Jackie Vance and Taras Jones. Lots of laugh and glitz..not much substance..
7. Chance You Can Dance
This was a cute, zappy take-off of all the popular, formulaic talent quest shows with focus on dance and a bit of a nod and wink to great musicals like A Chorus Line. Devised and directed by Jo Ford, and vibrantly performed by Drew Holmes, Jo Ford, Hilary Park, Stephanie Priest and Lukas Quinn. The piece featured some great dancing and music.
8. 36 Traits Of Matchmaking
Neena Badhwar’s piece (director Aishveryaa Nidhi) is embedded, filled with conflict. A young Indian man makes a new home for himself in Australia. He settles in and even finds himself an Aussie girlfriend. However his parents back in India still think that they own him, and his mother wants to match-make him with a girl back home. Dad comes out to visit his son to persuade him to acquiesce to his mother’s wishes.
Very fertile subject for drama but the piece did not come together well. Badhwar’s writing was uneven, the transitions were clunky. The performers- Khushaal Vyas, Jessica Lowe, Aishveryaa Nidhi and Nisar Sirguroh- worked hard with the patchy material.
9. Encounter
This was my favourite piece of the night. A humorous, touching piece by Renee Boyer-Willisson (director- Evin Donohue) on the theme of personal space in public spaces. Poignantly performed by Diley Alanca and Lyndsey Fay McNaught. Lovely stuff!
10. Business Meeting
Perhaps I have just seen too many plays over the years that poke fun at office life. Some of them have been very, very clever. Ryan Pemberton’s piece pales in comparison to them. Brendan Kelly, Tom Shortt, Mitch Gosling, Scott Bowcher, Dylan Hekimian, Rusell Nash and Colin Giles work hard with material that doesn’t really stand out.
Short and Sweet Top 80 Week 2 has been playing the New Theatre, Newtown since Wednesday 14th January. The last chance to catch this weeks’ series of plays is tomorrow (Sunday) at the New at 5.30pm.