Augusta Supple » New Stuff

Wheels in Motion|Documentary Premiere

Augusta Supple — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:07:00 +0000

The 1st of September was the launch of the AFI Screening Circuit- and the night of the premiere of a new Documentary made by local filmmakers Jillian Bartlett and Philip Myers…. no prizes for guessing where I decided to go…

Standing out on busy King Street as they would have fifty years ago were two double decker buses- beautifully restored and standing magestically in the street scape of Newtown. I was one of the few who didn’t catch the bus from the museum to the cinema- this was a community event- where friends family adn bus enthusiasts converged on the cinema to see a story they wanted to hear- a story of their heritage, of their passion, of their sacrifice, a story which reflects their community.

Filmmakers Philip Myers and Jillian Bartlett had spent 5 years following the world of the enthusiasts, the volunteers who run the Sydney Bus Museum out of Tempe- their David and Goliath Battle with the council who seek to shut down the museum for development money. This is a political film- but not overly so- there is a deeply personal story in this film- a story of history of community and of people who believe in their contribution to the world.

With beautiful photos overlaying contemporary film footage the comparisoons between then adn now are striking. The people, their accounts , their passion their labour of love, their statistical details and their knowledge is awe inspiring.

Its been said before and can’t be said enough- we need to see these stories on our screens and stages- stories where the people are their authentic selves, stories where by we are elevated , educated and inspired by the people who make up our country, our community.

It is a beautifully told story, which deserves to be seen- I am not a bus enthusiast (hell I am still on my Learners liscence!) but i found this to be a really inspiring night- with the cinema packed full , filled with applause and wanting more. Brilliant!

More information
http://www.vintagebus.com.au/Wheels_in_Motion_Documentary_Premiere.html

Captivated by reality- Alana Valentine

Augusta Supple — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:06:59 +0000

It’s no secret. I don’t see Shakespeare if I can help it: two notable exceptions in the last two of the last ten years- Macbeth by Wildfire Theatre Company (2008) and Pericles by the Bell Shakespeare Company (2009) . Both were social occasions- one in support of the very energetic and intelligent Sandra Stockley and the other as the guest of James Waites.

Neither one I reviewed. I just don’t want to see those stories. I spent too long being a theatre scholar and not a theatre consumer. I spent too long deciphering and appreciating the linguistic gymnastics of the Shakespearean form… In general when witnessing Shakespearean productions I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable for performers who don tights and rounded vowels – it makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be that type of uncomfortable in the theatre. I want to be a different type of uncomfortable: a sobbing heaving frightened laughing, shocked , delighted and reassured type of uncomfortable – the type of uncomfortable I get from new work: new local work.

In addition- I don’t particularly like Shakespeare. Its just a taste thing. And here’s another unpopular taste thing of mine… are you ready? Bombshell is about to hit….. I don’t like The Beatles.

There are sociological reasons and the main focus has to do with the clutter these ancient arts create in the minds of people… dwarfing any opportunity for new work- local and contemporary work to be seen and heard amongst the clamour of the “classics” stunting our ability to discuss new work in the cold shadow of thousands of years of lead up: it can seem insumountable.
Where do i sit on the topic of classics versus new work? I sit as a wild and passionate advocate of living breathing writers.
I declare myself to believe wholeheartedly in the payment of writers who are buying bread, paying rent and walking around.

I believe in people seeing stories they don’t know, haven’t read or been forced to memorize for the HSC.

I advocate dispute debate and discussion in foyers and online. I uphold conversation as a sign of a healthy industry full of diverse and differing opinions…

I don’t and won’t review a classic play of 100 years or more or from another country…. my voice does not need to be added to that conversation.

I will try to review and to write about and for the shows what may not be an established part of the canon… yet.

I promise to support the writer in all I do, and encourage the directors to support the writer and the actors, and encourage the quivering frightened programmers of the main stages to take a chance on new work in all its terrifying brutal glory.

This is what I believe.

I urge you to check out what Alana Valentine says:

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2650588.htm

Alana Says:
There’s a line in my new play Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah: “People in the arts have the veneer of difference but at heart they are deeply conservative”.

It always gets a laugh. The trick of an unlikely truth. But in the simplest understanding of the verb “to conserve”, theatre must be acknowledged as one of the most conservative artforms. As every living dramatist knows you are always competing for production with every dead and classical playwright who has ever worked.

Unlike the novel or the poem, which I grant you needs to remain in print but can still be purchased second hand, the play is not fully understood until it is produced and so the classics are produced over and over and over again. The rationale being that human nature is timeless and unchanging.

I’ve so often been bludgeoned with the notion that there are ‘only a small number of stories to be told’ that I wonder why any person now taking breath would bother opening up a laptop. Of course it doesn’t have to be a dialectical either/or. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

Indeed, as the Alex Buzo Company would attest, it can be both at the same time.

But are we or are we not presently being marketed the idea that ‘radical’ reinventions of classical texts are the most cutting edge aspect of contemporary Australian theatre? Are we or are we not being sold the notion that we live in a post-post-modern, globalised world where the particularities of national identity and the language of localised community are no longer relevant except as a contextual veneer? Well, hey, call me a contemporary Australian playwright, but I’m not convinced.

I’ve always been a sucker for the ‘new’. When I walk around a supermarket the trolley soon becomes studded with items bearing that little ‘new’ sticker, you know the one, all fluorescent colours and jagged edges. I love what the word carries with it. The promise of the unexpected. The seduction of a surprise.

And so let’s head into the bouncy castle labelled ‘let’s make the classics new’.

“We’ll let the original author do all the philosophical heavy-lifting”, they say, “which will be fine because you know what, theatre is first of all theatre and only second needs something to say.”

“We’ll change everything except the value system at the heart of the classical text,” because, I’m told, “that’s timeless anyway.”

Only it’s not, I say in a small, nervous voice.

“In the interim between now and Elizabethan England we’ve had feminism and post-colonialism”.

“That’s irrelevant,” they tell me, “human nature is timeless, the brutality of war is always the same.”

“Only it’s not,” I try again, my voice still quavering. “Because between ancient Greece and Abu Ghraib we’ve had the internet and er, parliamentary democracy.”

“So what, we’ll just decorate the reinvention with those references.”

And now they are shouting at me: “The nature of evil is unchanging”.

And I’m screaming back: “Yes, but the mechanics of context are everything, there’s a complacency that creeps in if brutality is just a centuries old horror.”

“Art is not about being the village explainer,” they rant. “As Gertrude Stein pointed out, that’s alright if you’re a village but if not, not.”

“Yes, that’s witty,” say I, “Only we don’t live in villages anymore, we live in pluralistic, multi-ethnic cities and anyone who’s got any kind of creative insight into what the hell is going on is alright by me.”

“You’re an idiot,” they bellow, as I try to stutter out some final statement about form carrying meaning, about a new Century’s stories needing a new Century’s theatrical form.

At which point they slap me across the face and I retreat, holding my stinging jaw in my hands.

Yes, I’m being provocative, but, come on, all those long dead authors and their acolyte directors have been bullying us with their ‘continuing relevance’ for so long that you can’t blame us living writers for getting a bit uppity.

In truth there are radical reinventions of classical texts which I have profoundly admired, which do use an old glove to make something with an entirely new punch. I am not even adverse to plundering the past for my own ‘versions’ of such texts because, of course, there are times when such a ‘reinvention’ can be astonishing.

Perhaps it’s just that I spent the early 1990s at all night dance parties so people covered in various fluids, sporting exaggerated genitalia has always represented fond adolescent memories for me, rather than a revelation filled with shock and awe.

More likely it’s because I wonder if the balance isn’t teetering too hard on the ‘reinvention’ side. I want, simply, to put my hand up for the work of theatre that captivates us with a reality we can see, but perhaps have not looked at, in our immediate present.

I want to do that, not simply to agitate for space on the contemporary stage, but because there is such immeasurable artistic joy for an audience to have in experiencing themselves in the context of their own immediate community.

Not topicality, but urgency. Not parochialism, but provocation. For me, there is nothing quite like having one’s very own world and reality made simultaneously recognisable and unfamiliar through the wonder of live performance. Because in that reflection is surely the strongest possible dissolution of self, in that communal participation is the realization that we really are a joined, interdependent group of organisms.

If only for a brief moment, in the dark, what hurts you in your world, today, really does really hurt me and what rouses your love, in our community right now, really does rouse mine. I continue to open up the laptop because I absolutely believe that there still are voices that have not been heard and wonders of understanding that can still sew the heart of every audience member into a place in the present.

This is an excerpt from Alana Valentine’s Alex Buzo Memorial Lecture, which was delivered 10th August at Sydney Ideas, the University of Sydney’s lecture series.

Calling All Actors- BRAND SPANKING NEW 2009

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:54:37 +0000

We are looking for brave, bright, bold actors to help bring to life works by some of Australia’s bravest, brightest and boldest playwrights!

Bring your headshot, a CV and prepare a brief monologue to perform for the directors. There are approx 50 roles to fill: all ages, looks, levels of experience and backgrounds are encouraged to audition. We have roles for those between 18 years and 70! So why wait? Make an audition time!

Be a part of this amazing celebration- with some of the best emerging and established artists!

Brand Spanking New: A Celebration of New Australian Writing
New Theatre
Season Dates: 30th September – 10th October

Returning to New Theatre for its second exciting season, Brand Spanking New aims to encourage Australian writing for theatre by providing a collaborative environment where both emerging and established writers can develop new projects.

With monologues, short plays and excerpts from a wide variety of styles and genres, Brand Spanking New has around 50 roles for male and female actors of all ages written by some of Australia’s most impressive emerging playwrights Maxine Mellor, Tamara Asmar, Kit Brookman, Phil Spencer, Jessica Bellamy, Sonal Moore, Patrick Lenton and Ari Lander and established award-winning writers including Mary Rachel Brown, Timothy Daly, Rick Viede, Verity Laughton, Vanessa Bates, Ross Mueller and Jonathan Gavin.

Brand Spanking New plays: tender, hauntingly poignant and brutally funny this is the festival which celebrates theatre in all it’s glory!

Including the bravest and boldest emerging directors of the Sydney fringe scene including: Ian Zammit, Jane Eakin, Sarah Vickery, Tanya Dickson, Augusta Supple, Jennifer Monk, Anne-Maree Magi, Scarlet McGlynn, Danielle O’Keefe, Louise Fischer, Nick Curnow, Travis Green, Mark Pritchard, Scott Selkirk

Auditions will be held 12-2pm on Sunday 16th August and 12-5pm on Sunday 23rd August at Fraser Street Studio in Chippendale. Please contact Julia Lenton at julia_newtheatre@y7mail.com to arrange a time!

Celebrating New Australian Writing- Brand Spanking New

Augusta Supple — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:50:48 +0000

I am currently preparing for the season celebrating new Australian writing at New Theatre and I am calling all writers and directors to contact me if they are interested in being a part of this exciting occasion: If youare keen please contact me on augusta_newtheatre@y7mail.com

Brand Spanking New returns to New Theatre for another exciting season of
new writing. Brand Spanking New aims to encourage Australian writing for theatre by
providing a creative environment where both emerging and established writers
can develop new projects.
Writers, directors and actors will collaborate on new works over a month,
culminating in a public showcase over two weeks, with each week featuring a
different program of plays.
The pieces will encompass monologues, short plays and excerpts from longer
works and explore a wide variety of styles and genres, from cabaret comedy to
surrealist farce, from tender confessions to brutal revelations.
Brand Spanking New is guaranteed to present an uncensored snapshot of
current Australian playwriting: brave, bold and mind-bendingly funny!
BRAND SPANKING NEW 2009
Week One: 30 September – 3 October
Week Two: 7 – 10 October
Wednesday – Saturday @ 8pm
Tickets: $22
Bookings: 1300 306 776 / mca-tix.com.au

Savage River| Griffin Theatre/MTC/TTC

Augusta Supple — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:47:28 +0000

When lights dim and the performance starts there is clicking of black riverbed stones as boots march and grubby feet scamper. As the light grows through slotted timber frame-worked shack we meet Kingsley (Ian Bliss) and Tiger (Travis Cardona), living a Spartan-like existence by a river since the departure of Tiger’s mother sometime ago. Set in the wilderness of Western Tasmania, Savage River speaks of a life beyond the reach of many: a world which is simple: where cooking fish with shallots is, according to Kingsley “over complicating things. If you are going to eat a fish, in my book, just eat the fish.” Life is back to basics: shelter, food, water, companionship. Basic and secluded, where you can get all you need from the river father and son live on mussels, mutton birds and the occasional dagwood dog.

Written by Steve Rodgers and directed by Peter Evans, Savage River is a co-production with Melbourne Theatre Company and Tasmanian Theatre Company, developed with assistance of Play Writing Australia’s National Play Festival (2008) and is premiering at the SBW Stables Theatre via Griffin Theatre Company’s Season: with this level of support and interest, Savage River is one of the most anticipated new plays of the year.

Unusual in time and space, this two act play which stretches beyond the confines of the comfortable 75 minute structure to approximately two and a half hours with an interval. It also ventures beyond the urban and suburban realties of Australian life, beyond rural, to the remote: where you can get lost or be lost. It is there that we watch the story unfold : father and son in the secluded Tasmanian forest are joined by a stranger, Jude (Peta Sergeant) whom Kingsley brings home after rescuing her from a crowd of “a dozen men hungry to go through her.” Before too long, Jude is immersed in the world of Tiger and Kingsley, and transformations appear in Tiger, in Jude. Largely this play about emancipation: how education through art: music (Nellie Melba) literature (romance novels) and performance (The Three Stooges) can facilitate escape – imaginatively and physically. It is also about growing up and away from all that you have been told and taught to value, in order to discover an alternative.

Peppered with charming and endearing moments, this production explores the dynamic between older woman/young man, father/son, woman/man, visitor/host, local/outsider, victim/perpetrator, mother/son, rich/poor. It is these dichotomies in which the tension of the play develops: as we watch the power shift and change as more is revealed about Jude, Kingsley and Tiger’s past. As the play unfolds, we begin to understand that all three are bound to each other, to obligation, to place: all are limited by something, all trapped: by debt, by location, by ancestry, by love lost and loyalty.

With an impressive design Stephen Curtis complimented by “sublime” lighting design by Daniel Zika, this is a beautiful looking production. With a strong cast Ian Bliss evenly balances yearning with menace, whilst Travis Cardona solidly presents obedience paired with curiosity (although I’m not sure that as a character who is seventeen and illiterate necessarily strips the character of young adult qualities). However, the must-see performance is that of Peta Sergeant’s Jude: an authentic and embodied stranger in a strange land: spectacular in her nuanced and honest portrayal.

Peter Evans’ production is one of well-paced scenes and authentic dialogue exchanges between desperate people trapped by their circumstances: which are both self imposed and beyond their control. However, in this case, the story is not as enthralling as the relationship study presented. The mystery surrounding Tiger’s mother, is barely a mystery, Kingsley’s motives are transparent, and Tiger is more “mouse” than teenage “man”. We are held by tension of guessing “when” and “how” action will take place, not “what” will take place – as it is presented upfront a well-foregone conclusion. This is not an overly complicated nor sophisticated story: it is a simple story featuring characters at their most simple (not in a pejorative sense) and need at its most basic.

The Duel |Thin Ice and STC

Augusta Supple — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:01:17 +0000

I have found this rather a difficult production to review as I must declare: this really isn’t my thing. I recently had the epic wonder of experiencing Elevator Repair Service’s The Gatz at The Sydney Opera House: an 8 hour theatre experience of The Great Gatsby which was nothing but a sublime once in a lifetime theatrical experience (which I will write up soon). This however, was not quite a reading, not quite a staging, not quite theatrical: though surrounded in theatrical devices and conceits. So here is my review… in which I question the effectiveness of this chapter of Dostoevsky adapted for stage. This is where I am the conservative reviewer: if it aint broke why fix it?

Next Stage is the development arm of the Sydney Theatre Company designed to assist artists in the development of new work. Since the start of the year, this has included Bell Shakespeare’s “Mind’s Eye” project Venus and Adonis directed by Marion Potts and Griffin Theatre’s production of Ross Mueller’s Concussion directed by Brett Adam. The Duel is the third production nurtured by Perth based company Thin Ice, headed by Matthew Lutton. This is a truly maginificent opportunity for artists to explore ideas, and create work in an alternative venue with a high level of production support for which the Sydney Theatre Company should be applauded.

Taken from a chapter of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Tom Wright’s adaptation, directed by Matthew Lutton is an experimentation of form and genre, exploring the question which faces text-based storytellers: at what point does literature become a performance? Where as many theatrical pieces aim to show a “slice of life”, The Duel shows a slice of literature. Literature as accessible in trackpants, dunlop volleys and hooded sweatshirts: literature for the here and now. Dostoevsky’s story is not shown, but told through monologue, an occasional demonstration of events and an erratic sound track. This performance is the telling, not a showing of transformative choices within every person and dares the audience to engage with a conversation about guilt and freedom, responsibility, punishment and forgiveness.

A small ensemble of performers Luke Mullins, Brian Lipson, David Lee Smith and Renee McIntosh play multiple roles and ambiguously float between character, performer and audience to the story. With a simple claustrophobic set design and contemporary costume design by Claude Marcos, beautiful and transformative lighting design by Damien Cooper and creative sound design by Kingsley Reeve- the world of this story telling is at times beautiful, poetic and dull with domesticity: without an obvious meta-theatrical framing. This is a presentation of literature with theatrical design elements. The effect is academic: we can see what is happening, we are asked questions directly by the characters, we are told of the effects of a confession and its effects. We are asked to imagine these characters enacted by the actors which could be understood as an exploration of Brecht’s verfremdungseffekt. In The Duel, we see the exploration of movement, of the non-verbal, of gestural, a collision of the contemporary stage craft and an antique Russian rumination.

According to the program notes, Lutton had “no desire to substantially dramatise the events of the chapter”, and moments are indeed enacted: but with the character of Zosima narrating the event complete with his internal reasoning. We follow Zosima’s transformation from sibling, to soldier, to monk: assisted by personal illuminations, he explores the moment of change: significant personal change when a decision is made to put down a gun and fight, when a decision is made that the time to confess has come, when the decision to leave is the only decision left. Challenging questions collide with beautiful ideas of love, passion, rational thinking, connectedness and individualism and the duel is really a battle between grey moral principles.

Though a thoroughly engaging story, I am left asking questions of my own. Would I have understood, engaged with or been transformed by this story as much if I were to have read this story? Book in my lap, tea in hand? What is the value of a reading? Would I have understood this story as much if this was a radio play? After all it was the reading of this story (chapter) by Lutton which inspired him: if he had seen a production would it have had such a resonating effect?

Inside Out | Seymour Centre

Augusta Supple — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:54:12 +0000

I am a fan of Mary Rachel Brown’s work. She is a playwright who has won several awards in recent times… including the 2006 Max Afford Award and the 2006 Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting and more recently the 2008 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award, which she was awarded for “Inside Out.”

She has had her plays performed internationally (Permission to Spin was read at the hotINK International play reading festival in New York in 2009), and yet in her home country, had had various successes with productions at places like B Sharp and IPAC, but no big budget productions at the major flagship companies. This is not a criticsm of MRB: as I said, I am a fan, but what on earth is wrong with the Major Australian theatre companies who fail to recognise talent and fail to support it?

So it falls on the shoulders of brave producers such as Christine Dunstan to stage important new Australian works… as in the case of Inside Out which includes a stunningly impressive cast of Tracy Mann and Lindsay Farris at The Seymour Centre’s Everest Theatre in it’s “intimate mode” of 400 seats.

Tonight it was a wet Sydney night. 65 booked in the audience… and in a venue like BSharp- that would feel like a full house.. in the Everest Theatre: not so much… but nothing was lost in the experience…

I have not seen Lindsay Farris on stage… I’ve met him in foyers, heard rumour of his charisma and skill on stage: knew how several of my friends and colleagues admire and covet his talent… I had no idea I woudl be so charmed, so impressed, so heart broken, so hopeful for him… and it truly is an impressive performance: strong, brave, feirce, vulnerable and in short amazing. Tracy Mann is perfectly cast as his mother… and no easy performance either, infact downright confronting and brutal.

It’s not an easy night at the theatre: because truly Inside Out reveals one of the great fears of all people: living with/witnessing a loved one with a mental illness. I have first hand experience of living with a loved one with a mental illness, and have worked with the mental health community in Ontario Canada, and I can atest to the authentic and raw representation of the reality: which is ultimately reassuring.

This is a slick and powerful production: which yields brave and poignant performance from two spectacular performers. A beautifully written yet confronting script, Inside Out certainly deserves to be the Winner of the 2008 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award.

Read more about it:
http://www.seymour.usyd.edu.au/subseason/seasons_insideout09.shtml
http://www.aussietheatre.com/revinsideout2.htm
http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news.aspsType=review&sId=178020&catId=0

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll- New Theatre

Augusta Supple — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:48:20 +0000

As many of us look around us, it is clear to see that what we are living, is the nightmarish consequences of an infantile mindset. Written in 1953 – the year my parents were born this is a facinating play which I have the great honour to be working on as Assistant Director. This is one of the great plays of the Australian cannon, which shows us how far we have come and how little we have changed… and I find it to be a painful and beautiful experience seeing this play: in its complex and confronting realisations play out in front of me under the sturdy direction of Rosane McNamara.

For many the role of assistant director is a dubious one: for me, it is the great honour by which I offer my skills, thoughts, presence and support to a group of talented people, with whom I dedicate my spare moments, my laughter, by tears and my unerring gaze. Ultimately as assistant I am the gap filler, the time keeper, the confidant, the negotiator and the cheer-squad for those who are dedicated to living in this world for the next 5 weeks. And I am tired, and lucky.

Gemma-Lark Johnson has single handedly created a world of lacy pink frivolity: with a sturdy backing of industrial black mesh: feels like collette dinnigan has met Pearl Jam… yet is incased in a soundscape of Dean Martin, Doris Day and lit by the gentle firm eye of Tony Youlden. The cast are amazing: Stefanie Funnell as Bubba Ryan, Laura Munro as Pearl, Emma Harris as Olive, Blair Cutting as Roo, Valentino Arico as Barney, Jan Langford-Penny as Emma and Stephen Peacocke as Johnny Dowd… all held together by the masterful and powerful mind and spirit of Stage Manager Bron Miller (with whom I am completely in awe!).
And we open on the 4th of June… at new theatre.

OFF THE SHELF: post show report

Augusta Supple — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:06:22 +0000

It was a wonderful night in a warehouse in Chippendale: the only request I made of the heavens was that rain didn’t happen between the hours of 6pm-8:30pm… for no other reason except for the tin roof that has no insulation and would completely drown out the words of the writers… of course if did rain and in the spirit of the show must go on: the shows did go on… as 50 people moved their chairs from the showing space in studio 14 to studio 10. The showcase started at 6:30pm with writers, actors, producers, directors, agents making their way into the warehouses at Fraser Studios…. I had just spent my time with James Winter, moving the black flooring, shifting a piano, rigging a 9metre curtain I borrowed from Belvoir St, rigging lanterns I had borrowed from New Theatre… sporting rope burn, dirty finger nails, I welcomed the curious, the skeptical, the competitive and the theatre community in to the inaugural OFF THE SHELF showcase.
It was a really interesting night, with most folks staying til 10pm… where people provided written and spoken feedback to the artists who were in recidency in the Off the Shelf program. And the colleagiate feel, the industry pressence, the amazing support from James Winter and Sam Chester, the photography by Leah McGirr, Phil Myers is sported on this and many other websites… hopefully these plays will go on to be further developed, pitched and produced somewhere, someday.

For those who attended: thank you, your presence, feedback and support means so much to all the participants, including myself… and really: it is time we started discussing, embracing and engaging with work in development. New writing does not happen in a silent cold writers garrat, but in between scheduled work, between actor,director/dramaturge, producer and writer: and ultimately audience.

Off the Shelf is a program of Queen Street Studio that provides an opportunity for writers and directors to hothouse a script based project which is in the early stages of development.

HARPOON Written by Bridget Price, Directed by Mark Pritchard

GRAVITY WAVES Written by Will Snow, Directed by Jonathan Wald

RETALE Written by Patrick Lenton, Directed by Anne-Maree Magi

BOXING DAY Written by Phil Spencer, Directed by Scarlet McGlynn

NIGHT, MAYBE, OR A ROAD MAYBE Written by Kit Brookman, Directed by Amy Satchell

Who is OFF THE SHELF for?
Writers: Provides an intense writing hothouse, complete with a deadline, (or a series of deadlines) to develop work. Builds relationships with directors. Exposes writers to actors (who they may write for in future projects) A showcase provides a “soft” end point to the hothouse project /a midway point to further production. Allows writers to test out working relationships with dramaturges/ directors. Focuses on the writing “process” over performance “product”. Enables the writer to hear audience response and respond to feedback. Introduces writers to the theatre community.
Directors: Helping directors connect with writers. Ecourages directors to develop a working relationship with a writer and be involved in the shaping of the project. Allow directors to invite actors they know, or would like to work with. Working towards a showing not full production allows the director to focus on the writing and their methods in working on new plays with actors. Introduces new directors to the theatre community.
Actors: Providing an opportunity to be a part of a dramaturgical process, provide feedback into the script process whilst practising sight -reading skills. An opportunity to network with writers who may write specifically for actors and/or directors who may be looking to cast actors in projects beyond the OFF THE SHELF hothouse.
Industry: Build community, strengthen relationships between artists, advance new writing through awareness of emerging work/practitioners, provide a platform for meaningful engagement with text, encourage thoughtful constructive criticism to build confidence in discussion and discourse about writing for performance.

BRAND SPANKING NEW- RETURNS IN 2009!

Augusta Supple — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:12:07 +0000

After a rather successful two week run last year, I will be returning to the helm as Season Artistic Director of New Theatre’s Playwright’s festival: Brand Spanking New. Last year included the talents of writers such as:
Jessica Bellamy, Alex Broun, Jo-Anne Cahill, Alexandra Cullen, Joanna Erskine, Patrick Lenton, and Augusta Supple, Van Badham, Hilary Bell, Suzanne Hauser, Tom Holloway, Noelle Janaczewska, Nick Parsons and Lachlan Philpott
And directors: Paul Appleby, Melissa Bruder, Zoe Carides, Nick Curnow, Jane Eakin,Travis Green, Mark Pritchard, Boris Ivanoff, Anne-Maree Magi, Felicity Nicol, Danielle O’Keefe, Kate Revz and Jocelyn Speight
Complimented by a design by Canadian designer Barbara Bryce and local Composer/musician Catherine Robinson.
Who knows what this year’s festival will bring!

Brand Spanking New returns to New Theatre for a second exciting season. Brand Spanking New aims to encourage Australian writing for theatre by providing a creative environment where both emerging and established writers can develop new projects.

Writers, directors and actors will collaborate on new works over a month, culminating in a two-week production. The pieces will encompass monologues, short plays and excerpts from longer works and explore a wide variety of styles and genres, from cabaret comedy to surrealist farce, from tender confessions to brutal revelations.

Brand Spanking New is guaranteed to present an uncensored snapshot of current Australian playwriting: brave, bold and mind-bendingly funny!

For writers and directors keen to find out more about the festival please email me: augusta_newtheatre@y7mail.com