It’s a terrifying truth, that many actors won’t live in the perfumed comfort of a mansion in the Hollywood Hills – some may never even know the horror/delight of owning a mortgage anywhere – ever. more…
Tag Archive for 'STC'
In 2010, Post (Zoe Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor and Natalie Rose) “embarked on a journey to find out which one of us is the best. We devised a system, defined our criteria and started tallying our scores.” more…
A forest of well dressed, well spoken women gather around a hunched hooded figure as sound throbs and squeals from an electric guitar. more…
This is one of those tricky reviews. I know for a FACT that everyone is going to love this and see it, and laugh and LOVE it. And I don’t know why, I didn’t. I didn’t love it. And I feel very alone in my opinion. more…
Every now and then, I get a text message which changes my evening… “I have a spare ticket to STC’s True West Tonight, would you like to snaffle it up?” As a self-professed compulsive snaffler – I went, it’s always a beautiful experience to head out to the Wharf… lights off the water – and a mellow feeling of all being right with the world… I guess it’s the excellent company I keep, because often it isn’t the play’s message which is telling me that all is right with the world. And this is certainly true of True West. more…
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I wanted to see this production primarilly because of the Letts’ fever that seems to be apparent in theatres across the world. As a part of the playwrighting zietgeist, Tracy Letts is a familiar name… and will continue to be in the coming months as Steppenwolf’s production of August: Osage County is brought into town by the STC… (not to be confused with the production by the Melbourne Theatre Company last year)… Pulitzers will do that to you, I suppose. (And don’t bother to ask Kristina Keneally about Pulitzers- she’s still trying to work out if plays are literature.) Anyway, in a country that isn’t Australia, which is The United States of America, Tracy Letts has written plays, been awarded money and prizes for them, and now is enjoying stage time at The Griffin Theatre “the home of New Australian writing.”
Like last year, Griffin Theatre Company programmed as a part of their Independent season an early play by Martin Crimp- around the same time the STC was also showing a Martin Crimp. This year it is a Tracy Letts fest, – so I decided to catch the show. It’s an interesting strategy of Griffin’s to have the independent wing introduce a writer to the general public- the earlier work of a writer, in an independent season- before they fork out the serious dollars for the STC production of the new work by the writer. A part of me finds it useful for people to see the growth of a writer- a part of me finds it irritating that there isn’t more diversity, especially when so many living Aussie Writers hunger for the space that the Griffin used to provide them with. more…
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It was opening night of Stories from the 428 when James Waites pressed a signed copy of his hot-off-the-press platform paper into my hand. I had seen chapters develop over the previous 5 months- heard of the interviews as they were taking place- and watching/listening as the story was unfolding. He pressed it into my hand, like a nervous teenage boy gives a love letter to the one he loves- nonchalantly, yet with the type of urgent tenderness that says “I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams…” and he said, don’t read it in bits. Sit down over easter with some chocolate and read it in one go…
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A post-event note on Stockholm- which I did manage to see- I scraped-in and sat in some dodgy seats in the last week of the production- I was largely curious to see what the fuss was about- why it had disappointed so many- why some complained of it being over-produced… why some complained of a glib script… why some complained that the actors were satisfactory as actors but not as dancers- and if any of this matters in the larger scheme of the story.
This is not a review- if you want a review- check out the SMH- or the STC website… this is my response, a personal response to Stockholm, not a review. more…
Merit vs Misogyny in Australian Theatre – and what we’re going to do about it
There has been a simmering discussion amongst AWOL (Australian Women Playwrights On Line) about the presence (or lack of presence) of female writers included in the mainstage theatre seasons. Currently in Main stage seasons women are grossly unrepresented – and it’s not because there aren’t any women writing plays. There are. When curating the multi-playwright seasons I have produced in the last 4 years, I have not struggled to find quality female playwrights, and not just any female playwrights – excellent playwrights.
In late 2009, the Philip Parson’s Award hosted a panel discussion “Where are the women?” to which 200-ish female theatre workers turned up to prove exactly where the women are (Just in case Belvoir couldn’t see them, as their 2010 suggested) – they were filling the theatre. that day I sat with Suzie Miller and Vanessa Bates. When confronted with the argument that women aren’t being programmed because scripts and directors are assessed on merit not gender – Miller told of her experience which was having a play of hers knocked back for an Independent Season at Belvoir, only to have the very same play receive awards and productions overseas. Rachel Healy turned to Neil Armfield and said, “Well, Neil, it looks like we stuffed up.” And I think everyone in that audience agrees: there has been some major stuff-ups when it comes to theatre companies being committed to equal opportunity employment. So much so Melbourne Theatre Company have since implemented an EEO policy. more…