5 Questions with Cherrie Whalen-David and Caspar Hardaker

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Cherrie Whalen-David

Cherrie Whalen-David

Caspar Hardaker: What is the most valuable experience you’ve gained from working on Plaything?
Cherrie Whalen-David: This play is a real workout for the brain. Not only is the play quite wordy, so challenging to learn the dialogue, but there is the abstract element to get my head around as well.

What is your favourite pastime when you have no obligations to anything?
I love spending time with friends and family enjoying delicious food and wine.

Are there such things as aliens in our galaxy?
Not in my world, but perhaps I’ve just been too busy to notice them.

What’s the most awkward experience you’ve had whilst performing?
During The run of The Cherry Orchard (last year at The Depot Theatre) I managed to tip coffee all over myself one evening , luckily my character had a butler to help tidy her up.

Are you a cat or a dog type of person?
We currently have 2 cats whom I love but am secretly hoping to get a white West Highland Terrier one day.

Caspar Hardaker

Caspar Hardaker

Cherrie Whalen-David: Your character in Plaything loves to party. What’s your idea of a great night out?
Caspar Hardaker: My idea of a great night out is actually completely different to my character’s. I actually would prefer having a night in with movies and a glass of red. If I’m planning on having a big one then I guess I would love to be able to buy food and alcohol without spending too much money but that’s somewhat of an inescapable conundrum in my life.

A character in Plaything dies suddenly in mysterious circumstances. What would you choose as your last supper?
As a last supper I would have to go with a superfluous amount of garlic dip, garlic bread, Woodford Margherita pizza, and a lovely glass (or bottle(s)) of Shiraz.

How tall are you Casper?
Last time I checked I was about 6 foot 5, or 6 foot 6. In centimetres I think I’m around 195cm.

If you weren’t an actor what other career would you like to pursue?
I would be pretty open to anything really. I don’t really know what I’d choose straight away but possibly something to do with children or music. Or maybe even both!

What’s your favourite time of the year?
My favourite time of the year is Spring. When the weather starts to change and you can smell the jacarandas and feel summer. Good vibes and festivities are upon the horizon and everything feels like it’s just around the corner. What’s not to love?

Cherrie Whalen-David and Caspar Hardaker can be seen in Plaything by Simon Dodd.
Dates: 30 Mar – 16 Apr, 2016
Venue: The Depot Theatre

Review: Connect With Excellence (Ever After Theatre / Red Door Arts)

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everaftertheatreVenue: Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre (Rozelle NSW), Mar 23 – 24, 2016
Playwrights: Emily Dash, Alyson Evans
Director: Alyson Evans
Cast: Rosie Amis, Kerrie Ann Bezzina, Christine Blanche, Jessie Chapman, Matthew Cutmore, Emily Dash, Teneile English, Patti Gilbert, Steve Konstantopoulos, Emma Plant, Roddy Salinas, Kate Walker, Lucy Watson

Theatre review
Lola is the passionate leader of “The Removal of Physical & Socio-cultural Barriers & Establishment of Equal Opportunities Committee” in Rozelle, one of Sydney’s more glamorous suburbs. We are taken on a tour of the neighbourhood, with headphones on, trailing behind Lola and her wheelchair, as she evaluates our suitability for joining the committee. Travelling through shops, streets and buildings, we hear stories from local residents and business operators, about people with disabilities, the challenges they face and the way they relate with community. We ponder on the differences and similarities of their experiences with able-bodied people, and spend a lot of the duration walking in their shoes.

Scripted by Emily Dash and Alyson Evans, Connect With Excellence is exuberant, humorous, and very touching. The impressive strength of ordinary people takes centre stage, while invisible privilege is exposed, making us confront our own positions in society, and the generosity we may or may not extend to others in everyday interactions. The work is delicately composed to take us through a visceral and emotional journey, going deeper and deeper as time passes, into our personal humanity. It is a meditative and profoundly reflective process that allows art to do its most sacred job, which is to make people better. The show brings to our attention, not only the challenges faced by people with disabilities, but also the unsung heroes who overcome barriers on a daily basis.

Dash’s performance as Lola is full of charm, wit and fortitude. The spirited and often bossy personality she creates makes for an effective and commanding tour leader, and her warm presence gives us a sense of security, as we step out of our comfort zones to look at Rozelle through her eyes. The show is amusing and entertaining, but also inherently political. It culminates in a pledge from each individual, with pen on paper, on how we wish to effect change. It is a decision and commitment that we make for the world that we share, to think about the needs of community, and to play a part in bringing about improvements, big and small.

www.everaftertheatre.com | www.reddoorarts.org

Review: Unfinished Works (Bontom Productions)

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bontomVenue: Seymour Centre (Chippendale NSW), Mar 23 – Apr 2, 2016
Playwright: Thomas De Angelis
Director: Clemence Williams
Cast: Deborah Galano, Kyle Kazmarziks, Lucy Goleby, Contessa Treffone, Rhett Walton

Theatre review (of a preview performance)
Thomas De Angelis’ Unfinished Works talks about art and the selling of art, but it is also concerned with how young people discover adulthood, and the challenges it presents. Strong themes and engaging characters give the play its allure, but its ideas are not always as clever as they wish to be. Dialogue and plot structure also require further refinement and deeper thought, but its concluding, and climactic, scenes are fortunately the most effective and powerful of its two-hour duration.

There is an earnest and provocative spirit, introduced by director Clemence Williams, who explores the text with great honesty and is always conscious of giving proceedings a dimension of emotional intensity. There could be more humour in the way characters interact, and a less innocent approach to the portrayal of their individual foibles, but Williams’ work is thoughtful and energetic, and a delight to connect with. Bringing visual sophistication is designer Charles Davis, who finds simple but smart solutions to accompany the production’s examination and representation of the art world. His set and lights are minimal in style, but very charming indeed.

Lucy Goleby does an astonishing job as Frank, the complicated art star with a lot of weight on her shoulders. Goleby’s portrayals of fear and cynicism feels thoroughly authentic, and the assertive confidence that persist alongside all her insecurities is fascinating to observe. The pairing of vulnerability and strength is beautifully inhabited by the actor, and it is that palpable humanity she depicts that keeps us engrossed. The other leading lady of the piece is Contessa Treffone who plays Isabel, a young woman finding her place in the world, defining her self against family and negotiating grey areas of ambition and sex. Treffone shows strong focus and conviction, and although slightly twee in tone, she is more than capable of holding our attention. The chemistry between both women is full of sparks and a real joy to watch. Unfinished Works does not explicitly discuss the issue of feminism, but there is no need to, because the women it places on stage are prime examples of how we are and how we should be seen; independent, intelligent, ambitious, and frightfully flawed.

www.bontom.com.au

5 Questions with Ayeesha Ash and Heather Manley

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Ayeesha Ash

Ayeesha Ash

Heather Manley: Rent is your first musical after studying Acting at WAAPA. How do you find the rehearsal process compared to a straight play?
Ayeesha Ash: The rehearsal process hasn’t been extremely different, it’s just focusing on song lyrics instead of dialogue and making sure I know my choreography perfectly, so that I don’t accidentally hit someone in the head with a prop.

If you had to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of your life what would it be?
Definitely Japanese. Sushi, sashami, wakame, edamame. SOY SAUCE.

What has been your favourite performing experience?
In my final year at WAAPA my class toured a show that we wrote to Dublin. It was such a great experience being able to perform a piece we were so connected to on the other side of the world.

What strange fact about you do not many people know?
When I was a kid I would only have a shower if I was wearing my rain hat (I’ve grown out of that phase now).

Would you rather be married to a man with a fish head and a normal body or a normal head with a fish body, and why?
Normal head and fish body because he would probably be a really good ocean swimmer. He could take me on ocean dates and introduce me to all of his whale friends.

Heather Manley

Heather Manley

Ayeesha Ash: What’s been the most challenging piece to learn in Rent?
Heather Manley: I think the whole thing was a bit of a challenge because it’s a return season and we are entering a cast where almost all of the members were in the first run and knew all the numbers already. My brain was so full of lyrics and choreography within the first week.

Who is your favourite character to play in the show and why?
I really like playing Mimi’s sassy mom and singing in Spanish. Who doesn’t love to be sassy when they get the chance?

If you were an animal, what type of animal would you be?
Definitely a bird. It’s always been a fantasy of mine to be able to fly. And I’m a bit obsessed with birds – I have four cockatiels as pets back home in Guam.

If you could turn any movie into a musical what would it be?
I think Miss Congeniality is screaming to be a musical!

Who did you prefer in the 90s: Britney or Xtina?
Britney Spears’ album with ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ was the first album I bought, so definitely Britney.

Ayeesha Ash and Heather Manley can be seen in the new season of Rent the musical.
Dates: 29 Mar – 17 Apr, 2016
Venue: Hayes Theatre

Click here for Suzy’s review of last year’s production of Rent.

Review: Ghost (Theatre Royal)

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ghostVenue: Theatre Royal (Sydney NSW), Mar 18 – May 14, 2016
Book & Lyrics: Bruce Joel Rubin
Music & Lyrics: Glen Ballard, Dave Stewart
Director: Matthew Warchus
Cast: Wendy Mae Brown, Ross Chisari, David Denis, Rob Mills, Jemma Rix, David Roberts, Lydia Warr, Evette Marie White
Image by Jeff Busby

Theatre review
The 1990 film Ghost is remembered for its fantastical melodrama involving spirits, murderers, a psychic, and a pair of lovers with a penchant for ceramics. The 2011 musical version retains the very eventful narrative of its original, as well as an extravagant sentimentality that has become closely associated with Ghost. It is undoubtedly a cheesy operation, but no one on stage or in the audience pretends that it is anything otherwise. Its characters are two-dimensional, all singing formulaic showtunes, and the chorus makes sure that the very last row of nosebleeds would notice their every move, even though choreography is already terribly obvious.

There is no room for subtlety here, and the production calls for a certain amount of toughness on the part of its audience in order to stomach its garish approach on all fronts. It is paint by numbers Broadway style, but those predictable blueprints are established for a reason. Ghost provides entertainment, escape and amusement. It gives us moments where we suspend disbelief and reach for the most naive parts of our minds to indulge in all its saccharine wonder, as we gasp at its melange of levitating bodies, disappearing apparitions and actors walking through doors. We might find our intelligence insulted at certain points, but we are accepting of it, as evidenced by box office takings the world over for productions of this nature.

Accolades for Whoopi Goldberg’s film performance as the outlandish Oda Mae, including an Oscar, demonstrate our appetite for the brash and gaudy. The role is performed here by Wendy Mae Brown who does a close proximation of the very memorable hustler-turned-psychic. The delightful character is played by a spirited actor with an impressive voice who relishes every punchline and their accompanying laughter. The leads are much more subdued in tone. Rob Mills and Jemma Rix are excellent performers assigned big songs but nothing much else. Their singing is often spectacular, and both are easy on the eye, which makes them perfectly cast.

It is hard to be enthusiastic after the fact, when a show gives you everything that you had seen many times before, but there is no doubt that we find ourselves powerless and captivated by its tried and tested moments of musical theatre. Ghost provides a familiarity that many wish to revisit time and time again. It reduces us to a childlike stupor, and many would pay good money for that fleeting pleasure. It may not be a special work of art, but in comparison to everyday life, this is magic through and through.

www.ghostthemusical.com.au

Review: That Eye, The Sky (New Theatre)

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Venue: New Theatre (Newtown NSW), Mar 15 – Apr 16, 2016
Playwrights: Richard Roxburgh, Justin Monjo (adapted from the novel by Tim Winton)
Director: David Burrowes
Cast: Alex Bryant-Smith, Joel Horwood, Shaun Martindale, Jenae O’Connor, Romney Stanton, Simon Thomson, Emma Wright
Photography © Bob Seary

Theatre review
Religion is a subject that art can always rely on to evoke and provoke, especially in these modern times when scarcely any two persons are able to find complete agreement about who, what or how it is that we are being looked over, or indeed that supreme beings exist at all who we have to be answerable to. We meet the 13 year-old boy Ort just as his young mind begins to understand abstract concepts about faith. He finds God, but the relationship is a rocky one, and salvation continues to elude him.

That Eye, The Sky is a tender story about a sensitive child in challenging circumstances, but David Burrowes’ direction does not deliver an emotionally charged experience capitalising on our susceptibility to impassioned empathising of the pure or the weak. His show is polished and quiet, a feast for the senses, but it keeps us at a distant position of observation, never giving us the opportunity to delve into the romance of the piece. The work is consistently cerebral, which feels somewhat contradictory to the issues being explored, but all facets of production are impressively executed. The design team does exceptional work, especially Benjamin Brockman on lights, and the duo of Hugo Smart and Dean Barry Revell on sound and music, with brilliantly conceived flourishes that play much more than a subsidiary role to the actors on stage. Set design by Tom Bannerman and costumes by Alana Canceri create a sophisticated and powerful visual impact in spite of their understated approach.

The actors are equally strong, with Joel Horwood’s portrayal of Ort remarkable for its deceptive ease. Horwood is a grown, and very tall, man who makes us believe unreservedly in the innocent and prepubescent being he brings to the stage. The wide-eyed wonder he performs seems effortlessly achieved and every youthful quirk of voice and gesture is convincing and delightful. His family is played by Romney Stanton and Emma Wright, both resplendent with sensitivity, nuance and psychological accuracy. Their work is restrained and elegant, but surprisingly memorable. Shaun Martindale plays the pivotal role of Henry with an energetic spontaneity. He brings a sense of danger to the show, and although not always sufficiently effective at key plot moments, there is a quality of enigma in his work that adds to the complexity of what is being said.

We should not expect every work of theatre to produce the same emotional effects. Art can do much more than to speak to one’s feelings, and on this occasion, we discover the sensation of being moved without having to respond with sentimentality. The production’s style is perhaps at odds with the very substance of its story that seem to call for a more gushy approach, but what it does create is a sensual landscape that we can watch in admiration. Beauty is sublime, but it will not always move you how you wish.

www.newtheatre.org.au

That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre
That Eye, The Sky 2016 New Theatre

Review: Golem (1927 Productions)

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Venue: Roslyn Packer Theatre at Walsh Bay (Sydney NSW), Mar 16 – 26, 2016
Playwright: Suzanne Andrade
Director: Suzanne Andrade
Film, Animation & Design: Paul Barritt
Music: Lillian Henley
Cast: Esme Appleton, Will Close, Lillian Henley, Rose Robinson, Shamira Turner
Images by Bernhard Müller

Theatre review
It is in the nature of cities around the world to be obsessed with progress. Some economies are determined to find opportunities in international markets to bring communities out of poverty, while others are simply caught up in capitalism’s readiness to encourage and facilitate greed. Whether intentions are noble or otherwise, all of us in developing and industrialised countries are on a fast train to a future shaped almost exclusively by concepts of financial and technological advancement. Suzanne Andrade’s Golem is not only about the fear of being left behind, it is also interested in the involuntary embroilment that we often find ourselves, fuelled by the voracious appetite of today’s way of the world, with its monetisation of virtually everything and the impossibility of detaching oneself from these increasingly sinister systems of economy. Andrade’s work leaves no room for doubt about damage that results from the insatiable process of consumption. Disguised as machines of betterment, we participate and contribute to a never-ending order of perpetual buying, one with increasingly bigger promises at every step of the way.

The show combines the projection of an animated film, with live actors and musicians. It is a unique aesthetic, thoroughly idiosyncratic with a wide appeal that many would find delightful. The performance involves a high level of precision and technical sophistication (ironic considering its critique of technology), for a captivating experience that is as satisfying as its themes are troubling. A sense of wonder pervades the production, with a child-like tone that would speak to audiences young and old. Its message is grave, but also simple. It spells out what we secretly know to be true, but prefer to leave uncovered for we fear its inevitability and know not to act against it. Reality does not allow us to turn back the hands of time, but on stage, Golem is able to do just that. With brilliant imagination and refined wizardry, the show takes us to an earlier period of our industrialisation, and charts the path of our irreversible progress. We recognise all its allegories, and respond with appreciation, to the way it voices our apprehensions about modern life.

No one truly knows how to tame that monster within. We see it do its dirty work, and acknowledge our complicities. Some of us remain aware of its every pitfall, while others choose to turn a blind eye. Golem offers no alternatives or solutions to the civilisation it disparages, and its nostalgic longing for an innocent past seems futile. The result is either a melancholy that finds no emancipation, or the embrace of a certainty that is not all light. Tales of pessimism do their part in reminding us of the oft forgotten dark sides of being, if only to turn us into more compassionate people, but we have to make the best of what we do have, and even though far from perfect, it is easy to recognise the elements that are good in the way we live today.

www.19-27.co.uk

Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions
Golem 2016 1927 Productions

5 Questions with David Burrowes and Joel Horwood

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David Burrowes

David Burrowes

Joel Horwood: If you could shadow any director, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
David Burrowes: I would have loved to be in the room with Piña Bausch. Every snippet of work I’ve seen by her blows my mind a little bit, I would have loved to see her make, not so I could replicate the process but, so I could experience it. I can’t image the work she made came from a banal place, she knew how to tap into something special with her art.

You certainly enjoy a cup of coffee. How do you take it, and what does that say about you?
I want to say strong and black like me, but I drink flat whites to which I hope I have zero correlation.

What is the most powerful piece of theatre you’ve ever seen?
Simon Stones’ Thyestes blew my mind when I first saw it. I’ve seen a lot of incredible theatre since but that was the production that made me consider the stage as a medium I wanted to work with.

When you’re not directing incredible theatre productions, what gives you the greatest joy in life?
Being told I direct incredible theatre productions. I’ve also recently started to snowboard, which is mad fun.

You also direct for the screen. What are the major differences, and do you have a preference?
Don’t make me pick. There’s a lot of safety as a screen director in the fact that when you show a film it’s going to be exactly the same every time you show it. Theatre changes every night and that terrifies me, but it’s also why you do it.

Joel Horwood

Joel Horwood

David Burrowes: What’s the biggest challenge about playing a 13 year-old?
Joel Horwood: Being six foot tall with stubble that insists on growing back daily hasn’t made life easy, but I think the biggest challenge has been in finding that sense of naivety and wide-eyed wonder. Even for a 13 year-old, Ort reads as quite young, so it’s been difficult not to let my cynical, judgemental brain get in the way. Reactions to events that are instinctual to me read far too old for a 13 year-old, so it’s been a difficult task to hold back on those instincts and preconceptions.

As an official WA resident for most of your life, how on point is our regional dramaturgy?
As thrilling as it has been to see so many references to my home in the novel and in the play, for me, the story really does transcend its setting. It’s undoubtedly very Australian, and that sense of isolation and remoteness is definitely something we west coasters know all too well, but the sense of longing and hope for something bigger than us is true universal.

How influential was Tim Winton’s novel in helping you find the onstage Ort?
Hugely. Ort’s voice is so clear and detailed in the novel, and you get to spend 170 odd pages living inside his head. It informs so much of the subtext in the play, that mightn’t otherwise be as clear. I’ve spent the entire process constantly referring back to the novel to clarify and enrich moments. It’s been a real luxury having this beautifully realised character just itching to be brought to life on stage.

If you weren’t acting, what would you be doing?
As a kid, I would drag my Mum along to home opens on the weekend so I could assess the originality of the designs and take home brochures for me to obsess over for the next week. So, I guess I would probably be an architect. I still sometimes drive around to house inspections on weekends just to perv on people’s homes. The domain app gets a lot of use on my phone!

If you could invite one person to see this show, who would it be?
Probably either David Wenham, so he could school me on how it’s done. Or one of my favourite high school teachers, Leigh Hannah, who cast me as Seymour in Little Shop Of Horrors. That show is probably the reason I’m pursuing this, and not designing houses.

David Burrowes directs and Joel Horwood stars in That Eye, The Sky by Tim Winton (adapted for the stage by Richard Roxburgh and Justin Monjo).
Dates: 15 March – 16 April, 2016
Venue: New Theatre

Review: The Bald Soprano (King Street Theatre)

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kingstreettheatreVenue: King Street Theatre (Newtown NSW), Mar 15 – 26, 2016
Playwright: Eugene Ionesco (translated by Donald M. Allen)
Director: Barry Walsh
Cast: Timothy Hope, Ellie May, Luciana Nguyen, Matthew Neto, Cheng Tang, Rhiannon Watson

Theatre review
The play is set in a nondescript living room, awash in beige and old furniture, with no cause for excitement except for an inordinately large number of clocks greeting the audience. Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano is an absurdist, and perhaps surreal, piece that addresses the potentialities of theatre from a very fundamental standpoint. It explores the very nature of people on a stage, and how theatre practitioners are moved to act in the pursuit of an endeavour that might be termed artistic.

Ionesco removes notions of stories, characters and logical coherence, to locate a theatrical entity that can make sense without the reliance on narrative and other conventions for communication. Quite similarly, director Barry Walsh’s focus on time, with ticking sounds and aforementioned clocks, takes our attention to the way we might create meaning to fill up the very passage of time in our daily lives. The personalities on stage appear to be regular English folk, and like us, they try to go about their business as though full of reason and fortitude, yet there is no disguising their alien-like demeanour in the absence of rational dialogue. Without proper context or a sense of regular storytelling to guide us, ordinary people (or in this case, middle class suburbanites) begin to dissolve into a strange melange of movements, interactions and emotions, allowing us to observe human behaviour as though from an alternate universe. We are encouraged to find an understanding of the self through a process of detachment. For a moment, we become the aliens, looking in on Earth with fresh eyes to study the human process, and to realise the Dada ridiculousness of it all.

Walsh is adept at creating an atmosphere of awkwardness, which in itself is an intriguing sensation to experience, but also curiously relevant to the play’s essence. There is a gently comic quality to the scenes that he composes, but chemistry between actors can seem lacking in key moments where bigger laughs could be delivered. Performances are effective when the players become adventurous and are able to momentarily spin out of control, but there seems a tendency for them to feel needlessly restrained most of the duration. Timothy Hope as Mr Smith is the most mischievous in the cast, and leaves an impression with exaggerated manoeuvres that not only entertain, but are also in line with the spirit of the work.

Through strangeness, we approach truth. When encountering the bizarre, our instincts respond by identifying scant elements that provide familiarity, in order that we may formulate personal associations that resonate. How we read any instance of obscure artistic expression, relies heavily on the constitution of each individual audience member, thus presenting an opportunity for self-reflection. The act of theatre attendance is one of community, so the construction of meaning also occurs in the meeting of minds, and hence a collective reality can be manufactured. It is human to experience and interpret, and with The Bald Soprano, there is certainly plenty of room for both those pleasures.

www.kingstreettheatre.com.au

5 Questions with Sheridan Harbridge and Ryan Johnson

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Sheridan Harbridge

Sheridan Harbridge

Ryan Johnson: Is 80 Minutes No Interval exactly what it claims to be?
Sheridan Harbridge: It is exactly that. 80 minutes of punchy fun dark love with no breaks for a wee. Compact theatre for the average functioning bladder.

Your character has a real issue with theatre. Do you empathise?
My character Clare has a real problem with artsy fartsy theatre. She sits in the audience and feels ignored by the plays she sees. I don’t have that problem, I go dreamy for a beautiful classic where the director gets out of the way and honours the playwright’s intention, but I do also like risk and experimentation in my theatre. Unlike Clare, I am empathetic with the nature of risk and that more often than not, it doesn’t work, and you’re left with 35 actors running around on stage for 7 hours in diamante G-strings, holding dildos stuck on the end of some glittered sceptres singing Kylie Minogue hits in Latin. But when the risk pays off, the “Locomotion” in Latin is a real winner.

Do you think theatre needs to be more accessible?
I love the theatre scene in Australia. For the small arts community we have, we have a range of companies ticking the boxes for whatever may be your flavour. The problem is always the struggle for money, and how quickly these companies and artists burn out trying to consistently produce quality accessible and experimental theatre. Then they have to take less risks to stay safe and afloat and we all begin to complain again.

What makes our play different?
It’s a beautiful dark dark comedy with so much heart, and so so much absurdity. And plenty of fake blood, S&M whippings and nudity from an actor so handsome even Nanna will like it.

Most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in the theatre?
I saw a girl spill a tin of pencils on the floor and stand on them for half an hour trying to stay upright while monologuing. She fell so many times, the pencils were splitting in pieces and cutting the hell out of her legs. Exceptional.

Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson

Sheridan Harbridge: Is 80 Minutes No Interval exactly what it claims to be?
Ryan Johnson: Yes, depending on how many laughs we get and also how fast we act. It is absolutely endeavouring to be 80 minutes and it definitely has no interval.

Your character Louis is desperate to make a great work of art, to leave a legacy behind. What will people say about the legacy of Ryan Johnson?
I don’t think I’ll be remembered as a great actor or father or husband. It won’t be as ‘that scallywag who always seemed to have time for a chat with everyone.’ No – I’ll be remembered as the guy from the Cadbury Favourites commercial.

What do you think about 8-hour plays with 2 intervals and a dinner break?
I would rather eat hair. No one needs that in their life. Maybe the tech operators on the show who get paid by the hour but for anyone else, I’d say “don’t buy a ticket, you’re just enabling them”. If you want to be confused for 8 hours while watching A-list Australian actors talk funny in silly costumes, just watch one of the Hobbit movies.

What’s your favourite moment in the show?
The bits where you and Robin do anything. I think you are both comically brilliant and I feel very fortunate I get to share a space with you both!

What’s the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen in the theatre?
90’s Australian Basketball megastar Andrew Gaze in Jack And The Beanstalk at the Gold Coast Art Centre. The production was brilliant but he just didn’t capture the giant’s vulnerability. I wanted to know what was behind his ‘hunger’ for Jack but I couldn’t help but feel like Andrew was just ‘playing evil’.

Sheridan Harbridge and Ryan Johnson can be seen in 80 Minutes No Interval by Travis Cotton.
Dates: 8 March – 9 April, 2016
Venue: Old Fitz Theatre