Tag Archives: tamarama rock surfers

Short Plays #1 (Tamarama Rock Surfers)

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shorts1Venue: Bondi Pavilion Theatre (Bondi NSW), Jul 17 & 24
Playwrights: Jessica Tuckwell, Chris Summers, Mark Rogers, Nakkiah Lui
Directors: Kate Gaul, Corey McMahon, Phil Spencer, Matilda Ridgway
Actors: Sandie Eldridge, Lorna Munro, Huw McKinnon, Madeleine Levins, Simon Corfield
Image from Facebook

Theatre review
Four plays with different themes, styles and ideas, all with its own appeal. The opportunities a short play presents is manifold, but chiefly, it allows for the exploration of a single idea with minimal distraction from sub-plots, secondary characters and other auxiliary elements.

Dessert is a macabre story about marriage and death. Sandie Eldridge’s performance of a middle-aged widow impressively positions the play in a delusional psychological space but carefully presents her character with empathy and sadness.  The balance between shock value and sensitivity in this work is exquisite.Washer Woman also features a lone female character. Jessica Tuckwell’s script is poetic and abstract, and Madeleine Levins brings to the piece enough tension and drama to create a semblance of narrative to keep its audience engaged.

The Buck tackles mateship and Aussie bloke culture. The piece creates a formidable air of violence in the theatre, effectively focussing on the dark side to contemporary Australian lives. Similarly working with danger and brutality is Ideginaiety, which presents a harrowing perspective of revenge and colonialism. This is an interesting exploration into indigenous culture through a prism of metaphysicality and crime. The structure of the script and the brave choices it makes is original and powerful, and definitely warrants an extended rendering.

www.bondifeast.com.au

Siberian Hot Toddy (Siberian Hot Tododians)

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toddyVenue: Bondi Pavilion Theatre (Bondi NSW), Jul 24-25
Playwright: Cait Harris with cast improvisations
Director: Cait Harris
Actors: Cait Harris, Libby Ahearn, Mark Sutton, Tiffany Hulm

Theatre review
A small group of funny performers, presumably friends, come together to make people laugh. This might sound like the simplest of propositions, but not only has Cait Harris been able to have her crew commit to this project with minimal resources and get it included in the Bondi Feast festival programme, they have devised a modern absurdist comedy that is truly hilarious. It only takes a minute or two before the audience recognises the group’s style of humour, and laughter starts. Ranging from ticklish giggles to raucous guffaws, every moment of this hour-long play is met with laughter. The cast’s ability to impart their daring and mindless silliness like an infectious laughter is an unusual talent. This is probably the first time a crowd finds the curling of a rodent’s tail to create a disguise for a pig, to be so side-splittingly amusing.

Mark Sutton plays three characters, all with a casual but riveting sense of fun. Along with cast member Tiffany Hulm, the “Siberian-accented” speech is well utilised if slightly politically incorrect. The female performers all present variations of “the bimbo” with glee; it must be noted that both genders are portrayed with equal stupidity. Harris plays American Bondi girl Toosh (Fanny’s best friend) who is delightfully frivolous and also charming in her innocence. Her sense of timing creates the biggest laughs, and it is her unique sense of humour that takes this crazy little show into a space where laughter conquers indiscriminately.

www.pozible.com/project/27102