Sweet Shorts, Week One, Top 20
Snuck a preview at the first week of Short and Sweet plays last night, the dress rehearsal open to writers, actors and other festival satellites – and the news is upbeat.
Of course, teething pains are part of the fun, like a wayward spot, a duffed word or a set-up taking almost as long as the play – in the case of Polygamy, by Jane Harrison.
But plenty of rewarding theatre, with my favourite combining a drumkit, two Russians and a forbidden Beatles tune – Kanat & the Red Army by Dan Giovannoni. Dan himself plays an implicit role, paying tribute to the story’s source – and this touch alone is elegant and exciting. Elijah Ungvary, as Kanat, is mercurial, with smokin’ rhythm on the skins.
A second bell-ringer is Christopher Pender, a riffing amnesiac, in Mark Andrew’s Tipping Point. While the play’s title and program blurb throw me for a loop, the piece is sublime, with Andrew’s signature anxiety leavened by a dark wit, and a gorgeous denouement.
High stakes are on the table in Alex Broun’s Celine Dion Songbook. Again, a misleading title, but an engrossing tug-of-war between He and She, and their offstage son. Due to the life-and-death agenda, director Stephen Nicolazzo feels the need to overlard the melodrama in order to camouflage (or self-mock) the play’s deeper importance. Not a decision meeting with moshpit consensus.
A fan of Kate Toon, I lapped up Tumbletots, a kinder-gym meeting of two contrasting Mummies, played by Renee Palmer (‘My son said flambé yesterday’) and Suzie Thomas (‘Your son certainly looks”¦robust.’). I can see how Kate resists a false climax or ribbon-bow conclusion, opting instead for the spirit of the encounter. Could there be a stronger story – or is an attuned ear and sharp eye more than ample? Discuss.
There. I’ve leapt onto a limb, telling you my fab four for Week One. Against all good advice, this same black duck will continue to spy and play judge through the next three weeks, till Short and Sweet gives way to Santa.
As a fellow script-head, I should declare a conflict of interest, my own play bobbing up on the last Saturday, December 20. But closer to the bone, this whole pageant is more a celebration of story and execution, versus contest.
Tonight of course is the first official night. For anyone in Melbourne, grab a ticket, and disagree with everything I’ve said. Whichever night or matinee you choose, you’re in for a spice rack, from dill to sage, and not a pinch of ruing, promise.