SHORT+SWEET THEATRE, AUCKLAND 2012
) |
in association with STAMP at THE EDGE at Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland From 18 Sep 2012 to 6 Oct 2012 Reviewed by: Reynald Castaneda; Sharu Delilkan (Theatre Scenes - Auckland Theatre Blog); Janet McAllister (New Zealand Herald); Raewyn Whyte; Raewyn Whyte; Nik Smythe; Nik Smythe; James Wenley; Reynald Castaneda; |
Short+Sweet… maybe you'll laugh, maybe you'll cry; it's all about to happen, ten minutes at a time.
Short+Sweet Theatre, Auckland 2012
18 September – 7 October, at the Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE.
Prefer watching the 100 metre sprint to the full marathon? Short+Sweet Theatre is back — the fast and furious festival where Auckland's best writers, directors and actors present 10 minute plays with all the impact of a full length show.
Short+Sweet - The biggest little play festival in the world - produces hundreds of the best ten minute plays from across the globe each year and hits Auckland for its third year in a row this September/October.
Bigger than ever, Short+Sweet Auckland now has a top 30 across a three week season adding an extra 10 shows to last years festival. Over three weeks in the Herald Theatre, 50 plays, 50 directors, and over 100 actors will perform, culminating in a Gala finale where the best of the festival are celebrated.
Each night Short+Sweet presents ten plays, each no longer than ten minutes. It's a night at the theatre where you never quite know what is coming next, a feast of styles and subjects, where the next play is only ever ten minutes away and the audience get to be the judge.
Short+Sweet starts with a call for entries asking playwrights to submit scripts, independent theatre companies to submit proposals and directors and actors to apply to be involved. All scripts submitted are automatically entered in every Short+Sweet festival around the world giving playwrights a chance to have their work performed internationally with over two thousand scripts submitted worldwide each year.
‘It's exciting; as well as presenting some of the best ten-minute theatre in the world; Short+Sweet has launched careers. It's a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved, to try something new, showcase their talent and work with people they may have never met before' says Jonathan Hodge, Festival Director.
Auckland's 2011 Grand final winner A Stitch in Time – an hilarious 10 minute musical about a bomb detonation team - by Independent theatre company ‘Sampson Richards Frederic Productions' was given the opportunity to perform in Melbourne's Short+Sweet festival where they won both the people's choice and the Judges Choice in the Wildcard section. Back again this year they will be up against fierce competition from old hands and newbies as they take on last years winners in the battle to be crowned champion.
‘It's fantastic to have such a plethora of talent this year from directors to writers to performers like Kura Forrester, Bruce Hopkins, Alison Bruce, Renee Lyons, Tainui Tukiwaho and Liesha Ward Knox. It's going to be a joy to see who comes out on top' Says Jonathan.
The plays are split into five brackets, with the 30 top plays staged across week one, two, and three and 20 Wildcard performances spread across both Saturday's of the festival.
The Top 30 plays, perform from Tuesday – Saturday (ten per week) while the Wildcard shows only get one matinee performance on Saturday to strut their stuff and wow the audiences and judges as they decide who makes it through to the Gala Final.
On the final Sunday the best ten plays of the season are performed one last time. The judges choose their best production, playwright, director and actors and the people's choice award for the whole season is also announced.
‘The audience play a huge part in picking the winner. It's very exciting for everyone and it's going to be a fantastic three weeks' says Jonathan ‘So make sure you are there to cast your vote'.
The drama of Project Runway, the pressure of Master Chef, and the talent of American Idol: you will be holding your breath in anticipation as you help decide who makes it to the Final.
Short+Sweet Theatre – Funny, moving, absurd, touching and even musical, you can expect the unexpected with Short+Sweet Theatre — so are you in, or are you out?
Performance Schedule – Short+Sweet Theatre, Auckland
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE
WEEK 1
Tues 18 – Sat 22 September
Top 30 Group 1 Plays (Tues – Wed 7pm, Thurs – Sat 8pm)
Wildcard Show 1 (Saturday matinee, 3pm)
WEEK 2
Tues 25 – Sat 29 September
Top 30 Group 2 Plays (Tues – Wed 7pm, Thurs – Sat 8pm)
Wildcard Show 2 (Saturday matinee, 3pm)
WEEK 3
Tues 2 – Sat 6 October
Top 30 Group 3 Plays (Tues – Wed 7pm, Thurs – Sat 8pm)
GALA FINALS: Sunday 7 October, 2pm and 6pm
Short+Sweet Theatre, Auckland 2012
18 September – 7 October, at the Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE.
Ticketing Information
Concession available for 65+, Students and Children under 14 years
$25* adult, $20* concession (student, senior/65+), $35* GALA Finals
*plus service fees
Group price available for groups of 6+ phone Group Bookings 09 357 3354
TOP 30 – WEEK 1 (18th – 22nd SEPT)
Title: Stiff Justice
Playwright: Kerrie Ann Spicer (NZ)
Director: Bryan Johnston
Cast: Johnny Aukusitino, Preston Arthur O'Brien, Nick MacDuff
A young gung-ho cop gets a 'stiff' shock.
Title: Do Not Pull
Playwright: Sally Sutton (NZ)
Director: Kate Vox
Cast: Amelia Reynolds, Xavier Black, Jessie Graham, Liesha Ward Knox
Highschool friendships...When's it time to pull the plug?
Title: 50 Guns
Playwright: Alex Broun (AUS)
Director: Ron London Haretuku
Cast: Emma Fenton
50 guns, 50 bullets – every one has a name on it. Which one is yours?
Title: Hope
ITC: Indigenous Theatre Group
Playwright: Chantal Samuela (NZ)
Director: Jay Williams
Cast: Jay Williams, Hannelle Harris, Stacey Motu
Title: The Lighthouse Keeper
ITC: The Bear of Regret
Playwright: Nic Sampson (NZ)
Director: Nic Sampson
Cast: Barnaby Fredric and Tom Sainsbury
The story of a lonely and bitter lighthouse keeper and the curious and friendly robot who has taken over his job.
- Interval -
Title: Wisdom Of Solomon
Playwright: Tristram Baumber (AUS)
Director: Phil Brooks
Cast: Grae Bruton, Jeremy Pickford, Coen Falke, Natalie Sames, Amanda Raines, Gonzalo Deza.
The King is always right ... except when he's not.
Title: Nine Types of Ice
Playwright: Michael Ripley (Canada)
Director: Matt Gillanders
Cast: Amelia Reynolds, Xavier Black, Isaac White, Miriam Nelson Clark.
After a tragic accident, two young mother's must face the possibility of losing what they hold most dear.
Title: The Flowers
Playwright: Pete Malicki (AUS)
Director: Jonathan Hodge
Cast: Sheena Irving
Sam just wants to grow some flowers but life has different ideas.
(Please note: As Jonathan is the NZ Festival Director this play is not eligible for the competition element of the festival)
Title: Supercide
Playwright: Carl Smith (NZ)
Director: Matt Baker
Cast: Ben Barrington, Paul Lewis
Never meet your heroes.
(Due to last minute withdrawal of one of the scheduled plays there are only 9 plays in the Top 30 – Week 1)
Wildcard group 1 - September 22nd 3pm
Title: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
Playwright: Robert Barr (AUS)
Cast: Amo Ieriko, Benjamin Murray
When two political prisoners compare notes on their dire situation, the newer one seeks guidance and the older one offers assistance in a form he doesn't expect.
Title: A Cultural Hierarchy
ITC: Curious Theatre
Director and Writer: Lucinda Bennett (NZ)
Cast & Devisers: Luke Wilson, Katy Maudlin
Welcome to Pastiche gallery, where you will meet Sebastian and Angie. These two are very much looking forward to taking you on a tour of a lifetime.
Title: Bedtime Monsters
Playwright: Henrietta Bollinger (NZ)
Cast: Kate Castle, Jodie Ellis
Just how much thicker is blood than water, when it floods?
Title: How About Cannons?
Playwright: David Vazdauskas (USA)
Director: Ben Moore
Cast: Simon Clark, Michael Morris
The great composer Peter Tchaikovsky is at wits end as he struggles with a severe case of writer's block while penning the 1812 Overture, but his tempestuous younger brother comes to the rescue.
Title: Riding the Red
Playwright: Grace De Morgan (AUS)
Director: Jesse Hilford
Cast: Lana Walter, Caleb Wright
Two individuals realise they are choosing the wrong partners and the universe offers them an alternative.
Title: A Criminal Mind
Playwright: Paula Armstrong (AUS)
Director: Jordan Foulds
Cast: Jane Yonge, Ben Moore, Emily Haywood, Tom Carlyle
It seems like the perfect plan. Hold them hostage, threaten them with torture, extort money. But the torturer is running late and sends the accountant in his place….and the accountant has other plans. A black comedy with a twist.
Title: For Our Kind
Playwright: Michelle Macwhirter (AUS)
Director: Kinloch Anstiss
Cast: Belinda Wylie, Matthew Cousins
After a global disaster in 2032, Madison is one of the few fertile female survivors left alive. Naval Officer Cooper is sent to ensure she cooperates in the species survival program.
Title: Mechanics
ITC: Skux Capacitor
Playwrights: Eli Matthewson & Joseph Moore (NZ)
Director: Eli Matthewson
Cast: Eli Matthewson & Joseph Moore
Would you choose your family over a sweet car? Mechanics, Harper and Kent, never thought they'd have to make the call. But when Harper knocks up his Journalist missus, shit begins misfire under the bonnet.
TOP 30 – WEEK 2 (25th - 29th Sept)
Title: The Gospel According to Bowser
Playwright: Dan Borengasser (USA)
Director: Mark Scott
Cast: Tainui Tukiwaho, Danielle Van Resseghem, Matt MacDougall, Lisette de Jong, Mia Curreen-Poko
Meet Bowser - amiable family dog – whose world is turned upside down in a devastating theological battle with Pussums, the family's new kitten.
ITC: Monetum Productions
Title: The Gift
Playwright: Mike Lowe (NZ)
Director: Dan Cowley
Cast: Simon Clark, Mike Lowe.
Not every gift we receive is appreciated.
ITC: Stampy Theatre Company
Title: The South Africans
Playwright, Director and Cast: Robyn Paterson (NZ)
Gordon and Helene Van Pattisburg are South Africans who are contemplating the great immigration to New Zealand. Well, one of them is.
ITC: Winter's Collective
Title: Boys' Outing
Director: Bruce Brown
Cast: Graham Candy, Ryan Dulieu
If Godot were a bus... Two schoolboys stand at a bus stop, waiting for their ride. A story of camaraderie, self acceptance and unexpected connections, found in the most unlikely of people.
Title: The Break Up
Playwright: Glen Pickering (NZ)
Director: Glen Pickering
Cast: Rohan Glynn, Lauren Porteous, Anthea Hill, Matt Baker
Ever wanted to break up with someone but needed to keep the bed?
ITC: Nocturne Theatre
Title: The Wedding
Playwright: Kate Prior - based on a short story by Alice Miller (NZ)
Director: Kate Prior
Cast: Liesha Ward Knox, Coen Falke
A man and a woman find themselves in a motel room after a civil union ceremony. The past is excavated in order to reveal each other in the present.
Title: A Different Client
Playwright: Josh Hartwell (USA)
Director: Chris Molloy
Cast: Darren Taniue, Rob Williams
An upper-middle-class gentlemen is visited by a younger male escort. His desires are not as simple as the young man anticipates.
Title: The Smell of Rain
Playwright: Renée Boyer-Willisson (NZ)
Director: Anna Nuria Francino
Cast: Emma Newborn, Preston Arthur O'Brien
A chance meeting in a cafe one rainy day could prove life changing for Mike and Serenity - but will it?
ITC: Team M&M Productions
Title: The Guilt Sniffer
Director: Mark Prebble
Cast: Matt Baker, Tatiana Hotere, Marion Shortt, Sheena Irving
To Solve the Mayor's murder, Detective Wright must overcome her obsession with evidence and trust her new partner's nose
WILDCARDS – WEEK 2 (Sat 29th Sept)
Title: Replay
Playwright: Angie Farrow (NZ)
Director: Katherine Hair
Cast: Matt Haliday, Breigh Fouy, Aman Bajaj, Isabella Debbage
A woman shoots her husband in cold blood but he does not die and despite numerous replays, her efforts are thwarted.
ITC: 'Le Petit Workshop
Title: TBC
Director: Kowhai Wilke
Cast: Alisha Laurie Paul, Ella Becroft
Title: Coma Sutra
Playwright: Kate Toon (AUS)
Director: Ross Anderson
Cast: Tim McPoland, Helena Grace Treadwell
Matt's brain has turned to soup after not missing the bus. Now he dreams of sex, stars and Suze.
ITC: MigHT-i Theatre
Title: Mirage
Playwrights: Vishal Patil, Devdutt Parajape, Prashant Belwalkar
Director: Devdutt Paranjape
Cast: Devdutt Paranjape, Vishal Patil, Supriya Nigudkar, Shweta Divekar, Vaishani Paranjape & Anamika Belwalkar
Life is greener on the other side of the fence, a dilema faced by a family split by migration bringing challenges of bringing up its children!
ITC: Theatre of Love
Title: Moaner
Cast: Romy Hooper, Alexandra McKellar, Kaitlin Riegel, James Wenley<br />Devised by the Cast
What do famous paintings get up to late at night after the tourists have left?
ITC: Matapihi
Title: Pëhanga – (Pressure)
Playwright & Director: Rangi Rangitukunoa
Cast: Roimata Fox, Rangi Rangitukunoa, Koikoi Rangitukunoa
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that Totara grow strong in contrary winds, and Pounamu is made under Pëhanga – Pressure.
Title: Just Desserts
Playwright: Kelley Baker (Canada)
Director: Jessie McCall
Cast: Kate Castle
An impassioned prison cook must defend his unusual commitment to the Last Meal for men on Death Row when his new employer challenges him on it.
ITC: Sexy Bird
Title: The Psychologist
Playwright & Director: James Crompton (NZ)
Cast: Kate Vox, James Crompton
George Phibbs is sent to see a psychologist whose methods have more than a little madness to them.
Title: Slick Dame
Playwright: Kay Poiro (USA)
Director: Ella Becroft
Cast: Alison Bruce, Bruce Hopkins
A slick dame, a hardened private dick … interrupt anytime!
TOP 30 – WEEK 3 (2nd - 6th Oct)
Title: A Small War, A Very Long Way Away
Playwright: Angus Algie (AUS)
Director: Benjamin Legg
Cast: Michael Morris, Lisa Sorenson, Matt Halliday
The Prime Minister of Great Britain sends the world to Coventry
ITC:Northland Youth Theatre
Title: Youandamoebaby
Playwright: Miranda Hallett-Pullen (NZ)
Director: Miranda Hallett-Pullen
Cast: Dean Atkins, Zara Skuse, Lutz Hamm, Rachel Boyd
A key moment in evolutionary history without which things would be very different.
Title: Spit For Tat
Playwright: Alex Dremann (USA)
Director: Simon Clark
Cast: Grae Burton, Jess Holly Bates.
A couple find it hard to agree. Most unusual!
ITC: Checkmate Productions
Title: STAGE FRIGHT
Playwright: Jo Sheridan
Director: Susan Ronn
Cast: Carol McLinden, Val Rippey, Margaret Aish, and Jo Sheridan.
Half of a barbershop quartet have stage fright. The other two concoct a plan that will sort out their stage fright once and for all.
Title: On the Shelf
Playwright: Michelle Wallace (AUS)
Director: Mike Lowe
Cast: Lauren Porteous, Jessie Graham, Phoebe Borwick
Carrot, Cauliflower and Celeriac find out that it doesn't matter what your hopes and dreams are – sometimes you're just destined to end up in the soup.
ITC: Transbury Productions
Title: Starving, Carving, Darling
Playwright: Sally Tran & Tom Sainsbury (NZ)
Director: Sally Tran
Cast: Kelly Taylor, Suzann James, Madeline Cooper, Jessie McCall, Helana Grace-Treadwell, David Mackie
Violet Vickers is about to learn how to be beautiful.... the bloody way.
Title: Imperfectly Frank
Playwright: Seth Freeman (USA)
Director: Alex Lee
Cast: Aman Bajaj, Monica Mahendru, Sangeeta Hariharan, Prasad Joshi
Emotions run high when a time-honored tradition faces a contemporary twist.
Title: Speed Dating
Playwright: Tara Calaby (AUS)
Director: Jessica Wood
Cast: Ria Vandervis, Kura Forrester
How many women does it take to make a man?
ITC: Funny Thing Productions
Title: Mother's Milk
Playwright: Eryn Wilson (NZ)
Director: Curtis Vowell
Cast: Bruce Hopkins, Kelson Henderson
Son and Dad like a drink. Dad's trying to get on a plane. Son's trying not to turn into Dad.
ITC: Book Club
Title: Sauna
Playwright: Lee Smith-Gibbons (NZ)
Director: Tom Sainsbury
Cast: Lee Smith-Gibbons, Jessica Joy Wood, Kura Forrester, Renee Lyons
Things heat up for four women in the sauna.