Short and Sweet 09 Top 30 Week 3
Short and Sweet
5 December 2009
Chapel off Chapel
Three cheers for Week Three! The final top 11 for Short and Sweet 2009 proved that, even with a few duds, this festival needs to stay around, as original stories and a sense of fun came back to the stage.
Pat Sheil’s A Safe Pair of Hands is a funny and original look at an Anzac legend, and what a treat to have John Derum on the stage.
A Matter of Taste was as light and complex as a beet foam infused with basil, and as intriguing as the Masterchef final. I love that writer Kathryn Goldie knows that audiences are clever creatures and left the ending open.
The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe was the Queen Mum, when she was just Queen. I liked the idea that she was really Eric’s mum, but there were some holes in the plot that left too much unanswered.
You May Kiss The Bride is a lazy title for a delightful work. Emma Moore immediately makes the audience part of her story and doesn’t let them go. It may work better to keep where they are a secret for a bit longer and let the audience figure it out before the characters do.
Jane Miller continues to writes great short plays that reveal complex characters, and it was wonderful to see her working with comedy in The Tea Break. Anyone who has ever worked in an office has wanted to do exactly the same thing.
Suburbia was bogans fucking. It made fun of stereotypes and anal sex and no one seemed to use condoms.
Difficult Circumstances With Time Bomb (and ‘yuppies’). When there’s a bomb in the room and the title, you have to make us really care about the folk in peril. It was very funny though, even if it ended a few seconds too late.
Paul Tolton’s This is Heaven made up for it’s lack of real story by being gorgeous and sweet and showing a wonderful relationship that we cared about.
Carl Sorheim’s It’s All The Rage made me uncomfortable. I didn’t enjoy the experience – which is so much better than just not caring.
Short Sharp Shock is a terrific joke that was eight minutes too long with an ending that must be binned before its next outing.
Wonderful puppets, the best costumes of the festival and some beaut jokes, but Limpets came unstuck with story.
PS - Last week I suggested that a Best of Short and Sweet program would be great and, if I’d read the program fully, I would have known that there is one already planned.
This review appeard on AussieTheatre.com.
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