What Melbourne loved in 2019, part 11

My best of 2019 will be published on Monday.

Melbourne's most loved shows of 2019 are Daddy, Unwoman, Barbara and The Camp Dogs and Grand Finale.  

What an amazing selection! Two Melbourne indie shows, one Sydney/Melbourne company co-production show and one international festival production. (I haven't seen Daddy yet, but will do what I can to see it during Midsumma.)

Thank you so much to everyone who's been a part of the series this year and since 2012: I've loved doing it and love that so much theatre and so many artists can be celebrated and supported in ways that don't care about star ratings.

So let's finish with someone who has been here every year and whose ongoing support of independent arts and arts writing in Melbourne is unsurpassed: Richard Watts. (And me.)

Richard Watts
Performing Arts Editor at Arts Hub, presenter Smart Arts at RRR, bloody legend

Richard Watts at the Cliffs of Moher

As a result of taking long service leave from my day job at ArtsHub in August–September, I didn’t see as many shows as usual this year – I even missed the entire Melbourne Fringe for the first time in over 20 years, due to spending most of September holidaying in Ireland. I did see some great shows at the Dublin Fringe and Dublin Theatre Festival, but that’s a whole other entry

My many Melbourne highlights (not including the many shows I also saw interstate) included:

Barbara and the Camp Dogs. Co-written by and starring Ursula Yovich, this raw, electrifying, vital piece of theatre at Malthouse was skillfully directed by Leticia Caceres. One moment you were roaring with laughter, the next sobbing as an emotional gut-punch caught you unaware. Part sweaty pub rock, part theatre, and always thrilling.

Cock. Directed by Beng Oh at fortyfivedownstairs, this indie production featured the year’s most sensual sex scene – in which the actors kept their clothes on the whole time.

Mr Burns: A post-Electric Play. A triumph of independent theatre directed by John Kachoyan for Lighting Jar Theatre. Great performances, exquisite lighting by Richard Vabre, and Sophie Woodward’s sets and costumes were an absolute triumph.

Harry Potter and Cursed Child Parts One and Two. I went in cynical, I came out awed. Stunning stagecraft and some truly remarkable coups de théâtre which had the audience gasping – myself included. Yes, tickets are prohibitively expensive, but it really is worth it – and there’s always the Friday Forty lottery!

33 Variations. My god, wasn’t Ellen Burstyn amazing?

A View from the Bridge. Tension so tight you could hear the whole audience holding its breath, superb direction by Iain Sinclair, and judiciously minimal staging thanks to Christina Smith’s set and Niklas Pajanti’s lighting. Yes, there was a clear debt to Ivo van Hove's Spartan 2014 production, but instead of a stark white stage, here we got dark, brooding, electrifying minimalism. If Zoe Terakes and Steve Bastoni don’t get Green Room nominations for their performances in this production I’ll eat my hat.

Giantess. Cassie Workman’s imaginative, incisive and moving show at this year’s MICF was a thing of rare beauty: wryly funny, skilfully constructed and performed, and occasionally heartbreaking. So good I saw it twice.

The Aspie Hour. This clever cabaret about neurodiversity and musical theatre was another MICF highlight. If you missed it, it’s been programmed in Sydney Festival in January, should you fancy a trip north.

Magma. Also at MICF, Andy Matthews and Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall’s offbeat, intelligent and hilarious investment seminar was without doubt the funniest show I saw all year. I literally roared with laughter.

Neal Portenza is Josh Ladgrove. Bilge pumps! Bilge pumps! Bilge pumps!

Wake In Fright. My god, wasn’t Zahra Newman amazing?

Modern Maori Quartet. Initially this cabaret at Arts Centre Melbourne struck me as a trifle too slick for its own good, but about 15 minutes in it all clicked into place for me, and I was enthralled and delighted and crying and applauding rapturously.

Between Tiny Cities. Contemporary dance that’s inventive, technically adept, passionate and accessible. I love the fact that it was programmed as part of Arts Centre Melbourne’s family program – watching an enthralled circle of kids watching such virtuosic b-boying was an utter delight.

Come From Away. If you don’t like musical theatre ,then go see this show. If you love musical theatre go see this show. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Gander in Newfoundland receives an immediate increase in visiting Melburnians as a result of this life-affirming, heart-warming production.

Overture. Comedy in dance? Jo Lloyd makes it work beautifully. I’m so glad that Jonathan Holloway programmed a return season of this work for his final Melbourne International Arts Festival.

High Performance Packing Tape. Thrilling contemporary performance at the Meat Market as part of MICF in which Phil Downing’s sound design played a critical part. Never has watching a balloon inflate been so anxiety-inducing.

Colossus. Choreographed by Stephanie Lake and created for the 2018 Melbourne Fringe, Colossus was remounted for MIAF, and what a delight it was. Featuring some 50 dancers on the small Fairfax Studio stage at Arts Centre Melbourne, this exquisite work explores everything from subsumed individuality and the frightening power of the mob to the sound of the body in motion – hissing breath, snapped fingers, pounding feet. Athletic and multi-sensory, courageous and profound, it can soon be seen at Sydney Festival in January and Perth Festival in February – don’t miss it.


Looking forward to in 2020.
So much! Joel Bray’s Daddy, Selina Jenkins’s Boobs, Campion Decent’s The Campaign and You & I by Casus Circus at Midsumma; Kim Ho’s The Great Australian Play at Theatre Works; Grey Arias, the long overdue mainstage season of Patricia Cornelius’s Do Not Go Gentle... , and, especially, Loaded at  Malthouse; Benjamin Law’s Torch the Place, Dan Giovannoni’s Slap. Bang. Kiss., Fun Home and, especially, Andrea James’s bio-play about Evonne Goolagong, Sunshine Super Girl at the MTC; À Ố Làng Phối, Metal and Black Ties at Asia TOPA – and so much more. Most of all, I’m looking forward to seeing our beloved La Mama rising from the ashes as construction of the restored and future-proofed theatre gets underway.

SM: Richard is the hardest working arts journalist that I know. He sees as much as he possibly can, writes about the issues that no other publications write about, is the chair of the La Mama board, and has been on RRR on Thursday mornings for Smart Arts for FIFTEEN YEARS – as a volunteer.

How cool would it be if for his every show of 2020, a different delicious cake, a strong morning coffee and a cold post-show cider (he doesn't like beer) were waiting for him at the station. This isn't a joke.


Anne-Marie Peard
Arts writer

Anne-Marie Peard at Lakes Entrance

Favouirte moments of 2019
Lou Wall as Satan in Oh No! Satan Stole My Pineal Gland! at Melbourne Fringe.

Joshua Ladgrove as Satan in The many names of Bilge Pumps at MICF and Melbourne Fringe and, especially, dealing with the crappest microphone ever at the final fundraising performance in Decemeber.

Gender Euphoria with Mama Alto and the most incredible casts at Midsumma and MIAF. If the absolute joy generated by this show could be shared, the world would be a much better place,

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child: The relief and complete toe-tingling joy at the first cape swish and knowing that it was going to be as good as I imagined it could be. It was better. One day, I'll win the lottery and get to see it again.

The now-gone gun in Bron Battern's Waterloo and watching audience members make a choice that would swear they would never make.

Nikki Viveca's bee dance in Wasp Movie at Melbourne Fringe.

Break up by New Zealand's Binge Culture at Melbourne Fringe. This year, I watched more of this five-hour impro show than I did last year, and want to sit through all of it one year.

Running workshops with indie artists and seeing them get media coverage as a result. 

Seeing students get published.

What I'm looking forward to in 2020
Asia TOPA,  Po Po Mo Co's Summer of the 17th Doll, and seeing all those first shows that introduce new artists to the Melbourne arts community.

But what I'm most looking forward to is that significant companies, funded organisations and commercial producers SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA.

There are many amazing independent critical voices out there and so many more emerging voices wanting to be heard and wanting to be advocates and supporters of the arts in Melbourne.

But these voices are rarely supported by the companies and organisations that have the resources to offer support. 

The best funded and supported companies in our town don't support independent voices, including  online sites, podcasts, radio shows, student publications and social media wonders. 

Writers aren't invited to shows, and if they do see work, their considered commentary isn't shared. 

I know where I'm welcome when I write for mastheads and not welcome otherwise.

There is lots of love about these companies in indie writing; none of which is shared by the companies with their audience. All the positive and supportive things said about any company with funding in this series hasn't been shared, liked or, possibly, even read by companies. 

None. 

I reckon that subscribers, sponsors and the artists would love to know that their work was among some people's favourite moments of the year.

These companies are also missing the opportunity to have commentary from people who see so many shows that they can write about the big picture over many years. There isn't room for this type of reflection in 300-worder in a masthead. They miss the voices of people who were  there when some of the biggest names on our stages were performing in tiny venues. These writers were the early support and encouragement and can write about work with an understanding and a history that can't be summed up in a star rating.

They miss out on being part of the history and the archive that indie coverage offers.

They miss out on writing that is more than a quoted word or phrase. 

By focusing on the potential short-term benefit of a review, they miss out on the long-term gains.

And what about all the new writers? Writers need to see work and need to write and be read. If they aren't welcome at shows, what does this say about your company?

If all you want is stars and adjectives, here:

****

Quote away.

I know how important indie voices are to artists; they talk to me and sometimes those messages and conversations are enough to keep writing.

So, here's to a year where every funded company invites EVERY indie voice, says yes to every student and emerging artist who would like to see shows, reads what they say and shares those voices.

SM: A-M spends a lot of her year convincing me to keep doing this. She reads the emails and messages. She buys me dumplings and convinces me to see another show each night during a festival.

But it's time to say goodbye.  

I look forward to passing on the torch, teaching and mentoring new voices and putting my hand up as a date to shows.

What Melbourne Loved in 2019, part 8

Today we hear from Charlotte, Beng and Christopher.

There's still time to contribute, but not much; it's not going all the way through the month this year. The form is linked on all the early parts. Or all the info is here.

Charlotte Strantzen Bair
Actor, presenter, theatre-maker and mother to two amazing humans

Charlotte Strantzen Bair

Favourite moments in 2019.
I'm thrilled that 2019 held more highlights than lowlights for me, with some really bright spots. My musical theatre picks for the year were Muriel's Wedding and Come from Away. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Muriel.  Would the film translate to stage? Will it have aged well? Any cynicism in me was quickly washed away by the sheer joy of the show, with Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall's music being ably performed by a fabulous cast (including, I discovered while watching, the wonderful Caleb Vines, whom I shared a stage with many times in the early 2000s in school holiday pantomimes! It made my year to see him all grown up and working in such a successful show). Come From Away was everything it was cracked up to be and more. It felt especially personal to us as my husband was in the USAA and away from family on September 11, so the emotional reaction was strong. I'm enjoying listening to the soundtrack now!

I saw some excellent kids theatre with my children, including ROFLSHALBOWCO by The Listies (not just for children!) at the Malthouse and Mad as a Cute Snake by Amelia Evans and Dan Giovannoni at Theatre Works. It's a real treat to see companies produce work that respects their young audiences and pushes the boundaries without making a big deal of it.

In comedy, I loved Keep at MICF by Daniel Kitson – I could listen to his storytelling for hours (and have!) – and Hot Donkey by Northern Ireland's Paul Currie, which takes on particular significance this week after the death of his hero, Caroll Spinney. Months later, I still find myself randomly breaking out into "Pandas for hands, I've got pandas for hands!".

My heart was warmed to see my friend and colleague Andi Snelling back on stage with Happy-Go-Wrong, which, as  already  mentioned in this series, is a great achievement. And, whie it didn't hit all the marks for me, I really enjoyed Raw Material and Traverse Theatre Company's What Girls Are Made Of as part of the Melbourne Interntional Festival of Arts.

Looking forward to in 2020.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at long last! My brother and I are taking Mum for her 70th birthday...totally selflessly, of course! And, in a not-strictly-theatre sense, I am hanging out for My Dad Wrote a Porno in January and Tim Minchin's encore tour of Back in March.

SM: There are people who are always working and performing but we don't see them in our reviews and on the big stages. Charlotte makes theatre in homes and at parties and events. She (and her husband and colleauges) do murder mystery parties and theme parties and children's parties. They get to know their audiences in ways that few performers do. They make events become "the best day of my life". That's pretty great.

(PS. Are we allowed to start a count down to #MelbournePornoDay?)

Beng Oh
Director and theatre maker

Beng Oh

Favourite moments in 2019.
I didn’t see as much as I would have liked to this year but having said that, stand-outs for me include:

Ars Nova’s production of Underground Railroad Game at Malthouse. A funny, subversive and disturbing look at race relations with fully committed performances. Troubling in a good way.

Samah Sabawi’s Them at La Mama was beautifully directed by Bagryana Popov with a strong cast. It’s on the Victorian Premiere’s Literary Awards 2020 drama shortlist and is coming back in 2020 at the Arts Centre.

Also at La Mama, Rory Godbold’s When The Light Leaves was a timely piece as assisted dying laws came into effect. It’s a moving production that’s coming back for Midsumma 2020.

Declan Greene’s production of Wake in Fright at  Malthouse with Zahra Newman was simply brilliant and sucked you in right from the word go.

Opera Australia’s production of Aribert Reimann’s Ghost Sonata was a knockout. The singers sang some extremely tricky music with aplomb (and excellent diction) and Greg Eldridge’s production, in surreal designs by Emma Kingsbury, brought a really difficult piece to life.

Stephanie Lake’s Colossus with nearly 50 dancers was hypnotic and entrancing and I would have been happy to immediately watch it a second time. Still on dance, Hofesh Shechter’s exhilarating Grand Finale at MIAF really felt like the culmination of their work to date.

Anthem directed by Susie Dee at MIAF skilfully wove together five writers and a large cast into a memorable piece of theatre.

Last, but not least, Laurence Strangio’s The Year of Magical Thinking had a luminous performance by Jillian Murray coupled with exquisite lighting by Andy Turner.


Looking forward to in 2020.
Lots of things, not least of which are the Mozart Requiem by Romeo Castelluci, Robert Icke’s The Doctor, and Enter Achilles by DV8 (I can’t see it but I’m still excited by it) at Adelaide Festival.

Two shows in Melbourne stand out though. I missed it first time round and am excited about seeing Joel Bray’s Daddy. It’s queer, indigenous work with the lot. And sugar, lots of sugar. Not to be missed.

Susie Dee and Patricia Cornelius teaming up once more on Do Not Go Gentle... at Malthouse. I first saw the play in Julian Meyrick’s production at fortyfivedownstairs in 2010 and can’t wait to see what this latest production is like.

SM: I really enjoyed Beng's direction of Daniel Keene's Wild Cherries at La Mama, but what I remember most is how he let us see Cock though the hearts of the characters and brought a new reading to the well-known play. It was soooo hot that night in fortyfivedownstairs and, even while we melted, the audience were totally gripped by the story.

Christopher Bryant
Playwright, academic, sometimes performer

Christopher Bryant. Photo by Sarah Walker

Favourite moments in 2019.
I saw Barbara and the Camp Dogs and Underground Railroad Game at Malthouse in the same week and nine months later, I'm still thinking about them both. They both expertly navigated hilarity through some really dark places, and were all the more affecting for it.

The end of Working With Children by Nicola Gunn. I'd watch her eat cereal (but like, not in a creepy way), so, of course, I loved her performance. But the way it ended – kind of, leaving the audience in all these questions she'd raised, watching all these machine-based optical illusions work in silence – was oddly touching and a little bit magical. I didn't feel like the veil of "theatre" lifted until hours later.

House Sisters by Michelle Lee and the Monash Centre of Theatre and Performance: hilarious and kind of sickening in parts and genuinely kept me unsure where it was going to end up. Just really well made and written, directed and performed by some wonderful young actors.

Daddy by Joel Bray. Beautiful, beautifully made, and again, sat on the knife's edge between camp ridiculousness, intelligence and a deep well of hurt. He also navigated audience involvement/interaction incredibly well.

Looking forward to in 2020.
Loaded by Dan Giovannoni and Christos Tsiolkas (directed by Stephen Nicolazzo) and Prima Facie by Suzie Miller (directed by Lee Lewis) at Malthouse.

The Feather in the Web by Nick Coyle (directed by Declan Greene) and Orlando by Sarah Ruhl (directed by Stephen Nicolazzo) at Red Stitch.

The Great Australian Play by Kim Ho and Wellbless by Debra Thomas and Ella Roth Barton at Theatre Works.

SM: I got to see two new productions of Christopher's plays in the same week: The Other Place at Theatre Works and Disinibition at MUST. Both approached and directed in such different ways; both sharing his writing and themes and emotions in such different ways. What an amazing way to get to know a writer and their work. What an amazing experience for a writer!

MIDSUMMA: Cock

MIDSUMMA
Cock
15 Minutes from Anywhere
30 January 2019
fortyfivedownstairs
to 10 February
fortyfivedownstairs.com

UK playwright and tv writer Mike Bartlett wrote this play in 2009 and it's been on stages ever since. Its content about gender and sexuality already felt a bit dated at the time but it's not what Cock is about.

John (Matthew Connell) is the only named character. He's in his early 20s and living with his sorta-serious boyfriend (Shaun Goss). On what seems like a regular break, he meets and shags a woman (Marissa O'Reilly) and they like each other. The boyfriend is upset, more so because she's a woman. The boyfriend's dad (Scott Gooding) is also confused and is an active fighter in his son's corner.

Designer Emily Collett uses the pillars in fortyfivedownstairs to create an intimate in-the-round space. This creates the feeling of a boxing ring – especially on a far-too-hot summer night – and the instinct to cheer for a winner. And it forces the audience to look at each other as much as the action. It's much easier to pick a side when you can get your cues from the rest of the room and know who to cheer for.

What makes the script continue to be fascinating – even when the characters get a bit ranty – is that there isn't a hero to cheer for. As John can't make a decision, neither can the audience. Seeing John with both lovers lets us see him lie and do his best to protect everyone, mostly himself. In his mind, he has to make a choice and, as much as he wants someone to make it for him, no one gives him that easy way out.

Watching each relationship spa, there are so many more questions asked than the characters ask themselves. Some answers are obvious from the outside; who doesn't think they know the solution to other peoples' relationships?  If it were rom-com destined love, it'd be a cinch to choose. But the cast make sure that their characters don't see the bigger picture; they don't romanticise them or let them see beyond their own wants and needs.

While the characters are almost unsympathetic, director Beng Oh (co-founder of indie company 15 Minutes from Anywhere) keeps the action so close to each character's unknown emotional truth that, even if we don't easily like them, it's easy to find empathy and sympathy for them. And, as the tension builds, it becomes just as emotionally difficult to decide what we want them to do.

Or, of course you want Cock for Midsumma!


The MTC production from 2014.

Review: Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf
La Mama
24 August 2013
La Mama
to 25 August 2013
lamama.com.au

"Calm yourself, Hitler!"

Mein Kampf isn't Hitler's autobiography, but a farce about Hitler's imagined friendship with Jewish bookseller Shlomo Herzl when Hitler lived in Vienna hoping to be accepted into the Viennese Academy of Fine Art. He wasn't. And it's no wonder, his paintings are all technique and no style; they're dull and reveal a man who seems incapable of seeing – let alone creating – art or seeing real beauty.

It was written by George Tabori in the 1980s to belittle Hitler. Is there anything more humiliating than being laughed at?

Tabori lost nearly all of his family in Auschwitz. Born in Hungary, he was working in Berlin in the early 1930s and fled to London. Here he had novels published, wrote scripts for the "control freak" Hitchcock, was rejected by Hollywood, but discovered theatre in 1947 when he translated Brecht for the American stage. His first play was performed on Broadway, but he was blacklisted by McCarthy, possibly due to his friendship with Arthur Miller.

In 1969, his real breakthrough came with Cannibals, a play set wholly in Auschwitz, but his biggest hit was, and remains, Mein Kampf.

It's a tough one to get right; Hitler and Holocaust jokes aren't easy at the best of times and the danger of laughing too hard at faith or the Jewish characters, who's future we already known, is difficult. But director Beng Oh and his consistently wonderful cast balance the line and gleefully topple into absurd hilarity, rebalance and slip into the pain and horror that it has to acknowledge.

And all takes place in a design by Peter Mumford that embraces the La Mama fireplace so that its ongoing burning creates a tension and fear that it's almost hard to laugh over, and the costumes by Amaya Vecellio support the filth, cold and ridiculous beauty.

Glenn van Oosterom's raging and impotent Hitler is hilarious and Mark Bonanno, Stephania Pountney, Uschi Felix and Samuel Macdonald are just as memorable, but it's Mark Wilson's Schlomo who never leaves the stage. From his drawing of the La Mama raffle at the beginning, Wilson sets the tone and pace from outrageous hilarity to I-want-to-look-away-but-I-can't horror. He's the one who lets us laugh when we want to be horrified and reminds us that the only reason we're laughing is that the truth is still too hard to take in.

Let's hope that Mein Kampf gets another life. Mainly because it's bloody great theatre (with real blood), but also because it tells a story that we all know but often seem to forget.  As our federal election approaches, we're being forced to accept policy that's based on the irrational and unfounded fear and threat of people fleeing persecution, and, as we flick past photos of 100s of dead in Syria, it's important that we remember what happens when we give in to unjustified fear or become complacent because it's not happening to us.  I know we can't get Krabbot and co along to a performance, so it's up to us to recognise the words and actions of people who will do anything to maintain their power.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Photo by Sarah Walker

Mini review: True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road
23 May 2013
fortyfive downstairs
to 2 June
truelovetravels.net

Jane Miller is one of my favourite Melbourne writers. Her work lets us see the hearts of her broken characters and she knows that the only way to survive the unexpected horrors of love is to embrace the darkness and laugh.

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road is set in a country town where two couples are trying to figure out what to do next. For Maggie and Jake, it's a trip to Graceland and things like Maggie's husband or Jakes lack of money needn't stand in the way of their dream.

With spot on performances (Chris Broadstock, Marnie Gibson, Emily Goddard, David Kambouris, Elizabeth McColl and Glenn van Oosterom) and tone-perfect direction by Beng Oh, there's not much more to say, except that it finishes on Sunday.

On Writing: Jane Miller

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road
fortyfive downstairs
fortyfivedownstairs.com

In the first of a series with writers, Jane Miller talks about True Love Travels on a Gravel Road (which I'm seeing alter this week).

What made you want to write this play?
I was asked to write a piece for the National Theatre Drama School and started working on a few scenes. Unfortunately work commitments meant I couldn’t pursue the opportunity but I had written a scene between two guys on a street undertaking a business transaction with a dog barking continually and interrupting them. The rest of the play evolved from my curiosity about that transaction.

How long did it take you to write it/how many drafts?
I wrote the first scene in 2009 and finished the first draft in January 2011. I kept leaving it and coming back to it in between other projects but once I finished the complete first draft, I worked on it consistently through the readings and The R E Ross Trust Development process. We are rehearsing version 16.

Is there a character you relate strongly to?
All of them. They all have something in them that I love even when they do things I don’t understand. My characters are never directly based on myself or people I know, but they all have different little pieces of me in them.

Can you remember where you were when Elvis died?
Sadly yes, which puts me in a demographic minority in this production! I was very young and watching the Early Bird Show before school when they announced it on the news.

What’s your favourite Elvis song?
“Kentucky Rain” and “True Love Travels on a Gravel Road”, of course.

Where’s your Graceland?
New York. It is just the best place to go for a holiday and I always bring home stacks of plays from The Drama Bookshop.

What’s it like working closely with director, Beng Oh?
An absolute pleasure.  It is a collaboration that we didn’t plan but, for me in particular, has been incredibly significant. I appreciate his honesty, his eye for detail and his ability to see the possibilities for a text even as a first draft. Beng has great judgement, which I trust completely, and I have learned a huge amount about how plays work on stage working with him. He is very open to having me attend rehearsals, which is a wonderful for me as a writer because I don’t think I fully understand my work until I see it in the hands of actors and a director.  As a theatre goer, I am always excited to see what he does next and can’t wait for his production at La Mama in August of George Tabori’s Mein Kempf.

Who wins if you disagree?
The art wins.

Can you remember when you knew you wanted to be a writer?
High School. We had a fully equipped theatre and I knew I loved drama, but also knew I wasn’t an actor.

What other writing do you do? 
Not much really apart from my day job.

What playwright do you read when you need inspiration?
Sam Shepherd, Tracy Letts, Paula Vogel, Edward Albee, Sarah Kane and lots of others. I read a lot of plays. I also love hearing playwrights talk about their process.

Apart from plays, what else do you love reading?
Scandinavian murder mysteries. I absolutely love them and when Henning Mankell autographed one of his books for me at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival a few years ago I was wildly excited.

Any hints to over come writer’s block?
Read plays and see theatre. Whenever I go to the theatre, I feel absolutely inspired all over again by possibilities. Even if it is not a great play, there is something exciting about watching actors and a creative team that just makes me want to write.

What was the title of your first play?
It was actually a play I wrote in year 10 drama called Where There’s a Will… . It was a country house murder mystery. A couple of years later I co-wrote our Year 12 production, a western called Black Cactus and that is the one that confirmed my desire to write.

Do you ever hand write or is everything on screen?
Everything on computer….and Dropbox.

Do you keep a writer’s diary?
Not a diary, but I have a folder called BitsnPieces on my computer where I keep odds and ends.

How does it feel when you’re sitting in a theatre audience watching your play?
Terrifying and amazing. I see the play completely differently with an audience. I tend to go a lot during a run because I love what that experience teaches me about writing for both performance and an audience.

Do you have a writing routine?
Not enough of one. I try to write something every day, but I work full time so it is not always easy to be disciplined when I get home.

Are you an early-morning or a late-night writer?
Late night.

Who do you go to for feedback about your writing?
Beng is great about providing feedback and advice. I sent him True Love Travels as soon as the first draft was finished. I sometimes get my family and friends to read a draft but I really need to see actors read a piece to see what state it is in. The opportunities I had, starting off, with Short + Sweet, Melbourne Writers' Theatre and Crash Test Drama were brilliant for me and great places to meet actors, directors and other writers.

What’s one of your favourite quotes about writing?
I think it is attributed to Ernest Hemingway, “Write drunk, edit sober”. I like it not because I literally think it’s necessary to write in a constant state of inebriation but it captures the openness and freedom you need to give yourself when writing a first draft and the subsequent hard headed work of redrafting and editing.

Do you think actors and directors should be able to change something you’ve written? (Is the playwright always right?)
I am a big believer in the text serving the performance. It’s not a novel, so if it doesn’t work for the performance you can’t preserve it in stone. I have been very fortunate to sit in on rehearsals so I can make changes and rework things that are not working. My experience is that I am usually the one who wants to cut a line or change it and actors and directors will do their best to work with what you have provided. I appreciate a director flagging changes with me and I have usually been incredibly lucky with the directors I have worked with.

What advice can you give to emerging playwrights?
Write, read and see as many as plays as you can. Take your stuff to things like Cold Readings Series and Crash Test Drama and see actors read it.

What do you suggest emerging playwrights read?
Plays.

Why do you write for the stage, instead of film, tv or novels?
I love actors. I also really enjoy seeing work engage with an audience. It is so immediate, which can be wonderful and scary.

Do you read your reviews?
I do, which is probably not the answer a writer is supposed to give.

What’s your advice on taking criticism?
It’s tough, but if it is constructive and well reasoned, you appreciate it and learn a lot from it. Sometimes the stuff that touches a nerve does so because it resonates with something you knew or suspected about the work. However, the other side of it is that art is subjective and in the eye of the beholder and you have to stay true to yourself and what you envisaged for the piece when you wrote it. Good criticism can really aid development but sometimes that can be with a bit of hindsight.

As a creator, you have to hand your characters over to actors so that they can live. When has an actor made one of your characters into something more than you imagined?
Every time they go on stage. The characters you give to actors are the starting point. The collaborative nature of theatre means that they always become more than you imagined. I learn new things about the six characters in True Love Travels every time I see a rehearsal.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

Opening this week: True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

Jane Miller is of my favourite Melbourne playwrights. She's really only just started writing, but since first noticing her at Short and Sweet in 2007, she's written a pile of terrific short plays and her first full length play, Happily Ever After, was one of my favourite productions in 2010.

The premiere production of her second full-length play opens at fortyfivedownstairs on Thursday (previews on Wednesday). True Love Travels on a Gravel Road, which is also the name of an Elvis Presley song, was a recipient of the R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Award in 2011.

Described as a comedy about living the dream, it's about Jake, who has been patronised and pegged as the town “tard” all of his life, but when he falls in love with Maggie anything seems possible and making Maggie’s dream of escaping to Graceland becomes his quest.

After the success of Happily Ever After, Jane's again joined with Director Beng Oh and she says,"Beng challenges me in the best possible way – he is incredibly generous and open – and I trust his judgement as a director and dramaturge."

Beng says that Jane "has a brilliant ear for dialogue – the laughter in this work arises from the choices, situations and language of the characters. She doesn’t dwell on their misery but you glimpse it and it grounds the comedy.”

The cast of True Love Travels on a Gravel Road are Chris Broadstock, Marnie Gibson, Emily Goddard, David Kambouris, Elizabeth McColl and Glenn van Oosterom

Booking details. And remember that most shows at fortyfivedownstairs sell out, so best to book now.

Review:Happily Ever After

Happily Ever After
La Mama
7 July 2010
La Mama Theatre
to 11 July
www.lamama.com.au

Jane Miller's beautiful and complex writing stood out at the Short and Sweet and Melborn short play festivals.  Happily Ever After is her first full-length work and is firmly placing her as one of Melbourne's must-see playwrights.

Lizzie and Ben are trying for a baby, Ben needs to convince Chloe to leave her house before his boss Dave gets the police,  Dave is trying to make Ben take charge of his life, and Chloe just wants to be left alone.

These characters have lost so much or have so much more to lose than they know and as their secrets are revealed or kept, each face a life of compromise while wishing that – just once – they were enough for their loved one.

In letting her breaking souls try for a miracle happy ending, Miller brings recognisable and complex emotions to the stage and shows them through a highly original story. In a mix of fractured fairy tale (the Prince dies alone because he won't take Cinderella at her word) and harsh reality, she balances the despair with hope and the bitter heartbreak with bitter-sweet comedy.

Director Beng Oh, who also stood out at Short and Sweet, deftly captures the frustration of relationships and the tone of the writing with composed pacing and by letting the cast embrace their character archetypes without losing their uniqueness.

Mike Frenchman (Dave) and H Clare Callow (Chloe) are the emotional counter balances to Paul David-Goddard (Ben) and Marnie Gibson (Lizzie). Frenchman's prick who thinks he's a mentor lets us laugh and Callow's distraught Chloe lets us wallow, as Ben and Lizzie try to find a way to be as happy as they pretend to be.  Lizzie could be easy to hate, but Gibson brings understanding to her actions and never lets us feel sorry for her and David-Goddard brings a complexity to Ben that lets us see the internal fight between letting himself feel and "manning up" to the world.  The last time I saw David-Goddard perform, he reduced me to tears (in An Air Balloon Across Antarctica); this is an actor who deserves a lot more attention.

Fortunately, Melbourne theatre goers are recognising the wonderfulness of Happily Ever After and a new show has been added on Sunday at 3pm because the remaining nights are selling out. This is theatre that wakes your heart up, so call La Mama and grab a ticket now.

This review appears on AussieTheatre.com.