Chat: Bridgette Burton, PlaySix

PlaySix
Williamstown Little Theatre
13–15 December 2012

Bridgette Burton has been writing for theatre since the early 1990s and formed Baggage Productions with Christina Costigan in 1999, a company dedicated to original work for women. She won the R E Ross Trust Playwrights Script Development Award in 2005 (Killing Jeremy) and again in 2009 (Rhonda is in Therapy) and in was awarded a grant by The Malcolm Robertson Trust in 2012 to develop her new work Fury.  Bridgette has been involved with PlaySix every year and is very happy to be back again in 2012.

The PlaySix annual short play festival was founded in 2006 to provide exposure to the work of emerging and established playwrights and to act as a networking forum for Melbourne actors and directors. Directed by Shannon Woollard, the seventh festival takes place 13–15 December at the Williamstown Little Theatre.

What six words best describe your PlaySix play?
Satirical, political, absurd, humourous, topical and short.

What six words best describe the play you’re directing?
All of the above (I’m directing my own play) .

What makes a good short play?
A good idea, well told in the time permitted. Basically the same things that make a long play good, but shorter.

What’s something else that’s good when it’s short?
A trip to the dentist.

What’s something that should never be short?
A basketball player.

Apart from the PlaySix, what other short-play festivals have you been involved in?
Short and Sweet, Melbourne Writers Theatre: Melborn, Boxashorts, Bite-Size, Crashtest Drama.

Quickly, convince northsiders/southsiders to head west to Wiliamstown?
Come for the theatre, stay for the ocean side views.

What else should people do while they’re in Williamstown?
Steal a pelican.

Write a Tweet for me to share about PlaySix.
Playsix – six short plays about clever short things.

If you could invite anyone to see this show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Julia Gillard, she’d get a kick out of seeing herself on stage, I’m sure

What is the best directing advice you’ve received?
Cast your play well, and the rest will follow.

As a director, what advice do you give to actors?
Do everything. Write, direct, act and produce – what we need in Australia is people that can do it all and that are motivated.

What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
A Kind of Fairy Tale, Joyce.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Review: The Fallen Tree

The Fallen Tree
La Mama
15 February
La Mama Theatre
to 4 March

I heard about the 2009 Black Saturday fires from Facebook while enjoying coconut pie in green and rainy Ubud, Bali. I couldn't have be more removed from the winds and oven-hot dryness, but was back in Canberra on a similar day in 2003 when I had packed a box of photos, wasn't letting the cats outside and was ringing friends who lived near the suburb of Duffy. Everyone I know survived, but a few evacuated, one had the fire stop at his front door and one family watched their house disappear in minutes. The stories from bush fires strike the spot in our soul that knows fear and integrating these stories into our culture is such a part of our community recovery.

Christine Croyden wrote The Fallen Tree in response to Black Saturday as "an attempt to make sense of something that made no sense". Director Wayne Pearn and designer Alice Bishop use the tiny black space of La Mama to evoke a visceral sense of a destroyed and blackened world.  The green isn't there yet, but the smell of eucalyptus promises that recovery is slow, but inevitable.

It's the story of Hannah (Libby Gott), whose world was gutted before the recent fire, and her neighbour Claire (Bridgette Burton), who needed the searing heat to reveal a truth she'd refused to see about Hannah's step father (Jonathon Dyer).  As the fire becomes metaphor, it becomes a story of trauma and abuse and possible revenge.

What I love about Croyden is that she writes directly from her heart with an undiluted passion and anger; however, this passion can get in the way of her stories. Wanting to explain the whole picture leaves characters speaking so honestly that there's no sense of subtext and, as an audience, we're left without doubt or question.

When I think about great stories, the ones I remember are those that lead to discussions or arguments about what really happened.. More doubt could make the climax of The Fallen Tree much stronger. Doubt about who is right and even about what happened would force the audiences to question, discuss and argue about what each is certain is the truth.

This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com.

What's On: Mad Women Monologues

Baggage Productions are presenting Mad Women Monologues, 23 short plays over three themed nights.

All the works are written by women, including Jane Miller , Kathryn Goldie, Christine Croyden, Christina Costigan, Bridgette Burton, Cerise de Gelder and Hannie Rayson.

Crime Night has finished, but there's still Crossroad on 20 November and Barflies on 22 November.

All the booking info is at www.madwomen.org.au.

Review: The Subconscious Cometh

The Subconscious Cometh

Baggage Productions

21 June 2011

Trades Hall

to 25 June
www.baggageproductions.com

One of my biggest fears is finding out what my subconscious is really up to and Baggage Productions have a whole night of short plays and monologues that bring these fears (and some bonus phobias) to gorgeous, thought-provoking life.

Bridgette Burton and Christina Costigan formed Baggage in 2000 because they were sick of there not being enough decent roles for women. This is still one of the most ridiculous ironies about thearte and performance and thank the goddesses that companies like this address it.

The Subconscious Cometh is a collaborative piece with works by Costigan and Burton, directed by Burton, Steve Gome, Wayne Pearn and Shannon Woollard, and performed by Costigan, Tiffany Davis, James Deeth, Kelly Nash and Dan Walls. Working together, this talented team have created a themed and cohesive night that is more than few steps above other recent short play seasons.    

Highlights include Spirit Guy (Burton, Woollard, Deeth and Walls) that asks if watching your ex with their new naked beau is considered stalking if you're a ghost, The Changeling monologue (Costigan, Pearn, Walls) that delicately looks at the impact of mental illness on the father of a suffer, the highly original scene changes and a hilariously unforgettable ending.

Neither writer is afraid to tackle subjects that are close to them and, combined with their terrific understanding of drama and structure, they create a warm and close empathy with their audience. And they love the characters they create. What might take their writing to a new level is to hold onto that love, but to let even worse things happen to their characters. Up the stakes even higher to make your audience fear for the well being and safety of the people they too now love and the resolutions will be even stronger.

Independent theatre like this is created from the hearts of the people making it. It's not perfect, but it's this kind of experimentation and the opportunity for creators to get themselves and their work seen by an audience that creates artists that we want to see again and again.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com