Category: Guy Edmonds

Ensemble Theatre presents a World Premiere, CRUNCH TIME, by David Williamson, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 14th February – 9th April. It is indeed ‘Crunch Time’, as this is, we are told, the last play that Mr Williamson will write. A Crunch Time that he must feel a pressure about: what, why and how he chooses to write as his ‘last testament’ on the stage. After 50 years of creative output, the most outstanding, prolific chronicler of our times, having observed, assessed and critiqued the churning social evolutions of our culture Mr Williamson puts down his ‘pen’. I have always…

Photo by John Marmaras Red Line Productions and Old Fitz present, DEGENERATE ART, by Toby Schmitz, at the Old Fitz Theatre, Cathedral St. Woolloomooloo. 18th October – 4th November. DEGENERATE ART, is a new Australian play, by Toby Schmitz. DEGENERATE ART, is a 100 minute play without interval. An interlocutor, played by Megan O’Connell, introduces us to a group of men, dressed in variations of contemporary schmick black, who have been brooding about the stage as we entered, occupying a Set Design, by Maya Keys, of a wall smear of, mostly, green and black paints (one part of it hung…

  Ensemble Theatre presents BETRAYAL, by Harold Pinter, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, 16 July – 20 August. BETRAYAL, by Harold Pinter was written in 1978, and belongs to his great middle period, and along with other works like NO MAN’S LAND (1975) and OLD TIMES , is often characterised as one of his ‘memory plays’. Pinter was given the Nobel prize for Literature in 2005. This play uses reverse chronology, and so the first scene of the play is the chronological end of the story, the last scene of the play is the first chronological event. It begins in a…

  Ensemble Theatre presents DREAM HOME written and directed by David Williamson, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. This is a catch-up post. I saw this production in early February. DREAM HOME, by David Williamson, is a new Australian play. What was interesting, when reading about this play and its conceptual inspiration, was that it appeared to be about the not uncommon problem of new home owners, who after purchasing and moving into what they believe to be a dream home, instead, find it a nightmare, surrounded by neighbours that can make living there a catastrophe, a hell. We all have…

Photo by Mark Nolan Griffin Theatre Company presents THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl, adapted for the stage by David Wood, re-imagined by Lucas Jervies, at the SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. 24 Sept – 5 Oct. THE WITCHES, is an adaptation (re-imagining) of David Wood’s play (1983), which is an adaption of the famous Roald Dahl story. The David Wood play written for 10 actors and 15 or so extras, puppets etc has been reduced to just one actor, Guy Edmonds, by Director, Lucas Jervies and Dramaturg, Chris Summers (with permission one presumes). This version began as a graduating exercise…

ORESTES 2.0 by Charles Mee. Presented by CRY HAVOC & GRIFFIN INDEPENDENT at the Griffin/Stables Theatre. In the experience of my American life, in the theatre (over there), three of the most challenging writers that I saw and were memorable (for one reason or another!) were works by Richard Foreman, Mac Wellman and Charles Mee. All three write in structures and forms that we, in Australia, hardly ever see explored by our own writers or on our own stages. Although, Richard Foreman has had several outings over the past few years in Sydney (including: my head is a sledgehammer; Now…