Category: Mark Kilmurry

OUTDATED is a new Australian work written and directed by the Artistic Director of the Theatre, Mark Kilmurry. It is a simple set of sketches that begin with a middle aged couple meeting to date over the internet. We follow a 90-minute trajectory of the ups and downs of the relationship. It involves only two characters: Olivia, played competently and breezily by Rachel Gordon and Matt played by Yalin Ozucelik. Mr Ozucelik has a charming grasp of a pencil thin individual and is especially physically dexterous – his acrobatics are well worth enjoying. Set and Costume Design is by Simon…

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…

THE BIG TIME is a new play by David Williamson. It focuses on the world of the entertainment industry. The struggle of the actor. The struggle of the writer. All of them trying to reach The Big Time. For, as Mr Williamson tells us in his Writer’s Note in the program: In the entertainment industry there’s only one place all hopefuls want to be. The Big Time. If they make it, they become wealthy, but perhaps even more importantly they are finally treated with respect. … That’s why the competition to make The Big Time is so fierce. … He…

The Ensemble Theatre presents, THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, Three Plays by Alan Ayckbourn, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 19th October – 12 January. THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, are three plays: TABLE MANNERS, LIVING TOGETHER and ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN, by Alan Ayckbourn, written in 1973. They are famously recognised as one of many masterpieces from this author who has written some 82 plays and is still writing. These three plays have the conceit of happening all at the same time, just in three different spaces. The first in the Dining Room. the second in the Living room, and the third in…

  Ensemble Theatre, presents, THE WIDOW UNPLUGGED, or THE ACTOR DEPLOYED, by Reg Livermore, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 26th July – 1st September. Reg Livermore in a one man show, written by him and starring him – what a tempting theatrical coup for the Ensemble Theatre: THE WIDOW UNPLUGGED, or THE ACTOR DEPLOYS. Reg Livermore, is a major participant in Sydney’s theatrical history. He was a founding player of the Ensemble Theatre, welcomed by Hayes Gordon, the creator and guiding light to that company, which is 60 years old next year. My personal history with Mr Livermore goes back…

Photo by Prudence Upton Ensemble Theatre presents, TAKING STEPS, by Alan Ayckbourn, at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli. 23 November – 13 January. The Alan Ayckbourn play TAKING STEPS, written in 1979, the twenty-fourth opus from his ‘genius’ (now having completed some 79 plays, the last one – so far – called ROUNDELAY, in 2014), is part of a faithful commitment of The Ensemble Theatre to his work and underlines the entertainment value that he inevitably delivers for audiences. There is usually some ‘challenge’ that the writer has given himself, for the audience’s delectation, in all of his plays, and in…