Mark's speech
Welcome to Newtown Theatre @ The Edge and the launch of the largest ten minute play festival in the world – Short & Sweet 2005.
For those of you who took part or came to see Short & Sweet 2004 – it was difficult to imagine that our Festival could get any larger.
We presented 76 plays over 5 sold out weeks at the Newtown Theatre and two more at The Edge and it culminated in a Final at the Seymour Centre which was again completely sold out – as those of you who were there on the night scrambling for seats will remember.
But in 2005 Short & Sweet has grown again.
Originally we planned to do 80 plays over four weeks each at the Seymour Centre Downstairs and Newtown Theatre @ The Edge but such was the quality of work submitted by writers, directors and Independent Theatre companies that we were forced to add on two more weeks at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge.
Short & Sweet 2005 will present a staggering 109 productions stretching over six weeks opening at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge on January 11 and culminating in the Final at the 700 seat York Theatre at the Seymour Centre on Friday February 25 th .
We knew we were in for something big when the script entries started pouring in.
In all we received 954 script entries. Add in the 76 submissions we received from Independent Theatre companies and in total we received over 1000 entries for Short & Sweet 2005.
On one memorable day around the closing deadline I delivered two huge crates of about 400 entries to our bemused Artistic co-ordinator Alex Broun for processing. A task that took in total nearly four months to complete.
The first job was to narrow these scripts and submissions down to a shortlist for which we used an army of script assessors who I would like to thank tonight for their valuable contribution.
We then started the process of evaluating the 170 directors who expressed an interest in directing for Short & Sweet 2005, narrowing this down to our final list of just over 100.
We then carried out the largest auditions in Short & Sweet history, auditioning 693 talented actors over 8 weekends.
The auditionees ranged from seasoned professionals to beginners and as anyone who was at the auditions will agree the talent on display was a tribute to the high standard of actors currently working in our city today.
In the end over 200 of those who auditioned will be offered a role in the Festival and we would like to thank Annie Cossins for her valuable help in organising those wide ranging auditions.
We'd also like to thank our Audition Front of House staff Kristi McGregor, Sidat de Silva, Sarah Sebastian and Angela Lieu who kept things running so smoothly each weekend.
Short & Sweet 2005 is now a fully established event on the international theatre calendar and is the only truly national theatre festival in Australia.
In this year's Festival we will present plays from every state and territory in Australia – something that other so called national theatre bodies can only aspire to.
Short & Sweet is also now the largest producer of Australian playwrights and new Australian plays in the nation. In 2005 Short & Sweet will present over 20 hours of one hundred percent new Australian theatre – a figure again that exceeds every professional theatre company around the country.
In the process we will showcase some of the most talented writers, directors and actors in Australia and the world. We will also be presenting the work of no less than 22 Independent Theatre Companies.
And if that wasn't enough in 2005 Short & Sweet adds our new Best of the Rest series, co-ordinarted by our Best of the Rest co-ordinator Amanda Foote – and thanks to Amanda for all her hard work to date.
Best of the Rest will present one off readings and performances of the next best 60 plays from Australia and the world at Noon on Sundays during the Festival at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge.
This is an important new development aide for writers and a chance to see their work performed or read on stage in front of an audience - which as most writers will attest is the first step in learning more about the craft of writing for the stage.
So where do the plays and theatre works in Short & Sweet 2005 come from ?
As in 2004 the bulk of our produced work in the main season will hail from NSW but the other states and territories' are making their presence felt, with Victoria especially making a big leap in produced plays.
In all we have six Victorian plays being presented, two each from Queensland and the Northern Territory and one from Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia.
Our full national set is completed by two plays from the ACT being read in the Best of the Rest series.
Short & Sweet also has an enlarged international contingent this year presenting work from three other countries in the main festival – Hong Kong, New Zealand the USA – and five more – Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Singapore and the United Kingdom in Best of the Rest.
Add in the Masterclass Education Programme, which proved so popular last year, on Saturday mornings at the Seymour centre during the Festival and you have an incredibly exciting and action packed seven weeks of theatre.
With the demise of the Bondi based Fringe Festival Short & Sweet 2005 now carries the title of Sydney's only Fringe Festival and it is a title we at Short & Sweet – and the Newtown Precinct – are happy to carry.
Each year Short & Sweet showcases the work of hundreds of incredibly talented actors, writers, directors and Independent Theatre Company who aren't just knocking on the door of mainstream theatre. They're breaking it down.
The rise in general public audiences for Short & Sweet last year also displayed that the product on show is a match for any of other stage in Sydney.
And with the tour of Shorter & Sweeter, a collection of the best work from Short & Sweet 2002-04, playing to packed houses at the Victorian Arts Centre and the Sydney Opera House and the launch of Melbourne Short & Sweet set for late next year it's clear that Short & Sweet's future is very bright indeed.
Incidentally for those of you yet to see Shorter & Sweeter you have just two more chances at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre this coming Friday and Saturday night.
Short & Sweet is here to stay. To all participants gathered here tonight I'd like to say enjoy your Festival and thank you for bringing us your talent, energy and love for this great art form.
Without you there wouldn't be a Short & Sweet. Thanks also to Ann ??? and the Seymour Centre and all their staff as they become the latest partner in the phenomena that is Short & Sweet.
To audiences and lovers of theatre I have just two words of advice – BOOK EARLY.
Thank you.
Alex's speech
Thanks Mark. It's my pleasure to run through in more detail a little more of the wonderful work you will see in Short & Sweet 2005 and whet your appetite for what as Mark says is going to be a fantastic seven weeks of theatre.
With so much talent involved in Short & Sweet 2005 it's very difficult to single out any actors, writers, directors or Independent Theatre companies but here are just a few names which may be more familiar to theatregoers and practitioners.
Among our writers for 2005 we have new plays by Hilary Bell, Brendan Cowell, Justin Fleming, Caleb Lewis, Kate Mulvaney, last year's winner Van Badham, Angus Strachan, Tug Dumbly, David Allen, Noelle Janaczewska, Sean O'Riordan, Benito di Fonzo, Malcolm Frawley, Ansuya Nathan, Christopher Johnson, Ashley Walker, Sandra Thibodeaux, Sam Haft, Catherine Cresswell, Peter Shelley, Steve Clack, Craig Ilot, Vanessa O'Neill, Wayne Tunks, Stephen Hopley, Gaylene Carbis and Sam Atwell.
Our directors include Kate Gaul, John O'Hare, Andrew Doyle, Alex Galeazzi, Lee Lewis, Gerry Sont, Leland Kean, Glen McGillivray, Alice Livingstone, Megan Finlay, Ric Herbert, Clayton Buffoni, Fiona Gentle, Emily Weare, Peta Downes, Martin Reefman, Louise Fischer, Terry Serio, Lawrence Carmichael, Michael Wren, Felicity Burke, Matthew O'Sullivan, Bill Conn, Nicholas Pickard, Sam Gennochio, David Myles, Jif Morrison, Euan Upston, Thomasin Litchfield, David Koumans, Andrew Johnston, Juliette Ferrier, Fiona Hallenan, Regina Botros, Vincent Simon, Gemma Tammock, Peter Carmody, Roz Riley, Bec Clifford, Pip Newling, Luke Rex, Moira Blumenthal, Alexandra Byron, Trisha Starrs and Guy Perrine.
As Mark also mentioned we have an increased presence of Independent Theatre Companies in Short & Sweet 2005 and just to mention a few of those involved we have Albedo Theatre Company, Optic Verve, Action Break Theatre, Actor Corp, Aesthesia, last year's finalists Alchemy,
Factory Space, Ferklenerkle, Hatful Productions, last year's Independent Theatre company winners' Hook Line & Sinker, Punchbug, Puppychuckers and making their Short & Sweet debut – Impro Australia.
As every year Short & Sweet will also showcase the widest range of theatrical styles with two musicals, a number of physical theatre pieces, comedies, drama, theatre of the absurd, verse plays, farces, murder mysteries and for the first time puppetry making it's debut with ????? presenting “One Man's Trash” written and directed by Fiona Gentle with four puppetters interacting with two actors.
TV, and especially reality television also makes an impact in Short & Sweet 2005 with no less than three reality TV shows having a strong connection.
Big Brother's protestor extraordinaire Merlin Luck makes his acting debut in “Five Kings” in the first week of the Festival while Sydney's My Restaurant Rules contestant Sam Sgamballone, a noted short film maker, makes his theatre directing debut with Kate McKee's “The Intruder” in Week 5 at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge.
Theatre and lately TV star Todd McKemmy, recently seen as the bain of Pauline Hanson's life (Go Todd !) as a judge on the dancing show on Channel Nine (I think) will appear in Richard Martin's offbeat comedy “Hinchcliffe Opts out” directed by Ric Herbert in Week 4 at the Seymour Centre.
Amongst the names of hundreds of other performers some others I might mention are former ballerina Sheree da Costa and seasoned stage veteran (hope he doesn't mind that description) Paul Bertram who will do the very original one man show by Michele Francis – “Mr Mickleton has too many legs”, directed by Bill Conn in Week 2 at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge.
Other shows that leap out as you read through this year's extraordinary Short & Sweet programme – and possible picks for the final – might be:
* “The Devoted Friend” adapted from Oscar Wilde's short story an ddirected by Craig Ilot for Albedo Theatre Company at Week 3 at the Seymour Centre
• A talented group of recent graduates from the Newtown Performing Arts High School – Kinetic – with their magical movement piece “Fall in Love” in the second week at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge.
• Kate Gaul directing four time Short & Sweet playwright and Recent NIDA playwright's course graduate Ashley Walker's very black comedy “Rice Pudding” with Josef Ber, Nicholas Papadametriou and Eliza Logan.
• Alex Galeazzi directing Ian Triffitt and Brett Danalake's dark thriller “Relics” at the first week of the Seymour with a cast of Sam Haft, Nick Osborne and last year's Best Actress winner Christine Greenough
• Michael Wren's black comedy about religious fanaticism in the first week at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge which is shaping up as this year's “Petunia Takes Tea.”
• Last year's shared winner for Best Drama Angus Strachan's musical anti-tribute to Ken & Barbie in the last week at the Seymour.
*Sam Gennochio directing Tug Dumbly's very funny Newtown real estate comedy Feral in the third week at Netown Theatre @ The Edge a week that also includes Terry Serio directing Sean O'Riordan's spacey take on relationships – “Kiss of the Alien”
• Hilary Bell's imaginative and very original verse drama Cheering Up Mother directed by John O'Hare and starring Winston Cooper, Libby Richmond, Julie Hudspeth and Patrick Dickson as a very precocious cat.
* Leland Kean directing Brendan Cowell's moving and suprising monologue “Leave a Message” in Seymour Week 3.
• Last year's Best Director winner Lee Lewis directing a the Middle Eastern political drama “Tel Aviv Disco Bombing” in Week 3 at the Seymour with Jonathan Elsom and Kate Box
• The fourth week at Newtown Theatre @ The Edge is shaping up as one of the best of the Festival with Benito di Fonzo's “I'm frightened and I want my money”, directed by Will Thomas, Mark Konik's hysterical “Children of the Revolution” directed by Penny Lindley and Charlotte Jone's disturbing “Angel” directed by Thomasin Litchfield perhaps viaing for top honours.
* And of course you can't leave out Van Badham who came from nowhere to win last year's Short & Sweet and might do the same this year with her briefly titled An organic response to the Ideological State Apparatus - Australia 1996-2004, under the steady direction of Bec Clifford in Week 3 at the Seymour centre
And now I've put the kiss of death on all those shows – you'll never hear of them again.
Part of my role as Artistic co-ordinator was to read 500 of the plays submitted for Short & Sweet – I think only Peter Shelley read more – and there seemed to be three distinct but odd threads developing in this year's entries –
Firstly, anti John Howard plays. We had about ten of these with Alison Barnes denial fest “No Primeminister” to feature renowned Howard impersonator Bart Rose, reaching the main season and Pip Griffin and Penelope Grace's very clever “The New Man” finding a place in Best of the Rest.
Secondly plays about the after life – we had around thirty plays set in heaven or hell, with God, the Devil, Jesus, Buddha – in various collections arguing about earth's fate, or moving someone on from purgatory or down to hell. I guess we know what's on everybody's mind at the moment.
In this very toughly contested sub genre Sharin Jessop's was the most original and is rewarded with a place in the main season, directed by Nicholas Pickard in Newtown Theatre @ The Edge Week 3.
Chum Ephelepola's witty “Rise Down Fall Up” will also get an airing in Best of the Rest presented by acting group Parlour.
The third sub category was play's set in Italian restaurants or Cafes, usually featuring sexy Italian waiters called Angelo, Marco or Romeo. We had about twenty of these and unfortunately none have made the cut although I tried very hard to get Sam Sgamballone to direct one of them.
Moving on to Best of the Rest it features some of the most interesting and to put it bluntly very weird - writers who for one reason or another didn't find their way in to the main reason. “Because the directors are bloody stupid” is how one writer put it to me last week.
Some of the works to look out for include Donna Abela's intriguing replayed dialogue about colonial Australia “The Uninvited Voice”, Paul Smith's “Mr Henry's Habitual Halibut” which as the title suggests defies description and Mark Macrossan's very Sydney name-dropping, bitch fest “Gossip – The Musical on Ice”.
A tribute to the standard of Short & Sweet 2005 is the exceptionally high quality of works in Best of the Rest.
Many plays here such as Katrina Fox's droll comedy “And now the end is near”, Nicholas Cooper's “The Last Spin” and Robert Jenkins quirky “You, Me and Pumpkin Soup” will be presented.
So as you can see Short & Sweet boasts an eclectic mix of work from some of the best theatre practitioners in Sydney. I can only echo Mark's words by saying Thank you – to you the participants.
We're lucky to have you all and without you there definitely would not be a Short & Sweet. The full season for Newtown Theatre @ The Edge, Seymour Centre and Best of the Rest is now available on the nearest wall.
And for actors amongst you plays whose cast are yet to be confirmed are helpfully marked in bold, so get hassling those directors.
Finally enjoy the atmosphere, the energy and dare I say the magic of Short & Sweet 2005.
I'll just go quickly now and avoid all the fabulous people who I didn't mention in my speech. You're all fabulous okay.
