Monday 12 July 2010

Salon theatre in Brisbane

What a fab night at Chris and Susan's Theatre in the House! It was a full house with about 70 people crammed into every nook and cranny. A great night with a very appreciative audience.



The play format was a rehearsed reading of a new comedy that is under development - Journey to Milan by Brisbane playwright Lorna Bol and presented by the Forgetting of Wisdom troupe and directed by Errol O'Neill.


It was a very polished performance of a very entertaining play. It was hilarious and also clever.

The play is about Jess (Bev Langford) who has recently lost her husband Ted (Leo Wockner) in an accident. Her sisters Hilda (Penny Everingham) and Veronica (Kaye Stevenson) with all good intentions rally to support her, but do they listen? They want to sell her house and decide she must have an overseas trip. Jess tries to resolve the problems she had in her marriage, while dealing with her sisters, and her own ideas for the future.

In the after show chat it was sad to hear the difficulties this troupe have had obtaining government funding to stage their shows. The director said that older actors, older playwrights and smaller professional theatre groups are often overlooked in attracting funding. Shiny, bright and youthful seems to attract government funding. Old and wrinkly does not.

Sadly, this theatre piece may never see the light of day as a fully staged production due to lack of funding. 

When one considers Australia's rapidly aging population, it seems a shame that plays like this are left to languish...especially since they would resonate and appeal to a broader public.



Anyway,  I was very fortunate to have seen Journey to Milan. And my furniture worked a treat in the show. It's cool to have your furniture as part of a set.

6 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about funding - it's a tricky thing. We have a few goups in Tas doing acting/dance and I think they find the same thing. Sometimes it might be a matter of finding a different funding group to look at, say Regional funds. It can be very frustrating here in Tas where the govt will fund a massive outdoor concert for young people which is known as a giant drinking-fest yet smaller, interesting ideas are left out. It must happen everywhere.
    I hope Forgetting the wisdom have some success.

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  2. Perhaps they could join forces with another amateur theatre group to stage new productions and to raise some funding. I have a friend who is a member of the Nash theatre company in new farm and they find support through loyal fans membership and through charging a small fee to see productions and they also sell interval food etc and small programs. Looks like you had a fun night your furni looks fab! Cheers katherine

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  3. What a fun night and that furniture of yours is now famous!!!! Great post, very interesting about the funding etc.. The actual story line sounds interesting too... Have a good week. ;-)

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  4. Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow! What an absolute treat for you all. And to see my old Speech and Drama teacher, Bev Langford in the starring role is amazing. What a great way to entertain friends and keep a little theatre alive. It is so sad that amateur theatre seems to lack support these days. Thanks for the insight.

    Jennifer XX

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  5. How fabulous to see this play in such an intimate setting. I'm sure it made it all the more special, even though it is such a shame that theatre groups find it harder and harder to attract the funding they need to stay alive. Things are the same here I'm afraid. Your furniture looks brilliant!

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  6. How nice to have famous furniture - it'll forever be infused with the enthusiasms of the production team. And I'm all for this sort of salon theatre; very enterprising of you all.

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