Review: SHORT+SWEET THEATRE Week 4 Offers 11 Short Plays With A Loose Common Thread of LGBTQIA Stories.

Friday 1st March 2019, 7:30pm, Tom Mann Theatre

SHORT+SWEET THEATRE, the world's largest 10 minute play festival which originated in Sydney returns for 2019. BWWSydney had the opportunity to attend Week 4, the festival's LGBTQIA WEEK.

The competition, designed to promote new original works, comprises of a number of 10 minute plays, whittled down to a top 80 and Wildcards presented over 8 weeks. New short plays are presented by a selection of directors with each playwright only allowed to submit one entry, each director only allowed to work on one play per festival and each performer allowed to appear in up to two plays.

Week 4 included plays by Roy Proctor (Fabulous Water Sports), Steven Otfinoski (The Audition), Sophie Davis (Baaahhh), Eric Darby (Sam! A Tragicomedy), Elaine Laforteza (I Have Something To Say), Chris Elena (The Shootout), David Beardsley (Something True), Nicky Denovan (Unlimited Service), Peter Greenaway (200 Classic Hits), Chris Le Page & Bretany Amber (Room 54), and John Bavoso (The Morning After The Fall). For a number of the works the writer has opted to direct their own work and at times perform in the piece as well. The plays ranged in relevance to the week's theme with some having no apparent link.

Victoria Lewis directs Proctor's FABULOUS WATER SPORTS, a rambling solo piece presented by Mitch Summerfield. Whilst the premise of a camp fitness instructor for senior gays and lesbians holds the promise of an amusing interlude the delivery is unfortunately uneven and reverts to the stereotype of a bitchy queen.

The amusing idea of an actor that only undertakes "off stage" roles is well executed by Bob Deacon as the eccentric performer in THE AUDITION. Although having no obvious connection to the week's theme, this is a naturalistic intimate three hander Directed by Kathleen Hrayssi with Trey Daniels as the bewildered director and Alexandra Strehl as the following auditionee who, unlike Daniel's director, is in awe of the off-stage actor.

Sophie Davis teams up with brother Chris Davis for the amusing and somewhat macabre BAAAHHH which she has also directed. They maintain the Irish accents well and have a good comic timing as they ensure the poetry of the piece is played up as they present the now orphaned siblings trying to figure out how to secure their inheritance.

Douglas Spafford and Nick Barraclough lead Latifa Amal-Schwarz's interpretation of SAM! A TRAGICOMEDY as they present the immature gay couple trying to keep their foster child. Whilst Spafford and Barraclough deliver a fair presentation of immature boys, Cassandra Ng's portrayal of the unsympathetic social worker could do with more work to remove the stilted unnatural feel of the presentation

Meili Bookluck directs the bizarre little story of a Philippines Australian family speaks to the LGBTQIA topic as well as migration as Ethan Taylor presents a grown up son trying to come out in I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. Whilst all the performances are overdone and drifting into caricature, the sentiment is sweet as son Ethan Taylor's coming out speech is trumped by his mother Kim Shazell and 'aunty' Happy Feraren's own revelations.

Kym Vaitiekus directs the amusing Christmas story THE SHOOTOUT which sports the largest cast of the night. Fitting the theme, a family with a gay brother, a trans sister and a homophobic brother in law come together and sparks fly before honest feelings are finally unearthed in a poignant revelation before mayhem ensues. David Bond delivers a delicious expression of the flamboyant brother whilst Adam Hedditch gives a naturalistic expression of the bigoted brother. Erica James performance as the trans sister is somewhat uneasy but the lack of naturalism serves to draw on the character's unease at finally telling her brother in law that she forgives him for his hurtful insults over the years.

Teneale Clifford directs Mathilde Anglade and Casey Campbell in the naturalistic Something True which sees the women tackling their emotions as jokes and practices have unintended consequences. The work has a relatability and a truth to it that is relatable to not just the lesbian community aiding in the work's appeal.

Jackson Blair's physical expression is wonderfully wrought as Tabatha Magnan has Blair and Thy Nguyen don distorted masks to present a clowning come puppetry expression for UNLIMITED SERVICE. Perfect in both physicality and vocal expression, the duo play the absurd funeral director come eternal life phone salesman and his super organized client with a grotesque but intriguing and engaging performance.

Simone Neviani directs and performs in the clever 200 CLASSIC HITS where three friends end up communicating purely through song titles. Neviani and Matt Thompson's characters have had an ongoing competition which Edric Hong wants to join in on. This is a remarkably clever piece of theatre that is executed with precision as the titles are slipped in with a conversational feel as emotions are unearthed.

Bretany Amber presents a realistic expression of a young woman stuck in a rehab hospital with the older gay man presented by Tony Green in ROOM 54. Directed by Chris Le Page, this is a humorous and poignant piece as the two make friends whilst the woman recovers from a car accident and the man is in for an initially unknown condition.

Alexander Coburn's direction of THE MORNING AFTER THE FALL utilizes one of the more detailed sets with representations of the Garden of Eden. Drawing on the phrase often spouted by religious types as to the origin of life being Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve, Bavoso's story considers what if there really was a Steve in the Genesis story. With Casey Richards and Matthew Costin as Adam and Steve, this unfortunately is a somewhat stilted performance with Bavoso's text lost in uneven projection and a performance that is neither natural or caricature.

Round 4 saw THE AUDITION take first place as the Judges' Choice, going on to the 2019 Grand Final, UNLIMITED SERVICE taking the Peoples' Choice with the invitation to the Peoples' Choice Showcase and BAAAHHH selected for the Crew Cut Finals.

https://shortandsweet.org/festivals/shortsweet-theatre-sydney-2019

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