Review: The 2016 LYSICRATES PRIZE Awarded To Mary Rachel Brown Following Audience Vote

Friday 29th January 2016, 4pm, Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music

In the tradition of the Ancient Greek Dionysia Festival, the LYSICRATES PRIZE promotes new works by awarding an Australian playwright following an Audience vote. In its second year, the award, commissioned by John and Patricia Azarias, and produced in conjunction with The Lysicrates Foundation, Griffin Theatre Company, and The Royal Botanic Gardens-Sydney was presented to Mary Rachel Brown for her work, APPROXIMATE BALANCE.

As with the original festival that was sponsored by wealthy patrons called Choregoi, where Lysicrates was a Choregos who's troupe of singers had won in 334B.C., John and Patricia Azarias have bought together their own modern group of Choregoi. These sponsors enable the staging of the competition, the awards, and funding the restoration of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, located in Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden. The winner of the Audience vote to receives a full $12,500 Griffin Theater Company Commission and the runners up receive $1,000 cash prize.

Patricia Azarias recounts in the background of the LYSICRATES PRIZE, that her husband decided to raise funds for the restoration of the monument which has links to his own Greek heritage. In recognition of the monuments connections to theatre, Patricia also saw the opportunity to "showcase and celebrate" the talents of playwrights, directors and producers by mounting Sydney's own version of the Great Dionysia Festival, right down to the method of voting using pottery shards issued to each member of the audience.

Along with providing much needed support for the Arts, it was also noted that the format of the LYSICRATES PRIZE as an audience participation event, revived some of the active thinking and engagement post performance that has gone by the wayside in recent years. Coming out of the performance, token in hand to vote, the audience was buzzing with chatter on why or why not one of the three finalists was getting their piece of pottery. Too often, people, particularly in Sydney, now rush home after seeing live performance instead of adjourning to supper clubs and cafes to discuss and deliberate on a performance over a late night beverage or dessert.

The Ancient Greeks valued the Arts both in their financing from a personal and government level and also their participation as an audience that used the works as starting positions for philosophical, sociological, political and moral discussions. It is heartening to see the personal philanthropy provided by the Choregoi, the wealthy individuals supporting the LYSICRATES PRIZE and the LYSICRATES MONUMENT RESTORATION. Hopefully the high level of attendance from Government ministers may signal an increase in awareness of the importance of the Arts in Australia and therefore a better respect and support.

Entry to be considered for the LYSICRATES PRIZE is by invitation only and for the 2016 prize, 60 professional Australian playwrights were invited to submit the first act of a full length play. Twenty writers submitted entries and the judging panel reduced this to a shortlist of three finalists. The finalists received 3 days to rehearse the work with professional actors and directors with the focus being on the script rather than the costuming and staging with the actors all still 'on book'. The first act of each of the three works was then performed before a live audience of at 500 (up from 300 in 2015) at Verbrugghen Hall at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, after which, the audience voted for the winning play.

The Three shortlisted plays were:

Mary Rachel Brown's Approximate Balance, about the Lightfoot family who struggle to cope with their son's alcoholism. A young Filipino woman offers them a unique perspective on how to heal. Sometimes we find family where we least expect it.
Director: Mitchell Butel

Cast: Linda Cropper, John Gaden, Richard Sydenham, Lena Cruz

Campion Decent's Saint Theo, when struck by lightning, stonemason and amateur thespian Theodore embarks on a Gilbert and Sullivan inspired philosophical quest with a mysterious young revenant and a woman in a pirate hat.

Director: Helen Dallimore

Cast: Simon Burke, Rowan Witt, Paula Arundell, Tamlyn Henderson

Elise Hearst's The Good Wolf, Naomi is a good Jewish girl trying not to be bad. The Good Wolf is her story about family, legacy, and finding love

Director: Ben Winspear

Cast: Michelle Lim, Deborah Kennedy, Natalie Gamsu, Hamish Michael

On discussion with other attendees after the show, whilst all three contenders were interesting and worthy of further development, it was clear that people all had different motivations for their vote. For some it was whether the story "needed to be told", to help raise awareness of an issue with society, the entertainment value, the reality, the escapism, the complexity and style of the writing and whether it felt like an Australian story.

It was interesting to note that the creative teams were only given 3 days of rehearsal for the competition and it was unclear as to whether some choices were directorial decisions or written into the work. SAINT THEO's musical numbers, accompanied by Elliott Wilshier, which proved challenging given the size of the space and the use of boundary microphones at the front of the stage and suspended overhead microphones. THE GOOD WOLF's definition of each scene with a narration of the change also proved distracting and it was unclear whether this was Hearst's writing or a directorial choice to make up for the minimal set.

Whilst THE LYSICRATES PRIZE is only in its second year, it is hoped that one day it will be Australia's Theatre equivalent of the Archibald Prize which supports visual arts. With the combination of John and Patricia Azarias' tenacity and dedication, and Griffin Theatre's drive to support new Australian work, it is expected that the award will gain even more prominence as it develops. Hopefully more playwrights will submit works, more philanthropists will join the choregoi, more support will be given to the arts from government levels and more of the public will attend live theatre, and go away talking about it and opening dialogue about what they have seen.

THE LYSICRATES PRIZE

Lysicrates Foundation

Griffin Theatre Company

The Royal Botanic Gardens - Sydney

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