On arrival everyone was greeted with a free glass of champagne, delicious canapes and melodious live jazz music from Nicola Milan and Stray Cats.

The Award Night was introduced by Meredith Cook, as her co-presenter Jarrod Buttery was appearing in the first snippet from the plays seen in 2015. There followed some wonderful reminders of why The Old Mill is one of WA’s leading community theatres.

Meredith and Jarrod were in excellent fun form as they called out the names of the winners.

The actors were most pleased to have the daughter of Constance Ord – the leading light in the setting up the theatre group many decades ago – to present the Ord Award.

BEST PRODUCTION Wolf Lullaby (Director Alide Chaney)

BEST DIRECTOR Noel O’Neill (Hail Mary)

BEST ACTOR Phil Barnett (Summer of the 17th Doll)

BEST ACTRESS Anna Head (Summer of the 17th Doll)

BEST SUPPORT ACTOR Tom Rees (The One Day of the Year)

BEST S/ACTRESS Beryl Francis (Jigsaws)

BEST STAGE MANAGER Ruhama Geiger (The One Day of the Year)

BEST SET Wolf Lullaby

BEST COSTUMES Hail Mary

MEMORABLE MILLY Shirley Toohey for an outstanding performance in Summer of the 17th Doll

MEMBER OF THE YEAR Joint – John Woolrych and John Spurling

A few ‘Silly Milly Awards’ were then presented for various theatrical disasters.

A fun night that gave us all a chance to see some of the star scenes of the year.

A few years ago, Fremantle’s Deckchair Theatre presented Bell’s heartrending play, ‘Memmie Le Blanc’, again about a child growing up in tragic circumstances.

Despite being in the upper echelon of writers, Hilary is often described as generous and affable to community theatre. When one of the Old Mill actors took the expression ‘break a leg’ a little too far and damaged her knee, Hilary permitted modifications to the script to allow for the actor to use crutches, kindly stating that her scripts are ‘road maps awaiting life, rather than definitive’.

This confronting 105-minute presentation was based on an American girl, but it could just as easily have been based on James Bulger, murdered in the UK just before his third birthday.

This is the Old Mill Theatre Company’s latest production, with curtain-up in the Old Mill Theatre, Mends Street, South Perth at 8.00 pm each Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 15^th August, with a 2.00 pm matinee on Sunday 9^th August.

The simple set represents several locations. The hard flats, painted matte black (design Alide Chaney, Dylan James and built by Phil Barnett, Travis McCurry and Tim Prosser), provide the harsh atmosphere required. A large cut-out of a child’s rocking horse (Tim Prosser) filled the back wall, a constant reminder of poor Toby, the murdered child.

Other than a couple of chairs, the stark set comprised mainly of a Rubik’s box, which was slickly converted into a bed, wall and desk (Alan Markham’s ingenious work) by stage manager, Caroline Kaye.

John Woolrych’s clever lighting design (operator Alan O’Neill) has most of the set warmly lit, but with a steely cold beam of light on Lizzie.

The horrifying soundscape (designed Alide Chaney, Dylan James) was operated by Elizabeth McAskill.

 

         The scene is of a typical sitting room in a remote Tasmanian home, a couple of weeks before Christmas. Nine-year-old Lizzie (Tessa Bevilacqua) is lying on the floor, drawing a picture and writing poetry. She eagerly shows her creation to her father, Warren (Dylan James) who nods, but he is busy having an acrimonious discussion with his ex-wife, Angie (Julia Hern). Lizzie, desperately seeking admiration for her artwork, then tries – unsuccessfully – to attract her mother’s attention. Lizzie’s little world is a lonely one, filled with nightmares.

       A few days later, a two-year-old boy, Toby is found dead. Circumstances point to Lizzie. A visit from the caring police sergeant, Ray Armstrong (Dean McAskill), who is investigating the tragedy, throws doubt on Lizzie’s story, but is the poor child being wrongly accused?

The skilful writing and good solid direction (director Alide Chaney) creates some truly disquieting moments, as the cold attitude of the parents absorbed in their own petty squabbles, clash with the love seeking troubled child. The whole cast gave superb performances, packed with poignant, tear-jerking emotion. You could feel the audience desperately hoping that Lizzie would open up so that the truth could be released.

Tessa, in her first adult stage performance, has captured Lizzie’s innocent and withdrawn expressions perfectly – you really wanted to give the poor girl a big, desperately needed hug. The powerful deliveries by Julia and Dylan made you gasp at their disinterest in their child, and the subsequent confusion between loyalty and honesty.

The director has chosen a subtle delivery, which makes the disturbing atmosphere even more insidious and disturbing. A creepy and chilling play, presented by a first class team.

With adult themes the advice is ‘Not suitable for children under 15’, so not surprisingly the adjective ‘enjoyable’ is hardly suitable, but certainly this play is most admirable and highly recommended.

The show is part of the 2014 PrideFest, and so the Playlovers Group are holding a fundraiser event on Thursday 20^th November.

On entering, the theatre auditorium there is a warm welcome from melodious country singer, Bitsy Mae Harling (Jane Anderson), a solo player who can actually sing in tune and play chords rather than strumming. Jane also sang from her heart and with feeling.

 There are four very different and impressive sets, designed by David Gardette, that were all changed in total silence whilst Bitsy Mae sang. The first of the well-decorated and fully furnished sets is a scruffy home in Texas, the second a rough bar room, then a psychiatrist’s office and finally a funeral parlour. Damian Long’s stage crew of Bronwyn Hammond, Meg Adrichem-Considine, and Ian Griffin were exceptionally slick and perfectly organised.

        The lights dim and actor, Ty Williamson (Andrew Baker) takes a seat in front of the stage apron and pours out his heart. He explains how his has ‘come out’ as a gay, but cannot return to his home in Texas, because gays are still considered perverted individuals and are locked up in prison. Worst of all, how can he tell his mother, Latrelle (Alide Chaney)?

        White trash, Sissy Hickey (Grace Hitchin) is tidying her unkempt home when her neighbour, Noleta (Olivia Hogan) arrives. In her deep Texas drawl, Noleta apologises to Sissy for her husband having killed Peggy, her mother. It becomes clear that the Vietnam Vet, husband G.W. (David Nelson) had been having a one-night stand with Peggy, when she fell over his wooden legs and hit her head, killing herself.

        Ty’s mum, smartly dressed Latrelle, arrives at Sissy’s house along with the third sister, loud, bold and brassy LaVonda (Gillian Binks) to prepare for their mother’s funeral.

        In a nearby pub, G.W. and his friend, Odell (Jason Wall) are chatting to the barman, Bubba (Michael Balmer) when the doors of this male sanctuary fly open and two of the girls enter. They have just been to the cinema to see ‘Thelma and Louse’ and because they are now drunk, fancy themselves as the female gangsters. The three men will never be the same again!!

          The three sisters have a brother, Earl ‘Brother Boy’ (Clayton Zwanenburg) who, because he is besotted by Tammy Wynette, dressing like her and fantasising all day, was placed in a sanatorium for his own safety. We join his sex therapist, Dr Eve (Sue Murray) in her consulting room, as she tries her own method of easing Earl out of his ‘disability’.

What an amazing ride director David Gardette takes us on. He has gathered an extremely talented cast, with many major awards between them – and it shows. Their deep-south accent is particularly accurate, although initially a little annoying, the cast could not be faulted in their dialogue.

The characters were rich and demanded daring, energy-packed performances. Several of the cast were taken well outside their comfort zones, but they did this with courage and amazing humour. The language and some sexual descriptions made one or two of the audience gasp, but like it or not, this is REAL life. The performances were ALL outstanding, not a weak link anywhere, fantastic.

The wigs and costumes, designed by Terry McAuley and David Young, are wonderfully conceived. The style and colours made everyone chortle at times. John Woolrych’s lighting was well designed, and smoothly operated by Jacob Anderson. The sound effects required several very accurate cues, and the soundscape designer, Daniel Toomath, did not miss a beat.

This production was complex and had so many areas where a poorly focused team could easily have collapsed, however, this dedicated group were unstoppable. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you do not mind a politically incorrect script and damaging your retinas with one scene, you will love this very unusual comedy. A real, feel-good show.