She later honed her writing skills at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

‘Smashed’ is a moving, beautifully written, 40-minute play; it is now showing at the Hayman Theatre in Curtin University, Perth with performances on Sunday 18^th and 25^th, and weekdays at noon.

The set (designer, Noah Bateman) comprises large pieces of broken car, strewn around. Some parts are suspended in the air by fishing gut, giving the appearance of a freeze frame on the horrendous accident that has just occurred. Stage managed by Lizzie Howard.

The soundscape (Max Gipson) was crisp and clear, giving a real chill to the accident. There was a dream sequence, well created by lighting designer, Matthew Arnold. Smooth tech operation by Ashleigh Ryan.

     The lights rise to show the scene of a car crash, with pieces of vehicle everywhere. Draped over the motor parts are two bodies.

     Having just passed their driving test, best friends, Ruby (Kate Elliott) and Hazel (Shanae Tuxford) borrow their Dad’s car and go on a celebratory run. The action takes us back and forward in time, allowing us to experience the girls’ final moments, as their life flashes before their eyes.

Sadly, the amount of work being put into some of the Hayman lunchtime shows has recently dropped off. With fewer posters around the Campus, and with little thought being put into production details like scenery and lighting.

Director Terence Smith, aided by dramaturg Olivia Dugandzic, have done their best to bring standards back up to what was a basic requirement 3 years ago. In those days, a couple of actors would go into the cafeteria and shout at each other across the room advising everyone where the theatre is and how the shows are free each week. Some shows have had barely a dozen in the audience. This production was almost full, proving that if you work hard, the punters will turn up.

The actors had to deliver tragic news, and then seconds later portray their lives as carefree children. The chemistry between the two actors, Kate and Shanae, was superb, greatly heightening the tragic circumstances. The movement was natural, as they acted with their whole bodies, showing meaningful facial expressions and with clear enunciation.

A well-written play cleverly directed and brought to ‘life’ – although in this case that might be the wrong expression – by superb acting. One of only three lunchtime shows worth seeing this year.

This is a Hayman Theatre Company’s production at the Hayman Theatre, upstairs in Building 102. There is free parking in carpark B13 – multistorey – then follow the light trail from carpark.

Last Saturday was the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, in addition to being his 456^th birthday.

In this hour and a half edited version of the play, many of the main players have changed sex.

 The black set (designed by Amy Tamati) has layered rostra, with numerous white, gauze curtains draped from the ceiling. There were quite a few comical props provided by Sam Elliott and Jessica Nyanda Moyle for the ’ass scene’. Stage managed by Britany Manifis.

       The play opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens (Chris McIntosh), making love to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (Alex Gerrans). For their wedding celebrations, Theseus has arranged four days of revelry.

     The Athenian nobleman, Egeus (Sally Davies), arrives with his daughter, Hermia (Jessica Nyanda Moyle – very good) who is in love with Lysander (Terence Smith), but Egeus insists that she marries Demetrius (Indiana Powell) who is besotted by her. When Egeus asks Theseus for his Royal support, Theseus warns Hermia that if she disobeys her father, she could be sent to a convent.

When Hermia’s friend, Helena (Anna Lindstedt), who was previously engaged to Demetrius, tells Demetrius of the eloping couple – she hopes he will love her again, but instead he rushes off to find them in the forest.

     Deep in the woods, a band of sprites, including the Fairy King, Oberon (Chris McIntosh), and his ‘Killer’ Queen, Titania (Alex Gerrans), are arguing about who should bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. Also in the forest are Quince (Annika Jane – good) and his artisans; they are rehearsing for their wedding entertainment – a madcap play. Quince’s inept group, including Snout (Caitlin McFeat), Flute (Kharla Fannon), Starveling (Lauren Beeton) and Snug (Eleanor Davidson) are struggling with even the most basic acting tasks.

       Oberon sends his dynamic servant, Puck (Daisy Coyle – outstanding performance), to obtain the juice of a magical flower, which, when dropped on the eyelids will make the sleeping person fall in love with the first thing seen upon waking. It is placed on the eyelids of Titania and Demetrius.

       Puck confuses the Athenians, instilling the liquid in the wrong eyes, resulting in the lovers becoming muddled. When Titania (Alex Gerrans – very good) awakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom (Maddie Mullins – great comedic delivery), whose head is transformed into that of an ass. Titania falls for this ass-headed weaver, feeding it unusual delicacies whilst giving him a ‘Bohemian’ treat.

   After the confusion, all the loves are reunited and the newlyweds watch Bottom and his fellows perform their bumbling ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ play. Puck and the Fairy (Dylan Dorotich) explain that the whole story has been ‘but a dream’.

The interesting and colourful costumes by Amy Tamati and Evangalyn Little (aided by Ellis Kinnear) covered a large range including soldiers, kings and an asses head – a novel, floral version.

Sound designer, Ben Collins, who has tackled major Heath Ledger productions, gave us powerful music, blended with well-known top hits from the 80s. The sound was operated by Brittany Manifis.

Lighting designer Karen Cook created some clever effects with the older style lamps. The lighting was operated by Chelsea Gibson.

Director Philip Miolin, with his assistant Olivia Dugandzic, have accepted a massive challenge by taking one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays and turning it on its head. For someone like myself who has seen this play numerous times, I found it refreshing, but no doubt the newcomers will have been confused, and the true, traditional classic lovers perhaps even upset.

The actors’ performances were very varied. There were a few stunning performances, but one or two actors who have proved themselves in the past, struggled with this new genre – or even the standard Shakespearean delivery. However, thanks to the director, the overall result was clever, fun and will certainly have made the students think laterally, on how to involve the audience and the auditorium.

This 80-minute (not surprisingly) play is being presented by the Theatre Arts Major Students at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, Building 102, Curtin University, Bentley.

Performances commence nightly at 7.00 pm until Saturday 10^th October.

Follow the tea light trail from the free carpark, number B13 to the theatre.

Alistair Kennedy’s set is a high-class restaurant, built on a parquet floor revolve. The walls are stretched muslin, lit with blue light – thus allowing the action behind, to be seen on occasions. The scenery being built by Alistair Kennedy, George Ashforth, Reef Jennings and Georgia Lewis. To one side sits a musician (Eleanor Davidson) playing a flute. On the other side of the stage is the dining room in Louis’s home.

       In a restaurant, a nerdy, pedantic author, Louis (Kane Parker) is trying to broach the topic of marriage with his girlfriend, Claire (Lauren Beeton); however, the enthusiastic waiter (Jeremy Bunny) is determined to explain the ‘specials of the day’ to the couple. Louis has no culinary knowledge and relies on Claire to help him choose his food. It becomes obvious that Louis has not had anything published since he was at school, so he has now become a pathetic theatre reviewer.

      Later that night, back at home, Louis’s father (Alex Gerrans) is exasperated by his loser-of-a-son using up valuable space and oxygen in the house, and so evicts him. Tearfully, Louis’s Mum (Kayla MacGillivray) presses a box of his belongings into her son’s arms before sending him forth.

     Desperate and unemployed, Louis goes to see a major agent and publisher, Dan Kurtz (Tristan McInnes). Bumptious, Dan relies 100% on his personal assistant, Carol (Kharla Fannon) to run his office.

     After a tragic accident, it is decades before we catch up with Louis again. We find him shopping for flowers at Mathilde’s Florist Shop. He waits as Mathilde (Caitlin McFeat) serves a customer, a very proud mother (Ashleigh Ryan) looking for the best.

      What will happen to this major failure in life? Will he ever find the perfection he seeks?

Karen Cook’s lighting design (operated by Mai Han), along with Ben Wehrheim’s sound effects (mentored by Ben Collins) brought quite a few smiles to the audience in the restaurant scene. The impressive autumn effect was the work of Phoenix Hudson and Terence Smith, supervised by stage manager Jen Scullion. The numerous props (Shannen Santos) and well thought-out costumes (Alina Sulkowski) added greatly to the atmosphere of the play.

The actors were directed by lecturer, Phil Miolin with movement choreographed by Teresa Izzard; the action flowed at a wonderful pace. The script, which was aimed at mocking the way theatre productions are chosen and how they are produced, gave the actors a chance to do asides to the audience, and subtly ham up some situations. This dry humour was very well presented, bringing numerous belly laughs.

As well as mocking reviewers, the script contained an absolutely gross but hysterical optometrist’s nightmare – so I felt quite at home.

The standard of acting was first class, not a single weak link. Special performance mention of the pathetic Louis (Kane), who was physically abused throughout the play and his partner Claire (Lauren). The unrelenting waiter (Jeremy) and Dan (Tristan) who gave the most hyper performance of the year – tremendous.

This is a most original play in so many aspects, although a brief story thread had an odd similarity to the ending of Melissa Cantwell’s ‘The Song was Wrong’. Very well written, with some weird characters.

Treat yourself to a low priced ticket, and have 80 minutes of raucous fun. Certainly worth seeing.

The performances begin at 7.00 each evening at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley. The nearest carpark is B13, which is free after 4.00 pm. The show has a short season, running until Saturday, 8^th August.

The design for this show is unique and stunning. Everything is white – brilliant white – every wall, floor, blade of grass, every piece of scenery and all of the props. Pure white. However, the clever and most effective point is that every brick, chair, dustbin etc. has black tape along every edge. The effect is striking. (Designed by Sean Guastavino and built by Ian Stewart).

Karen Cook’s colourful lighting design, worked beautifully on the white, bringing it to life. Elliot Macri’s soundscape was well recorded and brought a few smiles in places.

Each area of the set was minimalistic; there was a train station, a train, a laundry, café and a shop all depicted symbolically.

       A nine-year-old girl (Rhiannon Petersen) stands on the station platform; she has lost her mother. She watches the people around her, fascinated by the gays kissing on a bench and the wild woman (Amy Tamati) shouting her disgust at their behaviour. On another seat, a married couple (Daisy Coyle, Jarryd Dobson) are having their morning ‘warm up’, a pointless argument.

       A courier (George Ashforth) delivers a valuable package to a ‘special’ shop, where the manager (Terence Smith) gives him valuable advice.

     When a jilted bride (Ashleigh Ryan), still in her bridal gown, runs past in a flood of inconsolable tears, a young yob (Jeremy Bunny) tries unsuccessfully to cheer her up – by offering to sell her the latest perfume. He then moves on to robbing a young, gullible girl (Madeleine Mullins).

     All of life certainly passes by in this fascinating city.

Very often students’ devised shows are a collection of short acts, joined poorly together becoming a bit of a Curate’s Egg. This show, however, was magnificent from start to finish; beautifully structured with plenty of very different, but instantly recognisable characters and true-to-life situations.

The cast worked smoothly, most actors having two parts to play. The movement, directed by Joe Lui with dramaturg help from Dylan Searle, was slick and flawless.

This hour show was great fun and well worth seeing.

‘Melancholy Play’ was Ruhl’s first major play; it premiered in 2002 and is now being presented for your immense pleasure by the Hayman Theatre Company, in building 102 on the Curtin University Campus in Bentley.

Performances are nightly at the early time of 7.00, and the season runs until Saturday 25^th April.

The set represents a couple of apartments in Perth, where the antique furniture is interchangeable as the action moves to and from each venue. The walls are a patchwork of many, quality wallpapers and the floor a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of carpets and rugs; both of these combinations reflecting the manic confusion of the characters’ minds and the situations in the play.

Clever well-made set by Eloise Carter, Annika Jane, Alex Roussel, Gema Seenarain, Michelle Endersbee, and Ashleigh Ryan with props supplied by Dicky Ng.

Karen Cook’s lighting subtle and selective design was smoothly operated by David O’Connor. Sound effects by Jack Beeson.

       Frank (Nathan Whitebrook), a bespoke tailor, addresses the audience through a window offering a defence of melancholy. As he speaks, Tilly (Zoe Street) a glamourous bank teller, then walks up to Frank and asks why he is an almond*. Frank is infatuated with her.

      Italian psychologist, Lorenzo (Kane Parker), explains to the audience the maternal history behind his lack of emotion. He turns to attend to his patient Tilly, who seems to live on the brink of an orgasm, and has the ability to take everyone she speaks with her, to the edge. Even a mundane conversation with Tilly leaves Lorenzo very much in love.

      Julia (Savannah Wood), who sits in the corner playing her own compositions on the cello, creating music for the various lovers in the story.

      Later that day Tilly is at the hairdresser, where the owner, Frances (Olivia Dugandzic) becomes obsessed with Tilly’s hair, asking her round to her flat to meet her reticent partner, a nurse called Joan (Daisy Grant). Soon, the jealousy begins to surface. Who, if anyone will win Tilly’s heart?

*In this play, the Amygdala, named in Greek after its almond shape, is the brain’s organ of emotion. In actual fact, the two Amygdalae appear like a pair of cherries on their stems, in the centre of the under surface of the brain – the most protected area of the brain. The right ‘almond’ produces fear and sadness, whereas the left creates happiness or anxiety.

This whole play was written very dryly, and with the fantastic cast directed by award winning Leah Mercer and her talented assistant, Ariel Tresham, the humour started almost instantly. Extra dramaturg provided by Kayla MacGillivray; with an uproarious fight sequence, co-ordinated by Philip Miolin. Lorenzo’s excellent accent was coached by Luzita Fereday.

The players have flawlessly captured the subtleness of the script, giving just that tiny bit of over-the-top delivery. The result was amazing. Every nuance of expression gave even more joy to the already captivated audience. Even at the peak of the pandemonium, the cast were resolute, only showing the desired melancholy or elation.

Please don’t think ‘only a few students struggling to produce an average show’, this is real quality. Great script, very good direction, a perfectly tuned-in cast working as a team. A fast moving, laugh out loud comedy. Treat yourselves to something very different.

Even in 1963, after being hacked by the English censors, the run was only for two nights. A much lighter Broadway musical version of this play was presented in 2006.

This translation from German is by Johnathan Franzen, with creative collaboration by the cast.

The two and three-quarter hour drama can be seen at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs, building 102 on the Curtin University campus, Bentley. Performances each night are at the early time of 7.00 until Saturday 7^th March.

The stunning set is of a silver birch and bamboo (?) woodland in a German provincial town -the year 1894. The designer, Sally Phipps and her assistant Sean Guastavino, have covered the auditorium walls with bandage width, white strips with bark pattern printed on. The stage is of a bower in a wood. Construction by the ever-reliable, still alive, Ian Stewart.

The set is brought to life by Karen Cook’s brilliant lighting. Karen has employed strong side lights combined with multiple ‘pups’ (small low power spots). The warm soft lighting puts a glow on the walls, and the actors are lit by the incident glow. Lighting operated by Maddi Mullins.

Elliot Macri’s delightful music and soundscape is just the simple unobtrusive style and level required. Sound operated by Georgia Smith.

        Lying on the bank of the wooded creek in the sunlight is innocent, fourteen years old, Wendla (Beth Tremlett), she is dreaming of love and not wearing knickers. Upon awakening, she meets her equally naïve, good friends, Martha (Savannah Wood) and Thea (Amelia Tuttleby). As they are chatting, the handsome Melchior (Sean Guastavino) walks past and their bodies experience a brand new feeling.

       Back at home, Wendla learns that her cousin has had a baby and so once again tackles her mother as to how exactly babies are ‘initiated’. Her overprotective Mum (Kayla MacGillvray) explains about ‘the stork’, which does little to satisfy even naïve Wendla. Not surprisingly, when Wendla meets Melchior later in the hayloft, the inevitable occurs.

       Melchior meets his school pal, the shy and often teased, Moritz (Alexander Gerrans); they discuss women, and what they know about them – mainly innocent lies. Whilst Melchior faces the mechanical facts of sex with excitement, Moritz seems somewhat traumatised. Their friend, Hansy (Jeremy Bunny) is having more advanced fantasies and imagines himself making kinky love to Thea.

      In the second Act, the cruel and bullying headmaster, Heart Payne (Jarryd Dobson), finds Melchior’s sexually blatant letter to Moritz. Backed by the school teaching staff, the headmaster gets the poor janitor, Fetch (Terence Smith) to carry out his outrageous demands. With little support from their parents – especially Moritz’s father (Aaron Smith) – terrible consequences follow for the two young teenagers. Wendla has just discovered that she is anaemic – or could she be pregnant? The doctor (Gemma Middleton) is called in.

     A masked figure (Nathan Whitebrook) appears, he seems to be the conscience or fate of the people around.

Director Teresa Izzard, with a dozen cast and two dozen techies to cope with, has taken on the dramaturg help of Nathan Whitebrook, and acting coach Phil Miolin. The production is topped off with make-up by Heather Jerrems and a talented costume team (Chelsea Johnston, Kate Phipps) led by Hannah Miller.

This complex play has been admirably stage managed by Samantha Barrett and her deputies, Dylan Dorotich and Laura Beeton.

There are a couple of areas that the script could have been thinned out slightly, but the director kept the pace moving on beautifully. Most of the cast had several parts, but managed to move between the personalities smoothly and still portray their characters with depth. The four or five leading parts were extremely well acted, and were backed faultlessly by the remaining cast.

The first Act of the play (it is the first two Acts of the book) shows the awakening of the children’s youth and their becoming aware of sex. The second Act shows the darker side and consequences of acquiring too much knowledge of intimacy.

The tickets for this epic are almost sold out, but try and get one if you can. There are quite a few players in their first major production, and yet the result is wonderful. Very many congratulations, a most professional production.

Free parking after 4.00.

The sidewalls and floor are covered in artificial turf, an ingenious idea from set designer Lachlan MacDonald, as it seemed to fit all the situations in this set of sketches. He combined the grass with a rear wall of silver stranded, ‘burlesque style’curtains and the effect was visually stunning. (Set and properties by Caitlin McFeat, Jordan Norrish, Scarlett Yakovina, and Zoe Street, and stage managed by Aaron Smith and his assistant Sean Guastavino).

        Because goats are nibbling at the very fabric of the Earth, a new safer planet – a goat free Utopia – must be found.

       To the sound of aircraft gunfire, a soldier (Monty Sallur) is found bleeding to death by one of his buddies (Jack Middleton). Petrified of dying alone, he makes a final request of his friend.

      A famous actress (Rebecca ‘Bubble’ Maynard – who is actually a wonderfully natural presenter in a Channel 7 teenagers’ programme) is shopping in IGA when she is spotted by an old school friend (Rhiannon Petersen, hilarious) who sidles up to her and tries to ingratiate herself.

      A young man sobs (Nathan Whitebook) as his pregnant girlfriend (Beth Tremlett) tells him she is leaving.

     Another pregnant young girl (Savannah Wood) is starting a new job, assembling toy models of goats. She is shown how to do this by a friendly, but overzealous supervisor (Ariel Tresham, what a captivating mover).

These are a few of the dozen or more, high quality sketches that kept us entertained. As well as the main theme of ‘goats’, other similarities and parallels cleverly interlinked the sketches. You can see that a great deal of work has gone into the writing and development of this show. The standard of this devised production is the highest that I have seen at Curtin in years. The immaculate lighting design by Karen Cook, although limited by the ancient lighting rig selection, was versatile and varied. Ashleigh Ryan smoothly operated the complex lighting schedule. The magnificent soundscape was designed Olivia Dugandzic who had obviously put a vast amount of effort into the complex depth of the sound effects and choice of music. Again, the operator Brittany Manifis had superb control of the cuing and volume. The costume design by Simone Chodorowski had a great deal of thought behind the styles, and Chelsea Johnston made the costumes themselves.

The idea of a devised piece for theatre students is to encourage them to try something new and exciting. To present to the audience a new experience. What the students have devised is extremely well presented. The acting and characterisation were first class.

The award winning director, Jeffrey Jay Fowler and his assistant director, Emelia Peet, have done a brilliant job guiding the students through their creation – and it is not the director’s task to create the script, but to help them get the most out of it. A little more script variety would have been welcome, perhaps a song or dance? They did have a Philip Marlowe scene that was very well observed and terrific in the presentation. The dramaturge by Emily Kingsley, who was recently outstanding in ‘The Shimmerin’’, developed plenty of quality movement. The students had a ‘daring’ final scene that worked well and stretched their stage experience outside their comfortable zone.

As I said, the acting and presentation of this devised piece was possibly the best I have seen by Curtin students in five years. The actors all seemed totally focused and their rapport was superb, not a weak link in sight.

Most enjoyable.