‘STAGE ONE’ is an initiative of the Theatre Arts course at Curtin University. Now in its 5th year, it offers Western Australian playwrights the opportunity to write and premiere a new play. It is then produced at the Blue Room Theatre, providing undergraduates with the acting and technical experience of working and exploring a new work.

Previous Curtin students, who have benefited from this perfect opportunity, include Frances O’Connor, Mandy McElhinney, Kate Atkinson, Clare Hooper, Kate Mulvany and Jess De Gouw.

This 70-minute dark unsettling play, with touches of black comedy, can be seen at The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge until Saturday 10^th December. Please check the performance times.

Alexander Gerrans set of Patrick Howe’s design, is a very convincing garage and store room. There are several very good weather and woodland effects. Lizzie Howard had some unusual and difficult props to acquire. The costume supervisors were Taylor Burtenshaw and Gemma Wilkie, who created realistic gore damaged clothes.

Joe Lui mentored both Noah Bateman with his realistic soundscape, and Kane Scriven’s wonderful mood lighting.

Stage Management ran smoothly thanks to Sally Davies and her deputy, Jack Wilson.

The whole production was overseen by Stephen Carr and Karen Cook.

The scene is today in the region of the NSW Blue Mountains.

     In the mountainous countryside is a Body Farm, this is where people who have left their bodies to science are left lying around in different soils and fluids so that pathologists can gather information on how quickly bodies decompose in different circumstances.

     When Anton died, his family found that he had left his body to the Farm; his sister (Jess Nyanda Moyle) is devastated that he did not have a proper funeral. One day at university, a girl with an angelic face and a nervous smile (Caitlin McFeat) approaches the sister, and gabbling away asks if she would like to join her church.

     In a nearby garage, owned by the aunt and uncle of #2 (Bianca Roose), is a group known as ‘The Family of the Book’ – who, for anonymity reasons, prefer to use numbers rather than names. Dressed in white forensic overalls are two threatening men #3 and #4 (Frazer Shepherdson, Sam Ireland). After painstaking planning, they have kidnapped the Body Farm’s caretaker (Ming Yang Lim) in order to gain access.

       A slightly dozy member of the group, #6 (Anna Lindstedt) arrives wearing non-standard ‘Family’ clothing. With her is the leader, #1 (Declan Brown) who, knowing that it won’t be long before the police arrive, decides to quickly move in on the Farm.

       After such planning and with God on their side, what could possibly go wrong?

The director and guiding light of this highly original play, is the multi award-winning actor and writer, Will O’Mahony; who on this occasion is assisted in the directing by Chelsea Gibson. The play has superbly observed and richly written characters. The action starts with humour and slowly works up to a gripping climax, followed by a scene that had the whole audience squirming.

The actors each knew their part in the story’s colourful jigsaw. Many very different parts working in perfect harmony. One small suggestion, when there is a great deal of shouting, either lower the voices down an octave, or speak more slowly – even in the wildest argument – as some of the diction was lost.

Adroit direction of a terrific script, involving an interesting set of characters and backed by clever technical skills. Strongly recommended, you will not have seen a play like this before.

This 60-minute, disquieting mystery is a The Lost Boys presentation, produced by Georgia King. It can be seen at the Blue Room Studio, Perth Cultural Centre, James Street, Northbridge at 8.30 nightly until Saturday 5^th September.

The set is of a cove at the foot of some cliffs near Blackpool. Set designer, Patrick Howe, has constructed a most convincing, rugged cliff face with black plastic sheeting. On the ground is the sandy beach covered with thick foam (stage managed by Meabh Walton).

The lighting designer, Chris Donnelly, and the sound designer, Will Slade, have obviously worked together very well, to produce the tremendous atmosphere. The play calls for dramatic, threatening storms with periods of enlightenment, which Chris has captured beautifully; when coupled with possibly the best soundscape I have ever heard, the overall effect is outstanding. For the full 60 minutes of the play, Will’s sound is a subtle blend of rumbling, low level music and wonderfully vibrant, stereo, seaside sound effects that really built up the tension.

        It is early morning in a small cove on an island close to shore. A middle-aged woman (Claire Munday) wakes to find herself covered in spume. She sits up and looks around. Where is she? What is worse – who is she? Along the beach comes a teenage girl (Tessa Carmody) who looks familiar. She has the same mannerisms and body gait as herself. They talk and it becomes apparent to them that they know each other; in fact, they could even be related.

     The women talk and soon discover that they had both been to a dance at the hotel on top of White Climb. The older lady remembers meeting a terrible old woman called the ‘Crab Turtle’ and believes that she may have stolen part of her memory.

     As they chat, a girl (Jo Morris) in her mid-twenties walks out of the crashing waves. Again they notice the resemblance. This soaking girl is covered in blood; and is that a piece of flesh that she is carrying?

   What has she found in the stormy sea? What made her lose her memory too? Could it be depression, worry or even conscience?

The director, Mikala Westall, soon after winning a Fringe World award, received a prestigious ‘Emerging Artist Award’. Mikala has been mentored by another respected director who has given her confidence over the years, Joe Lui.

This is a very difficult abstract story to produce. It is important to retain the suspense, and drip feed the story to the audience. Often this results in a tedious presentation that can become frustrating, and you find yourself continually looking at you watch – talented director Mikala and her superlative cast have handled this story with an amazing amount of skill, making the audience want more in an attempt to piece together this captivating, beautifully written complex story.

All three actors conveyed the confusion and fear of their isolation with delicate skill. Beautiful team work and sensitive acting.

Driving home you will be asking ‘Does that mean she ….?’ as the tale finally clicks into place. A brilliant production that will give you food for thought.

The Blue Room and New Ghosts have collaborated to give us this one-hour production, which can be seen for one week only, in the main theatre, at the Blue Room, James Street, Northbridge at 7.00 pm each night until this Saturday, 27^th June.

The set is a kitchen / lounge in a student style flat. It has a working sink unit, fridge, table, chairs and settee. In a first time ever (?) there are all four walls to the room set. It is viewed in the round. The walls are waist high with a metre break – like an all-around window – and then the walls (suspended) continue to the ceiling. This gives the drama the desired claustrophobic effect, and gives the audience members a true feeling of being a voyeuristic fly on the wall. Clever design from Patrick Howe, aided by stage manager Daley King.

        Three months ago, when young Charlie’s (Paul Grabovac) world came crashing down, he went to stay with some caring friends, Clara and Tommy.

        It is now 2.00 am, and in the dim light Charlie, who has fallen asleep on the sofa, awakes from a recurring nightmare screaming the name ‘Lily’. Bleary eyed, Clara (Mikala Westall) comes rushing through from her bedroom to console him, and drags him off to his bed.

        Next day, Clara and her partner, Tommy (James Marzec) try to cheer up Charlie, by offering to take him to the footie, but this is to no avail, his depression is not improving.

       A few days later, to Charlie’s horror, his fiancée Grace (Salacia Briggs) arrives at the flat unannounced, wondering why he had ‘disappeared off the Earth’ with quite a few problems requiring to be resolved. The story takes a dramatic twist.

       Who is Lily? Are Clara and Tommy the sincere caring friends Charlie thinks they are?

What an amazing cast director Joe Lui (assisted by playwright Lucy Clements) has gathered. The four actors gave an immense depth of feeling to the script, and held the suspense and mystery of the play right to the end. Their parts all called for a full range of emotions, from tenderness to outright anger, and were beautifully acted.

The soundscape of deep rumbling music and clever lighting (Joe Lui) emphasised the trauma and misery in Charlie’s head.

The rapidly twisting story threads may leave some of the audience reeling and wondering what is happening, but this is certainly an outstanding production that I would love to see again, but the rapidly filling houses may make this impossible.

Every now and again a play comes along that ticks all of the boxes, this is one of them. An intelligent piece of theatre, highly recommended.

In true tradition, Black Swan State Theatre has been bold enough to give us something new and exciting. This first class ‘nested story’ can be seen in the Studio Underground, in the State Theatre Complex, Northbridge.

The 90-minute performances are nightly, with curtain up at 8.00 pm.

The scene is a comfortable, well-furnished living room, in an American flat, situated in a converted warehouse complex. The ceiling is high, the white walls arched, the floor polished concrete and a large copper heating pipe passes vertically though the room. (Set design by Patrick Howe).

       A massive flash of lightning, accompanied by an explosion of thunder (excellent soundscape, Brett Smith and lighting, Joe Lui) complements the pouring rain. There is a knock on the apartment door. The young man, Thomas (Adam Booth), answers it only to find a drenched young girl in a Parka anorak. This is Vanda (Felicity McKay).

       Vanda explains that she has arrived for her audition reading – several hours late. Even though Thomas has just seen three dozen unsuitable actors, and is desperate for someone to play the female lead in his adaptation of a German play, he is most reluctant to let Vanda read for him.

       Due to the weather and her pathetic story of her journey for this reading, he eventually relents. She explains how she loves the semi-pornographic script, and removes her coat to reveal a dominatrix outfit. Thomas is horrified at her sleazy interpretation of his treasured play adaptation, explaining that it is absolutely moral and character based.

      Will this director allow Vanda to audition for his play?

Local talent, Lawrie Cullen-Tait, is one of the few directors capable of presenting such a cleverly written play, in such an intriguing and riveting way. In the wrong hands, this could have been a long, boring struggle for the audience. Instead, with the magnificent actors capturing the ingenious script, their characters changed slowly and cleverly throughout the play, giving huge depth and interest to the situation. The sub plot – which may be considered by some, to be the main theme – is that of sexual competitiveness and dominance, and was extremely well demonstrated. The production was a little bawdy, but still quite refined and filled with humour.

The two actors are young and relatively inexperienced (one WAAPA trained, the other from NIDA), but one would never guess from the powerful and assured performances that this was the case. The depth of raw characterisation and use of various foreign accents (Coach Julia Moody) showed great theatrical skills.

This was one of these plays that looked simple in its presentation but in the hours after the show, one started to really appreciate the immense skills exhibited in the dialogue and acting.

An unusual production, but one of true quality.

This 80-minute, high drama can be seen for one week only, at The Blue Room Main Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge. Performances are nightly, at 7.00 pm until Saturday 13^th December.

A two-metre high, wire fence, with barbed wire around the top surrounds the rough and tough senior school. The yard is littered with leaves, school desk, an old rusty oil barrel and the stark concrete walls of the school, with steel girders as their hard, crowning glory (Designer, Patrick Howe and built by Bianca Stewart, Jennifer Scullion, Annika Jane, Eleanor Davison and Alexander Gerrans). Christopher McIntosh sourced the unusual props.

        In the corner of the schoolyard sits 14-year-old Eva (Eloise Carter), a slightly nerdy introvert. Because her Grandfather was on the Kokoda Trail, and her brother, Clint (Ryan Hunt) is serving in the forces in Afghanistan, Eva is obsessed with war history. Much to her mother, Trish’s (Ashleigh Morris) horror she wants to join the forces.

Latching on to Eva’s infatuation with history, the two school bullies, Sophie (Zoe Street) and Cate (Gemma Middleton) attack her ruthlessly, and regularly, Eva has to be rescued by her caring teacher, Ms Carlton (Amelia Tuttleby).

Eva’s only real friend is the shy youngster, Lucy (Amy Johnston) who may have designs on Eva. Lucy is forced by the school slut, Paige (Holly Dodd) to find her customers. Poor insecure Harry (Kane Parker) is ripped off in his determination to discover ‘the meaning of life’.

Eva’s older sister, Matilda (Violette Ayad) is pregnant to her abusive boyfriend, junky Turk (Sean Guastavino). Will Eva take Ms Carlton’s advice and leave the area?

McCall has cleverly blended present day tragedies with flashbacks of the horrors of war, as Eva recalls her Grandfather’s stories. There are dozens of good solid, interesting storylines in this meld of human psyche and life’s inevitable route. These are brought to life with the photographs (Leigh Brennan) and visual projections, Tristan McInnes.

A few months ago, many of these actors were in the wilderness, but director Mark Storen, to quote a school movie, has ‘taken them from crayons to perfume’. There were some amazing performances, all were WELL above average, but top marks must go to Eloise Carter and Sean Guastavino. The dramaturg was under Michelle Endersbee guidance, and she had the large group of actors perform well in the small space. With a flash of light, or an explosion, the schoolyard was converted for a few seconds to the trenches, the horrors of internment camps with the inmates clawing the wires, before returning to a parallel situation in modern life. The comparisons were at times quite horrific.

The clever costume choice described the wearers’ personalities perfectly (Sally Ostrowski and Amanda King). The lighting effects (designer, Karen Cook) were well thought out and presented. From blood red sets to the stark coldness of the battlefield. The lighting operators were Rhiannon Peterson and Aaron Smith. The sound effects were numerous, but the most spectacular being the overhead helicopter (Soundscape Elliot Macri, George Ashforth and Stephen McGuire).

Samantha Barrett and her deputies, Kharla Fannon and Amy Tamati, efficiently handled the stage management.

A very powerful play, with many metaphors on life over the years. From the seedy to the brave, the controlling to the dominated, this show has it all. One of Curtin’s best presentations. Try to catch it and admire how all aspects have been undertaken and conquered.