Afeif arrived with no knowledge of English from a poor, under-educated country, but believe me, his writing is highly intelligent, rich and sophisticated.

This work has been transcreated (translated and recreated) from Arabic by popular WA writer, Vivienne Glance (who recently gained her PhD from UWA) in conjunction with the author, to ensure the retention of the cultural richness.

This 85-minute (with brief interval) production from Always Working Artists can be seen at The Blue Room Main Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge daily at 7.00 pm until 5^th July.

‘In Godot’s Labyrinth’.

      In the corner sits the ‘mother of time’ (Janice Lim) knitting a never-ending umbilical cord – a theme that carries through all of the plays. At her feet lies a newly delivered child (Violette Ayad). In one of the numerous clever symbolisms, the mother and child create a live representation of Michelangelo’s painting, ‘Creation of Adam’.

      The knitter tells us that she was ‘there when ……..’, there then follows numerous important occasions and tragic events from world history.

      The stage goes dark, a whirring noise is heard and a flashing spaceship descends (creators Patrick Howe, Ian Tregonning, Anthony Watts). A spaceman (Kevin Mararo Wangai – amazingly talented) is lying on the ground; he rises and appears to float in the gravity free atmosphere. In a powerful booming voice, he describes the universe’s dimensions. He continues touchingly, showing how he represents the many different people of the world, from the strong handsome desert dwellers to the maimed and poor.

      In this almost poetic, thought provoking piece, we meet Beckett and possibly even Godot himself.

‘Why Rats Live Under Our Roof’, is an African street theatre treat.

       Along similar lines to the western pantomime, Monkey (Verity Softly – fantastic) is the Master of Ceremonies. In a white linen ensemble, with shirt, tie and suit brightly painted on the cloth (designer, Cherie Hewson), Monkey tells a few corny jokes and warms up the audience before introducing the star of the household, smooth talking and pun quoting Rat (Brianna Williams – hilarious).

      Monkey tells us about the loving couple living in the house, who are about to have their first child. Rat, wielding a flick knife, offers the heavily pregnant mother (Michelle Endersbee) some help in the delivery. The father (Kevin Mararo Wangai) just wants the baby (Violette Ayad) to be delivered as soon as possible and so agrees to Rat’s outrageous demands. What will the consequences be?

After the interval, the audience return to the theatre to find two large pods / eggs suspended from the ceiling.

‘One seed’

      From one egg climbs a female (Violette Ayad – an exciting new acting talent) dressed in a red bathing costume – the ovum. From the other, descends a male (Paul Grabovac) in blue – the sperm. The two lie down inside a capsule and fertilise. With a simulated view of a microscope slide, coupled with clever hand puppetry, we see the seed’s meiosis taking place, before the cells move on to the mitosis stage. One wonders, which actually came first, the human or the seed?

    The play moves on through the birth, life and finally onto death.

    This powerful play has no dialogue, but again with lucid symbolism expresses many emotions and shrewdly hints at life throughout the universe.

Joe Lui provides the soundscape and melody, with additional music by Rabie Abdelmajed.

Jeremy Rice, the well-respected WA director, who now lives in Melbourne, has returned to Perth bringing a wealth of new ideas that have given this play a freshness and exhilaration. The three plays are very different genres, but he has managed to convey the depth of the script and, with the terrific cast, given us a clear demonstration of how complex, unfair, varied and arousing the world is.

It is unusual to find a playwright that can write so lucidly and with such a quality in several genres. This is the kind of show that one can see several times and still see new slants in the symbolism and quirky action. Powerfully directed and splendidly acted, most enjoyable.

Baynton was born in the Hunter Valley 157 years ago, to poverty-stricken Irish immigrants. However, she quickly created her own fictitious, highbrow family tree, which fast-tracked her entry to ‘the Society’ of the day, a good job and eventually a rich heir for a husband – a cheating husband! Not deterred, Barbara found a surgeon with one foot in the grave, married him and used his contacts to start her writing career. Ten years later her husband died and left her a fortune, which she invested in antiques and black opals. 17 years later, she married her third husband and was happy for her last eight years of life.

This very unusual fable is showing in the Studio, at The Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge.

The set has black surrounds. The floor is totally covered in 50 cms of white fairy floss. (Designer, Tessa Darcey).

        The warm voice of the narrator, Humphrey Bower, welcomes you to a small suburban house and garden.

       A small yellow bunny pops his head above the snow-like ground. This is Fluffy, best friend of quiet, loving, Violette (Violette Ayad), he cleans his whiskers and ears before his rapidly meeting his demise. Violette decides to store Fluffy in the fridge until a suitable time for the funeral. Her passive – aggressive roommate, the bitchy and uncaring Holly (Holly Garvey) who spends most of her day texting, wants the carcass out of the house as soon as possible.

       Despite their obvious differences, the girls have a five-year plan for their lives, with some exciting experiences scheduled. However, Violette’s new and very unusual, anthropomorphising boyfriend puts a spanner in the works – could their future be doomed?

At the end of the performance, the actors (and co-devisors) pointed out that because the show was so new-fangled and experimental that it was still a work in progress, and their team would appreciate some feedback. It was certainly different but perhaps too adroit, so much so that some of the audience may have gone home asking themselves ‘What was that all about?’

There was a huge amount of inspired symbolism, numerous puns and double-entendres; the script was rich and clever, but was it too subtle? I laughed aloud several times at the zany humour, but sadly was often the only one doing so.

Director, Ian Sinclair, who has always been inventive and lateral thinking, has done a brilliant job making this dark story acceptable. Fringe World Emerging Artist Award winner, Violette Ayad and Holly Garvey were perfectly matched. They say that people become like their pets, Holly proved this to be the case. Great costumes. Their performances were daring, energetic and topped off with delightful mannerisms.

As the script niftily changed from serious to light fun in a sentence, and so did Chris Donnelly’s creative lighting. Bright and colourful lighting one second and then dark and sombre the next; at one stage using only UV to create a most effective creepy mood. The lighting and DJ Catlips’ soundtrack were both controlled smoothly Donelle Gardiner.

Ingenious fun with dark undertones, but is the world ready for this yet. I loved it. Brilliant.