THE CLASSIC BOARD GAME IS BROUGHT TO LIFE AS SIX GUESTS ARE INVITED TO A DINNER PARTY THROWN BY AN ANONYMOUS HOST. THEY ARE GIVEN ALIASES–COLONEL MUSTARD, MRS. WHITE, MR. GREEN, MRS. PEACOCK, PROFESSOR PLUM, AND MISS SCARLET. THOUGH DISCOURAGED FROM REVEALING PERSONAL INFORMATION, IT IS SOON DISCOVERED THAT ALL OF THEM HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO THE SAME BLACKMAILER, THEIR VERY HOST OF THE EVENING. EACH IS PRESENTED WITH A WEAPON AND AN OPTION: PAY THEIR EXTORTIONIST DOUBLE OR KILL THE INNOCENT BUTLER. WHAT FOLLOWS IS A MADCAP, SLAPSTICK EVENING FULL OF MURDER, MYSTERY, AND LAUGHS AS THEY SEEK TO PUZZLE OUT THE CULPRIT.
VDL Awards Entries 2023
Shuddersome: Tales of Poe
Smart Artz Theatre Inc.
20 Apr 2023 - 22 Apr 2023
The thumping of a heartbeat. The creak of a door. The howl of a bitter wind. The gong of a clock tower. The clang of alarm bells. The sound of beating wings getting closer and closer…
Specters, ghosts and ghouls come alive in this vivid theatrical adaptation of some of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known works. Included are The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Masque of the Red Death.
Poe’s words rise from the page like corpses from the grave. Be careful. Do you hear that tap, tap, tapping?
From the team that brought you the award-winning The Laramie Project comes this unique gothic presentation of some of Poe’s most famous works.
Extremities
Geelong Repertory Theatre Co. Inc.
21 Apr 2023 - 6 May 2023
Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Extremities contains the seeds of all the things that interest me as a writer – politics, ethics and morals and psychology. A woman alone, a man enters, the play begins. From the very first, we see a contagion of violence pass from Raul, to Marjorie, to Terry, to Patricia. It grows in the language and in the action like a germ culture. The monster in all of us is just under the skin. Scratch the skin deep enough and it come leaping out full blown. In order to survive Raul, Marjorie has to become like Raul. To do that is to lose herself. The victim and victimizer, the cager and the caged, form each other. Thus the psychological play leads to the moral play – How does one deal with evil without becoming evil oneself? Marjorie has a choice – to act or not to act.
Much Ado About Nothing
Eltham Little Theatre Inc.
21 Apr 2023 - 6 May 2023
William Shakespeare’s light comedy Much Ado About Nothing is still stunningly contemporary, especially considering how the entire show hinges on misogynistic ‘banter’ and the refusal to believe women, which is still sadly an ongoing issue. To highlight this, this show will be set in modern Mediterranean Messina (with more than a hint of Mamma Mia). A war has just ended, and everyone is in relaxed vacation mode (the plot makes more sense if you imagine that everyone has a drink in hand throughout), which makes the horribly cruel wedding scene hit even harder when the tone shifts. The humour will still be a major focus, however, with slapstick and wordplay.
Much Ado About Nothing is generally considered one of Shakespeare’s best comedies, because it combines elements of robust hilarity with more serious meditations on honour, shame, and court politics.
It was probably written in 1598 and 1599, as Shakespeare was approaching the middle of his career.
The play is set in Messina and revolves around two romantic pairings that emerge when a group of soldiers arrive in the town.
Benedick and Beatrice don’t love each other but then they do. Claudio and Hero love each other but then they don’t but then they do again.
#BacchaeToo
Peridot Theatre Inc
4 May 2023 - 14 May 2023
#BacchaeToo is a re-telling of arguably Euripides’ greatest work, The Bacchae. In the original Greek tragedy, the women of the City of Thebes have escaped to a nearby mountain to celebrate the god Dionysus, as part of the god’s plan to vindicate his mother. The new King of Thebes finds his authority threatened by these women, and
the story ends in gruesome tragedy.
In the age of the #MeToo movement, the influence of social media, and agenda-based news reporting, this modern adaption of The Bacchae, we will make use of live theatre and video projection to explore whether the story is still relevant today in the struggle for Women, Life and Freedom.
Buried Child
The Mount Players
12 May 2023 - 28 May 2023
Buried Child by Sam Shepard is a macabre look at an American Midwestern family with a dark, terrible secret. This play brought its author the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Although dark in many respects, it is delivered with humour and pathos. Heavily atmospheric and challenging, the play will entrance its audience with questions of morality and it’s take on the disintegration of the American dream. There is hope however, as the final moments of the play suggest salvation with a surprise ending
Shirley Valentine
Mansfield Musical & Dramatic Society (MMUDS)
13 May 2023 - 27 May 2023
Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.
In this stage play, the heroine in this actor’s tour-de-force is an ordinary middle class English housewife. As she prepares chips and egg for dinner, she ruminates on her life and tells the wall about her husband, her children, her past, and an invitation from a girlfriend to join her on holiday in Greece to search for romance and adventure.
Ultimately, Shirley does escape to Greece, has an “adventure” with a local fisherman and decides to stay.
Shirley Valentine was written in the Eighties, but the fundamental questions remain; “Am I getting enough out of life. What else is there?” You can ask these questions in any period so the play remains current for todays audiences.
Shirley Valentine, which became a film in 1989 starring Pauline Collins, is a married woman whose life’s purpose is to make sure her husband is fed and contented. Her dreams are locked away and she is judged not by her intellect or the depth of her imagination, but how well she manages to fry an egg – or remember that husband has steak on a Tuesday.
Shirley is a philosopher. She has some beautiful ideas about life. She’s a great observer of people and humanity. Talking to the wall is her therapy.
Shirley Valentine is about connection. It’s not about drinking wine on a beach. It’s about being listened to. It’s about being in the moment. It’s about not allowing the flame to go out.”
The Popular Mechanicals
Encore Theatre Inc.
14 Jul 2023 - 22 Jul 2023
The popular mechanicals are Shakespeare’s greatest clowns – the endearingly amateur acting ensemble led by Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here, they take centre-stage in a wild imagining of what goes on in the wings.
The result is a riotously funny mix of Shakespearean verse, songs and dance that is lewd, rude and ingenious. Clowning, vaudeville, slapstick, farce, stand-up comedy and some hilarious puppetry come together to create an unhinged feast of wit and profanity.
Shadows of History: The Iridescent Tale of a Woman Erased
Someone New Theatre Company
14 Jul 2023 - 23 Jul 2023
Woman Erased is the dark and exciting retelling of a little-known aspect of Geelong local history: the story of the Myers Street Industrial School for Girls, which was located in the heart of the Geelong Gaol.
We follow four of those now-grown women as they search for answers about their beloved Matron’s disappearance. This play explores the balance between the expectations of society and the pursuit of truth, and the immutable impression left on their lives by the shadow of the Gaol.
Stage Door
Aspect Inc
20 Jul 2023 - 29 Jul 2023
The scene is the New York City boarding house of Mrs. Orcutt which occupies an entire brownstone house in the West 50’s in NYC. Here the hopes and ambitions of sixteen wanna-be actresses who have come there to pursue careers are hilariously revealed.
The play features the lives of young actresses as they try to make it on the stage in the world of Broadway in the 1930’s. They all live together in The Footlights Club, a house exclusively for female performers, trying to negotiate the business of theatre. The hopes and ambitions of these sixteen young women are revealed in scenes of entertaining comedy. Contrasted with this are the cases of the girl without talent and the elderly actress whose days are over. The central plot has to do with courageous Terry Randall, who fights against discouragement to a position in the theatre. One of her fellow aspirants gives up in despair, one gets married, and one goes into pictures, but Terry, with the help of idealistic producer, David Kingsley, sticks to her guns. Other characters include Mattie, the maid; Frank her husband; a few young men callers; a movie magnate; and young Keith Burgess, the playwright who “goes Hollywood.”
The show explores success, failure, love, comradeship, and perseverance. Emerging amid The Great Depression, this show serves as a love letter to the American Dream and the persistence of all starving artists.