| The Weather and Your Health | La Mama |
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“Gilgandra, town of windmills…”
The Weather and Your Health is a new Australian work written and performed by Bethany Simons. It is the utterly charming story of a woman in a small town whose belief in beauty transcends the ups and downs of a sometimes-hard life.
Creator Bethany Simons says, ‘I wanted to create a beautiful and uplifting work that was unique to me, and something I could offer to both rural and urban audiences. I was born and raised in country NSW, and was blessed to be surrounded by a family of great storytellers’.
In stark contrast to the Barbara Baynton vision of ‘Bush Women’ as victims of malevolent nature and male brutality, the woman in The Weather and Your Health is genuinely optimistic and positive about her life. She tells her own story without a hint of self-pity or over-compensation. However, this is not Pollyanna’s ‘glad game’ either. She is a strong and independent rural woman who happens to be able to find the beauty in everything!
Director David Wicks says, ‘The main challenge in directing The Weather and Your Health is how to depict a character who is genuinely positive about everything, without resorting to a sort of patronising irony. I made the decision early in rehearsals to take up the challenge and honour this . . . I have to say . . . uniquely amusing character by depicting her as she is, not as I might filter her through my “sophisticated” city-dweller’s eyes.’
The Weather and Your Health is an enchanting and finely wrought ‘chamber’ performance that fuses dramatic fiction and personal biography.
Bethany Simons appears at La Mama for the first time. She developed The Weather and Your Health as her Honours project while studying acting at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga NSW. She is committed to creating new theatre with an authentic Australian regional sensibility that is accessible to both rural and urban audiences (and they are different!)
David Wicks has performed at La Mama in his solo show Venus and Adonis and Tom Lindstrom’s Mysteries. He also directed the Green Room Award winning production of Irene Korsten’s Ordinary Misery.
Andrew Dodds also appears at La Mama for the first time. He recently completed his Honours degree at Monash University, where he appeared in Oedipus DNA and The Golden Age. He since appeared in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Chapel Off Chapel.
THE WEATHER AND YOUR HEALTH
Written by Bethany Simons
Directed by David Wicks
Performed by Andrew Dodds and Bethany Simons
La Mama, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton
1 – 12 July, 2009
Weds and Suns at 6.30pm, Thurs to Sats at 8.00pm
Tickets: $25 / $12 Duration: 55 mins approx.
Bookings: 9347 6142 or book online at www.lamama.com.au
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