| The Little Dog Laughed | Red Stitch Actors Theatre |
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Nominated for a slew of awards including the Tony Award for Best New Play, Douglas Carter Beane’s razor sharp comedy about the machinations of the Hollywood dream, The Little Dog Laughed makes its Australian Premiere at Red Stitch Actors Theatre on Friday October 19.
Yes, we love the cinema for its great auteurs, its ability to move us and its daring, iconic imagery. But in this tabloid age where big stars go on Oprah and jump around like love-sick schoolboys, what we often find ourselves really loving is all that dish! Mitchell is a young, rising movie star with ambition to burn, looks to kill and talent to match. His hard-driving agent, Diane, is devoted to him and his potential to catapult her from mere agent to serious industry power broker. They’re a match made in Heaven. The wrinkle? Mitchell’s “slight, recurring case of homosexuality.”
The Little Dog Laughed daringly exposes the dilemma facing the modern Hollywood actor whose sexuality is incompatible with his matinee idol status. Mitchell not only has a secret penchant for rent boys, he’s fallen in love with one - the soulful, street-wise Alex. Diane is definitely not happy – nor is Alex’s girlfriend, Ellen.
To complicate matters, Diane wants Mitchell’s next movie to be an Oscar-worthy adaptation of a hit stage play about two men in love, but, as she explains “if a perceived straight actor portrays a gay role in a feature film, it’s noble. It’s a stretch. It’s the pretty lady putting on a fake nose and winning an Oscar. If an actor with a “friend” plays a gay role it’s not acting, it’s bragging” - and a recipe for Art House oblivion!
With a script that snaps and pops with wit, Carter-Beane gives us an insider’s look at the machinations at the heart of Hollywood, the commodity of celebrity and the real cost of happiness.
As The New York Times said, “What sets Douglas Carter Beane apart from aspiring successors to Neil Simon is the comic poetry he finds in hypocrisy, deception and denial for making spoiled, shallow people seem interesting, and not because of how they spend their money or whom they sleep with, but because of how they talk. The Comedy of Manners has resurfaced with all its vital signs intact.”
The Little Dog Laughed opened on Broadway in November last year following a triumphant season off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater. It went on to receive 2 Tony Award nominations including Best Play. Red Stitch is delighted to welcome director David Bell for the first time. The Little Dog Laughed features ensemble members Kat Stewart (City Homicide, Underbelly), Martin Sharpe (Lake Mungo) and Ella Caldwell with special guest actor Tom Wren.
Red Stitch Actors Theatre presents
THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
by Douglas Carter-Beane
Venue: Red Stitch Actors Theatre, rear 2 Chapel St, St Kilda East (opp Astor)
Dates: Fri October 19 – Sat November 17 ($18 previews Wed 17 and Thurs 18 October)
Times: Wed – Sat 8pm, Sun 6.30pm
Bookings: www.redstitch.net (discounted tix) or on 03 9533 8083 @ $30/20
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