| The Bridge | La Mama |
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a randomACTS AWGIE Award winning production
Donny used to say, ‘…this bridge is fucked… doesn’t go anywhere anymore...’ but he liked the trains... ‘…all those people… they’re going somewhere… anywhere but here…’ Donny reckoned one day the right train’d go under this bridge and take him away forever. Guess he was right about that.
There’s an abandoned bridge on the old main road outside of town spanning a railway line that stretches away to different lives in different towns. Since the town got by-passed by the new highway, the bridge is only used as a hang-out by the local kids. Every so often, someone in town will kick up a fuss about what the kids are getting into up there, but pretty soon it almost always blows over…
…until Donny goes off the bridge and under a train.
The Bridge tells the story of a family forced to face a crisis they have ignored too long – a father grieving the loss of his land - a mother struggling with guilt - a son deeply affected by the death of his friend.
Against the backdrop of a rural town in mourning, The Bridge reveals to us the way in which one tragic event can ripple through a community, exposing the fragility that lies beneath the surface of so many relationships…
…between good friends, old friends, best friends, husband and wife, parent and child.
Originally commissioned and produced in 2002 by HotHouse Theatre in Albury-Wodonga, The Bridge went on to win an Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Award in 2003. Its premiere Melbourne season is performed by – Michael Wahr, Caity Fowler, Kurt Geyer, Margot Fenley & Martin Croft.
Chris Thompson is a writer, director, artistic director and arts educator. He was Artistic Director of St Martins Youth Arts Centre from 1989 to 1996 and a founding member of the Artistic Directorate of HotHouse Theatre in Albury/Wodonga (1996 to 2002). In addition to his AWGIE Award for The Bridge, he has also received an AWGIE for his play, Shady Characters (commissioned by the Victorian Arts Centre, 1997) and AWGIE nominations for his plays A Neutral Script (2001) and Spinning The Line (2006). In 2001/2002 was co-creator and head writer of two seasons of Shock Jock for TV-1/Foxtel, broadcast both here and in the UK, and in 2007 he was commissioned by the Melbourne Planetarium @ Scienceworks to write The Problem With Pluto which has been presented in planetariums both here and in the USA. Last year, his feature fi lm screenplay The Tumbler was nominated for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards screenwriting prize. Currently Chris is on the National Board of the Australian Script Centre and Chair of the Board of the Victorian Writers’ Centre. Chris fi rst worked at La Mama as a very bad actor in Going To Casablanca in 1982. He returned to La Mama overseeing seasons of short works by student writers in 1996 and again in 1998 whilst Artistic Director of MUDfest (the Melbourne Uni Student Arts Festival). The Bridge is his first time at La Mama as a writer and director.
“…an authentic, powerful drama, psychologically astute, beautifully paced.“
...The Australian Script Centre, Collection #4.
La Mama presents
THE BRIDGE
written and directed by Chris Thompson
La Mama, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton
May 22 – June 8, 2008
Wednesdays and Fridays at 8.30pm, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 6.30pm
Tickets: $20 (full) / $10 (concession)
Duration: 75 minutes approx.
Bookings: 9347 6142
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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