| A View of Concrete |
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 “But I don't want to go among mad people,” said Alice.
“Oh, you can't help that,” said the cat. “We're all mad here.” – Lewis Carroll
There are just two plays to go in the acclaimed 2008 B Sharp Season – the penultimate is Gareth Ellis’s award-winning A View of Concrete. In the Sydney premiere of this extraordinary, funny and hypnotic production, Underbelly’s Damian Walshe-Howling is taking to the Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre stage for the first time since Crave in 2001.
The world is becoming unhinged. Domestic animals are committing suicide, politicians are felling trees, the stars are hidden by low lying smog, and Jacquie, Billy, James and Neil are stuck in a simulacrum where imagination overpowers reality. Part surreal comedy and part gritty, apocalyptic realism, A View of Concrete investigates an insular world where four young people sidestep reality, engaging in all-encompassing, dangerous and self-destructive fantasies.
James is addicted to watching television and monitoring the activities of his neighbour, at the expense of his relationship with Jacquie. Jacquie is afraid to speak out about her masochistic fantasies with James yet happily embarks on drug-fuelled tirades. Billy dreams of becoming smaller and smaller until she can disappear with the fairies into the Jacaranda tree in the back yard, and Neil is a mastermind drug dealer with a penchant for literature.
A View of Concrete combines the surrealism of Alice in Wonderland with the danger of fantasy and the joyous freedom of a children’s playground, where laughter bounces off hard surfaces and safety is often an illusion. Winner of the 2004 Wal Cherry Award and the 2005 Malcolm Robertson Prize, this is an explosive production from an exciting young creative team.
For Director Laura Scrivano, Ellis’ masterpiece of contemporary theatre explores the impact on people, their lives and relationships when the concepts of humanity and society no longer exist.
“A View of Concrete looks at what happens when our fantasies become reality. It’s a primeval, physical, surreal and absurdly funny play – the experience for the audience will be like watching an oncoming train wreck, fascinating yet horrifying.
“The characters’ extreme behaviour is both repulsive and endearing, and their natural world a nostalgic dream: there is nothing beyond the man-made and reality is psychotic,” she said.
The cast includes some of the country’s most talented young actors, including some well-known faces. It comprises Andrew Bibby (Neighbours, All Saints, ATM), Katie Fitchett (Miss Julie, Antigone, Holding the Man), Alex Steffenson (Valley Song, The Crucible, Happy Feet) and AFI-nominee Damian Walshe-Howling (Underbelly, Macbeth (film), Blue Heelers).
A View of Concrete is the ninth play in the highly-praised 2008 B Sharp Season. The Downstairs Theatre is Company B’s independent arm which hosts the annual B Sharp Season, supporting independent artists to present dynamic small-scale work and deliver a vibrant range of theatrical voices in an intimate setting.
Jacquie: Why would he tie a dead cat to his letterbox?
James: He says he didn’t do it. So it must have done it itself.
Jacquie: Did you bury it?
James: He wants to leave it there. He says it’s a sign.
Ellis’s psycho village of the damned is a comical place. The Herald Sun
Ellis has an ear for tough dialogue that is accurate and bleakly comic…and a real lyrical gift. Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes
It makes visceral, exciting theatre, and certainly gives the lie to those who claim that new Australian plays are in the doldrums. If this is a doldrum, it's been getting bad press. Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes
MPOWER Youth Productions and B Sharp present
A View of Concrete
Written by Gareth Ellis
Directed by Laura Scrivano
Designer: Tobhiyah Feller
Sound Designer: Kim Bowers aka. Busty Beats
Producer: Mariane Power
With: Andrew Bibby, Katie Fitchett, Alexandra Steffenson and Damian Walshe-Howling
Venue:
Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre | 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills
Preview: 5 November
Opening: 6 November
Season: 5 – 23 November
Times: Tues 7pm, Wed-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 5.15pm
Tickets: $29/$23 (Preview $20, Cheap Tues Pay-what-you-can min $10)
Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12090341055
Bookings: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
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Saturday, 10 January 2009
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