| Tom Fool | Hoy Polloy |
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Hoy Polloy presents the Australian premiere of Franz Xaver Kroetz’s Tom Fool translated by Estella Schmid and Anthony Vivis, and directed by Beng Oh at the Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick from 2 – 23 May 2009.
The working class have been sold a lie ... Hard work and obedience does not translate into security ... Capitalism has failed but the workers neither rebel nor resist ... Tom Fool examines the point of resistance ... Otto is a modern day Job who loses everything ... The question is whether he will fight back.
Franz Xaver Kroetz is one of the most controversial and most produced German dramatists of his time. Through the 1970s, Kroetz plays have been described as portraying people who are rendered speechless by their own social misery, and often composed of short scenes which begin and end abruptly, featuring a hyper-realism style and format.
Kroetz was never able to achieve a synthesis between his own theatre aesthetics and Marxist ideology – he has remarked, “Positive plays, positive characters – that seems to me too simple.”
Tom Fool is a new translation of Kroetz’s superb play Mensch Meier – showing that life at its most ordinary is never far away from disruption, chaos and violence.
Mensch Meier proved to be both widely popular and a financial success for Kroetz when it had its world premiere in a small Brazilian provincial town and its German premiere at four theatres simultaneously in 1978.
Hoy Polloy artistic director, Wayne Pearn said, “We are delighted that the Australian premiere of Tom Fool opens our inaugural season of four plays for the year.”
“The company welcomes director Beng Oh and actors Chris Bunworth, Liz McColl and Glenn van Oosterom, who are charged with bringing this telling piece of theatre by one of Germany’s most important playwrights to life,” Pearn said.
Nominated for a Green Room Award 2008 – Theatre Independent (Porcelain – La Mama), director Beng Oh commented, “Tom Fool is not so much a working-class tragedy as a tragedy of the working classes – it’s a funny, trenchant and unromantic portrayal of working-class life.”
“It’s astounding to think that the play is over 30 years old and the range of references implies that Tom Fool could have been written in response to today’s events.”
“The piece speaks to a commonality of experience – life in 21st century Australia has everything in common with the life of an auto industry worker in 1976 Munich ... some things never change,” Oh concluded.
Chris Bunworth is the artistic director of Larrkin Ensemble Theatre – his recent credits include performances with Melbourne Theatre Company, the feature film Cryptopticon and television appearances on ABC TV’s The Hollowmen and Bed Of Roses.
Liz McColl is a regular performer at the Arts Centre and La Mama – she appeared in Dimboola for Fly-On-The-Wall Productions, MelBorn for the Melbourne Writers’ Theatre, and television appearances on Neighbours for Channel 10 and Bastard Boys and MDA for ABC TV.
Glenn van Oosterom trained at the National Theatre Drama School, where he was the recipient of the Joan Harris / Jeff Warren Graduate Award in 2007 – he played the title role in the Australian Shakespeare Company’s production of Romeo And Juliet, was recently in Essential Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and appeared in the television miniseries The Pacific.
Hoy Polloy presents the Australian premiere of
Tom Fool
written by Franz Xaver Kroetz
translated by Estella Schmid and Anthony Vivis
directed by Beng Oh
Where: Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre | Corner Sydney & Glenlyon Roads, Brunswick (Tram Route 19 to Stop 21)
Preview: Friday, 1 May 2009
Season: 2 – 23 May 2009
Times: Tuesday to Saturday 8.15pm, Sunday 5.00pm
Tickets: $30 Adult, $20 Concession / Groups 10+, $18 Tuesdays, $15 Preview
Bookings: 03 9016 3873 |
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Blog: hoypolloytheatre.blogspot.com
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