Comedy at Death’s Door Supports Cancer Charity

Comedy at Death’s Door Supports Cancer Charity

A GENTLE comedy about a woman dying of bone cancer – and her family coming to terms with it – is the August / September offering from Melville Theatre (WA).

Written by Laura Wade and directed by Susan Lynch, Colder Than Here is the story of Myra and her determination to plan her own funeral while her husband buries his emotions and her two daughters struggle to accept their mother's fate.

As she researches burial spots and bio-degradable coffins, her family is forced to communicate with her as they face up to an unpredictable future.

“This is a play about what happens to a family when someone is dying,” Lynch said. “Life goes on and relationships are tested while decisions are made about how to deal with the inevitable.

“It’s a story with a lot of gentle humour while everyone comes to grips with Myra’s decisions about how she wants to die and be buried.

“I loved the script as soon as I read it and I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to work on it.

“A death in my own family made me think about this play again and I decided now was the ideal time.”

Acting and directing in Perth for the past 13 years, Lynch has staged numerous productions with the Old Mill, Harbour, KADS and Melville Theatres and the Graduate Dramatic Society and has more recently appeared in Necessary TargetsCat On A Hot Tin Roof, Parramatta Girls and Secret Bridesmaids’ Business.

In 2002, her production of Out of Order was runner-up best play at the annual Finley Awards and she received a best director nomination for The Shape of Things in 2009.

Lynch was also recognised for encouraging new talent in Daisy Pulls It Off at the 2011 awards.

With Colder Than Here, she believes her main challenge is getting the actors to relax and be comfortable with humour in the face of death.

“We all have to accept this is a ‘life goes on’ situation and funny things don’t stop happening just because there is tragedy in the background,” Lynch said.

“I have a fantastic group of actors so I’m sure we’ll find the truth in the story.”

Colder Than Hereplays from August 30 to September 14, 2013. Tickets are $18, $14 concession – book on 9330 4565 or at www.meltheco.org.au/Bookings.html.

Melville Theatre is donating $1 from every ticket sold, plus the proceeds of the nightly raffle and any donations, to SolarisCare, an organisation improving the quality of life for cancer patients and their carers by providing support to cope with the emotional and physical side effects of cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

The theatre is on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway, Palmyra.

Images: (top) Alec (Phil Lord, right) struggles to let down his barriers when his wife Myra (Sharon Menzies) is diagnosed with bone cancer and (lower) Ruth Gillen, left, Belle Toy and Phil Lord play the family of Myra (Sharon Menzies, second from left), trying to come to terms with her terminal illness – and cheery pragmatic approach – in Colder Than Here.

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