Indie Theatre 5pound Returns

Lovers of independent theatre in Melbourne all knew and loved The Owl and The Pussycat Theatre, a strange little shop adorned with tiles depicting Edward Lear’s poem, with a flat upstairs and a bar under the stairs. It was the home of 5pound theatre, a repertory company of five talented young artists, whose creative director, Jason Cavanagh, found the home while looking for a place to live. For nearly five years it built a reputation for high quality cutting edge theatre on a shoestring budget, producing both new works and some difficult modern classics (the Ceiling actually fell in on the audience during a rowdy production of Rhinoceros). Their production of Ariel Dorfman’s Purgatorio, directed by Celeste Cody and starring Cavanagh and his partner Freya Pragt, received rave reviews and went on to four successful seasons elsewhere, taking the Perth Festival by storm. It was my pick of all Melbourne Theatre in 2014. But running a theatre as well as a theatre company, is a hard grind for anyone.

“I found my life being consumed by it,” Jason tells me. “It was my home and my work, and there was no escape. People would phone up at 2 in the morning to ask if they had left a jacket behind; deliveries would come early in the morning; there was very little time left to sleep.  I was barman, manager, cleaner, director, handyman, actor, accountant and any other job there was no-one else to do. Worst of all, it left no time at all for my art.”

Jason is a gifted artist as well as an amazing cartoonist – and his creative side was being neglected by the demands of the little theatre. For his own well-being, he decided to sell. The new owners renamed the space The Owl and Cat Theatre and it continues as a performance space, largely of new and undiscovered works. But the halcyon days of 5pound departed with Jason, and lovers of indie theatre mourned their passing.

Now, 5 pound theatre is back, and Jason is determined it will stay.

“I never really intended to wind up the company for good,” Jason says. “For me it was just a hiatus, a chance to tour with Purgatorio, which is our most successful production, and a chance to get back to painting. Now that I’ve had that break I realise that I want to do more of both.”

In the short term, 5pound won’t have its own theatre, though Jason is looking at possible venues for a permanent rehearsal base.

“I really like the idea of different spaces for different productions,” he explains. “It does mean that you don’t have to compromise your choice of plays or how you present them. On the other hand, it makes things easier and easy isn’t a good choice for creatives.”

After a Launch and Fund Raising Party last month, the company will see it’s rebirth at the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival starting this month. After 18 years in theatre, Jason will perform his first one-man show

Man of the Year starts as a curatorial look at some of the world changing speeches throughout history. Martin Luther King ‘had a dream’, Adolf Hitler insisted ‘It is not truth that matters, but victory’, Winston Churchill vowed to ‘fight them on the beaches’, Julia Gillard ‘will not take lessons in misogyny from that man’ and Stan Grant says ‘we are better than this’.

But all the while a clock is ticking on the wall and there is something lurking beneath the surface. A bead of sweat falls across the speaker’s brow as he looks around the room.

Who is he? What are his true intentions? How will this end?

“I'm not entirely sure what is going to happen on that stage. At times it's like the material is creating me instead of the other way around. It is thrilling, scary and a little bit crazy, but then that’s what we’re going for,” says Jason with nervous excitement. Jason will be directed by the super talented Tim Wotherspoon, a stalwart of 5pound theatre’s Rep seasons.

And, as if Jason doesn’t have his hands full enough with acting from September 16^th  (this Friday) he is directing a new show opening on Monday 19^th September. Journey of a Thousand Smiles is the Fringe debut of actor/storyteller Jessica Hackett. Distraught at what was happening on Nauru, Jessica decided to do something about it.So, she decided to start a petition, and carry it from her sanctum of inner city

Melbourne to the steps of parliament house in Canberra. What came next was an

adventure. 710 kilometres, 50 townships, 35 days, 2 blisters, one petition, 17,000

signatures and one Melbourne high school teacher to carry it to Canberra in the height

of summer. This is her story.

After the Fringe Festival, 5pound has a production slate for 2017, and it will include touring, taking productions to regional areas. “Indie theatre is vital to building theatre appreciation in all areas,” Jason says, “We can afford to take more risks than main stage, and show that theatre is visceral and can change lives.”

One thing is certain – 5pound theatre is back to stay, and that’s good news for all of us.

Links

Man of the Year

Journey of a Thousand Smiles