40th Noosa One-Act Play Festival

The Noosa National Playwriting Competition celebrated its 40th year with the three finalists chosen from 55 plays.
On the whole I found this years fare so much better than last years.

Tudo Ou Nada (All or Nothing) by Frank Wilkie
This play has many of the hallmarks of a very successful One Act Play. It is simple, easy to stage and genuinely funny. The plot is clear and concise, moves through its gears naturally and culminates exactly when and where it should. Not only is it easily accessible to an audience, but between its characters broad stereotypes and modern realities it has something for most performance ensembles.
A family of Portuguese descent descend into a rampage of laughs as a generational culture clash ensues over dinner. I love simple plots - they anchor down the structure and leave lots of room for sub plots and “business”. Carlos (Wayne Powrie) is the quiet yet philandering patriarch (and used to carry a blade in the old country) and king of his Antipodean castillo. Or so he thinks. Carlota (Synda Turnbull) is the Mediterranean matriarch and his long-suffering wife (or so he thinks). (Ok purists! So Portugal may not exactly be on the Mediterranean but hey, the suspension of dis-belief and all that.) Their daughter Lucy (Jannine Ritchie) brings her long-standing boyfriend Jack (Shane Cassidy) and his parents Brian (Peter Browne) and Mary (Leona Kirby) over for dinner. Brian is probably a cousin of Ted Bullpit. Thus both sets of parents are extreme stereotypes and prisoners of their own culture. These ex-tremities meet very nicely in the middle through their offspring. Almost “There a Weird Mob” meets “Kingswood Country” but with still enough leeway within the framework to intersperse moments of reality and seriousness. Between the food, the grapa, the old and the new everything simmers along nicely and comes to the boil at the end.
Director Sue Sewell did a fine job in setting the parameters so as to let the play drive itself. She also let all the characters have their “moment in the sun”. The cast ranged from competent to good, with Synda Turnbull a standout as Carlota. She opened the play with the frantic energy expected of a matriarch, which immediately set the pace for the others to follow. The play is a little gem that will no doubt become a regular on the country’s festival circuit.

God Willing by Bruce Olive
Two women from the same village find themselves in a hotel room after a terrorist attack. One is a brain washed terrorist and one is a heavily pregnant peace activist. They share so much in common yet are diametrically opposed. For the entire duration of the play you are aware that only one will survive. It was good to see a serious play on a contentious issue make the cut for this competition.
A fine chemistry between two good actresses took this play by the scruff of the neck and shook it down on stage. All kudos to both Jodie Bushby (Nadia) and Sharon Ward (Suria) for their honest portrayal of subject matter that is relevant but not ex-actly user friendly, and hats off to the Director (Sue Clapham) for giving them a sound framework to work within.
Writer Bruce Olive has approached the subject matter of International Terrorism with the sensitivity needed and has had the sense not to actually reveal which particular offspring of the children of the old book are the terrorists. They are portrayed as merely religious zealots whose sacred “law” overrides the secular law of the mythical Russian breakaway republic in which they abide.
If I had a problem with the play it is with the almost over-simplistic representation of an almost imponderable problem. There was so much more meat before the bone that was not carved off. Then again, it was only half an hour long and did give us ample food for thought.

The Usual Five for Lunch by Paul Addison
Hmmmm. I think the predictability of this production stemmed from the fact that it probably suited the medium of radio as opposed to a stage presentation. It was en-tirely dialogue driven. The lack of opportunity for any natural movement somewhat hampered director Jenni McCaul.
The plot was simple enough. A young woman (Jane) leaves her husband and goes to visit his mother (Jillian) to “do the right thing” and inform her of what has transpired. While waiting for the mother in a bar she strikes up an awkward friendship with Jess. Through Jess, Jillian and Jane we start to develop a strong insight into the husband - who we never actually see. By the end of the play we know more about him than the actual characters on stage. The Triple J’s, with occasional reality checks by the “everyman” bar owner (Bonny), eventually realise that they have all been used by a boy who never grew up. And there is a rather predictable twist, which I won’t reveal.
Kerrin Walters (Jess), Johanna Wallace (Jane), Yves Somerville (Jillian) and Jane Rivers (Bonny) are all competent performers. I felt the script did not give them any-where to go. In my opinion it was too static and the situation too limited to really en-gage the audience. As a radio play it would have been a little cracker.

Simon Denver

Image: Tudo Ou Nada - (from left) Shane Cassidy, Jannine Ritchie, Synda Turnbull, Wayne Powrie, Leona Kirby and Peter Browne