Home Open. An Evening of Change

The Cutting Room Floor's Home Open was almost guerilla theatre. Advertised only online, audience members were informed of the location, a private house in North Perth, by text message on the morning of the performance.

The program states that the project "simply consists of performance pieces taking place inside strangers' homes. It's a place for emerging writers to try out new work, take risks and reclaim everyday spaces for art. We've learnt that you don't need a theatre to make theatre."

On arrival at the secret address, the 60 or so audience members are assigned to one of three groups, which experience the six short plays, playing in different areas of the house, in different orders.

Unfortunately for the organisers the power went out about 20 minutes prior to starting time. (There had been an accident in the next street.) Undeterred and apparently unfazed, they decided to proceed with candlelight, with electricity being restored partway through the second show.

For audience group C, the evening went as follows. We started in the 'first bedroom', with Her, a short play by Samantha Maclean. Directed by Scott Corbett, Verity Softly delivered a poetic monologue touching on spiders and motherhood as she assembled an Ikea style cot. I couldn't decide whether her relaxed asides to the audience asking for help with her task, were distracting or inspired, but I really enjoyed the performance. As with the shows to follow, the audience sat on the floor or the bed and crowded into corners in the tiny performance space.

We then moved to the back room (a sleepout) for Ascension, a theatrical discussion of shopping and consumerism. Written by Tobias Manderson-Calvin and directed by Scott Corbett, it was well performed by a tight-knit ensemble of Mary Soudi, Jack Walker, Joel Horwood and Zoe Hollyoak.

We then moved to another bedroom, for a performance of Sexual Disfunction Without Wires, an interesting story about what may be a cult and a boy who falls from the ceiling then helps to build an ark. It was written and directed by Michael Collins anfd acted by Violette Ayad, Holly Garvey and Barney Pollock.

After interval we saw Star Parts, an excellent short story. Written by Daniel Ayre and directed by Scott Corbett, Elijah Melvin delivered an excellent performance who desperately wants his recall of a simple event to be different. Chloe Evangelisti was lovely as the object of his affection. A great example of a ten minute play with a surprisingly sad conclusion.

Performing (and set) in the kitchen, was the beautifully written and realised We Can Do Better. Directed by Gemma Hall, it featured Ann-Marie Biagoni and its playwright Tyler Jacob Jones. Set during an imminent apocolypse, a young couple attempt to complete a bucket list that will help make them perfect people. It was clever and absurd, extremely funny and outstandingly performed.

The final play was The Crack In The Ceiling, written by Daniel Kershaw, who like the two preceding writers has really mastered the tricky ten minute format. Another quality monologue, it featured a top notch character performance by Matthew Young and was nicely directed by Joel Horwood.

This was exciting theatre, the concept was inspiring and the plays well chosen. The audience was noticeably younger than the average Perth theatre crowd. Like raw food, this raw theatre is not for everyone, but is definately on trend and something I hope to see a lot more of in the months to come.

Kimberley Shaw