First Curtain Festival
Camberwell Grammarians' Theatre Company, CGTC is a community theatre company formed to encourage alumni, friends and families of Camberwell Grammar to continue, revive or ignite a drive for the performing arts. In fact, I am told that during the lockdowns, they conducted virtual workshops to encourage members to keep up their creative endeavours.
Those creative muscles have now been flexed for CGTC’s inaugural one act play festival. Written by local playwrights and directed by experienced as well as emerging directors, these seven plays make their debuts in five performances staged over 5-8th March 2026 at Clayton Community Theatre. From settings in the quiet halls of the Louvre, to a human crisps factory and a manor brimming with detectives investigating a murder most foul, the First Curtain Festival is an intimate night of storytelling and experimentation with enough variety to appeal to the whole audience.
A festival such as this one provides multiple opportunities and challenges for writers, directors and actors as well as those behind the scenes making potato costumes and creating puppets and sound effects etc. Let’s hope this inaugural event becomes annual!
Danielle Zuccala and Cyrus Raco produced the following plays for audience delight…
The Last of the Gentlemen Sleuths by Noah Sargent, directed by William Rotor
Trapped by a blizzard, five of the world's greatest gentlemen sleuths must solve the murder of Mr. Corpse before they all turn on each other instead.
Set at Christmas in 1953 the writer, Noah has created a seven-handed comedy that begins at the end and then peels open to unfold the whole story. The cast handled their roles well including various accents and delivering straight-faced puns which is not easy.
The versatile acting cast in this piece were Omar Moustafa (Mr. Darlington, the butler), Hayden Whiteford (Detective Mee), Benjamin Chesler (Mr Corpse), Crystal Haig (Inspector Inspector Clark), Lexie Smith (Detective Dawn), Tobiah Elliot (Detective Faith) and Zaid Imran (Detective McDucken).
That Story about the Louvre by DS Magid, directed by Jai Barlow
This play was short and sweet about an impressionist who broke into the Louvre to finish a painting. Visually it was quite interesting, but I would have liked to see a little more of the actors faces. The cast consisted of Justin Algarme (Eugene) and Kasey Stephenson (Berthe) who were beautifully costumed for their roles.
Drop Dead by Benjamin Chesler, directed by Lakshmi Ganapathy
Drop Dead was set in the middle of winter on a dark night, as a sneaky team cut their firewood in a protected forest. There were some scary surprises well supported by their technical team with sound and lighting effects as well as a cheeky lyrebird.
Savier D'arsie-Marquez as Arthur dominated the action with their natural style and excellent projection and was well supported by Alexia Brady (Dee), Crystal Haig (Chiko) and Henry Vo (Bosun). Director, Lakshmi handled the script with expertise teasing the tension from the page.
Emily Takes a Lover by Julie Murphy, directed by Julie Murphy
This play was born when writer, Julie turned her short story into a one-act play. Encouraged by her fellow team members, she plans eventually to develop it into a full-length play.
The story follows Emily who discovers her husband’s having an affair and decides to take action and turn the tables on him.
The storyline was interesting but the pace of the piece was hindered a little by slow scene changes which will no doubt become quicker over the season. Bella Tocci played Emily and the rest of the cast comprised of Justin Algarme (Josh), Lexie Smith (Fiona), Hayden Whiteford (Mark) and Kasey Stephenson PI/Debbie).
Salmon by Peter Farrar, directed by Angus Fitzpatrick
This play was about a chef and a waiter having a heart-to-heart in the alleyway outside their workplace. I enjoyed the fine acting from both Hayden Whiteford as the Chef and Justin Algarme as the Waiter and hope they never serve me in any restaurant I eat at.
Bystander by Jennifer Pacey, directed by Ben Klein
Bystander was a bit of a standout with three women on stage each relating their experiences and emotions when witnessing a man throwing himself in front of a train. Kudos to the writer and director and the actresses for the style of interspersed delivery of each woman’s story. That would have taken a lot of rehearsal!
The acting was outstanding with special mention to Crystal Haig who I noticed getting into the emotion of her role and tearing up and I couldn’t believe that Alexia Brady was the same juvenile that was in Drop Dead with a chain saw. What a chameleon! Then there was Shirin Albert who struck a lovely sympathetic balance with her character.
Chips by James Gordon, directed by James Gordon
I am a confessed sci-fi lover, so weird and wonderful appeals to me. The storyline in Chips, is about Ghafour’s first day of work at Apopotatosis: a company that kidnaps people from the population and turns them into potato chips to sell. They also have a few beneficial side benefits around satiety and satisfaction.
The props and special effects were very well handled in this play with transitions taking place quickly and smoothly. Well done props and technical teams.
The cast of Chips were Benjamin Chesler (Ghafour), Simona Riftin (Helen), Henry Vo (Raphael) Kasey Stephenson (Melissa) and Bella Tocci (Tullia).
Lynette Williams
Photographer: Aqila Shafa Arimurti
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