Something New: Rehearsed Readings

This sold-out event for Undercover Artist Festival showcased the complexities of the creative process while offering insights into the lived neurodiverse experience.

First was Tracks, a collaboration between Alex MacDonald and Todd MacDonald, with Maddie Little’s guiding hand as dramaturg. Alex and Todd were the main characters in this exploration of a family dealing with Alex’s rare genetic condition requiring several operations, and then the realisation and voicing of their neurodivergent and non-binary identity, reinforced with a name change. The resulting scars, the self-harm, the healing, and the journey all form the tracks in the title of this work. Alex and Todd work well together and Todd’s film, TV and stage experience (Neighbours, The Secret Life of Us, The Mathematics of Longing) mean he is a very confident presenter of this part-reading, part-workshop. Todd has explored the start of this family journey before in his one-person show, The Button Event, which also started with the striking visual of tennis balls bouncing onto the black stage. Tracks continues the journey, focusing on Alex’s emerging artistic voice. The team invited comments and feedback. For me, one shift would be to use the seated ‘Introduction’ scene as an opener. The two characters at a desk introducing themselves with all the usual ‘tick boxes’ of fill-this-space forms was the perfect way to establish the absurdity of categorisations and challenge our perceptions. It was also humour-filled, warm and genuine. When Alex introduced the play, they credited their twin, Ruby, with being a constant support through the family’s challenges. As a twin myself, there was an obvious theme with the twins dealing with the diagnosis, the school experience and family time – a genetic condition and journey of identity must surely affect a twin’s fears and expectations as well. But I know that twins need to assert their own unique identities too, so I’m guessing that this may be grist for a future creative mill.

Second on the bill was Oliver Hetherington-Page’s Pretty F***ing Autistic. Oliver has proven himself a witty wordsmith and performer. His one-man show The No Bang Theory! won a Matilda Award for Best Emerging Artist in 2022. His new play extends his range and features a cast of five, performed at this read-through by some of Brisbane’s brightest stars. With direction by Bridget Boyle, this reading was laugh-out-loud funny with some well-rounded characterisations that hint at how enjoyable the final product will be. The main character is a young autistic man (the dynamic Jordan Loveday, donning the playwright’s signature bright jackets) whose journalism lecturer Mum (the lovely Louise Brehmer) sets him up on a date with one of her students (outre engaging Micheal Enright) who is already in a sexual tangle with flatmate (versatile Darcy Brown). Sage advice is offered along the way by the uncle (the ever-entertaining Andrew Buchanan who could wring a laugh out of the driest syllable!) The conversations are engaging and enlightening of neurodiversity challenges – and sometimes the ‘lost in translation’ moments are similar to dating challenges for the neuro-typical as well! I loved this cast and the layers they added to the script, which is fast-paced and includes many funny lines, including an unrepeatable and unspeakably hilarious one about Leigh Sales – you can see Oliver and mentor Leigh on the latest series of The Assembly on ABC TV. I also love the references for the musical theatre nerds in the audience, including a great confrontation in the arranged meet-cute as the would-be romantic leads discover a clash over their preference for Sondheim or Lloyd-Webber! This team were also seeking feedback on the workshopped script. For my advice, I would paraphrase Mr Sondheim. The composer has admitted that, when he first started writing musicals, he would purposely upend the closing note rather than resolve the harmony in an obvious way (which he considered ‘banal’). When he gained more confidence, he threw that approach away and trusted the melody instead. I think Oliver can have enough confidence in his writing now to whittle out the gags that are in an ‘unexpected key’ and trust in the performers to bring out his own intrinsic humour as well as the qualities of his characters. I look forward to seeing the next iterations of these intriguing works.

Beth Keehn

Photographs: Undercover Artist Festival

Find out more: undercoverartistfest.com/events/something-new