Richard James Allen reports on directing "Sad Song",
a 10 minute play for Short + Sweet in Sydney:
What a fascinating experience I have been having over the last few weeks, directing a play for Short + Sweet! Thanks to the good graces of the Australian Film Commission and the kindness of the festival director Van Badham, I was offered the opportunity to select and direct a ten minute play for the Sydney season of this “Biggest Little Play Festival in the World”. I discovered a beautiful and poignant work by the up and coming New York playwright Anna Ziegler called “Sad Song”. In “Sad Song”, a drunken young woman makes a brave and perhaps foolhardy lunge at happiness, but will the man she loves catch her before she falls? Or as Anna has written: In "Sad Song," a college house party is the backdrop for revelations and resignation. One young woman pours her heart out only to find that opening up does not always lead to the catharsis and healing one hopes for or expects. A play about the complications of being an almost-adult, "Sad Song" is funny, heartfelt and honest.
A lengthy audition process reminded me again of how much talent there is out there. The final cast are passionate and committed explorers of the human psyche: actors Zoe Tuckwell-Smith, Ben Davy-Thorburn, and Stephen Peacocke. I am also privileged to work with designer Mark Quinan and sound designer William Lawlor. Now all we need is an audience - you!
Hope you can attend:
Where and When:
Play: “Sad Song” (along with a selection of other Week 3 plays)
Festival: Short + Sweet
Theatre: Seymour Centre Downstairs
Dates: Tuesday January 29 – Saturday February 2, 2008
Time: 8pm
Bookings: call Seymour Centre (02) 9351 7940
Or visit Box Office: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 11am-3pm
(and prior to all performances)
Or via MCA Ticketing website: www.mca-tix.com
Short + Sweet website: http://www.shortandsweet.org/
Media Contact:
Geoff Sirmai, Short+Sweet Publicity Manager
Watchdog Communications 49 Yanko Ave BRONTE 2024 www.watchdog.com.au
Office: (02) 9389 3907 mob: 0412 669 272 geoff@watchdog.com.au or geoff@shortandsweet.org
Synopses and Biogs for "Sad Song": click here.
Review:
Craig Lucas, editor of New American Short Plays 2005 (Backstage Books) wrote that “Sad Song”:
"manages to provide a glimpse of late adolescence or early adulthood--whatever you call it, it's that appalling time when you don't have any idea what damage you are doing to other people, or yourself, as you blithely flail and stumble around trying to hammer together some sort of Self--a 'personality,' a set of likes and dislikes, a job, a mate, a life; the results are both tender and terribly bitter."
See you at the theatre!
Warm wishes,
Richard James Allen
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