A PLACE IN THE PRESENT

Written by Ron Blair and Directed by Mary-Rose McLaren.

Have you ever been a magnet for nutters at the railway station? A Place in the Present is an Australian play by Ron Blair, set in a railway station waiting area. We imagine it like Sunshine - dirty, smelly and a place you would choose to use as a shelter only in the most awful weather. Vera (Sonja Kinnersley) and Lock (Matt Noble) are both apparently normal, respectable people waiting for trains. However, as their stories emerge we realise they are each a little odd. The derelict man (Hayden Vincent) who sleeps between them acts as the catalyst for attempts to reassess and (unsuccessfully?) change lives.

This play has been a lot of fun to work on: a curious mix of irony and surrealism but grounded by characters that are believable. Each of the five characters in this ensemble piece, Vera's daughter (Letecia Frost) and her boyfriend (Eamonn George) also appear, is the sort of person you meet every day, engage with on the surface, but never stop to discover. Hopefully it will leave you both chuckling and thinking.

- M-R. Mc.

JOY

Written and Directed by Peter Nethercote

"JOY" — a preposterous comedy - was written a few years ago. The title is derived from the name of the main character. I describe it as preposterous' because, in the course of one day, Joy, a secondary school teacher endures a succession of unfortunate happenings, which are perfectly possible, but unlikely to come together in one day. The title is therefore also ironic.

The play was written to be performed by four actors, playing multiple roles, or twelve actors, each playing only one role. For this production of the play — the first time it has been staged — the more luxurious option has been taken. And the cast includes such BNT stalwarts as Liz Wood, Trevor Day, Lesley Hale and Marg Jarvis. Janette Baxter was seen last year in the One Act Play' season, "The Staffroom" and "Noises Off", while Brian McClelland and Jamie McLaren featured in "The Staffroom". Gail Sjogren, well known for her "Courier" reviews of plays and musicals, joins the cast for this one. So too does Brendan Clarke, last seen in "See How They Run". Newcomers to BNT are Beth McKay, Erin Forster and Christine Holmes. Recently arrived in Ballarat, Chris takes on the arduous central role of "Joy".

Rehearsing the play with such a sterling cast (some of whom have played huge roles in the past, but for this have agreed to very small one and two page characters) has been a "joy"!

- P.N.

THE BEAR

Written by Anton Chekhov and Directed by Susan Pilbeam.

Anton Chekhov is the most popular Russian playwright. His major works such as The Cherry Orchard (1908) The Seagull, Uncle Vanya

(1912) and The Three Sisters (1916) are international classics. His work is inextricably tied to the development of the Moscow Art Theatre and the Acting theorist and practitioner Constantine Stanislavsky. He was a doctor as well as writer and sympathetically and humourously documented the middle classes before the Russian Revolution and the universal predicaments of the 'little men'. His interest in Vaudeville and French Farce is clear in his short works such as The Bear. The Cast, Joanne Davis, Robert Kelty and Barry McCausland, and I have immensely enjoyed rehearsing this very funny play, which always delights audiences.

- S.P.

Reviewer: Nina Valentine

A Ballarat National Theatre is presenting a mixed bag of one-act plays at the Courthouse Theatre from Saturday 4rh July.

The entree to the choice of three main courses is a masterly presentation by Ross Hall of Chekhov's The Evils of Tobacco. The monologue has little to do with smoking, but this actor certainly proved that "the dummy behaved himself properly!"

Then come the three short plays. Again Chekhov, this time The Bear, with Joanne Davis as the grieving (?) widow, Robert Kelty as the creditor and Barrie McCausland as the long suffering servant. They are excellently cast and well directed by Susan Pilbeam. This is Susan's first work for the BNT - we can only hope it will not be her last.

A change of pace with A Place in the Present, directed by Mary-Rose McLaren, relinquishing acting for her first direction. One act plays give so many people a chance to do something they've not tackled before, and therefore are to be commended. This is not an easy story for it takes place on a railway station platform, where a drunk (nicely played by Haydn Vincent) turns out to be the ex-husband of the woman waiting for her train. Sonia Kinnersley is suitably irritated and perplexed by this unexpected event, particularly as her fellow would-be passenger is a magician, whose talents are sorely tried. Mayhem results.

Finally we have Joy, written and directed by Ballarat's talented Peter Nethercote.
Peter uses tried and true National Theatre stalwarts in cameo roles, arrayed around his central character, Joy, a headmistress who is having much more than a bad hair day! Playing a role in Ballarat for the first time is Christine Holmes, an acquisition we can be very pleased about. Using a minimilist setting, Nethercote asks a great deal of his cast, and to their credit they live up to his expectations.
This is an enjoyable night of theatre playing from the 4th to the 11th of July at 8pm, with a matinee at 2pm on Sunday 5th.