sunshine coast theatre festival: Day 1 Adjudicator’s Comments

Adjudicator’s Comments – Karen Crone

Day 1: Friday August 19^th

Session 1

A fantastic start to the festival. Very strong performances.

• Be aware of the balance of the stage
• We are like a picture in the frame (proscenium)
• Re profile: we need to see the face
• Re non-verbal: actors may feel it but we – the audience – have got to feel it
• Each play was well-staged in terms of production value in the time allowed, set up and struck efficiently
• Re the engagement of actors: acting is listening
• Consider the notion of acting vs being
• “I loved the idea of being God!” (God Goes to a Shrink)

Session 2

What an interesting second act!

• Strong performances
• The relationship between the two (Jacqui & Rainee) was strong
• There was space between characters and relationships
• When Beth (Rainee) broke through the 4^th wall, her light could have been smaller
• The use of props in the last two plays was exceptional
• In The Bough Breaks, there was a lot to pack and most of it was played upstage. Consider where you have the suitcase
• So! Where Is It? was really quite remarkable! It was an interesting read but I was looking forward to seeing it staged…
• The stagecraft was really quite fantastic
• The stage combat was amazing
• Man 3 (Simon) showed us that acting is listening. He read his newspaper, he drank his coffee, he didn’t have too many words. At one stage, he was almost out of the picture, on the cross, eating the apple and I felt that perhaps he could have come in a bit
• It had a real A Clockwork Orange feel to it
• The china cup smashed and “I left the play and became a human worried for the human. A person concerned for a person.”
• And the end! It was a pretty good pash, really!
• Were you on the edge of your seats, like me?!
• See you tomorrow!

N.B. I may or may not have paraphrased some comments. It was late.