The Writers: Who Are We?

A Night Of Deceit - Who Are We?

Throughout the next couple of weeks I'm going to attempt to shed some light on the "creatives" behind the theatrical production "A Night Of Deceit", in an attempt to not only publicize the show but to highlight some of W.A local homegrown talent!

As was mentioned in my previous post our show is a collection of five short 10-minute plays each focusing on the word deceit examining how characters interact with each other in often deceitful and misleading ways. One of "Ellandar Productions" mission statements for our company was to help showcase local W.A material through the workshopping and presentation of homegrown projects.

The three playwrights of the show (including myself) are very passionate about bringing more W.A talent to professional stages! Who are we:

Elliott Cook:

Elliott who is the writer of the short play William Albridge is a man of numerous talents, perhaps most inspiring of all is the fact that Elliott at the same time as having a place in the independent theatre scene of Western Australia is an elite male artistic gymnast that trains at the West Australian Institute of Sport WAIS. Elliott is the 2008 runner-up for sportsman of the year at the W.A Youth Awards and still competes internationally representing Australia in gymnastics at a senior level. Elliott is also currently completing his third year in a BA Law/Arts at the University of Western Australia, where his deep appreciation for the English language and wordplay are of paramount importance.

Elliott started his ongoing relationship with community theatre five years ago when he started work with Shine Studios. Taking part in numerous productions his most recent stand out role with Shine was Orin, The Dentist in the 2009 production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Nexus Theatre. Suffice to say among his double degree, phenomenal career in international gymnastics and his aspirations for Ellandar Productions and the theatre community of Western Australia, Elliott has endless avenues to walk down in a bright future. 

In "A Night Of Deceit" Elliott has written and devised the first play, William Albridge and also plays the leading role. A wordplay piece of theatre, that twists and turns until the characters themselves are confused but culminates in the examination of the trickery the tongue and the English language can play.  

Georgina (George) Gayler:

George hails from South Australia where she originally found her passion for performance and entered the community theatre world. She has been involved in a number of productions over the years the span of which showcase her versatility as a performer and her commitment to contributing to Australian theatre. Currently a teacher at Spare Parts Puppetry, George is a graduate of the Film & Television Institute of Western Australia with a Dip. Screen Acting where she built a deep understanding of the methods of acting developed by Lee Strasberg, Irene Adler and Harold Guskin.

George continues to develop her craft by self-educating and often attending a range of courses in Western Australia, most notable is perhaps the Foundation in Acting at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts WAAPA. George currently attends the improvisational comedy course at Lazy Susan's Comedy Den. In 2002 she sparked her professional career in Film & T.V and has since stepped in front of the camera in the television series, Lockie Leonard as a support character. 

Recently treading the boards at Old Mill Theatre, George assumed the title role in Lady Windemere's Fan and will soon be seen as the lead in the GRADS production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof later this year. George is responsible for two of the plays in "A Night Of Deceit". Thieves & Foxes a grungy story of the love and lies between two 1940's NYC Hell's Kitchen misfits, a great character piece as we see two people deconstruct each other mentally and the audience is privy to the fall out! George's other contribution is the play The Gravy Train which is perhaps the most absurd piece of writing in the show, a mix between a social commentary of 1940's class systems in Australia and the examination of eccentricity in a displaced member of society. These two plays demonstrate George's understanding of script work and her diversity in writing styles! 

Iskandar R. Sharazuddin:

Iskandar has spent seven years with independent theatre in Western Australia most recently co-directing the musical You're A Good Man Charlie Brown from MESH Youth Musical Theatre Co. earlier this year. Iskandar is also a former elite gymnast, who was a junior international representative for Australia and New Zealand, the strong comedic camaraderie between Elliott and Iskandar stemmed from roots in gymnastics. Since embarking on this endeavour Iskandar has assumed the role of Artistic Director of the company Ellandar Productions but also the show "A Night Of Deceit" itself, the whole piece of theatre is a very personal passion project for Iskandar who is the writer of two pieces, the visual designer of the show, the director of the performances in conjunction with, Fern Nicholson and one of the producers. 

Another graduate of the Film & Television Institute of W.A (FTI) in the Dip. Screen Acting, Iskandar splits his time between numerous theatre productions and Film & TV work, most notable of the latter is his role as Dixon Maison in the new vampire T.V series, FEED, a locally written and devised production, currently in filming. Originally from Oxford, United Kingdom, in 2008 Iskandar was the Press & Publicity Manager of a theatre in Greater London, but has since returned to Western Australia. 

Having worked on a range of theatrical productions in both principal and ensemble roles, Iskandar has only just turned his eye to direction and producing. As a writer Iskandar is an outsourced tutor for Drama Studies and English Literature for the TEE High School syllabus and operates as a film script doctor. His writing credits in this show are the plays, Conscience & Erectile Dysfunction respectively. The former is a piece in East End London, that sees the way in which a prostitute's death effects the lives of two others as well as a projection of the corrupt ways of the law in the 1940's and the latter is an examination of the fragility of homosexuality in the era of the show. 

Together these three local writers have constructed a riveting piece of ensemble theatre that gives audiences varied worlds to look at and snapshots in very different characters lives all dealing with a similar theme, deceit. 

Ellandar Productions is proud to support these writers and pieces of theatre as they make their debut on a professional stage. Stay in tune with our company to see more original works in both theatre and film!

Iskandar