"It doesn't sound like a very interesting concept for a play"

It's coming soon... The Blue Room and Always Working Artists present: APOCALYPSE PERTH by Kate Rice "It doesn't sound like a very interesting concept for a play" "This writer must be hard up for ideas" "I thought great theatre stemmed from a writer's imagination, not a bitchfest." Just a few of the comments in response to Kate Rice's invitation to theatre bloggers to contribute to our verbatim theatre production of an online forum. You could find half the script on this website (the other half is from interviews that Kate conducted with forum perpetrators and victims). But you'll enjoy yourself much more by experiencing the forum LIVE at the Blue Room Studio, 22 Oct - 8 Nov. http://www.theatre.asn.au/production/2008/apocalypse_perth PS, you can slag-off this p;ost as much as you like but, be warned, it's not too late for us to include your diatribes in the production.

Kate Rice, the wife of that tosser Jeremy Rice, from Barking Gecko.

He's directing the show as well. It's just as AB warned me, "NEVER POST ON THAT SITE." Are you the Steve McCarter who wrote 'Guide to the Milwaukee Road in Montana'?

Well said.

The writer must be hard up for ideas *especially if she had to pay people to use their posts*. How desperate can this stupid cow be? Doesn't she have enough imagination to write of her own accord? What a crock.

Jeremy, you are a tosser. Grow some pubes.

I can't help but think the Rices are posting these comments themselves. No one else is ridiculous enough to take this bait! Slagging themselves off for publicity, clever clever. If you were really going to attack you'd have more to say than "cow" or "grow some pubes". People are simple enough things that an achilles heel is never hard to find. Though, to be honest. I think the show looks great and I'm going to get down and see it.

Publicity is only as good as ticket sales! I haven't been flaming myself - honestly - because I don't see the point unless the discussion encourages people to see the show. There are two main criticisms (foolishly alluded to by me in my initial post): 1. the writer is hard for ideas. 2. we've paid to use other people's words. Kate has responded to these criticsims previously but here, again, qucik responses: 1. Kate is an established professional award-winning theatre and television writer. She has current commissions from the Seven Network, two professional Perth theatre companies and a play in development in Melbourne - neither short of ideas or writing experience. And turning the forum into a play has required a lot of writing. See the show and judge for yourself how successful we have been. 2. Legal advice (from a university law faculty, no less) stated that we needed to contract those forum contributors who we could identify and locate to use their intellectual property. There's no contract without an exchange; some people pay a token dollar. We chose to pay more because, as theatre professionals, intellectual property is a large part of our livelihood. We expect people to pay us for our intellectual property; we'd be hypocrites not pay others. See the show and judge whether we paid too much or too little. The Blue Room and Always Working Artists present APOCALYPSE PERTH 21 Oct - 8 Nov 2008 The Blue Room Studio. Bookings: (08) 9227 7005 http://www.blueroom.org.au/blueroomseasons/apocalypseperth http://alwaysworkingartists.blogspot.com/

Ha! Fantastic! Uninformed, unwarranted abuse, from people who just don't have a clue. I'm shocked, amazed and intrigued. And entertained. And it's exactly the type of discussion that attracted me to that original thread; that compelled me to join the discussion Kate created about commencing the project; and then to take on a role in the actual production! I love the inherent irony that people are missing the point, resorting to name calling, and revealing their frustrations and inadequacies through fabricating these arguments. It's an amazing character study, and I wish they all could be included in this project...except we want to keep it to one act and there's enough lines for me to learn already! Yes, I think you're right. Kate MUST be a desperate unimaginative writer. Having won the People's Choice award at last year's Blue Room awards must not have demonstrated enough creativity or talent, and an idea like this one is TOO mundane to excite any controversy or generate any discussion before it even opens...right? No one's going to prematurely form an opinion and then try to maintain their self-righteous position with no real ammunition to their argument over this worthless concept...are they? Not on this site. Obviously, the sh#t stirrers have imagination to SPARE (far more than poor Kate..!) judging from the highly evolved arguments they are putting forward and the cleverness of what they have to contribute..! I can verify that Jeremy is not responsible for replying to his own posts, as the above responses arrived while we were in the very act of viewing the web thread at the office. Yes, it astounded us too at how little brain matter was expended in their creation. [And if I really wanted to get all 'Charlie Kaufmann' on you all, I could suggest that the one who posted saying 'I can't help but think the Rices are posting these comments themselves' may have actually been responsible for the original insults, in order to set up their conspiracy theory..!..!] While I feel compelled to ridicule, I actually want to heartily thank the authors of the inane insults above. You, and the ones who posted in the thread that began this project, have unwittingly (choice of word intentional) provided me with 3 weeks of work! Hope to see you there. Oh, and I must take offence at whoever called Jeremy 'the tosser from Barking Gecko'. That title has always been mine! Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------

....you've baited the trolls now. In no time at all we'll have a thread to rival Apocalypse Perth and then Dramafest next year will feature a piece of verbatim theatre entitled "Apocalypse Perth II - A Blue At the Blue Room". ;)

Thank you Labrug, Craig and Jeremy. I would like to stand up and admit that yes, sometimes I am a stupid cow. However I make every effort to confine those moments of bovine stupidity to my own home, not work or the theatre or public websites. Come and see the show and criticise me some more afterwards. k

Hmm, now I wish I could find the thread (or even remember which one it was) in which I suggested to Johnny Grim that a talented script-writer could probably knock up an entertaining play about the goings-on here on this site . . . a week or two before this project was announced. I'm sure it's just coincidence! Anyway, I naturally wish it much success and look forward to being thoroughly entertained by it. Cheers, Prim Tosser.

I work in a theatre bar and have had the misfortune of Mr Rice thinking he's the cleverest guy in the world when ordering a drink when, really, he comes across as a complete tool.

Sounds like Mr Rice who was the rude one in the first instance. What goes around comes around.

Well I'm booking tickets to the show. I remember the thread and what havock came out of it. It WAS indeed entertaining and Tim you're right, would make a great performance piece. And here it is. And I'm off to see it for myself. Chookas to the cast and crew. And thank you for having the balls to do something like this. ~ Tari The Writer is a child forever listening at the keyhole of the adult world.

Am I the only one laughing at the irony?? www.meltheco.org.au

hahaha! Jeff, I was just about to write the same thing!

...as you read this I'm writing down ideas for a sequel to this play inspired by comments in a forum on this website which will be based on this thread advertising the play inspired by comments in a forum on this website. If I follow through and produce such a thing, will there be a thread attacking my play which someone in turn will be inspired to write as a play....and so on. My God....I think we've discovered the theatrical equivalent of perpetual motion!!!! j/k - it doesn't sound like a very interesting concept for a play ;) Where the hell is that sense of Deja Vu coming from?

While I find the concept of a play looking at the viciousness that exists within online forums to be a fascinating idea and well worth a production, I still cannot reconcile this with the fact that local people could potentially be hurt by this production. Who would now want to be part of the Theatre Group that put on Rock Apocalypse - "Hey aren't you the guys that did.....?" By attending this play, I think I would be condoning something that I, personally, do not agree with ethically, so I'll be voting with my feet on this occasion. Good luck to you anyway - any local production needs support, but you won't be getting mine this time around.

>>Heidi Ayres said: I work in a theatre bar and have had the misfortune of Mr Rice >>thinking he's the cleverest guy in the world when ordering a drink when, really, >>he comes across as a complete tool. I am the cleverest guy in the world, and think it's misfortunate that a complete tool working in a theatre bar comes across here and thinks this is in order. A drink, Mr Rice?

What if local people were helped by the production?

Can you expand on this John? What were your thoughts in this regard?

Just that you can't be sure that the local people he talks about will be hurt by it. Like with this thread, how do we know how many of the bad comments about their play really came from anyone with any credibility? With this thread we know that all the comments have come from people who haven't even seen the show. I now think that must happen a lot. So maybe the players from Joondalup who gave Jeremy Rice their comments will be helped by having their story told, not hurt. Has anyone asked them what they think? Lots of them must've agreed to it. It might be good publicity for them. just trying to see it from all sides. I'd rather reserve judgement until I at least see it, or hear from someone who has. Give them a fair go. It's what I'd want if it was me.

When we decided to mount this production our first step was to contact the theatre group that was the subject of the original forum. The committee's number one concern was the same as yours: that our play would harm the reputation of the group and affect the the future of that group. And that is Kate and my number one concern as well: we don't want to make fun of anyone or run-down any community theatre group. We didn't see the original production. We haven't asked or found out anything about it except what everyone has or can already read on the ITA website. Our interest is exclusively in the forum. But we've met or communicated with as many of the people involved in the production as we could and our intention is that their voices are heard in the play. Other contributors to the original forum - not involved in the group - had the same concern. Eventually we persuaded all those contributors to let us their words. If you see the production, you'll see some of that persuasion - and the arguments we needed to overcome - performed. We have tried to demonstrate our ethics through actions: we met with committee, we interviewed those who wrote on the forum and those who were written about, we ran workshops at the group's main venue, we auditioned and cast an actor from the group (just so happens she wasn't involved and didn't see the original production), committee members have attended our rehearsals and remain involved in the process. On Saturday 25 October at 8pm, we will perform the play at Padbury Community Hall (Caley Rd). Probably many of the people involved in the original production will be there. And I'll be there to receive their feedback. On Tuesday 28 October at 6.30pm, there's a special performance at the Blue Room followed by a "Meet the Artists" forum. We've invited all the contributors to the play to that performance. If just afew of the contributors to this thread attend, it will be a great discussion. Perth Theatre Company produced TAKING LIBERTY by Ingle Knight at the Playhouse Theatre last month. It's a play about winning the America's Cup in 1988. On opening night, Alan Bond, John Bertrand and the rest of the surviving crew members sat in the front row, watching the actors being them, 'warts and all'. An amazing experience for all and I look forward to those performances of APOCALYPSE PERTH where people see their "double" on stage. As for the question, "who would now want to be a part of the theatre group who put on...?" That question has been online for 8 months now in the other thread - without a clear answer, just a myriad of conflicting experiences and opinions. But I think plenty of people would want to be a part of the group that put on BUSYBODY - we did see that production (I posted a review on this site) and it was a good night in the theatre. Please, vote after you've seen the production. The Blue Room and Always Working Artists present APOCALYPSE PERTH 21 Oct - 8 Nov 2008 The Blue Room Studio. Bookings: (08) 9227 7005 http://www.blueroom.org.au/blueroomseasons/apocalypseperth http://alwaysworkingartists.blogspot.com/

Jeremy's response later in this thread expands on those thoughts.

Hi Thanks for the info ill go and visit Dave