Short + Sweet Sydney 2009: Reviews of the Opening Week's Plays, Jan 6-11, Newtown Theatre.

Short + Sweet Sydney, the largest ten minute theatre festival in the world, opened on Tuesday 6 January 2009 at the Newtown Theatre. These are the short reviews of EACH of the ten plays that opened the festival, based on the final night’s performances on Sunday 11 January. Visit www.shortandsweet.org for more. Running order: 1. Robert Sharpe’s WWW.NSWLOTTERIES.COM.AU / 2. Erryn Arkin's THE TERROR / 3. Peter Hardy's GROUNDTRUTHING / 4. Traicee Evison-Griffith’s THE CONTROLLED USE OF HEROIN / 5. Dan Clancey’s PERMANENTLY ENGAGED / (interval) / 6. Gabrielle McIntosh’s BRAD AND CARLA'S LOVE / 7. Paul Layton's AM I: KILLER? / 8. Phoebe Hartley’s THE LETTER / 9. Tracy Tan I-Lian’s WAITING FOR ASHES / 10. Ken McBeath's BASKETBALL BOB 1. Gavin Williams directs the cast of Ian Swallow and Jennie Dibley in a heart-warming tale about dreams... and winning the jackpot! SCRIPT: 3/5, ACTING: 4/5, DIRECTING 3/5. 2. Erryn Arkin radiates great energy in his multiple performances as an American, Irishman, Aussie and Kiwi, in his uniquely challenging one-man ‘dramedy’ titled THE TERROR. Directed by Jamie Laura, Arkin not only succeeds in delivering convincing accents and changing full costumes for each role in seconds, but stays strong enough to the end of this play to reveal the unexpected yet momentous finale. SCRIPT 4/5, ACTING 4.5/5, DIRECTING 4/5. 3. Hardy gives a unique insight into life in the Arctic in GROUNDTRUTHING, with a powerful message for us all to ponder. Susannah Russell excels in directing David Villanti’s excellent delivery as the Inuit (particularly with his Eskimo outfit in the Sydney Summer heat!), and he is clearly the stronger actor in this cast of two. SCRIPT 3.5/5, ACTING 3.5/5, DIRECTING 3.5/5 4. The Hussein Elmoeti directed play shows potential in exploring the consequences of addiction, but sadly the objectives of some of the cast become lost in the escalation of the story. SCRIPT 3/5, ACTING 2/5, DIRECTING 3/5. 5. PERMANENTLY ENGAGED is simple yet entertaining, when two corporate employees, who have never met, are locked in adjacent toilet blocks, with comical consequences. Director Katherine R. Davis has very little to do, as Clancey’s brilliant script resonates well with most if not all in the audience, and James Belfrage shines in his effortless delivery, at times overshadowing his younger co-star Ted Crosby. SCRIPT 5/5, ACTING 4.5/5, DIRECTING 3.5/5. 6. Directed by Heidi Lupprian, this play opens the ‘second act’ in style with an all-female cast, and a unique story about a woman’s obsession over dolls. SCRIPT 3/5, ACTING 3.5/5, DIRECTING 3.5/5. 7. An over-the-top police interrogation, AM I: KILLER? stars Paul Layton with the two detectives, the believable Glen Gary Ross and the somewhat uncomfortable Matt Rudduck. Layton, who also wrote the piece, entertains the crowd well, but at times focuses on the physicality of the role rather than the inner motives of his character, which works as a caricature performance. Andrew Chambers directs well with the script he has. SCRIPT 3.5/5, ACTING 3.5/5, DIRECTING 4/5. 8. THE LETTER is intelligently written, and directed by Mark Matthews, it stars Mark Franklin and Gina Pollock who both give measured performances. SCRIPT 4/5, ACTING 3.5/5, DIRECTING 3/5. 9. WAITING FOR ASHES is directed by Pamela Hollings with Corinne Maloney and Jasmine Robertson. SCRIPT 3/5, ACTING 2.5/5, DIRECTING 2.5/5. 10. Directed by Amelia Tranter, BASKETBALL BOB is a rollercoaster ride from start to finish, with the different clones played by an ensemble and talented cast of Sarah Loxley, Alex Dalrymple, Ben Raglione, Michael Elbridge, and Pablo Woodward, each representing a different persona to the one character of Bob. Fun! SCRIPT 4/5, ACTING 4/5, DIRECTING 4/5. -SR. http://www.shortreviews.webs.com/