Shorter + Sweeter

Mini delights from the world’s largest short play festival will be presented exclusively in Perth at Don Russell Performing Arts Centre on Saturday 24 July at 8pm. This show is called SHORTER+SWEETER and visits The Don as part of its five-month, 41-venue national tour. It features nine short plays, all of them winners or finalists selected from more than 1,000 short plays performed at Short+Sweet theatre festivals in the past seven years. All of the plays are written by Australia’s hottest emerging writers, presented by some of the country’s best directors and starring a cast of brilliant actors. The show features the controversial, the funny, the absurd and the sexy using a unique 10-minute-maximum-per-show formula. According to SHORTER+SWEETER producer Karen Keegan, the formula is a winner for the creative team and audiences alike. “It gives audiences around the country a chance to see new Australian plays,” she says. “And if they don’t like one, they only have to wait 10 minutes for the next one!” Among the nine selections are well-travelled and internationally acclaimed short plays 10,000 Cigarettes, 49 Stories of Brian Mackenzie and Hi, It’s me, I’m on the Train. The show’s talent pool includes playwrights Tom Holloway and Gregory Hardigan, award-winning actors Nicholas Gunn, Charlie Mycroft and Josephine Clark and celebrated directors Bend Oh and Rachel Baring. Originally conceived by Mark Cleary of the Newtown Theatre in Sydney, and developed by Alex Broun, Short+Sweet has grown to be the world’s biggest short play festival, with annual seasons in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Auckland, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Great reviews have followed the show including “packed with energy, brilliantly staged” from Sydney City Weekly newspaper. Admission is $27.80 standard, $23.70 concession and $17.80 students and $20.90 for groups of 10 or more. For bookings or information, please call 9493 4577 or visit www.gosnells.wa.gov.au and click on the Don Russell Performing Arts Centre link to buy tickets online. “To taste the state of Australian Theatre, try Shorter+Sweeter.” Sydney Morning Herald.