THE girl in the red dress, Tina, (played by Sarah Woods) speaks in a quiet, soft voice as her well meaning friends freeze.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These flawed yet caring people remain oblivious to the halt in time as Tina enters another monologue, but this moment, with a catch in her voice, there’s a powerful syllable that jolts you, saddens you, nearly makes you cry as you discover what story is actually being told.
‘How Did We Get Here?’ is the first short MITS play of the night, and one in which explores not just the past and present, but taps into a combination of nostalgia and the future.
It’s a powerful play and to the credit of writer and director Jenelle Robartson, and leading actor Woods who through this performance has been nominated for a MITSIES award for best actress in a drama.
There’s five short plays in the current theatrical society’s production, which shows Friday and Saturday nights until November 19, and the directors have taken care to balance the order of the plays so that comedy and drama slot evenly into the night. And weaving in between these plays while setting up takes place is the entertainment from the ‘clowns’, bouncers Dave and Dave (Damian Sacco,Rob Glanville), and the little gems from hens night attendee Jenelle Robartson and Justin Stapleton.
The next play is Day Off, with leading actress Emma Harman. This was written and directed by Fiona Watts, but with Harman accompanied by husband Sean it makes you wonder if we’re seeing a window into the Harman household. But it’s also using another form of storytelling in its play; the loudspeaker phone.
As a relative newcomer to MITS performances the next play confused me. Pretty Face 2 experimented with projector imaginary and recording to powerful effect, but what I didn’t know was these images and sounds referred to the sad circumstances in an original short play from years previous. The play was emotive, strong, indulgent in expression from the powerful duo of Tyne James and Katy McGregor. It was the explanation of an attending friend who had seen the original to explain the significance, and he considered this to be the highlight of the night.
And then there was New Years, Steve! This is either comedy, or a ‘who done it’ mystery among housemates figuring out who has the sexual transmitted disease. It’s another piece constructed by Robartson.
It’s then followed by Flying High, a raunchy comedy involving a plane’s cockpit between Sacco, McGregor and James. The latter two always bounce off each other on and off stage, and with gender swap their show is gold.
