Being a 20-something queer is hard. Being a 20-something queer living in Sydney is... something else, I guess.
Dating apps, capitalist nightmares, a rental market we're not invited to and a semi-constant state of existential terror - look, we've only got 12 years until climate catastrophe, might as well flail around in a spin class and buy a reusable straw.
An unstitched patchwork of queer lives in queer times, This Bitter Earth looks at how we fight, bitch, love, confront despair and try to connect, all through the mess and the muck and the might of everyday queer existence.
It's vicious, it's tender, it hates being touched but it kinda needs a hug. It's an anthology of millennial crises, from drunken wine nights in dirty hostels to desolate wastelands at the end of time.
And it's gay.
Really gay.
Theatre is thrilled to be presenting the world premiere of this new Australian queer work, which initially developed by the writer as his major work while completing the Masters of Writing for Performance at NIDA in 2018.
Earlier this year, a workshop performance of selected scenes, directed by Anthony Skuse, was presented as part of PlayList at Seymour Centre during Mardi Gras. Now, Theatre has given writer Chris Edwards, and director Riley Spadaro, the opportunity to further develop the work into a full-length play. It's a very exciting prospect.
Theatre had made the difficult, but correct, decision to postpone until 2020 our production of
Topher Payne's Angry Fags and we were seeking a replacement for our July slot, which last year hosted Stupid F-ing Bird(winner, Best Independent Production, Sydney Theatre Awards). We were after something with a similar feel.
Artistic Director Louise Fischer was in discussions with young director Riley Spadaro, and he mentioned This Bitter Earth. We read the script, and we were sold!
Of his play, writer Chris Edwards says: ""It's a collection of six stories focusing on the everyday anxieties and interpersonal relationships of modern Australian queers. The play is written for six performers, with each scene gaining in cast size as the play progresses (scene one is a monologue, scene two a dialogue, scene three a... triologue? You get the drift). It's an anthology - there's no overarching plot machinations or recurring characters or events, instead I'm hoping it tackles a specifically millennial set of ruminations and fascinations. I'm trying to look at the ways in which we're all fighting to connect with someone, anyone, while confronting the newfound existential despair leaking into our general consciousness. But, y'know, with fun gags and hilarious banter thrown in for good measure.
I don't believe that ignoring the darker implications of the modern gay psyche is a viable option any longer, and replacing a critical eye with blind optimism doesn't actually help the queer youth of today or tomorrow. I want to take stock of our current queer Australian landscape, let my generation actually see itself on stage, and hope that somewhere amongst the understated brutality that we inflict upon ourselves and each other, we can find something honest, or true, or with the ability to give us a brief respite from the apocalypse happening around us.
Not much to ask, I guess."
Riley Spodaro is a director with a practice in devised theatre and new writing. He is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Performance Making, 2017) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (Directing, 2019). He most recently worked as the Assistant Director on Barbara and the Camp Dogs for Belvoir, Malthouse and Queensland Theatre. Recent directing credits include: a reading of
Lachlan Philpott's Promiscuous Cities (Seymour Centre/Mardi Gras); a development of Antoinette Barbouttis and Scarlett Beaumont's Cool Pool Party (Legs on the Wall, Spark #5); the devised work We Are Godsand Veronica Flynn's She Waits No Longer (NIDA); Essie Holt's Distant Places (Triple J Unearthed/NIDA); Josephine Macken's The Tent (Sydney Chamber Opera); Anna Barnes' Minus One Sister (The Blue Room Theatre). Recent assistant directing credits include: Lewis Treston's Meat Eaters and
Anna Jordan's Stay Happy, Keep Smiling (NIDA); and
Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti (Lost and Found Opera).
The all-female design team consists of 2019 NIDA BFA Design for Performance graduate Grace Deacon (set and costumes); lighting designerPhoebe Pilcher who is currently studying a Master of Fine Arts in Design for Performance at NIDA, having previously graduated from WAAPA with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Production & Design; and sound designer and composer Jessica Dunn, whose recent theatre credits include Associate Sound Designer for the acclaimed Counting and Cracking and Performing Musical Director and bass guitarist for the 2017 and 2019 runs of Barbara and the Camp Dogs.
The cast sees the return to New Theatre of NIDA graduate Ariadne Sgouros, who last year created a memorable 'Dr Prentice' in our production of Joe Orton's What The Butler Saw. She's joined by five young actors making their New Theatre debuts: fellow NIDA grad Matthew Prendy (Kinky Boots, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) and WAAPA alums Mitchell Bourke(most recently see in ABCTV's The Heights), Michael Cameron, Elle Mickeland Sasha Simon (who's following in the footsteps of actor mum Joy Smithers).
SEASON: 11 - 27 JULY
TICKET PRICES:
Full $35
Concessions, Groups (6+) $30
Previews, Thrifty Thursdays $20
EVENT URL:
https://newtheatre.org.au/this-bitter-earth/
BOOKINGS:
NEWTHEATRE.ORG.AU
