The poster |
If anyone’s been wondering why I’ve been AWOL from Club Troppo recently (notably from last week’s Missing Link posts), well, apart from the usual pre-semester university administrative panic, I’ve also been moonlighting as a web designer, publicist and general dogsbody for Jen’s new theatre company. Not coincidentally, it’s also called Missing Link Theatre in Education (I stole the title for the blog posts from her). Incidentally the logo is courtesy of Darwin blogger and NT News head cartoonist Colin Wicking.
One of numerous things I’ve discovered is that running a large-ish theatre company (14 actors) and staging a complex production almost single-handed (only Jen and I fulfilling pretty much every non-acting function) on top of a full-time university lecturing position is highly stressful and time-consuming to say the least.
Anyway, opening night is tomorrow evening (Wednesday) 7:30pm at Brown’s Mart corner Smith Street and Harry Chan Avenue, Darwin City. If you live in Darwin we’d love to see you. At $12.00 per head it’s a great cheap night’s entertainment. Here’s the media release:
Darwinâs newest theatre company Missing Link Theatre in Education will stage its debut performances next Wednesday 28 February at Brownâs Mart Theatre, Artistic Director Jen McCulloch announced today.
âMissing Linkâs season will be opened by NT Administrator Ted Egan, with a special preview of the inaugural production A Real Absurd Epic (free for high school English and drama teachers) at 3:30pm, followed by the premier performance at 7:30pm for the arts industry and general public,â McCulloch said. Tickets are $12.00 each (pay at the door).
âCompared with students in larger capital cities, Darwin high school students have mostly enjoyed fairly limited opportunities to attend regular theatrical performances, especially of the major plays they study for their Year 12 exams and assessments,â McCulloch argued.
Missing Link aims to plug that gap, with frequent performances of excerpts from major dramatic works performed by a troupe of accomplished young Darwin actors. âPerformances after the debut evening will be scheduled each Wednesday evening subject to demand from schools,â McCulloch said. âWe may also schedule a more extensive season for general audiences.â
Missing Link can also deliver practical workshops tailored to the individual needs of teachers and their students, in acting, directing, and technical theatre skills (lighting, sound, makeup, set design and so on).
A Real Absurd Epic takes the audience on a theatrical journey via short episodes from seven six groundbreaking plays belonging to some of the major traditions of 20th century Modernist theatre: Realism, Epic Theatre and Absurd Theatre. The plays are A Dollâs House by Henrik Ibsen, Pygmalion by GB Shaw, The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, The Maids by Jean Genet, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and Look Back in Anger by John Osborne.
The plays are linked together when an Elizabethan actor finds himself convicted for Gross Improvisation and sentenced by the Thespian Tribunal to wander across time and space charged with the task of finding and playing the quintessential truth of a character as written.
Congratulations – a great effort.
What a talented fellow you are, Ken – and no wonder Missing Link went by the by. You must have been absolutely flat out. I bet you have half of Darwin’s year 12 classes turning up. I had to do Waiting for Godot in year 12, too. It’s very popular.
Soo… Ken/Jen; how did it go?
Couldn’t make it last night… was it a once off, or are there more peformances?
Cheers