‘A Little Piece of Earth’ is a collection of 19 short flashy plays presented over two nights by The Hayman Theatre, in the Theatre Upstairs, Building 102, Curtin University’s Bentley Campus. These directors’ exercises start at 7.30 pm until 22^nd October. There are ten plays on the odd dates and nine plays on the even dates.

Group B is a set of nine plays that are being performed on the 20^th and 22^nd October.

‘Home’ by Maurice Maeterlinck. Directed by Michael Collins.

It is always difficult to build up compassion and tragedy in a short play, but this team have done very well.

‘Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson’ by Rich Orloff. Directed by David Cronin.

A novel approach to presenting a story. The cast and director squeezed lots of fun from the situation.

‘Brother’ by Mary Gallagher. Directed by Claire Williams.

I wasn’t too sure if this was a drama or comedy, or both. I suspect that the team weren’t too sure either. Everyone seemed to have worked hard, but the play didn’t quite click.

‘Flop Cop’ by Laura Cunningham. Directed by Jade Unwin.

It has been found necessary to send a police constable (Daniel O’Brien) around to arrest a mad local writer (Emma O’Sullivan) for her diabolical writing. She battles him off with clever syntax and situation rewrites, but who will win?

A very funny piece made special by the deadpan expression of the police officer in contrast to the zany, backcombed appearance of the weird writer. Well done.

‘Welcome to the Moon’ by John Patrick Shanley. Directed by Rebecca Miller.

A young man (Pat Harvey) is sitting in his local bar being served a beer by the weary, rough barmaid (Josie Marchant), when a long lost friend (Danen Engelenberg) arrives. This friend is most unhappy, in fact he is suicidal. They sit down at a table to discuss the situation when another of their old group arrives (Kevin Chan – very good) he too is distraught. Will any happiness be returned to the situation?

A very funny piece. Good timing and hilarious presentation.

‘The Zig Zag Woman’ by Steve Martin (the actor). Directed by Kirsty Marillier.

A young man (Jim Maxwell) goes into the local café and is ordering when he notices that the waitress (Cody Cianfagna) who is taking his order, is in one of these magic boxes that allows the body to be split – a zigzag box. The waitress snaps her fingers and the table is set and the food served. The young man is telling her how hard life is without his wife, when enters a randy cowhand (Josh Magee), who wants to tell them all about his love life – past and present.
As the cowboy is eating his apple pie, a third man enters (Andre Lissiman) orders a huge meal and tells and even more fantastic story, but he seems to fancy the waitress.
 

This is typical of Steve Martin’s humour, off the planet. Very punchy, slick and good delivery.

‘Reverse Transcription’ by Tony Kushner. Directed by Kyle Kash-Gregory.

Some friends (Georgina Cramond, Hayley Daffin, Jim Maxwell, Anthony Sciacia and David Valent) are gathered on a cliff top at night. They are there to bury their young friend who has just died. However they haven’t been given permission to bury the body! And is this really the time to discuss the personal circumstances of one (Anna Griffin) of the assembly?

Following such a screwball play as ‘The Zig Zag Woman’, the morbid humour of Kushner’s writing is bound to appear strange. The cast worked well, although a little more movement could have helped.

‘Arabian Nights’ by David Ives. Directed by Sophie Joske.

Across a room the young man (Daniel O’Brien) spots the woman of his dreams (Angela Donlan) however it appears that she cannot understand English and his attempt to talk to her are wasted. Then there appears an Arabian belly dancer (Aisha Valenti – brilliant) that offers to translate for the couple. However her translation isn’t as accurate as it should be.

An extremely funny play, with a superb performance from the sexy translator. Great directing and rapport.

‘Your mother’s butt’ by Alan Bell (writer of ‘American Beauty’). Directed by Chris Hill.

Being constantly depressed and anxious, the trendy young man (Josh Magee) consults a psychologist (Emma O’Sullivan) to find the cause of his troubles. However who is gaining most from the consultation, the patient or the professional?

What an absolutely hilarious finish to the night. Both actors are born comedians, the script is totally ridiculous and the direction wonderful. Congratulations.

The show was extremely well stage-managed by Megan Watson, who, with nine set changes had the cast well organised and the props (organised by Patrick Harvey) moved in and out flawlessly. The lighting (Rachel Granger) and sound (Farah Ainuddin) for each act was relatively simple, but over the evening presented quite a complex set-up, again professionally handled with some very good effects.

This was two and a half hours of genuine fun for only $10. Often with short plays there might be a thirty percent success rate. This Group B is a 90% collection, a well-paced, night of varied entertainment.

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