THE SHOE-HORN SONATA
IN 2007 - played 20 venues in 15 weeks on national tour
Belinda Giblin and Maggie Kirkpatrick - A powerful and poignant play about triumph, friendship and survival Sheila and Bridie first met after their ships were sunk while fleeing from Singapore in 1942. They formed a friendship which survived three and a half years of captivity as prisoners of the Japanese in camps in Malaya and Sumatra.
The two friends are reunited for the first time, 50 years after the end of the War, for the filming of a television documentary. The Shoe Horn Sonata is about their incarceration and the brutality and hardship they experienced during those dreadful years. However, as the play develops, we discover more about Sheila and Bridie and we realise that this reunion is essential if their emotional wounds are to be healed. Woven into their half century of separation are a shoe-horn, a terrible secret and incredible loyalty and love which form their unlikely friendship.
The Shoe-Horn Sonata is a wonderfully funny and deeply touching play “An absorbing, amusing and inspiring evening….Maggie Kirkpatrick is magnificent….Belinda Giblin is hilariously prissy” Sunday Telegraph
“Misto interweaves his potent factual research with a compelling fictional drama that rises almost to the level of a love story” Sydney Morning Herald
“A wonderfully terrible, inspiring, life-affirming and often very funny tale….the performers are superb…together they reaffirm faith in humanity” The Bulletin
“I do not have the power to build a memorial, so I wrote a play instead” John Misto
Ensemble Theatre in association with Christine Dunstan Productions
SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS by Richard Alfieri
IN 2007 - played 26 venues over 28 weeks
A heart warming comedy with plenty of cha-cha and features two of Australia’s best loved performers, Nancye Hayes and Todd McKenney.
Lily Harrison, a lady of a certain age, has retired to Florida and decides to expand her circle of interests by signing up for a course of six dance lessons in six weeks, in the privacy of her own home. When dance instructor Michael Minetti arrives for the first lesson, the sparks and banter fly as these two strong personalities clash. An unlikely relationship develops between the prudish widow and her cynical and equally lonely tutor.
With dance routines created by John O'Connell, Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks will delight audiences with its honesty, tenderness and contagious joie de vivre.
“…warmly engaging and near impossible to resist” Sydney Morning Herald
“sharp, witty, entertaining and filled with pithy observations of the human condition…McKenney and Hayes show what fabulous actors they are” The Daily Telegraph
“In an honest and captivating performance Todd McKenney is superb. He’s free and easy and simply outstanding….Nancye Hayes, as always, is brilliant” Broadway Australia
THE 3 DIVAS
IN 2000 - Played Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth
IN 2001 - With Tasmanian, Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras
IN 2004 - Played 14 venues in 5 weeks on national tour
Three of Australia's most exciting solo performers blend their unique talents in this light-hearted celebration of opera, popular song, musicals and cabaret.
An evening of musical excellence, selected from Gershwin, Bacharach, Sondheim, Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Musical Director Guy Noble
"The combined vocal range is rich and impressive. A delightful tune-packed evening, guaranteed to send you out into the dark singing a Richard Rodgers’ medley. Encore!" John Slavin The Melbourne Age
"the warmth... the brilliance… Connelli has a wonderful capacity to put across a number." Peter McCallum Sydney Morning Herald
"A beautifully expressive performance. It was one of those delightful nights when all one had to do was sit back and enjoy." W.L.Hoffman Canberra Times
"Brimming with joie de vivre and establishing instant audience rapport… still sparkling after a generous two hours of song." Naomi Millet The West Australian
FLATFOOT
IN 2005 - Played 19 venues over 10 weeks on national tour
An hysterical comedy set in Ancient Rome, FLATFOOT is a very different play from David Williamson
Playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (Drew Forsythe) has to convince his producer, Crassus Dives (John Gregg) that his new play will be a hit and not offend the Roman Censor.
“Forsythe shines – great timing – well paced energy and witty barbs” Lenny Ann Low, Sydney Morning Herald
“great performance skills of Drew Forsythe, who has more funny walks, voices,grimaces and gestures than you can poke a stick at” John McCallum, The Australian
“a public masterclass in the creation of comedy” Colin Rose, The Sun-Herald “As long as there are performers like Drew Forsythe, the awesomely talented shape-shifter, there will be relief from our trials and tribulations. Thumbs up to laughing out loud.” Chris Boyd, Herald Sun (Melbourne)
“It is Forsythe's amazing ability to create eleven distinct characters that entertains, ably supported by a suitably stern John Gregg representing the Roman establishment, and Tina Bursill as a very early feminist. Forsythe lifts our expectations each time he makes a new entrance, transformed in the swing of a door into a brain-challenged snitch of a servant, a jealous old husband, a lusty, young slave, a vanity-blinded, pompous general, etc. His performance makes it all worthwhile.” Helen Thomson, The Age
THE ELOCUTION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
IN 2002 - Played Sydney and Melbourne
By Steve J Spears
A new production of the Australian theatre classic, starring John Wood, played seasons at the Sydney Opera House and CUB Malthouse, Melbourne.
"... the audience was enthralled. Wood's performance is superb... he is a very fine actor" Sydney Morning Herald
"One of the great successes of the Australian theatre" The Australian
"Wood's performance is powerful and intensely moving" The Age
SCAM
IN 1999 & 2000 - Played Sydney and Perth
By Anonymous.
Starring John Howard, Tony Martin, Roy Billing,
Diane Craig, John Gregg and Belinda Giblin.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. An hysterical production which was a timely reminder of the perils of that insidious social disease... insider trading. Scam was such a huge success at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre, breaking all box office records, an extended season there was followed by a season at the Regal Theatre in Perth.
"a very very funny satire. I loved it" Tony Squires, ABC Radio
"a wonderful play... really great fun" Sally Loane, ABC Radio
"smart lines, close observation... the show is funny, well acted and very popular" The Australian
LONE STAR
IN 2000 & 2001 - Played Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth
By James McLure.
Starring Russell Boulter, Tom Butcher, Huw Higginson
Three of the most enduring stars of one of the highest rating dramas on British and Australian television, The Bill, starred in this uproarious comedy about two rumbunctious Texan brothers and an old school colleague. Seasons in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
"These boys are all great... if you loved them in The Bill you can't miss Lone Star" Sally Loane, ABC Radio
"Lone Star is the hottest ticket in town" The West Australian
"a talented group of blokes who arrest the audience with a touching play... their performances are so strong and the script so absorbing by the end of the hour the lads really are as far removed from Sun Hill as Sydney is from Texas" Sydney Daily Telegraph
TYLER COPPIN'S LYREBIRD: Tales of Helpmann
IN 1999, 2000 & 2000 - Played all Australian capital cities and regional national tour,
plus tours to UK and NZ
Winner of the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe First Award for Outstanding Production of a New Work, in Lyrebird, Tyler Coppin brought back to life the flamboyant Sir Robert Helpmann. Seasons in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, London, Edinburgh and throughout regional Australia.
"a bowerbird's nest of idiosyncratic anecdote, exotic from beginning to end" Sydney Morning Herald
"a very funny and affectionate portrait of a man who wasn't so much a big cheese as a huge ham" The Guardian (London)
"Coppin's superb portrayal is hilarious, deeply touching and hugely entertaining" The Scotsman (Edinburgh)
"...the air becomes ripe with anecdote... spellbinding" Time Magazine
TONI LAMOND IN CABARET
1997 & 1998
The winner of two Logie Awards, a Variety Club Award and a Mo Award, Toni Lamond is one of Australia's most famous, and endeared, performers. Encompassing an eclectic mix from Cole Porter and George Gershwin to jazz and favourite standards, her cabaret show is sophisticated New York style which may have come straight from the famous Rainbow Room. During her recent New York season critics exclaimed:
"...one of my most enjoyable and memorable cabaret evenings of the year!" Stu Hamstra, Cabaret Hotline, New York
"...an evening of magical cabaret at its best" John Hoglund, Back Stage Magazine, New York
ABROAD WITH TWO MEN
1997 & 1998
A contemporary, satirical, fast paced review which is astute, knockabout and uproariously funny. Nominated as Best Comedy for 1996, Abroad With Two Men faces head on the recent slashes in arts funding by presenting Festivale Internationale, amalgamating and replacing all of Australia's existing arts festivals.
This "best-of-the-festival-circuit" brought to life by Jonathan Biggins, Linda Nagle and Phil Scott.
"the funniest, most consistent and best performed show I've ever seen" Sydney Morning Herald
"so funny, it's still hurting" Melbourne Herald Sun
"my favourite show... hysterical" Leo Schofield
"laugh until your sides ache" Adelaide Advertiser
JEANNE LITTLE IN MARLENE: A Tribute to Dietrich
1996 & 1997
Jeanne Little was the queen of daytime television for over 15 years, during which time she won three Logie Awards, including the coveted Gold Logie for the most popular personality in Australia. She has proven herself as a consummate musical star in such hits as Jerry's Girls, Legends and Hello Dahling! and her critically acclaimed show Marlene: A Tribute to Dietrich enjoyed enormous success throughout Australia.
"Like Dietrich, Jeanne Little is a phenomenon, and her new show is elegant and touching" The Sunday Telegraph
"Her Lili Marlene is deliciously tender - the sentimental grime of years stripped away for the arching sweetness and affection to prevail... her rendition of Johnny is sublime" The Sydney Morning Herald
Other productions include:
Richard Wherrett's THE STARS ARE BRIGHTLY SHINING
(State Theatre, Sydney) - 2000
BABY X
By Campion Decent (Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney) - 1998
HOLLYWOOD BIZARRE
1997
ALL IN THE TIMING
By David Ives (Belvoir St Theatre & Wharf 2, Sydney) - 1995 • 1996
VENUS & ADONIS
(State Theatre, Sydney) - 1995