Local

LOCAL is usually best, and it’s no different when Brisbane theatre makers present this collection of two award-winning plays and a fresh take on a classic, at Metro Arts on various dates.

The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz (March 14 – 24), Poison by Lot Vekemans (May 9 – 19) and Wheel of Fortune (May 30 – June 9) are the three works which should have something to offer everyone between them, and they have the added value of not having been seen in Brisbane before.

Multi-award winning playwright Lally Katz’s first produced play, The Eisteddfod. is described as a “darkly comic and disturbing absurdist work set in suburban Australia”. Orphaned as teenagers, Abalone and Gerture act out their anxieties and desires, with Abalone asking the latter to be Lady to his Macbeth in order win at an eisteddfod. This production is co-presented with Room To Play, and is directed by Heidi Manché.

Next up on the LOCAL menu is Poison by leading Netherlands playwright Lot Vekemans – a work that has been a huge hit in Europe and the U.S., with a film version currently in production. The fascinating subject matter about grief has parents at a cemetery as they face their son’s body being exhumed because the soil is contaminated. It’s co-presented with Matilda Award-winning Elise Greig and will also feature Redland’s Councillor Paul Bishop.

Wheel of Fortune, based on the iconic play, La Ronde by Arthur Scnitzler, has been updated to take place in the heat of a Brisbane summer. We’re promised the “weirdly erotic, the ugly, the obscene, the beautiful and sometimes disturbing lustful adventures” of Brisbanians. Local writers have scripted individual scenes and the production is directed by Timothy Hill, with film by Optic Archive and talented performers such as Veronica Neave. It’s presented by TAM and co-presented with the producer of Sex with Strangers and True West.

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By Vicki Englund

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