PAST SHOWS
PAST SHOWS
ADELAIDE FRINGE 2024 PROGRAM
Cowardy, Cowardy Custard
REVIEWS
“Geoff Revell (George Pepper) and Martha Lott (Lily Ppper) are particularly impressive, showcasing remarkable versatility as they shift between various characters and scenes. Their comedic timing and vocal prowess are noteworthy, making the musical numbers especially enjoyable." - Onyourmarkus.au
“Goers heads his ensemble with two professional actors, Geoff Revell and Martha Lott. Both are masters of physical comedy and have impeccable timing, seemingly effortlessly mastering vastly different accents and, in Revell’s case, side splitting painful silence that left the audience giggling uncontrollably. I would see the show again just to enjoy Lott ‘clipping the daylight’ out of words like ‘horspitality’." - Jude Hines - Stage Whispers
"Several actors make brief appearances and the standout is Rebecca Kemp, a diva, with a capital D, who has ‘emotional scenes.’ She was just warming up for the next play." - Jude Hines - Stage Whispers
"The joy of this performance isn't in the brittle dialogue, it’s in the physical comedy... There is a wonderful sense of ensemble in the cast, with a great sense of the style of the period. It’s not camp, not camp at all; it’s Coward."
- Ewart Shaw - Broadway World
"...witty and diabolically clever" "Revell’s face is a star – he has few lines as the hapless Mr Wadhurst, but doesn’t really need them – he is a delight to watch." - Arna Ayres White - Barefoot Review
"The audience adored Revell and Kemp’s physical comedy." If you want a ‘jolly good’ laugh, head down to Holden Street and enjoy the joy of Coward’s clever language and the work of a sparkling troupe of actors." - Jude Hines
David Arcidiaco as a Lt Corbett, looks like a 1930’s matinee idol. He is also frivolous and possibly somewhat dim.
...the older wiser male character, a Commander of the Royal Navy, a ‘what ho’ sort of character, beautifully drawn by John Doherty.
Helen Geoffreys is the required ‘vamp’, and having played that sort of character in an earlier production of Hay Fever, I appreciated her beautifully gowned, frivolously sexy and over the top Clare.
Lott, as ‘Piggie’ is an inattentive human bulldozer. Her conversations are on top note, and only occasionally, does she seem to actually communicate with anyone in the room. She is fabulous.
...Christopher Burnham played by Christopher Cordeaux, another Cowardesque handsome young man, Kemp and Revell as the Warhursts, a pucka couple from Malaya.
written by Noel Coward
Two very funny one-act plays by the great NOËL COWARD - Red Peppers and Hands Across The Sea
RED PEPPERS features two third-class music hall performers trying to do their best and HANDS ACROSS THE SEA is a comedy of extremely bad manners. These two hilarious short plays are originally from Coward’s celebrated cycle TONIGHT AT 8.30.
Our show starts at 8:00pm though,… Oh and 2:30pm and 4:00pm …So, don’t get mixed up!
An Amateur Production By Arrangement with ORIGINtm Theatrical, on behalf of the RIGHTS HOLDER.
Caricature provided by the artist Clive Francis www.clivefranciscaricaturist.com
Creatives
Directed by PETER GOERS, Featuring MARTHA LOTT and GEOFF REVELL with HELEN GEOFFREYS, JOHN DOHERTY, REBECCA KEMP, DAVID ARCIDIACO, BRIAN WELLINGTON, DAVID O’BRIEN, MILLY BOLLEN and CHRISTOPHER CORDEAUX.
Crew
Gary Anderson, Johnny Holds, Harry Ferguson and Martin Smith
Producer
Holden Street Theatres Inc.
Dates
May 14 - June 1 2024
The Trip to Bountiful
written by Horton Foote
In this bitter-sweet tale, Carrie Watts longs to escape the one bedroom apartment she shares with her son Ludie and self-centred daughter-in-law Jessie Mae and return to her home town of Bountiful. Her heart condition makes her wish more urgent. Ludie has the best intentions but after a long illness money is short. Jessie Mae doesn’t have a job but relies on Carrie’s pension cheque so that she can go to the beauty parlour. Set in 1950s Houston The Trip to Bountiful is full of hope, longing, and lost dreams.
Horton Foote, a Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist and Oscar-winning screenwriter, is often referred to as America’s Chekhov. Red Phoenix produced Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate in 2019 to Both critical and audience acclaim.
Creatives
Directed by Libby Drake and featuring Laura Antoniazzi, Krystal Cave, Megan Dansie, Brian Godfrey, Ron Hoenig, Sharon Malujlo, Stuart Pearce and Leighton Vogt.
Producer
Red Phoenix Theatre
Dates
May 23 - June 1 2024
‘night, Mother
REVIEWS
"...it is brilliant bloody good theatre and two of the best actors we have in South Australia and one of the best ... director we have." - Markus Hamence - On Your Markus
"Directed by South Australia’s media and arts legend Peter Goers, Holden Street Theatres' production of ‘night, Mother is an emotionally charged presentation infused with witty dark comedy. Martha Lott’s performance as Jessie is complex and ultimately genius.
Kathryn Fisher, who portrays her mother, Thelma, emanates a contrasting energy… It is a fascinating performance.
It is a superbly contrived and truly thought-provoking play." - Nicky Tsz Tung Li - InDaily
"The dialogue is pithy and challenging, and the accents of southern America are flawless. For me, the impeccable use of pause and silence allowed me brief relief and time to really understand what this mother and daughter were facing, both very much together, and yet both alone." - Jude Hines - Stage Whispers
"Opening night at Holden Street Theatres saw two consummate actors, Martha Lott and Kathryn Fisher triumph in a play which asks almost as much from the audience as it does the actors. " - Emily Sutherland - 5MBS
“Two fine actors at the top of their game. It’s a riveting piece, superbly done”
Patrick McDonald - The Advertiser
"Peter Goers has directed a play, deceptive in its simplicity, complex in subtext, and controversial in theme, brilliantly! ... BRAVO!" - John Doherty - That Guy in the Foyer
“Fisher and Lott’s daring, vulnerable performances are in service of ‘truth’ being unburdened of caveats and predetermined expectations. It is a partnership shorn of stylistic affectations and technique laden trickery into which the audience is irresistibly drawn in to share the disquieting experience of confronting what is best ignored.” - David O'BrienThe Barefoot Review
“A consumate, arresting, intense, enthralling, stunning piece” Samela Harris, “Smartarts”, ABC Radio
written by Marsha Norman
This thought-provoking play centres around the complex relationship between Jessie, the daughter, and Thelma, her mother. The story unfolds as Jessie calmly discloses her intention to end her life that evening, informing her mother, Thelma, that by morning she will be gone. As the dialogue unfolds between them, the reasons behind Jessie's decision gradually emerge, shedding light on their shared history and Jessie's meticulous preparations for her own death. The play builds to a gripping and unsettling climax, leaving the audience with deep reflections on the unavoidable outcome.
Creatives
Peter Goers, Martha Lott, Kathryn Fisher & Gary Anderson
Crew
Brian Wellington, Kesson Reilly, Amelie Lott-Watson
Producer
Holden Street Theatres Inc.
Dates
Nov 7 - Nov 25 2023
Cypress Avenue
REVIEWS
It's an enormous and brilliant performance from Eustice, struggling with his identity as a man, a Unionist, a Protestant, who lives in the island of Ireland but isn’t Irish.
Rhoda Sylvester is the standout as the beautifully patient psychotherapist attempting to guide Eric through an explanation of the awful events.
Fagan has the local cast with effective Belfast accents, and these add to the verbose dialogue, rather than distract.
The ending is inevitable – it’s signposted from the very start, and that is part of the appeal: that you know what’s coming, if not how, and however horrific it could be, you can’t do anything about it except watch.
Red Phoenix Theatre says that it will focus on plays that have something to say and provoke discussion: this confronting production will certainly achieve the latter. - Stage Whispers
Brant Eustice’s performance is a masterwork. He is Eric. There is not a moment, whether in conversation with other characters or in his long, deliciously long soliloquies that we are ever beyond his thraldom. There is some magnificent word play by David Ireland, but it is Eustice who breathes life and thought and process to the damaged worldview being constructed.
Director, Nick Fagan, has shaped Eustice’s role with breathtaking modulation, pace, tone, and volume are micromanaged to great effect….
…..it continues to simmer in one’s subconscious long after the curtain has fallen.
After two hours of witnessing a frenzied spiral from delusion to death, the audience is stunned into despondency, and left to mouth Eric’s words, “so that’s that then.”
As Libby Drake, co-founder of Red Phoenix, says in the program, the company strives to present a range of theatre from gentle pieces to confronting, they have lived up to this promise with full-throttle offer of the latter in Cyprus Avenue. - The Adelaide Show
You can always rely on a Red Phoenix play to entertain. This one doesn’t just entertain, it shocks, it challenges, it draws peals of laughter.... It is truly a black comedy not to be missed. If you loved Ulster/American you’ll adore this. Don’t miss it!. - Glam Adelaide
The latest production from Red Phoenix Theatre, under its new Artistic Director, Libby Drake, is David Ireland’s 2016 very, very black comedy/drama, Cyprus Avenue, directed by Nick Fagan. Fagan has assembled a strong cast and builds the production to its shocking conclusion. - Broadway World
written by David Ireland
Eric notices something very unusual and disturbing about Mary-May, his five-week-old grand-daughter. Although his wife and daughter think Mary-May is the ‘best baby in Belfast’, Eric can see that she is really the famous Sinn Fein president and politician Gerry Adams – but without a beard.
Set in a Northern Ireland now at peace, Eric struggles to shake off his experiences of The Troubles. Why has Gerry Adams now infiltrated his home? What should he do? Perhaps his psychiatrist can help him to make sense of his world. Or perhaps not.
Cyprus Avenue, David Ireland’s funny and shocking black comedy, won Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2017 and Stephen Rea won Best Actor for his portrayal of Eric. The play also won the James Tait Black Prize for Drama in the same year.
This is another Red Phoenix play that will have you talking about it long after it is over.
How well do we support people in our community who are struggling?
David Ireland also wrote Ulster American, which was recently performed at Holden Street Theatres to rave reviews.
Creatives
Nick Fagan,Brendan Cooney, Emily Currie, Brant Eustice, Rhoda Sylvester and Lyn Wilson
Crew Not Listed
Producer
Red Phoenix Theatre & Holden Street Theatres
Dates
Oct 19 - Oct 29 2023
Reverberate
“Because it doesn’t matter how strong we are… You can just tell. You can tell we aren’t ready for this. And it’s because we’ve done nothing to prepare.”
Decades of ignoring the reality of our world has finally brought us to a tipping point. In 2040, nobody expected it, but it should have been obvious. Looking through the darkness of Adelaide where people choose to look away instead of act, a family torn apart by disaster finds salvation in those brave enough to step forward and make a change. They weren't ready. Will you be?
Creatives
Presented by Glenunga International Year 10 Drama
Crew
Not Listed
Producer
Glenunga International Year 10 Drama
Dates
June 7 & 8 2023
The Suicide
written by Nikolai Erdman
The Suicide is a deliriously funny and laugh-out-loud comedy about an unemployed man, Semyon, who contemplates suicide. When his thoughts become known, a variety of zany characters try to persuade him to die to promote their cause – including artists, intellectuals, lovers and butchers. All plead their case and hope to gain publicity if Semyon dies in their name.
Nikolai Erdman’s 1924 Russian comedy is a testament to the survival instinct of the individual in the face of crushing external and social forces. When you consider the times in which it was written, the audacity is breathtaking. It celebrates the will to love, it argues for the right to work, and is filled with wonderful, wild and madcap humour. Unsurprisingly, Stalin banned it!
The Suicide is regarded as one of the finest plays to have come out of Communist Russia. Britain’s longest serving theatre critic, Michael Billington includes it in his collection of “The 101 Greatest Plays”.
Creatives
Brant Eustice, Kate Anolak, Joshua Coldwell, Jess Corrie, Samuel Creighton, Michael Eustice, Ruby Faith, Ron Hoenig, David Lockwood, Callum Logan, Sharon Malujlo, Geoff Revell, Nicole Rutty, Russell Slater, Georgia Stockham, Tom Tassone, Bobbie Viney & Malcolm Walton.
Crew
Not Listed
Producer
Red Phoenix Theatre and Holden Street Theatres
Dates
May 25 - Jun 3 2023
LOOPED
WINNER: Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award 2023 Professional - Martha Lott
WINNER: Adelaide Critics Circle Group Award 2023 Professional - Looped
REVIEWS
"Looped is marvelous", Martha Lott is "formidable....every inch the diva" and Chris Asimos is "superb". Peter Burdon - The Advertiser
"Here is that much sought after thing, the perfect production." - David O'Brien - The Barefoot Review
"I cannot rave or speak highly enough of this production. It is the inaugural production for Holden Street Theatres Company and let’s hope for many, many more. " Brian Godfrey - GLAM ADELAIDE
“Looped's barrage of one-liners, though, delivered by Lott, make this an intoxicating two hours. Five stars.” The Weekend Notes
“Marvellous... masterful....formidable .... compelling" That Guy In The Foyer
written by Matthew Lombardo
First played by Valerie Harper on Broadway LOOPED, Based on a real event, tells the story of internationally celebrated actress Tallulah Bankhead as she is called into a sound studio in the summer 1965 to re-record (or “loop”) one line of dialogue for what would be her last film, the dreadful Die, Die My Darling.
Southern, but by no means a belle, Bankhead was known for her wild partying and convention-defying exploits that outshone even today’s celebrity bad girls. Given her inebriated state (and inability to loop the line perfectly), what ensues is a hilarious eight hour showdown between an uptight and conservative sound editor, Danny Miller, and the outrageous star.
Creatives
Peter Goers, Martha Lott, Chris Asimos, Robert Cusenza & Judith Banfield
Crew
Brian Wellington & Kesson Reilly
Producer
Holden Street Theatres Inc.
Dates
May 2 - May 20 2023
