My life is a licenced venue (Or, 'As a young thespian, I like free things')

Last Thursday was a good night.

1. The launch of the QTC Youth and Education program for 2010.

2. The Crucible.

The launch was held at Bille Brown at 6:30, and speeches/excerpts/demonstrations/drinking/chatting were abundant. It was excellent! I even managed to defeat my networking demons and make the first move on a couple of interesting people. It was along the lines of

“I really like your brooch!”… “Oh. Thanks?”… “Yeah, it glitters and stuff”… “…Yeah, it does that.”

Don’t give me a hard time people. I’ve met some of these people seven times, and never seem to make myself even vaguely memorable. I’ve decided to become outgoing and proactive. More like an actor than a self-conscious writer, you could say. Also I did genuinely admire these said people’s creative efforts.

A lot of fun was had in the forty-five minutes spent there, and the line-up for next year is pretty swell. ‘Waiting for Godot’ with Brian Probets and Eugene Gilfedder? That is a dream cast if ever I saw one. Then Liz Skitch and Bridget Boyle are doing a clowning show called ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ (two clowns, waiting again? Awesome). ‘The Seven Stages of Grieving’ (written by Wesley Enoch and Deb Mailman) is being put up as well. I also saw they’ve extended the age cut-off for the Young Playwright’s Program next year. Young Playwrights are now considered such until they are thirty years old apparently. This takes some pressure off, but the competition will be stiff next year. I intend to enter again, but I’m going to have to really work my arse off on this next one…

I’m not exactly sure how my guest and I managed to fly across from Bille
Brown to the Playhouse in 10 minutes with three champagnes and copious amounts of sushi in our systems… it may have involved some hazardous driving techniques, running, losing of accessories and paying way too much for parking, but we got in, with tickets awaiting us (thankyou angel of the week, Bec Smith) smack bang in the middle row.

I have a number of friends and collegues in ‘The Crucible’ and I knew I’d be seeing them after the show… There was a part of me that worried, just a little. What if it is awful?

It was less that I doubted their abilities, and more that I doubted my own stamina in a three hour play. I have the attention-span of a gnat. Generally, I’m looking at the hairstyles of the people in front of me maybe seven minutes into a show.

Somehow, those three hours felt like forty minutes at the most. I couldn’t look away from the stage. Not one cough was heard in the sold out Playhouse for the play’s entirety. The production simply flew. It was above the stage, above the actors, above the lines in the script - everyone in that room felt as though a greater force was at play. The nineteen actors commited in a truly inspiring way. The sense of ensemble was a pulse that pushed everyone through until the last word in the last scene. As the cast came back out to bow, squeezing into a line on the front of the stage, I suddenly felt so proud to be from Queensland.

Brisbane - a cultural slum, you say? Go and see ‘The Crucible’.

This was my first experience with ‘holy theatre’ and I am very grateful to all involved with it. Keep it coming, QTC.