BEST ON STAGE
HOLLY AUSTIN – Boxing Day
For some reason kids pretending to be adults works really well, they are funny and they really commit. Adults on the other hand, playing kids, can be woefully bad. Not Holly Austin! This year she owned audiences with her wonderful depiction of a10 year old girl in Phil Spencer’s Boxing Day (Old Fitz). With just the right amount of innocence, playfulness and a child’s knowing she delivered one of the best performances of the year in this memorable role as Freya, a girl who just wants to have the perfect Christmas despite the most trying of times. Website
BELINDA BROMILOW – This Year’s Ashes
Being Australian is not necessarily a prerequisite for knowing about sport, not even our national sport, cricket. Drinking on the other hand is something of a national past time. When the two combine you get something like Ellen, a strung out thirty something living in sparkly Sydney without a friend in the world in This Year’s Ashes (Griffin). Belinda Bromilow delivered an honest and courageous performance in this quirky and irreverent play about death and the process of grief, living in Sydney and the ashes test series. Website
NICK COYLE – Me Pregnant!
Who’s afraid of the monster in the forest? Nick Coyle’s hugely anticipated one-man medieval revenge comedy Me Pregnant! (Old Fitz) was one of the most original plays to grace the Sydney stages this year. In a brave theatrical twist Nick played a nerd called Emmaline who saves her village from a monster and the monster who kills her, all in a pair of tights. That’s genius, right? Website
CLAUDIA O’DOHERTY – What is Soil Erosion?
What is Soil Erosion? (Belvoir Downstairs) did not answer any of our questions about soil erosion. Thank god. But it was side-splittingly funny. Claudia, is charming, smart and we suspect a bit of a genius. Website
GARETH DAVIES AND CHARLIE GARBER – Masterclass
After knowing each other for almost three years Charlie and Gareth are still enjoying exploring the limitless possibilities of their imagination. If you needed evidence of this then Masterclass was the proof. Presented at Goodgod as part of The Imperial Panda Festival the story of a child born to a chorus member of Les Mis (Gareth Davies) invents a character (Charlie Garber) who becomes the enfant terrible of the cast and gets Gareth fired. Funny and wonderful, Gareth and Charlie put a whole new spin on acting workshops. Website
TIM STITZ – Lloyd Beckmann, Beekeeper
Emerging from conversations between Tim Stitz and his grandfather, this one-man show traces Lloyd’s romance with bees through family history and inheritance. Based on a true story, written and performed by Green Room award-winning actor Tim Stitz, Lloyd Beckman, Beekeeper (Old Fitz) is the story of a Queensland battler told through his grandson’s eyes. Performed to only forty audience members at a time, with each member invited on stage to enter Lloyd’s world – his bedsit – and to experience what Lloyd experienced first hand. Website
POST (ZOE COOMBS MARR, MISH GRIGOR, NAT ROSE & EDEN FALK) – Who’s the Best?
Who’s the Best? (STC) Was the result of a year-long “objective” investigation into who among them is, well, the best. Categories included everything from life skills to looks. Luck. The best cook. The best singer. The best knitter. The best kisser. The best at making mix-tapes, who has the most DVDs to who visits their grandparents the most. Categories were also counter-balanced by who has the worst of something, for example Nat was the best with money but had the worst personality. Nasty. Who’s the Best? Is one out of a long list of incredible works from post and should be performed again and again (and again). Website
