island drama

Hold on to your quokka hats: theatre and the beautiful island look like they’re going to be fused.

Coming up at the Blue Room in September: Waiting for Rotto.

‘Bubba and Bubby are on a quest for fulfillment,’ says the BR site.

‘Contemporary avenues of satisfaction such as fast food and Real Estate offer limited consolation. All is overseen by TV. Always there; advertising canning laughter and flattening life, sex and death onto a screen.
“Any on of these people could be a terriblist…”

‘And who is Rotto? Will they ever meet her? Do they even believe in her?

‘Melding art, performance and music (and absurd references to quokkas, Madonna, and Hungry Jacks), Waiting for Rotto heralds the return of eclectic duo Simon Gevers and Luke Murphy (sub:URB), in a collaboration based on Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

“No, they’re not self-indulgent self-abusers” – Lynn Fisher, The West Australian.

‘Waiting for Rotto is a comedy, tragedy, eulogy, vaudevillogy, Willagee; sure to appeal to anyone who has ever lived in Perth, questioned the meaning of life, or waited for Rotto.’

Well, that’s us. This sounds very promising. There’s been a film on Rotto, it’s had plenty of TV, there’s poetry about the place – but treading the boards! We’ve emailed the BR asking if it’s set in/around Thomson Bay.

There is some more info on the Film & Television Institute site:

‘Individuals sought to film excerpts that will be included in a theatre production staged at the Blue Room 24 September – 10 October 2009…

‘Melding art, performance and music, the premier production of Waiting for Rotto is a play in the ‘absurdist theatre’ genre, and features the characters Bubba and Bubby on a quest of fulfilment.

‘Produced, written and performed by Simon Gevers and Luke Murphy, two artists who are described as having “an authentic voice (and representing) Perth at its best: intelligent, unpretentious…but quirky” (Marcelle Schmitz, Perth theatre Director.) Their script has generated much interest in the local arts community, with Waiting for Rotto heralded as “confronting, familiar, full of local colour and entertaining” (Tos Mahoney, Artistic Director of Tura New Music.)’

There are even plans for a road show! Rotto on the road!