the play's the thing

An associate has kindly reminded us about Waiting for Rotto, a Blue Room production that's now on.

We blogged about this island drama a while ago, and will endeavour to see it even though it's clashing with our next island sojourn: this time next week we'll be there.

Will the play mention the Angry Whopper?

You might think WfR is the first play to mention the beautiful island. You'd be labouring under a misapprehension: here are some of the plays that have...

Journey's End by R.C. Sherriff: a glimpse into the experiences of an obese American family as they cycle to the West End. Do they get there before evening, or will the seagulls peck them to death?

Setonix by Peter Shaeffer: a lonely Red Rooster check out chick embarks on a sexual odyssey as she investigates why a toolie blinded six quokkas with a West Coast Eagles stubby holder.

The Persian Rugs by Aeschylus: this laugh-a-minute comedy by the ancient Greek master features a bizarre attempt by Tony Sadler of Wembley to furnish all the island accomodation with colourful throws and kilims.

Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill: the nuances and paralells between colonial and sexual oppression are explored in this innovative drama, which starts in a 1906 drunken orgy in the Governor of WA's party and finishes with a private schoolboy sodomised by peacocks wearing ranger regalia.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (adapted for stage by Harold Bishop): the Ramsay family and their visits to Rotto in between being the slum landlords of the popular TV soap Neighbours is a skilful manipulation of temporality and psychological exploration and tragedy of the highest order.