Short+Sweet Auckland Festival Launch

The launch of Short+Sweet Auckland 2010 was held on Thursday December 10th an the Herald Theatre at THE EDGE.

There was a good attendance of Short+Sweet writers, directors, actors and Independent Theatre Companies and the full season was announced for Short+Sweet Auckland 2010.

Click here to download the full schedule of Short+Sweet Auckland 2010

Copied below is the speech made by Alex Broun, Artistic Director of Short + Sweet Auckland 2010.

Launch of Short+Sweet Auckland

I’d like to start off with some thank-yous.

Thanks first of all to The Edge for hosting the first ever Short+Sweet Auckland and a special thanks to Craig Cooper, Sally Barnett, Charlie Unwin and Nigel Grant for making us feel so welcome.

Thanks also to our team at Short+Sweet Auckland – the Artistic Co-ordinator Jonathan Hodge, Associate Producer Yee Yang Lee, or better known as Square, and our Production manager Sums Selvarajin.

Thanks for all your hard work you’ve put in so far – and all the hard work you’ll be putting in over the next two months.

And a big thank you to you the artists – the brilliant actors, writers, directors and Independent Theatre Companies – who have brought your time and talent to Short+Sweet Auckland.

When it’s all said and done you are Short+Sweet and we wouldn’t have a festival without you.

Tonight marks the beginning of the journey of Short+Sweet Auckland.

To give you a bit of background on how we got here Short+Sweet began at the old Newtown Theatre, at St George’s Hall in Newtown, Sydney way back on the 9th of January 2002 with a season of 43 plays over 4 weeks.

To paraphrase the old pop song – from there the only way was up.

Short+Sweet expanded to Melbourne in 2005, Singapore in 2006, the Central Coast of NSW in 2007, Malaysia in 2008 and in 2009 it launched in Canberra and Brisbane.

And now in January 2010 the first ever Short+Sweet Auckland will hit the stage.

Now entering it’s 9th year it is clear that Short+Sweet is as strong as ever.

In its nine year history Short+Sweet has presented over 1500 of the best ten minute plays from writers all over the world.

Indeed in 2009 Short+Sweet presented 150 plays in Sydney, 40 in Brisbane, 20 in Canberra, 10 in the Central Coast, 50 in Melbourne, 40 in Singapore (including 10 plays in Mandarin) and 30 in Malaysia for a total of 340 plays.

Recently I was interviewed by American Theatre magazine and the editor asked me a question: There are lots of short play festivals in the world. Why, in your view, has this particular one grown so large?

My answer was three words – the time limit. We are the only festival in the world, that I know of, that is strict – and I mean very strict – on the ten minute limit.

It’s a contract with our audiences that each play or theatre work they are going to see will be no longer than ten minutes long. So if there’s something on stage that doesn’t appeal to your particular taste it will be gone in ten minutes.

But of course that is not the only reason for our success.

We also give audiences a chance to watch (and artists a chance to create) a wide range of theatrical styles in one night.

At Short+Sweet it’s not just talking head, character based naturalistic plays. We are not a short play festival – we are a ten minute theatre festival. It’s an important distinction.

We don’t just do plays, we create a whole range of theatrical works. There’s every theatrical style you can imagine in Short+Sweet so that when the lights go down after one theatre work ends you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next.

How many other nights of theatre can you truly say that of ? It’s like an entire fringe festival happening in one venue in one night and an example of the opportunities and inspiration Short+Sweet has provided to create theatre.

Another of the reasons for our success is our singularity of purpose and clarity of vision.

Our aims of Short+Sweet can be defined in three simple goals:
No.1: that the artists have a positive experience;
No.2: that audiences have a positive experience and
No.3: that we create some good theatre.

And it is these essential parameters, the underlying philosophy behind the festival that has stood us in such excellent stead.

Short+Sweet continues to grow and prosper primarily on goodwill. And over the years Short+Sweet has built up considerable goodwill with our participating artists and audiences.

And the strength of the festival is further displayed by the number of artists seeking to be involved in next year’s festival.

We had 1100 plays entered from all over the world for Short+Sweet Auckland – many from New Zealand –but we also received entries from Australia, France, India, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the USA.

It’s clear when it comes to ten minute theatre writers across the globe - Short+Sweet is the premiere event and the festival that writers most want to be a part of.

At Short+Sweet Auckland we will present 40 plays in 13 performances over 2 weeks in the wonderful Herald Theatre – just through the doors there.

And for those who want to be parochial – of the 40 theatreworks we will be presenting – 25 are from New Zealand playwrights, comprising of 16 by Auckland based writers or Independent theatre Companies, 5 are from the talented Wellington writing community, and one each from Hamilton, Manukau, Northland and Palmerston North.

So Auckland won – big time – yeah !

Of the international works to be presented : 9 are from Australia, two from Malaysia, and one each from Scotland , Singapore and the USA.

But it’s not just writers who are keen to be involved. We had over 50 directors and 30 Independent Theatre Companies submitting to be part of the festival which we had to whittle down to the 40 works that will be presented in the season.

And we had over 200 actors register to audition for the over 100 roles in the festival.

So with actors, directors, writers and technical crew combined Short+Sweet Auckland - will have well over 200 artists involved.

It is a testament to the strength of Short+Sweet that everywhere the festival has begun it has continued to develop and grow stronger year after year.

Short+Sweet’s ability to attract younger audiences also remains the envy of many established companies.

But in the end what defines Short+Sweet is a philosophy or belief in the ten minute theatrical form.

I look back over the most extraordinary theatrical experiences I’ve had over the last few years and many of those have been at Short+Sweet.

49 stories about Brian Mackenzie, Uncomfortable Silences, A Safe Pair of Hands, Mandragora, Victor Blott a Desire to Rot, Eastertoon, A ramble through the bushes, Religion Shop – to name just a few.

No doubt the first ever Short+Sweet Auckland will throw up some similar gems.

And you may say “We’ll Alex, you see a lot of ten minute theatre” – and that is true but I think every year writers, directors, actors and theatre makers are comprehending what is possible in the ten minute form – and are packing more and more into every second.

When you look at a play like David Sharpe’s Mandragora, which will be directed in the festival by imaginative young theatre maker Louise Tu’u, about the after math to a fatal car crash and a young survivor dealing with two sets of memories – his own and those of the boy who died - which has now been performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and soon Auckland – you begin to realise what is possible in ten minutes.

But I’m getting near the end of my ten minutes – probably already over it – so let me finish by mentioning just a few highlights from the season.

And for those hoping to reach the Gala Final – pray that I don’t mention you – as being mentioned in my launch speech is traditionally the kiss of death to any production’s Gala ambitions.

In no particular order some of the highlights of Short+Sweet Auckland 2010 may be:

Keisha Castle-Hughes in Christopher Johnson’s acclaimed monologue – Borys the Rottweiller – where Keisha will be playing a Rottweiller (Yes – you heard right) who explains the circumstances behind a tragic event.

For the first time we see the situation from the Rottweiller’s point of view and see they are not as guilty as they seem.

Where else except at Short+Sweet can you see such a unique event as one of New Zealand’s favourite actresses playing a vicious Rottweiller. The production will be directed by Yuri Kinugawa.

There’s The Fruits of War by USA writer Earl T Roske, which is a parable of escalating warfare told through two actors standing on stage throwing pieces of fruit at each other – beginning with cherries and moving up through grapes, strawberries, mandarins, grapefruits – to the mother all fruits – the watermelon.

Get ready to duck. Plastic sheeting will be provided for those who find themselves lucky enough or unlucky enough to be in the front row.
A finalist already in Singapore and Brisbane it will no doubt be a huge hit with our Auckland audiences - with Jonathan Hodge stepping up to direct.

There’s a new play by one of New Zealand’s most popular and prolific playwrights Thomas Sainsbury, Floor Thirteen, presented by FingerPrints & Teeth Productions.

Talented actor and director Cameron Rhodes directing a new piece by B. C. Thomson called Diagnosis which features wonderful local actress Mia Black.

The Oryza Foundation for the Performing Arts will be presenting five of the best works from their acclaimed Asian Tales series of short plays which was seen here at The Edge in February.

Thanks to Square and Oryza for bringing these works to the festival, showcasing the rich diversity of Auckland’s performing arts community.

The Outfit Theatre Company, a talented young collective of recent graduates who will perform Tone, directed by Peter Coates, described as 10 Minutes. 10 Actors. 10 Phone Calls and featuring Andrew Ford who was so impressive in Peach Theatre Company’s recent production of The History Boys.

Charlie Unwin and Tainui Tukiwaho of Auckland’s most exciting new generation of directors who will direct two of the best scripts submitted to the festival.

Charlie will be directing the The Beauty of It by Wellington writer Marolyn Krasner while Tainui puts his considerable skills to work on Australian playwright Tom Taylor’s multi-award winning play The Example.

One of Auckland’s most respected theatre directors Amanda Rees will bring to the stage my own play 10,000 cigarettes – about the deceptive glamour of smoking – which has the distinction of being the most produced play in Short+Sweet history with over 75 productions across the globe to date.

To get Short+Sweet off to a great start in Auckland we also went back through the entries to Short+Sweet over the last decade and found some of the best plays by New Zealand writers ever submitted to the festival.

And thus we will be presenting at Short+Sweet Auckland works by some of New Zealand’s best ten minute playwrights – Andre Surridge and Barry Lakeman.

Andre’s play is the delightful “Squeaky Clean Hotel” which tells the true story of an American Guest in a London Hotel who managed to end up with 50 cakes of soap in his bathroom. The production will be directed by Katherine Phyn.

And from Barry Lakeman comes the witty and insightful Waiting for Jim, about three women all waiting for men called Jim.

Both Andre and Barry have had many plays stage in Short+Sweets in Australia and across the globe and it’s wonderful to have their work on stage in our very first Short+Sweet in New Zealand.

To really up the ante we have also included in the festival some of the best plays ever performed in Short+Sweet.

So the season includes Jonathan Gavin’s whimsical and hilarious Sleepless Night – the grand winner of Short+Sweet Melbourne 2007, to be directed by Adam Fresco, and Andrew O’Keefe’s beautiful tale of unfulfilled romance – Uncomfortable Silences – the Grand Winner of Short+Sweet Sydney 2007, directed by Vicky Yiannoutsos.

And of course our Wildcards programmes features a fresh mix of newcomers eager to show their talents on the Herald Theatre stage.

So it’s clear in terms of ten minute theatre, Short+Sweet Auckland 2010 is presenting the very best of the best.

As Mark Cleary, the founder of Short+Sweet International, who as we speak is currently on the way to India to spread the gospel of Short+Sweet to the sub-continent said recently, “With our Sydney, Melbourne, Central Coast, Singapore and Malaysian festivals all going strong and Canberra, Brisbane and Auckland coming on line it’s a wonderful time to get involved in Short+Sweet.”

We will handing out copies of the schedule now so you can take a closer look at all the wonderful actors, writers and directors assembled for the season.

So welcome to Short+Sweet Auckland 2010 - the newest act in the largest ten minute theatre festival in the world.

And one final piece of advice – buy your tickets very quickly especially for the Wildcards. You don’t want to miss out on the fun.

Enjoy it – I know I will. We look forward to seeing you back here on January 19th 2010 at the opening night.

Bw,
Alex Broun
Artistic Director
Short+Sweet Auckland 2010

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