In fulfilling a favour for a friend, I have somehow been roped into reviewing, not one, but four original student-written mini-plays; Lead by Eliza Hoh, Jinx by Bora Celebi, The Disease of Anger by Jasmin Schofield, and The Fine Art of Persuasion by George Tsakiris. These were four of the six plays featured in NUTS’ annual new works showcase, affectionately titled ‘Whose Play Is It Anyway’ and colloquially known as ‘WPIIA’ (pronounced as /wΛpɪә(r)/… I think).
This showcase is always a highlight in NUTS’ theatrical season, bringing in fresh blood to the cast and providing an incredible opportunity for workshopping and giving feedback to young playwrights and directors. Major congratulations must go to the show’s production team, namely former NUTS president Zoe Berg who produced the 6 shows with the help of an incredible crew.
I’m going to go through these four shows one by one… wish me luck.
LEAD — Comedy, Drama, Sentimental
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA ELAINE @pixloading
Written by Eliza Hoh.
Directed by Katherine Vu.
Starring; Renzo Alcordo, Anastasia Dougenis, Finn Sargeant, and Grace Sung.
The triumph of Lead lies in its writing. Hoh’s work is on-its-feet and engaging, finding a way to show so much variety in such a short amount of time!
Renzo Alcordo’s David presents straight faced, straight toned non-chalance in a beige suit… I loved it. His awkwardness is infectious and does wonders for the audience’s connection to the character. This characterisation is contrasted by, the endlessly talented, Anastasia Dougenis as his ex-wife, Lou, whose eyes are a Russian roulette of expression. Add in Grace Sung’s adorable Ellie, their daughter, and you’d have a decent show. What elevates it is Mr Hugo. I may have to team up with Hoh and Vu and start a caucus to bring back the dumbass boss stereotype — I don’t know what made us writers think we were ‘too sophisticated’ for the kind of comedy Mr Hugo brings, but Finn Sargeant is balls-to-the-wall hilarious!
I enjoyed the OCD representation in this show. I think it’s done alright for a short layman’s perspective, there are of course more representative ways it could have been presented, but I think the conversation does what it needs to for this show and this audience.
The issue I kept running into was with timing. I kept thinking perhaps the show was flat, or it was moving a bit too quickly for the depth of its content, but I’ve realised this isn’t a script issue, it’s a directing one. The general direction is great, and this cast is highly skilled. I think it’s just a matter of slowing things down majorly — of course there are restraints when presenting in a ‘short-form content’ showcase. Any and all issues I had with this piece would be resolved by the actors simply giving the words more space to breathe, giving the audience a chance to get around what is happening, and also giving their characters time to process their own developments!
Costuming highlight?
The brown and aqua striped tie and the tight pants of Mr Hugo.
JINX — Drama, Psychological
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA ELAINE @pixloading
Written by Bora Celebi.
Directed by Lily Carter.
Starring; Beatrice Upton-Oettel, Jack Batchelor.
Jinx very nearly had me in the palm of its hand… and then it lost me. Initially, I felt the script seemed a bit jumpy, frightened of any sort of progression, but this grew on me — it was well suited to the ‘awkward conversation’ concept, making the audience feel what our protagonists, Jayce and Bruce, would’ve been going through… curse small talk. There was really interesting use of lighting in this show — shoutout lighting designers, Sasha Bilanovsky and Isabella Bustos-McNeil — creating audience intrigue and hyperawareness of emotional shifts in the characters.
The two actors, Upton-Oetell and Batchelor, did a terrific job at finding nuance at a small dinner table. Batchelor, who is new to NUTS, brought this smarmy non-chalance to Bruce — to me, it screamed ‘the r/piracy subreddit are the only people that truly get me and, I love to be pegged by my florist girlfriend’. As ridiculous as that sounds, I was very impressed with Batchelor’s ultimate control of the scene. Upton-Oetell really shone in the second half when she let loose with great emotional portrayal and an admirable onstage death.
My personal grievances with this play all come down to one thing. The gun. Perhaps it is personal preference, but I find a random gun reveal to be jarring and elementary, unless it is backed by the Chekov’s gun principle. I don’t think violence has to be out of the question for the end of this play, I just didn’t like the way we arrived there. The caveat of short plays is figuring out how to get the audience to care for your characters in such a short amount of time without overwhelming them with information. When the gun appeared, I didn’t really feel anything for the characters, and so the intended dramatic impact fizzled out into a sigh response. It also made me question where this was actually set. If it was in public, why didn’t anyone intervene? If it was in private, I would’ve loved a more intimate staging for the actors to work with, perhaps a couch instead of a table and chairs.
Conceptually, Jinx seems to have potential, maybe the psychological nature of the show just means it would be more suited to a long-form presentation!
Costuming highlight?
Trenchcoat buttoned to the top (not really, but the jacket was cool regardless… to be honest, Upton-Oettel can make anything look cool).
THE DISEASE OF ANGER — Drama, Comedy, Nostalgic
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA ELAINE @pixloading
Written and Directed by Jasmin Schofield.
Edited by Caitlyn Florence.
Starring; Charlotte Krautz, Sarah Birrell, Ella McGuire, Alex Mouhtouris.
Schofield’s writing and directing debut, The Disease of Anger (TDOA) is a lovely, but limited, exploration of grief, paternal mortality, and residual anger.
The cast of this show successfully explore these themes with due grace and talent, most notably Krautz who plays the story’s protagonist, Jane. They have this incredible genuineness and are beautifully emotive in face, body, and voice. Mouhtouris was beautifully earnest as Dad, reminding the audience that they’re not just the president of NUTS, they’re also a fine actor.
Something I would’ve loved to see from everyone is stronger conviction in the comedy — Schofield writes such interesting characters, it’s important to keep focus on what makes our characters unique, even when things are more serious. Sometimes ‘being funny’ actually allows us to make deeper emotional connections when things get rough for the characters!
I think Schofield faces the issue that all of those with a beautiful mind and an extensive vocabulary come across when writing theatre; the temptation to write poetically. As gorgeous as her words are, it’ll be exciting to see how they transform with further workshopping into others staged versions of TDOA —— it’s fine and dandy to curate beauty on the page if it is just to be read, but the stage and the body add unaccounted variables that request reworking. I would love for Schofield to have the chance to flesh this concept out more — let’s get deeper, give me more push and pull! She is an incredibly talented and capable creative, and I would love to see where she takes this concept.
Costuming highlight?
The bangles (which you could hear backstage) and Dad’s facecard.
THE FINE ART OF PERSUASION — Period Piece, Comedy, Drama
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA ELAINE @pixloading
Written and Directed by George Tsakiris.
Starring; Rayyan Khan, Finn Sargeant.
Watching this play, I couldn’t stop accusing myself of some kind of bias, maybe because of the Newsies-ness of it all, maybe because of my fondness of Tsakiris and the Brooklyn accents. I figured I’d sleep on it, take myself out of the moment and be able to truly judge this play. 24 hours later, I am still of the same opinion that The Fine Art of Persuasion (TFAOP) was flawless. The cynic in me cringes and cowers.
Khan and Sargeant, who played Eddie and Ron, are blessed with incredible timing and sensitivity. They have such a strong grasp on the material, escalating and balancing one another with a logical and intriguing flow. Of course, they have the script to thank for this engaging structure, Tsakiris avoiding the common mistakes of beginner playwrights by really giving the story room to shape itself, rather than just submitting to a singular idea. Khan and Sargeant’s movement was well choreographed, bringing round many laughs with their hilarious surveillance of the unseen character, Jack, and their accent work was brilliant, particularly Sargeant. These two are the kings of characterisation, every angle, every posture, and every brow was calculated and caressed with detail. The jargon of this piece fits perfectly with its characters and what they’re trying to achieve, even in reference to sensitive topics there was this appropriate bluntness, an undertone of ‘that’s just the way things are’.
This is Tsakiris’ third writing venture for student theatre, his two previous works debuting earlier this year in SUDS’ Slot 3 showcase. TFAOP is, however, his maiden voyage in directing! I, for one, am interested to see what his next project will be, my one request for whatever that may be is keeping the Brooklyn accents… they’re addictive.
Costuming highlight?
Eddie’s stache.
I am sufficiently out of things to say, until the next one… Jessica Louise Smith, out [fades into the distance].
