Short and Sweet

Short and Sweet - Sydney's Short play festival, 180 plays showing from 4 January until 31 March. The Festival involves 300 writers and directors and almost 500 actors. This year is it's 11th year, it has seen amazing growth and following over those years.
The Festival starts with a call out to writers and Independent Theatre Companies to submit their works, these are then assessed and the plays for the Festival are carefully chosen. Directors are then invited to choose which play they would like to produce and finally the actors are auditioned and the rehearsals commence. Of course that sounds easy but can you image organising that many plays, with that many actors, the lighting, sound, props and staging?
Each week shows 10 plays and each night the audience is invited to pick the two which they enjoyed the most. The audience votes are tallied and the top two for the week are showcased in the Peoples Choice night.

The King Street Theatre (formerly the Newtown Theatre), Newtown was a buzz of excitement as the audience anticipated a night of mini performances; which of them would we love and which we would gladly never see again? We burst through to the stage to grab a seat and settle into the night.
This is week two, the plays for the night were:
The Interview - a son interviewed his father, this promised to be good, being written by Andrew O'Keefe, but it was poorly acted and really didn't develop into anything worth remembering.
Six Naked Girls - a very funny play, cleverly written. It made the audience feel as if they were actually taking part, it was very engaging.
One Day in the Life of Keef - again I thought the writer did an excellent job putting this together, a tribute to Kieth Richards.
The Actor - like the previous one, a one man show. It was a good concept and well done, but not one that will remain with you.
Sparkling Effluescence - Would we drink re-cycled water? This only works if you are Australian, coming from England/ Europe we already drink re-cycled water and think nothing of it. However, it was funny and the phone call to the computer; though not a new idea; was good too.
Six Sharp Words - This I thought started well but never really developed into anything.
Pretty Bird - A very funny short play about a couple taking therapy by talking to a bird, a novel idea and well executed, with a twist.
Hyacinth Court - A story telling piece about a young girl and a Nazi soldier (post war) living next door to each other. It was a poignant piece and the two actors gave a great performance.
Jane Austen Made Me Do It - Very funny, well constructed and performed, great costumes any Jane Austen fans would love it.
The Cause - Again very funny, so funny that even the two actors had a hard time keeping a straight face! Jacob Boylan & Neel Kolhatkar both wrote, directed and performed the play obviously love language and have a great sense of humour.

Each of these plays lasted ten minutes so if you didn't like one you knew you would probably like the next. Which two do you think I voted for?

Short and Sweet is the worlds largest short play festival, go and see some of the shows, they are excellent value and excellent fun. Listen to our interview with the Festival director Pete Malicki.