Haunted Summer

Four sold-out shows over two days in January’s haunted summer: I’m glad to report that Four Shadows was a great success, with all four one-act plays on the program (Ghost Hunting; Sweet Dreams Baby; Underground; If The Moon) going down a treat.

To lay the Ghost of Stage-Plays Past to rest, here are some pictures from Ghost Hunting. Some were taken by our official photographer Kylie Blakemore during the final performance; others I snapped during dress rehearsal.

The four cast members all did a sterling job of turning a community hall into a haunted house.

Myriam Besso played Adelaide Swift, President of the Ladies’ Ghost Society of New South Wales. Daisy Levell enacted Adelaide’s junior ghost huntress, Beatrice Starling. Josephine Pennicott was Clarissa Peacock, clairvoyant of ‘no society whatsoever’, and Olive Blakemore brought the mysterious Harriet Hawke to life.

I wrote and directed, and our superlative sound and lighting chap – so crucial for the overall effect – was Mike Hamilton.

Ian Batty’s ingenuity with essential props was vital.

Furthermore, three cheers for the Four Shadows Productions organising committee of Brian Twomey (guru), Paulina Kelly (artistic director), Nettie Sladden and Ian Batty (production/stage managers), and David Hobbs (font of wisdom), without whom etc, etc, etc…. Grateful thanks too, to Christine Watts for her magnificently mood-setting gothic foyer diorama (plus catering!) and Alan Cory for riding shotgun front-of-house.

Thanks too, to the audiences who came along for the show. I enjoyed talking to the people who approached me afterwards, especially those young children who confirmed that our ghost was indeed scary. Now that was particularly gratifying to hear!

 

Stage Frights!

Four one-act plays join forces to tell tales of the highly unusual in the upper Blue Mountains…

IF THE MOON…
Two men in a room, and doomsday looms.
SWEET DREAMS, BABY
A girl who dreams horse-race winners: just the ticket for the Melbourne Cup!
UNDERGROUND
The ultimate lockdown: a bunkered-down couple after nuclear apocalypse. What next?
GHOST HUNTING
The Ladies Ghost Society investigates a haunted house in rural NSW, 1853.

My Ghost Hunting goes a-haunting with this terrific trio in January.
Tickets at Humanitix – grab them before they ghost away!

 

Giving up the ghost

This weekend, my one-act play Ghost Hunting was going live on stage in the Blue Mountains, NSW, part of the Blackheath Theatre Company’s Out Of The Blue show of four one-act plays.

Over five performances, a community hall was to have become, for one enchanted half hour, a haunted house for the entertainment of audiences. We were delighted to be sharing the stage with three other magic spaces of wonder created by the talents of three other local writers.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Ten days before our premiere, the Blackheath Theatre Company informed us that the entire season of Out Of The Blue was off, claiming the July 2022 weekend in question posed too great a Covid risk.

They became, in all likelihood, the only performing arts company in Australia to pull shows this weekend citing Covid risk.

Meanwhile, other local cultural events are enjoying full houses.

I deeply apologise to all theatre-goers affected. The decision was made without any consultation with cast or crew. Many affected found the validity of the excuse (never made public, I believe) very difficult to accept, or believe. Rats were smelt.

The loss of Out of the Blue came as a major blow for the actors, crews and volunteers who put heart and soul into it over a very long time (we were postponed three times before due to lockdowns, against which I had no objection).

The trust it may well have fractured could potentially damage live theatre generally in the Blue Mountains community. If so, I sincerely hope that full trust can be recovered. A thriving live theatre scene is something I’m sure we all want to see.

Author photo: Kylie Blakemore (copyright). From left: Iain Fraser, writer-director, Underground; Brian Twomey, writer, Sweet Dreams, Baby; David Levell, writer-director, Ghost Hunting (three of the four Out Of The Blue playwrights).

 

Ghost Buster!

• Alas, alack, GHOST HUNTING has been temporarily exorcised by the Greater Sydney Covid Lockdown! The July-August season of OUT OF THE BLUE – Ghost Hunting was one of the short plays making up the program – has been delayed until October. The new dates are October 7-10 at Blackheath Community Hall, atop the Blue Mountains. Ticketing details should be available on the Blackheath Theatre Company website.

 

Let the haunting begin!

Rehearsals are well underway for GHOST HUNTING, which I’ve written for the Blackheath Theatre Company’s upcoming OUT OF THE BLUE show of “one-act plays of the unexpected”. I’m also directing.

Set in a haunted room in the 19th century, Ghost Hunting follows the Ladies’ Ghost Society of NSW as they investigate supernatural disturbances at troubled Renfield House…

Abercrombie House near Bathurst (below) played some part in inspiring the setting. I’m sure it has ghosts of its own…

Out Of The Blue runs for five shows between Thursday July 29 and Sunday August 1 (Thur, Fri, Sat 7.30pm and two 2pm weekend matinees). Tickets available via Trybooking and more info at Blackheath Theatre Company

The full program is:

GHOST HUNTING written and directed by David Levell

THE GHOST WRITER by Stephen Measday (Elizabeth de Koster, director)

IF THE MOON by John Shand (Elizabeth de Koster, director)

IT’S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT by Ted Markstein (Paulina Kelly, director)

SWEET DREAMS, BABY by Brian Twomey (Arwyn Karmudian, director)

UNDERGROUND written and directed by Iain Fraser