little death productions

2010-06-17T17:24:00.002+10:00

‘little death productions’ is an independent theatre company committed to creating innovative and compelling theatre. It is made up of some of the most talented young theatremakers working in Australia.

Strangers in Between by Tommy Murphy

2009-07-01T19:18:00.015+10:00

The Store Room Presents a little death production

Melbourne Premiere

From playwright Tommy Murphy (Holding the Man) and director Ben Packer (Mercury Fur), comes a surprising and tender play about accepting the kindness of strangers.

‘little death productions’ is excited to present the Melbourne premiere of one of the best new Australian plays of recent years, Strangers in Between. This work by the rising star Sydney playwright Tommy Murphy forms part of the Store Room Theatre’s 2009 season.

There’s a climate of fear in friendly Goulburn and Shane is forced from his family. And so he flees, naturally, to Kings Cross. Shane is unsure of his sexuality, more unsure of how to find intimacy and completely thrown by having to choose between laundry liquid and powder.

Strangers in Between‘s original production in 2005 in Sydney launched playwright Tommy Murphy’s stellar rise. The Sydney Morning Herald called the play “bitter and sweet and replete with raw emotion … entertaining and forceful”. SX News went a step further and claimed it to be “the best new Australian play since Michael Gow’s Away”. Strangers in Between won the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Best Play in 2006; Tommy Murphy’s extraordinarily successful adaptation of Timothy Conigrave’s Holding the Man won the same Award in 2007. Murphy is the youngest recipient of the award, and the only playwright to win in successive years. Last year, the Sydney Theatre Company presented Murphy’s Saturn’s Return as part of the Wharf2Loud season and will open on the Sydney Theatre Company main stage this year.

‘little death productions’ is an independent theatre company that seeks to present work that is vital and visceral. The company presented Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley in 2007 at Theatreworks before touring the production to Sydney as part of Griffin Stablemates. Critic for The Australian and theatre blogger Alison Croggon proclaimed the production as “quite simply, brilliant theatre”.

Strangers in Between by Tommy Murphy

Directed by Ben Packer

Set/Costumes by Micka Agosta

Lighting/Sound by Ben Watts

Original lighting concept by Govin Ruben

Photography by Jay Matthews

Produced by Laura Milke Garner

with Aljin Abella, Bruce Kerr and Cameron Moore

Season: July 23 – August 16, Preview: July 22

Tues-Sat 8pm, Sun 6pm

Adult $29, Concession $24, Preview $19

Bookings: www.easytix.com.au or 03 9639 0096

The Store Room

First Floor, Parkview Hotel

 Corner of Scotchmer St & St Georges Rd,  North Fitzroy  VIC

Mercury Fur - some reviews (melbourne/sydney)

2007-09-10T23:29:00.015+10:00

"If you want to see the best show in town, head down to Theatreworks and buy a ticket to Mercury Fur. It is, quite simply, brilliant theatre ... Ben Packer's production powerfully realises the extremities of the play ... Packer has elicited some extraordinary performances. As Elliot, (Luke) Mullins strengthens his claim to be the best actor of his generation. He is breathtakingly good, leavening his disillusioned, dead-eyed menace with a profound tenderness. Young actor Russ Pirie gives another standout performance as the transvestite Lola, and Fiona Macys, playing the blind Duchess, is a revelation ... It's provocative and thoughtful theatre, but definitely not for the faint-hearted." The Australian Alison Croggon, September 3, 2007

"... (D)irector Ben Packer and his cast portray this disturbing world with energy and commitment. (Luke) Mullins is compelling and restrained as Elliot. (Xavier) Samuel plays the damaged Darren with a pained desperation. (Aaron) Orzech finds a sweet and trusting naivete in Naz and (Russ) Pirie is creditably underplayed as the drag queen, Lola." Herald Sun Kate Herbert, September 3, 2007

"Show of the week **** ... (T)he sheer frantic giddiness of its scatter-shot approach will ensure that any audience member will find multiple points of contact to pursue. The extended monologues which punctuate the piece, especially, are some of the most effective heart-stoppers seen here recently ... The performances are roundly excellent ... Credit should also go to designer Adam Gardnir and lighting designer Danny Pettingill's rich set, junk given a holy glow by a wall of red and yellow globes. Like the play, it's an unflinching image of decay and horror with the hypnotic pull of a flickering candle - or a city in flames." The Sunday Age John Bailey, September 9, 2007

"... (T)he Australian premiere should win over all but the most squeamish. It's a black diamond, cut and polished, and makes enthralling theatre ... The cast gives a strong and dramatically focused ensemble performance ... Kelly Ryall's subliminal industrial soundscape evokes an insidious sense of dread. Director Ben Packer has a wonderful sense of pace: the two hours glide by ... You can take what you like from this bleak and brilliant play ... Only one thing's for sure - you won't forget it." The Age Cameron Woodhead, September 1, 2007

"It's a recognisable world but shifted, mainly due to edible psychedelic butterflies, helpfully colour-coded. By ingesting a wing or two, all manner of dark visions and violent re-enactments are obtainable, with memory loss as the side effect. It's in this territory, despite the work's grimy sleaze and deliberate shock attempts, that Phillip Ridley's recent play works best. A world of scrappy, subsistence-level chancers desperately tell and make up stories that, no matter how silly (the Hitler/Kennedy/Monroe war is particularly good), fulfil baser functions: connection, real or imagined, and the illusion that there should be touchstones of truth that all can vaguely agree on." Sydney Morning Herald Stephen Dunne, October 1, 2007

"It's thoroughly nasty stuff delivered with enough humour, intelligence and relevance to justify its worst aspects ... One of the work's strengths is its openness—an audience member's sense of the piece's target could easily vary significantly from that of the person they're sitting next to ... Little Death's version doesn't revel in its monstrosity but respects the bleak vision it requires. Mullins embraces an atypical role, bringing a convincing rough-hewn edge to Elliot. Aaron Orzech is a discovery as the naïf Naz, and Kelly Ryall's understated score along with Danny Pettingill's magnificent lighting bank lend an urgency to the piece that scoffs at the nay-sayers. Here's hoping for a return season after its Sydney appearance." Realtime issue 81 John Bailey, Oct-Nov 2007

theatrenotes

sydney arts journo

Spark Online

Australian Stage Online

mono no aware

esoteric rabbit

mink tails

velvet mafia

theatrewire

musings of a rambling idiot

Complete text reviews (click to view) -

The Age/Herald Sun/Inpress/Beat

Photo: Luke Mullins as Elliot (photograph by Dan Stainsby)

Director’s Notes

2007-09-03T00:26:00.001+10:00

Everyone has their own reaction to a piece like Mercury Fur, but what attracted me to this play was its central tenet that language and stories define our humanity. The telling of stories in the play draws the characters together and the remembering of their histories define their identities. When language and memories crumble away, these characters lose something of themselves in that deterioration. As theatre itself is a form of storytelling, I was drawn to this affirmation of the importance of telling and retelling our stories. Mercury Fur is written by British storyteller Philip Ridley, but I have seldom read a text that seems so immediate and present. It is a play about young people today and the society into which they are born.

Ridley sets the play in his local neighborhood, the East End of London, but this degenerated city could be anywhere in the world. In our production of Mercury Fur, the actors are using their own natural accents, because this dystopia could certainly be any city and these characters could easily be us. These are ordinary young people surviving despite enormous trauma, fighting for survival not just for themselves but for each other.

Photo: Luke Mullins as Elliot (photograph by Dan Stainsby)

MCV Cover Story

2007-09-03T00:14:00.002+10:00

This is the End by Dion Kagan

Wednesday 29th August

Patrons arriving at Theatreworks this week might find themselves disoriented. After walking through an unusual entrance, they'll find themselves immersed in the squalor of a housing estate flat filled with junk food wrappers, computer equipment and the general debris of advanced consumer capitalism. Cramped in this claustrophobic space, they will join brothers Eliot and Darren in a race against the fading daylight, as the pair prepare to host a party at which they will fulfill their wealthy client's dark sexual fantasies.

Written by British theatre's enfant terrible Phillip Ridley, Mercury Fur is the play that scandalised London's theatrical old guard. It's an apocalyptic nightmare set in the not-so-distant future; described by some British critics called "a descent into hell", and a projection of the playwright's "sick fantasies". Daily newspaper The Telegraph called it "poisonous", while Ridley's own publisher of ten years, Faber and Faber, refused to touch it.

But this barrage of disgust was equaled by extravagant acclaim. The Sunday Times called Mercury Fur "the definitive 9/11 play," while The Independent hailed it as "the new Clockwork Orange".

For director Ben Packer, reading the play was addictive.

"It lodged in my mind so strongly that I felt that this was a play that I really needed to do… it's a play that is so strong in its themes and its imagery, that you kind of live with it for days after you've seen it," he tells MCV.

One possible reason for the impact Mercury Fur has upon people, Packer theorises, is that it, "is set in the very, very near future… This is a world that is upon us… This is a future that we all might face."

Unusually for a contemporary play, it occurs entirely inside one room, in real time.

"The world outside has completely descended into chaos," Ben explains. "There's rioting, there's animals escaped from zoos, there's looting through the supermarkets, there's gangs of kids roaming the streets."

This decaying world is evoked by the vivid descriptions voiced by a talented troupe of actors, and by award-winning sound designer Kelly Ryall's powerful musical score; but it's a world we barely even glimpse.

"We don't see the violence, we don't see this actually happening, we create it in our minds," Packer explains.

The characters we do see, inside the squalid flat in which the play is set, are a motley crew: a blind, middle-aged woman;, a transsexual, Lola; and, eventually, a child dressed as Elvis.

"These characters will go to any lengths in order to protect those that they love. And that is the overwhelming impression, after the play finishes; that they will go to very dark places in order to keep each other safe. So, in that sense, that is what remains when everything else falls away… in an apocalyptic world, those [bonds] just become stronger. There are scenes of incredible tenderness in amongst [the] descriptions of extreme violence," the director explains.

Packer is particularly intrigued by the play's matter-of-fact presentation of same-sex relationships, and non-normative gender.

"What I'm interested in is that it doesn't seem to judge any of these characters. For example, one of these love stories is the story of Elliot and Lola… [who have] this strong, intense, beautiful relationship… and what I found really interesting is that the play and none of the characters on stage every make any judgement about that relationship."

"[Lola] is this enormously strong and positive figure in the play and it's never discussed at all why she is trans, or how that affected her, or the issues that she faced growing up. It's just matter-of-factly presented," Packer adds.

So, in a world where social order has crumbled and there's lawlessness on the streets, hetero-normality and the societal pressures to conform have broken down?

"In amongst all the kind of negatives of a kind of chaotic world, that's something that seems to be a positive," he agrees.

So, is there hope or redemption for these youth of the future? Or does it all end in despair?

"Well, I don't want to give away the ending, but certainly, at the end of Mercury Fur, there's an incredibly powerful scene," Packer teasingly concludes.

Mercury Fur runs from August 30 - September 16 at Theatreworks, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda. Bookings on 9534 3388 or http://www.theatreworks.org.au/.

Click to view -

Photo: Xavier Samuel as Darren and Luke Mullins as Elliot (photograph by Dan Stainsby)

The Age EG preview story

2007-09-03T00:11:00.008+10:00

Mercury Fur

Let the party begin

August 31, 2007

Genius or grotesque? A new play has polarised critics, by Fiona Scott-Norman.

WHENEVER a writer imagines the future, their vision leans usually to one of two ways. Either all problems have been solved through technology, bigotry and sexism have vanished, and everyone gets about in skin-tight, non gender-specific unitards, or the world's great cities lie in smouldering ruins and small pockets of desperate survivors do whatever they can to stay alive.

Renowned British playwright Philip Ridley's recent work, Mercury Fur, falls into the latter category. His imagined Britain, set only a few years hence, is so bleak and violent that his then publisher, Faber & Faber, refused to publish it, some of his friends almost abandoned him, and one critic announced he was "turned on by his own sick fantasies".

Not everyone, however, was put off by Ridley's dystopia, where the world in the future is ruined, catastrophic and corrupt. Director and producer Ben Packer, whose production of Mercury Fur opened this week at Theatreworks, read the reviews in the London papers, and was immediately drawn to the story.

"It seemed to really divide the critics, which made me prick up my ears. It sounded very current, very young, very hot. I got my hands on the script and couldn't get some of the images out of mind; the themes burnt themselves into my brain," says Packer, who heads up little death productions.

Described by the Independent On Sunday as "the new Clockwork Orange", the world of Mercury Fur is one where all social order has broken down. A group of desperate young men have found a niche as extreme party planners to the remaining ruling elite. For a price they will put on anything that's asked for - and when we catch up with them in a room in an abandoned housing estate, they're planning a snuff party where a child will be murdered. "The action in the play happens over one night. They break into a flat, they find a young boy, they set up the beer and peanuts," Packer says.

"They're under a lot of time pressure because the party's been brought forward. The party they're organising is a horrific thing but they're doing this to keep the gang together. There are moments of great tenderness. The play is about the extremes we might go to to protect the people we love."

This seems to be the core of Ridley's play, which has been performed all over the world. Mercury Fur is no superficial gorefest but a savage commentary on contemporary society with a thread of hope running through it. Although widely condemned for its descriptions of appalling violence and degradation, Ridley's defence was that his scenes were all based on factual accounts of atrocities happening right now.

"Philip took some of these stories from refugees in Rwanda and used them verbatim, just transferred them to London. Massacres in supermarkets, streets on fire, hospitals being raided. He's saying that this violence is happening now but all of sudden because it's in a Western city instead of Africa, it's unpalatable."

Most of the brutality takes place off stage, described by the characters rather than shown, which Packer considers augments, rather than diminishes, the impact. Unsurprisingly, working on such a dark, confronting play, special consideration had to be given to the mental health of the cast. Packer says he took the content of the play into account even when casting.

"I cast people who I felt were strong enough to deal with the material and walk away from it at the end of the night. Some actors read it and just didn't want to go there. We've had to go to some unpleasant places in rehearsal - talking about violence, death, suicide and sexual fantasies."

Packer has retained the London setting for Mercury Fur but the actors - Luke Mullins, Xavier Samuel, Russ Pirie, Gareth Ellis and Paul Ashcroft - keep their Australian accents in the production.

"There was no need to change accents. The themes in the play are absolutely identifiable: loss of history, caring for your family, living in a world of problems created by their forebears. I think the audience will easily see that it's only a small stretch from a city like London being bombed, to our railway stations here. It's absolutely a play written for now."

Mercury Fur is on at Theatreworks until September 16. Bookings: 9534 3388.

Photo: Luke Mullins as Elliot (photograph by Dan Stainsby)

Background to Mercury Fur

2007-07-22T06:04:00.001+10:00

"Mercury Fur is a poisonous piece,” wrote The Telegraph theatre critic, Charles Spencer, when the play opened in London in 2005. He described the production as “like a vicious kick in the guts” and complained that the playwright, Philip Ridley, was “actually turned on by his own sick fantasies.” Spencer was not alone in his disgust at the work: Ridley, writer of the brilliant The Pitchfork Disney, found that his own publisher, Faber & Faber, refused to print his new play.

Other critics, however, were equally passionate in their praise: The Sunday Times called Mercury Fur, “a play you need to see”; The Independent on Sunday, “grippingly visceral … the new Clockwork Orange.” Fellow playwright Mark Ravenhill thought it was the best play of the year: “You came out of it going, Wow, I've been in another universe.” With the critics fiercely divided, word of mouth from the play’s audiences brought packed houses to the theatre each night. The play is set in a city where chaos has overrun the streets. A group of young boys take on the roles of party-planners for those in power, catering for the twisted fantasies of the rich. At its heart though, Mercury Fur is about the families we create when all social order has disintegrated and about how the telling of stories can create communities in a shattered world. ‘little death productions’ has assembled a team of young Melbourne theatre artists, including director Ben Packer, designer Adam Gardnir, composer Kelly Ryall and lighting designer Danny Pettingill, to craft the dystopian world of Mercury Fur into an unforgettable experience.

Photo: Luke Mullins as Elliot (photograph by Dan Stainsby)

Cast and Crew

2007-07-22T05:24:00.000+10:00

Cast

Elliot - Luke Mullins
Darren - Xavier Samuel
Naz - Aaron Orzech
Lola - Russ Pirie
Spinx - Gareth Ellis
Duchess - Fiona Macys
Party Guest - Paul Ashcroft
Party Piece - Wazzadeeno Wharton-Thomas

Crew

Director - Ben Packer
Designer - Adam Gardnir
Original Music & Sound Design - Kelly Ryall
Lighting Design - Danny Pettingill
Co-Costume & Makeup Design - Commandor Starfire
Assistant Director - Christian Whitehead
Stage Manager - Jess Keepence
Producers - Erin Thomas & Ingrid Johnston

Motortown - some reviews (sydney)

2006-02-20T04:12:00.006+11:00

If you like your theatre straight up, no icing, then this emotionally potent, low-budget gig is for you. ... Director Ben Packer attracted attention last year with a production of Mercury Fur which, after premiering at Theatreworks in Melbourne, also played a successful season at the Stables. His direction here is taut and wiry. Clearly, Packer’s reputation as an emerging director of real talent is such that he has been able to attract an excellent cast.

They are a get-go bunch, typical of the new generation of practitioners capable of more than waiting for their agents to call. There is a particularly heartfelt rendition by Sophie Kelly as the girlfriend, Marley, who only wants Danny to leave her in peace. And there’s a sensational scene towards the end, partly gifted by the writing, where Ryan Gibson and Catherine Moore, as the yuppie couple, Justin and Helen, try and pick up Danny for a three-some. If Danny thinks he fought in the war for ungrateful unworthies, self-serving weirdos and scungy misfits, he is sure of it now.

The character of Danny is a godsend to the rare actor who can deliver the intense mix it requires of an outer edgy forceful masculinity and inner vulnerability and pain. Everything that is good about this Sydney production hangs off Sean Barker’s fearless and convincing performance, as frightening at times as it is ultimately heartbreaking. Barker’s outward displays of raw anger are judiciously timed, just as the worm of grief eating out his insides is ever palpable across the surface of his skin.

The play is written with astonishing intensity of focus. That characters occasionally slip into speaking directly for the playwright is a small fault, given that what the writer has to say in such moments is so interesting.

In giving this production a major wrap, of course, I am encouraging attendance. Do remember that this is ‘little theatre’: not War and Peace or Apocalypse Now. Yet, despite access to only limited material resources, Motortown is richly imagined and vividly realized by both director and cast.

James Waites - Australian Stage Online

... (T)his stark production remains gripping thanks to the potency of the writing and director Ben Packer's restraint.

Sean Barker radiates hostility and confusion and the climax of his rampage is chillingly realised. Simon Corfield's portrait of Danny's autistic brother strays toward parody but becomes affecting. Sophie Kelly, Michelle St Anne and Yure Covich's savvy portrayals of slack-jawed twentysomethings are well counterpointed by Ryan Gibson and Catherine Moore, playing a pair of middle-class swingers.

Not a light-hearted night out by any means but a grimly rewarding one.

Jason Blake - The Sun Herald

Director Ben Packer (of last year's Mercury Fur fame) has put together a simple, stunning production. It shows, in ways J.G. Ballad would be proud of, the hypocritical and sheltered views of society far removed from the atrocities of war. Yet it never patronises. The cast perform seamlessly - and a special mention must go to Michelle St. Anne as Jade the 14-year-old, for her heart-breaking acting through a particularly distressing scene

The set is sparse, deliberately so, with just two plastic chairs on a wooden floor. These are more than adequate, for the intensity of the play leaves no room for props.

Motortown re-inforces a view that the best stories are simply told, and I would go so far as to say that this is one of the most important plays of recent times.

Rochelle Fernandez - AussieTheatre.com

Motortown however shows (Ben) Packer's search to find simplicity in design, simplicity in direction and simplicity in delivery ...

The beauty of what Packer has done can be summarised as a search for stillness through restraint. There are no electronic sound effects just the sound of a popper used to mark the beginning and end of a scene. Nor is there flash lighting, just a general wash that comes up and down.

Packer resists the temptation to make Danny like Mamet's Edmond but instead keeps a firm hand on the mood so that the audience is swamped by the pure simplicity and almost aggravating stillness. You can feel the audience wanting for there to be a denouement, but Danny's flat line emotions dictate a more powerful feeling over the audience.

Sometimes the effect works, and sometimes it doesn't. But its a journey I want to see more of. A journey that is exciting in an industry constantly trying to outdo each other.

Nicholas Pickard - sydney arts journo blog

MOTORTOWN

2000-02-15T02:22:00.001+11:00

little death productions presents

Motortown

By Simon Stephens

“I don’t blame the war. The war was all right. I miss it. It’s just you come back to this.”

From the theatre company behind last year's Stablemates hit Mercury Fur :

Danny has been serving in Iraq. He returns home, an outsider and finds himself in a society he no longer understands. Through encounters with his older brother, ex-girlfriend, a petty arms dealer, wealthy swingers, and a young girl, Danny struggles to connect to the life he left behind.

Motortown is a scathing indictment of contemporary society. Less a comment on the Iraq war, and more a critique of the society that the war attempts to protect.

It is the toughest play (Stephens) has given us, and the sign of his skill is how fast it holds us and how real we find it. Financial Times

Written by British playwright, Simon Stephens (winner of the 2005 Olivier Award for Best Play) during the 2005 London bombings, Motortown has been hailed as an instant modern classic (What's On Stage).

Director Ben Packer

With Sean Barker, Simon Corfield, Yure Covich, Ryan Gibson, Sophie Kelly, Catherine Moore and Michelle St Anne

SBW Stables Theatre
10 Nimrod Street
Kings Cross NSW 2011

Preview 13 & 14 February

Season 16 February - 8 March