Our NEW Table Reads are a casual place to come together, read, and discuss a variety of submitted plays.Second last Sunday morning sesssion for 2024 is on 20 October. NOTE - change of readings for 3 November session only. Whether you'd prefer to participate as a reader or sit back and listen, you are welcome to come along and connect with your theatre community.
If you have any questions please email studio@canberrarep.org.au or call (02) 6257 1950 or (02) 6247 4222.
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Table Reads & Coffee
Join Rep actors and playwrights in Sunday morning table reads of new (and sometimes old) plays. Sip a barista coffee (or tea) and nibble on home-made biscuits. Give feedback to the author and the performers and earn the satisfaction of knowing you were there before a hit play had its premiere. Put these dates in your diary.
Rep Theatre Foyer. 10am-12pm. No entry fee. Coffee and nibbles from the bar.
SUNDAY 16 JUNE.
SHOP by Edy Syquer
GENRE Morality play? Bernie's second-hand shop is run on a simple principle: Stock is bought not for its monetary value, but the value of the stories behind each object. Shop is a space where these stories come to life, and hopefully give messages about what truly matters in life. But what is Bernie's story? Do they run a shop filled with wisdom and magic, or are they just deluded? What are they avoiding sharing about themselves, and can they maintain their integrity while being scrutinised by both an auditor and a sibling?
CAST: 13 characters M & F
SUNDAY 7 JULY
RUMPEL by Jane Ahlquist
GENRE: FAIRYTALE. A play with verse and music, adapted from The Brothers Grimm story ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ who could spin straw into gold.
CAST: 6 characters 3M, 3F + Narrator.
SUNDAY 18 AUGUST
WELLINGORE by John Klingberg
GENRE: tbd. Time travel: set in Britain in the 1940s and 1960s, a 17 year old girl encounters a doomed fighter pilot and his poetry.
A young woman has fallen off her bike and injured her ankle. She has to wait in an old Air Force hut while her younger brother rides home to get help.
She finds a little book of poems and starts to read them.
A young man in flying gear appears and, as they read the poems together, they talk about life, death, forever love and lifelong friendship.
CAST: 2M, 1F + Narrator (M/F)
SUNDAY 8 SEPTEMBER. (2 plays)
IKEGAI by Sebastian Chan
GENRE: Fantasy. When finding themselves in the womb of the universe, two versions of the same person must agree on a purpose for their next life and decide which one of them will complete it.
CAST: 5 actors playing 8 characters. 2M, 3F + Narrator
and
NO EXIT by Jean-Paul Sartre
GENRE:Possibly the clearest explanation of Existentialism. Three incompatible recently deceased people in a drawing room discover that “hell is other people.”
CAST: 2M, 2F + Narrator
SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY by Tady Carrol
SYNOPSIS: Extortionists target a movie in production, but they kidnap the wrong person. Things gets complicated. Life can be funny, to laugh, or life can be funny peculiar. Sometimes it’s hard to know where the boundary lies.
CAST: 8 characters, 4M, 4F + Narrator
SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER (2 plays)
The Devil's Eye by Ingmar Bergman
Stage adaptation by Ian Hart
CAST: 1-15 characters
and
The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco
A classic example of Theatre of the Absurd by its undisputed master. Two couples, their maid and the fire chief solve the problem of being British. (There are other interpretations which will no doubt provoke arguments)
CAST: 3M, 3F
NOTES FOR READERS:
- Volunteer for one or more plays. Let us know your talent, eg. comedy, romance, tragedy, juvenile, animal, etc. Or trust us to blind cast you.
- You’ll get the script as a PDF at least a week beforehand. Either print it out or bring it on a tablet or laptop. You’ll be asked to sign a copyright agreement that you will not lend or distribute the script without the express permission of the author.
