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Tuggerah’s Red Tree Theatre will be brimming with drama in 2023 having just concluded two Willy Russell productions with more theatre on the way from the Wyong Drama Group and Jopuka Productions.
By Jacquelene Pearson
It was the final show of Red Tree Theatre’s production of Willy Russell’s Educating Rita on Saturday, February 11 and the warm standing ovation for Isabella O’Brien as Rita and John John Czerniecki as Frank was well-deserved.
Director Josh Maxwell had let it slip that the actors had only one month to get the production ready for opening night and, given the amount of dialogue they had to conquer, both deserved the rousing applause.
Red Tree had decided to start its first season of home-spun productions with not one but two Willy Russell plays – running Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine concurrently in recent weeks. Everyone involved deserves a nice little break in the South of France!
Wyong Drama Group will be the next to occupy the Coast’s newest community performance space with a “fluid and sophisticated adaptation” of To Kill A Mockingbird – the famous and ground-breaking novel by Harper Lee adapted to the stage by Christopher Sergel.
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ opens in a sleepy Alabama town in the midst of the Great Depression, where Scout and her brother Jem live with their widowed father, Atticus Finch.
Reminiscent of a bygone era, the play immerses us in a simpler time as the children play outside in the summer, act out stories and muse about their mysterious neighbour, Boo Radley.
The façade of the seemingly peaceful town begins to crack when a young black man is accused of a terrible crime.
Driven by an unshakeable moral conviction, local lawyer Atticus defends the man in a trial that sends violent waves through the community.
Timeless and lingering, this hard-hitting work explores prejudice, compassion and the courage to do what is right.
In this version, Scout appears as an adult to narrate the story.
‘To Kill A Mockingbird continues to pack a punch that will have you reconsidering everything you thought you knew about the societal divide between the haves and the have-nots.” – broadwayworld.com (2019)
The season runs from February 15 to 25 and tickets are still available for February 15, 17, 18, 22, 24 and 25 via https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=946371&
Jopuka Productions will then take over the space for their interpretation of Green Day’s American Idiot, presented in association with Red Tree Theatre, Sixt5 Productions and Peak Entertainment.
The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical is based on the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album and boldly takes rock musical’s where they’ve never gone before.
This high-octane show includes every song from Green Day’s album, American Idiot, as well as several songs from its follow-up release, 21st Century Breakdown.
Johnny, Tunny and Will struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world.
When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged when Tunny enters the armed forces, Will is called back home to attend to familial responsibilities, and Johnny’s attention becomes divided by a seductive love interest and a hazardous new friendship.
An energy-fueled rock opera, American Idiot, features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day’s groundbreaking album to execute the story line.
American Idiot contains smoke, haze, strobe, flashing and blinding lights, lasers, loud noises, strong sexual references, strong coarse language, depictions and references of drug use, depictions and references to self harm and suicide, depictions of smoking and vaping, depictions of domestic violence, and sex scenes.
The production also contains some derogatory language that Jopuka does not endorse or condone but remains in the work for historical integrity.
This production is strongly recommended for those 16+.
The season runs from March 10 to 25 and tickets are on sale via https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=991913&
