While spending two years in Dartmoor prison, Kim Crotty wrote and illustrated 47 stories for his sons, desperately seeking to maintain his connection with his family.
York
Directed by Clare Watson and Ian Wilkes
Starring Shakira Clanton, Isaac Diamond, Jo Morris, Ben Mortley, Benjamin Narkle, Jacob Narkle, Sophie Quin, Maitland Schnaars, Alison Van Reeken, Elise Wilson
Black Swan Theatre Company in collaboration with WA Youth Theatre Company
At Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth until August 1
York is an inland, regional town in Western Australia, one of the first districts settled by white invaders after the establishment of the Swan River Settlement. It is Ballardong Nyoongar country and was the site of massacres and the first hangings of Aboriginal people in WA.
The old York hospital, built in 1896, is a now a hostel for visiting school groups. It has a widely-known reputation for creepy paranormal occurrences.
The 20th anniversary edition of the Tribeca Film Festival kicks off on June 9, and it s got enough genre programming to make your head spin. In addition to werewolves and spine-tingling pregnancies, the event also has an all-star panel of jurors: Sharon Stone, Patricia Arquette, Sanaa Lathan, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Warrington Hudlin, Delroy Lindo, Elijah Wood, Bryan Cranston, Andre Holland, Margaret Cho, Melissa Leo and Hari Nef. Storytellers rallying together, sharing their admiration and inspiring growth in one another’s work is one of the most inspiring parts of Tribeca, Jane Rosenthal, festival co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises/Tribeca Festival, said in a statement. “Our jury and incredible community of talented creators are coming back to gather in-person to surround their fellow artists with support.”
Review: The Cherry Orchard, directed by Clare Watson. Black Swan State Theatre Company for the Perth Festival.
Stories get told over and over, each version sitting atop every other in a never-ending palimpsest. Extracting and extending the metaphors of Anton Chekhov’s classic 1904 play The Cherry Orchard, this production adapted by Adriane Daff and Katherine Tonkin and directed by Clare Watson is as much about its staging at a former hospital as it is about the story and characters.
Reimagined in 1980s Western Australia, the parallels to Chekhov’s treatise on class and land work well: the mining boom, the influx of property developers, Australia (specifically WA) winning the America’s Cup, the Black Tuesday stock market crash, the gross short-sightedness of the Bicentennial celebrating only “200 years of Australian history”.