Accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment for mental illness should be a given, but as history shows, often that’s not the case. In Asylum, two involuntarily institutionalised patients are put through the wringer by an overly officious (read: downright brutish) doctor. One is a young man, Ben (Steven Oktaras), who believes he is dead. Most of all, he…
Pain, depression and death get a working-over in killers. The Owl & Cat’s production is the world premiere of New York playwright Kevin Armento’s work. Miranda’s (Holly Chadwick) earliest memories are destructive thoughts – mayhem, torture and split blood. At primary school she meets and befriends Bobby Barrett (Charles Russell). The pair bond over their collective negativity. In no time, they are dishing…
American playwright Kiki Zapata’s 25 and F***ed gets a world premiere at Melbourne’s Owl & Cat Theatre. This is a comedic drama about three art-school graduates struggling with their daily lives. Layabout Zach (Saxon Evans) is a 25-year-old man-child with mental health issues. He has just returned home after several months abroad and can only scowl at his two…
A series of vignettes about what it is like being disabled and chronically ill, and the judgments others make, Have You Tried Yoga? is both illuminating and engaging. The star of the piece is also the creator and director, Rachel Edmonds; who makes her professional theatrical debut. Edmonds radiates warmth with her matter-of-fact style of storytelling….
In Owl & Cat’s new production Crush, Celia (Mardi Edge), editor of the (fictional) Melbourne Sentinel newspaper, is a having a less than satisfactory affair with a married man. Johnny (Seb Muirhead) – who has a deep-seated fear of drowning – is in love with Celia, or so he thinks. He is attracted to her passion and…
Big Brother is watching your every move and is judging you … harshly – very harshly indeed. In the case of Int, Big Brother is a “she” and she appears to have a firm grip on you; at least initially. That is what I took away from this 50-minute, one woman performance art piece – a polished…
Cults, brainwashing and exploitation seem to go hand-in-glove. So it is that a young woman, Lisa – played convincingly by Hayley Worsley – a tried and true member of a sect with Eastern leanings, practising spiritualism and free love, finds herself in the hands of a deprogrammer, Mel (Tim Ferris) in Heretics. Lisa agrees to…
A dozen years ago, Gabrielle Savrone, one of the co-owners of The Owl and Cat, joined a cult and for the next 36 months she was prey to its whims and fancies. She has channelled that experience into Red Boots and Half-Smoked Cigarettes, an esoteric play set in an art gallery. Why that setting? Because…
The ultimate relationship conundrum, Longevity is a love triangle with a difference. Girl A, a student by the name of Lance (Bee Townsend), meets Girl B, Juliet (Fiona Scarlett), an artist and there is an immediate attraction. They begin a long-term relationship that keeps on keeping on for five years. In the fifth year Girl…
Keep is about a young hoarder (Naomi, played by Jess Yates) and her sisters (Jane, Angie Glavas and Kara, Christina Walls), who are trying to intervene and force her to start cleaning her messy house as they reconnect with her. It is inevitable that old wounds are opened, notably the disappearance of another sister (Margo,…
