SPENCER A NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK BY KATY WARNER PRESENTED BY LAB KELPIE 11-28 MAY 2017 LAB KELPIE PRESENTS SPENCERA NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK BY KATY WARNER WORLD PREMIERE 11-28 MAY 2017 CHAPEL OFF CHAPEL Playwright Katy Warner Director Sharon Davis Performers Lyall Brooks Jamieson Caldwell Jane Clifton Fiona Harris Roger Oakley Lighting & Set Designers Rob Sowinski Bryn Cullen Production & Stage Manager Adam Fawcett Marketing Images Pier Carthew Producer Adam Fawcett Presenter Lab Kelpie #SpencerLK labkelpie.com/spencer Lab Kelpie acknowledges we are performing on the traditional land of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri people. We pay our respects to them and their cultures; and to elders both past and present. Spencer was made possible through the support of: A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT KATY WARNER: ON FAMILY We grew up with this thing called the Diddy Drawer. Your family probably called it something else. The Diddy Drawer is the third drawer down in the kitchen. A miscellaneous wonder of bits and pieces that don’t fit anywhere else. A notepad, some elastic bands, a tiny screwdriver, a bit of gift wrap that was too nice to throw away, a novelty keyring. The top drawer is for cutlery. Under that are the utensils; tongs, spatulas, wooden spoons. Then the diddy drawer and then the bottom drawer, for the al-foil and the cling-wrap. That’s the way it is. And when I moved out I arranged my kitchen drawers the same way. So did my siblings. I think family is a lot like that Diddy Drawer. All these disparate bits and pieces that somehow end up in this one place … together … A Family. My family keeps tomato sauce in the fridge and has this joke about gazelles which you wouldn’t get, sorry, and we fight and argue and sometimes we are really awful to each other and sometimes we are hilarious and there are tears (usually mine) and bad dancing (usually mine) and bad jokes (usually Dad’s) and they are the first people I call with news (good or bad) and we have each other’s backs, always, and you can’t talk about my sisters or brother like that because they’re my best friends. We are contradictory and cruel and loving and loyal. They are the people I run back to in time of crisis. Because you’re forever the child. No matter how old you get. I am lucky. Not everyone has that Diddy Drawer. Messy, unwieldly and often taken for granted until you really need something from it. This one’s for you, Warners. A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR SHARON DAVIS: ON SPENCER On the surface, Katy has written a play about a very specific family, with very specific interests, living in a fairly specific socio-economic suburb of a football loving city. However, remove the football, social and cultural trappings, and the classic suburban 3 bedroom house, and she’s created a family that is awkwardly familiar. In unpacking Spencer, I was aware of a societal storytelling that mythologises family, childhood, siblings, and parents into a fairly narrow binary; loving and supportive or dysfunctional and destructive. But it’s the in between - where many of us live - that’s full of all the complexity, drama, and humour required for a good play. Crisis, camaraderie, upheaval, disappointment, and chaos, shape our experience and we often find ourselves playing a role whether it be protector, black sheep, clown, victim, hero, or captain. Familial love is not a clear, straight line. It can be brutal and too honest. Parents can be difficult and selfish while still loving you more than they can say. Siblings are often the ones that draw first blood and their casual taunts linger far longer than that scar you got from riding your bike head first into the tow bar of the caravan (remember that Mum?!). You complain about their frustrating flaws but will passionately defend them to anyone who dares agree with you! We all have a unique story but I am relieved to hear familiar refrains in other people’s family tales that make me think that messy and wayward love might just be ok, if not normal, and certainly worthy fuel for good theatre. I could not have wished for a more able, compassionate, playful, and intelligent cast. They make for a pretty daunting family and it has been my honour to be an observing member of the Prior family for a moment. I’m incredibly proud to be working with Lab Kelpie. Huge thanks to Adam and Lyall for trusting me to direct this show and their exceptional work to get us here, and to the vastly talented and generous Katy Warner for sharing Spencer with me. Finally, thank you to my own fabulous, funny, flawed, and frustrating family. All I am and choose to be is because of you. So, you know, all of this is your fault. POZIBLE HALL OF FAME Spencer was the recipient of MATCH, a funding program by Creative Partnerships Australia that matched every dollar donated to the Pozible campaign we ran in May 2016. Through the support of our beloved donors below and this funding program, we managed to raise over $14,000 towards the presentation of this brand new work. Please give it up for our donors! Emma Annand Daniel Humphris Kristyn Barron Kylie Isaia Paul & Sue Barron Gary Johnson Steven Barron Lisa Lloyd Amy Bennett Evan J Martin Hayden Bevis Olivia Monticciolo George Boyd Noni McCallum Jacqui Brennan Lulu McClatchy Ella Bucovaz Helen Pandos Ron & Trish Brooks Johanna Parker Sam Butterworth Kate Rogers Rosa Campagnaro Steve Rooke Claire Cherry Anna May Samson Christine Chester Hanna Schneider Prue Clark Jill Standfield Emilie Collyer Sonya Suares Louise Crawford Stratford Courthouse Theatre Brendan Coustley Claudia Tory Chris Cumming Dianne Toulson Sharon Davis Gerard Veltre Neville & Yvonne Fawcett Robert Warner Julia Grace Bree Weizenegger Noni Hazlehurst Jesse White Bronwyn Hill Nicci Wilks Stephanie Hodgins-May Avril Williams Bronwen Holland Geordie Worland KATY WARNER PLAYWRIGHT Katy studied at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne), receiving a Master of Writing for Performance in 2012. Her plays have been presented across Australia and the UK. She is an AWGIE winner (Best Children’s Theatre for Reasons to Stay Inside), recipient of the Melbourne Fringe Award for Best Emerging Writer (These are the isolate) and 2016 nominee for a Green Room Award for new writing with A Prudent Man, which has been selected to appear at the 2017 New York United Solo Festival this November. Other plays include Dropped (Highly Commended – Best Emerging Writer; Melbourne Fringe 2013) and nest, which recently made the long list of Theatre503’s Playwriting Award and will have its debut in London with Small Truth Theatre, directed by Yasmeen Ardeen. Her fiction has received the Rachel Funari Prize for Literature and Overland Magazine’s Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize. Her writing has been shortlisted for awards including the Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Prize and the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Prize. Katy is currently working on her debut novel, Regime, to be published by Black Inc. Books in 2017. She is a proud member of the Australian Writers Guild. katywarner.com SHARON DAVIS DIRECTOR Sharon completed her actor training at The Victorian College of the Arts and has worked extensively throughout the industry as an actor, producer, voice over artist, director, and industry advocate. Recent notable roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing for Essential Theatre, Smeraldina in The Servant of Two Masters for Make a Scene and La Mama Theatre, Australia Day for Hit Productions, and Mother & Son for Queensland Theatre. She has worked as co-creator and producer for Melbourne independent theatre company 5pound theatre as part of their 5pounds of Repertory Theatre season, a new work exploring the characters and tales of the famous Murder Ballads album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and a muddy reworking of Ubu Roi for Adelaide Fringe. She has also been working with Melbourne based improv group Stiff Company since their debut shows at the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival. On screen, she has also appeared in It’s a Date, Neighbours and Killing Time, and the soon to be released short film Dying for a Laugh. Sharon has been a proud member of Equity since 2002 and has been working actively with the union to help support and advocate for the rights of working artists in Australia. LYALL BROOKS BEN Lyall’s professional theatre credits include North by Northwest (Arts Centre Melbourne), Savages (fortyfivedownstairs), Penelope and The Pride (Red Stitch), The Heretic (MTC), Sunday In the Park with George (Victorian Opera) and Fat Pig, SuperGirly: Return of the Pop Princess and the award-winning A Prudent Man for Lab Kelpie. He will next appear in Merrily We Roll Along for Watch This, and the national tour, return Melbourne season and New York United Solo Festival performances of A Prudent Man. Television appearances include Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Leftovers, Neighbours, Winners and Losers, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Doctor Blake Mysteries. He is also an established voiceover artist, starring in international animations SheZow, Kuu-Kuu Harajuku, Flea-Bitten! and the Emmy-nominated Get Ace. A three-time Green Room Award nominee, Lyall has trained with 16th Street Acting Studio in Melbourne and Renegade Theatre Group in LA. He also brings the experience of his extensive and varied career to the role of artistic director of Lab Kelpie, and will act as associate director to Susie Dee on Patricia Cornelius’s new play Big Heart as part of Theatre Works’ 2017 Associate Artist program.