Short plays, big stories: Geelong short play festival returns in August

SIX original plays by Geelong writers will premiere next month as the Geelong Short Play Festival returns after a sold-out debut.

Each work has been paired with one of six local theatre companies, which will direct and perform the plays in a celebration of Geelong’s homegrown writing and performing talent.

More than 30 scripts were submitted for this year’s festival, with the final six selected by Geelong Writers, which presents the event.

Geelong Writers’ Adam Stone said the festival was a showcase of the region’s creative community.

“The festival is 100 per cent homegrown,” he said. “Every script, every performer, every production team comes from our region.”

“This year’s finalists prove Geelong’s writing and performing talent runs deep.”

Many playwrights returned after submitting work to last year’s inaugural festival, while the successful scripts now move into the hands of local theatre companies, which develop each production with minimal sets and props to keep the focus on the writing.

Festival production manager Jennie Brown said Geelong had developed a strong reputation for short-form writing.

“Geelong writers are quite well-known for their short and sharp writing, for poetry,” she said.

“The people who have entered in this year’s festival are really focused on high-quality text, creating that tension somewhere, creating an arc for the characters.”

Brown said the popularity of last year’s festival reflected Geelong’s appetite for live theatre.

“Sometimes live theatre gives you pause to think about issues and things that you don’t see on TV,” Brown said.

“It is closer to home… sometimes it is about a local group of people getting together, and people go, ‘I know where that is’.”

Awards will be presented for best script, production and actor, with audiences also invited to vote for their favourite performance.

Local playwright Christine Croydon will judge the best script award.

The Geelong Short Play Festival will be held at Geelong Arts Centre on 14 and 15 August, featuring new works by Steve Brown, Belle Donald, Geoff Gaskill, Jade Kemp, Adam McGurk and Tim Symons.

Each play will be performed three times across the weekend.

Tickets are available at geelongartscentre.org.au