Theatre group returns to the stage

AFTER postponements and rescheduling, Geelong Repertory Theatre Company presented an impressive 14 performances of Tom Holloway’s Forget Me Not in just over two weeks last month, with big plans for 2022.

In quite a remarkable feat for the arts industry, which has been severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions over the past 20 months, the community theatre group has clearly focused on “the show must go on”.

GRTC managed to work around restrictions to perform Tuesdays with Morrie – a show planned for 2020 – in June-July this year and has now completed its 14-show run of Forget Me Not, directed by John Bishop.

While others have waited for restrictions to ease to perform to larger crowds, Geelong Rep decided to present more shows, with limited audiences of just 20, to accommodate the number of people who had already purchased tickets for Forget Me Not .

Capacity at the intimate Woodbin Theatre was then increased to 60 by the final weekend, enabling extra last-minute tickets to go on sale.

GRTC president Tina Rettke said the local theatre group had been thrilled to be back on the stage to perform Forget Me Not .

“There were auditions back in May, a lot of Zoom rehearsals, and then when we thought we could open in September, we went into lockdown again,” Ms Rettke said.

“We moved it to October, with 20 in the audience, because the most important thing was to have a few people back in the theatre.

“We just added extra performances; and they were 20 very appreciative audience members to be able to get out and do something.

“Our next play is Summer of the Aliens, which we have moved from its November time slot into January 2022.

“We normally do five plays in a season, so we still have another five shows for next year and it’s looking like a fantastic season.

“We’re just finalising the shows for next year and plan to have the brochures out before Christmas.”

While the four actors in Forget Me Not – Katie Hall, Matthew Bradford, Steven Georgiadis and Georgia Chara – had relied on online rehearsals, GRTC has been able to plan for a larger cast of 13 for Summer of the Aliens with restrictions easing, and a return to in-person rehearsals.

Ms Rettke said the volunteer group had every COVIDSafe measure possible in place at the Woodbin including a recent investment in air purifiers.

“We’re really confident with next season, they’re talking about locking out not locking down, and we just need to make sure we do everything we can,” she said.

Tickets are on sale now through Geelong Arts Centre for Summer of the Aliens and information about the 2022 season will be released soon.

Summer of the Aliens is a 1990s play written by Louis Nowra, described as a humorous, unsentimental coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy, who is obsessed with flying saucers, UFO abductions and imagines aliens are invading Earth.