Past Event

The Table

6th Oct 2013 - 2nd Feb 2014

Presenter: Bella Union in association with L. Wolf Productions
Website:
Event Duration: 120 minutes

On Sunday afternoons, Bella Union and L. Wolf Productions invite you to take a peek as some of Melbourne's best actors gather around The Table.

We're delighted to announce that the first feast of 2014 will be The Asphalt Kiss (Beijo no Asfalto) by Nelson Rodrigues

It started with a kiss. A simple, gentle humanitarian act that opened up the festering hatreds and deep seated prejudices of all the individuals surrounding this instant of caring for someone about to die. How something quite beautiful and innocent can be turned into a quick buck and open the floodgates of perversion and hypocrisy?

In 1960s Brazil, Rodrigues created a play deliberately full of sensationally melodramatic actions. Florid, emotive language that forces a tragic downward spiral that eventually careers out of control. The extreme homophobia may appear to be dated, but the idea of perversion and moral hypocrisy is still relevant today.

It’s noir theatre. Sensual, perverse, shocking. Wracked with emotion, forbidden desires and corruption of the type that lies just below the thin veneer of civilization.

This special Midsumma reading will be performed by:
ARUBA……………………………Kevin Hopkins      
CUNHA……………………………Dion Mills
ARANDIR………………………Tom Beaurepaire     
DALIA……………………………Madeline Claire French
SELMINHA……………………Mary Helen Sassman
APRIGIO………………………Nick Pelomis
DONA MATILDE……………Helen Hopkins
BARROS………………………Simon Todman

SUNDAY 2nd FEBRUARY - DOORS OPEN @ 2.30PM

This is where it begins. Handshakes with new acquaintances, hugs with old friends, sharing stories about the last few weeks, everyone's eyes bright with anticipation. You file into the rehearsal room and take a seat. There's a fresh script copy on the table in front of you. The director welcomes everyone. You turn the page, and dive into a new world.

The table read is one of the oldest and most treasured theatrical traditions; it's here that actors get their first real look at the adventure to come. Some scenes spring immediately into life - the dialogue crackles with intent, glances are exchanged, cast members chuckle with glee. Other moments glitter with promise, while many readers seem to be infused with the spirit of their characters from the first word. Theatre-making is a remarkable journey - but, for all the brilliant lighting, staging, sound design, costumery and production to come, there's still something magical about that first read at the table, watching as words blossom into imagination.