Company:

Hobart Repertory Theatre Society

Season: 9 - 24 April 2021

Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Hobart

Based on the novel by: E.B.White

Adapted by: Joseph Robinette

Director: Anne Blythe-Cooper

Stage Manager: Rogan Brown

Production Manager: Ingrid Ganley

Assistant Stage Manager: Judy McDavitt

Costume Coordinator: Janet Smith

Spider Costume: Kylie Cantwell

Spider Makeup: Kate Aveling

Set Design: Rogan Brown

Set Construction: Andrew Cooper, Rogan Brown

Properties: Rogan Brown

Fern Arable: Bethany Denholm

John Arable: Paul McNally

Martha Arable: Kate Aveling

Avery Arable: Bryce Tollard-Williams

Homer Zuckerman: Michael Hanlon

Edith Zuckerman: Kathy Spencer

Lurvy: Georgia Bentley

Wilbur: Winnie Nettlefold

Wilbur: Isaac Wells

Templeton: Daniel Pendlebury

Charlotte: Abbey Udovicic

Goose: Janet Smith

Gander: Liam McConnon

Sheep: Judy McDavitt

Lamb: Samantha Lowry

Narrator: Matt Newell

Ensemble: Ami McElle

Ensemble: Sam Ryan

Ensemble: Genevieve Scrimgeour

Ensemble: Grace Wiggins

Uncle/Ensemble: Lauren Young

Puppets: Soren Steven

Lighting Design:  Rogan Brown

Lighting Operation:  Phil Matthysz

Sound Design:  Rogan Brown

Graphic Design:  Carolyn Whamond

Publicity: Grace Burdick

CAST

PRODUCTION TEAM

Charlotte’s Web is about many things - growing up, death, and the harsh realities of the food chain – but mostly it is about the transformative nature of friendship. I don’t think much of Henry Fussy myself, but it becomes important for Fern to find other friends if she is to become all she is meant to be. Wilbur, naïve, full of wonder and full of fear is transformed by his relationship with Charlotte.

At the start of the play, Wilbur has very little agency. He is pushed and pulled here and there with little control over any aspect of his life. But through the transformative power of words, Charlotte’s words, Wilbur is released to be the brave and determined pig who saves Charlotte’s children.

Charlotte’s Web is about the power of words – radiant, terrific, humble words - to effect empowerment. Wilbur becomes a stronger and more confident pig. He is given the chance to become the pig he was meant to be.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”

The mature and transformed Wilbur explains his newfound wisdom to Templeton in a simple statement: “There are more important things than just thinking about yourself all the time.”

This is reiterated by Charlotte, who says of Wilbur. “You have been my friend. That, in itself, is a tremendous thing. By helping you, I was lifting up my own life a trifle. Heaven knows, anyone’s life can use a little of that.”

The cast of Charlotte’s Web has been a delightful group who never failed to lift each other up. They were exceptionally selfless and supportive. Humans are supposed to have 98% porcine DNA. This radiant, terrific, humble cast were “ALL PIG.”

Anne Blythe-Cooper

Director

Company: Salon South

Season: 31 July 2021

Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Hobart

Festival: OneFest

Written by: Alwyn Lewis

Director: Rogan Brown

Set Construction: Rogan Brown

Costumes: The cast

Choreography: Lauren Young

Synopsis:

When a bus driver and his passengers are stuck waiting for a crash on the highway to be cleared, they reveal their regrets, hopes and dreams...

Cast:

Bus Driver: Rogan Brown

Girl: Lauren Young

Homeless Man: Philip Crouch

OneFest Adjudicator’s Comments:

It is always good to have an original work that is distinctively Tasmanian.

Lewis has created three interesting characters who forge a connection whilst “waiting” - stuck in that liminal space between one thing and another, sharing their common humanity, reflecting and contemplating the future.

The bus, very attractively painted, was a simple setting for this transitory encounter.  The space was used well. The actors looked comfortable and natural in their roles.

Ticket to Deloraine was a sweet and charming exploration of the connection between the young and the old, where dreams have not been extinguished and the future is one of possibility.

Anne Blythe-Cooper