For this week only, WAAPA’s third-year Acting students launch their final year of training with two bold, contemporary plays, performed in repertory at Subiaco Arts Centre, from Thursday, March 26, to Tuesday, March 31.
Two distinct casts perform plays The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Dance Nation, moving from the apparent cosiness of an Irish cottage to the hyper-competitive world of Mid-American dance.
Together, these productions offer two strikingly different yet equally exciting theatrical experiences, with double-billed performances on Saturday, March 28, Monday, March 30, and Tuesday, March 31.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
by Martin McDonagh, Directed by Anna Houston
“A hugely enjoyable black satire on the mindset that has led to cycles of violence and generations of misery in Ireland… touched with Monty Python-esque insanity,” wrote The Guardian.
This pitch-black comedy is a ferocious satire exposing the absurdity and pointlessness of the Irish terrorist movement, set in 1993 on the island of Inishmore, County Galway.
Centring on the fanatical leader of an Irish National Liberation Army splinter group, ‘Mad’ Padriac, who enacts catastrophic consequences after his beloved cat is apparently killed in a hit-and-run.
Director Anna Houston explains that the play “shines a provocative and absurdly comic light on the darkest of chapters in Irish history, utterly fearless in his takedown of what he regards as the senseless destruction of human life. [McDonagh] has created in Padriac (played by third year acting student Casey Stevenson) a character that embodies the psychology and emotional turbulence of The Troubles, placing him at the centre of a wickedly funny plot that hinges on mistaken identity, wonky moral compasses and a quick trigger finger.”
Dance Nation
by Clare Barron, directed by Alexandria Steffensen
“Wild, funny, ferocious drama,” wrote The Times.
Not a typical coming-of-age story, Clare Barron’s award-winning Dance Nation follows a group of ultra-competitive pre-teen dancers chasing national glory somewhere in America. The play explores adolescence, ambition, identity, and the volatile power of female friendships, all performed by adult actors to intensify the play’s dive into core themes.
Director Alexandria Steffensen says “the biggest challenge is finding a believeable balance between the familiar/domestic world and the dark underbelly that lurks in the subtext. Traversing two stark theatrical worlds will be exciting to play with and execute with the actors.”
She added that the play is especially appealling for young women, with Barron challenging stereotypical trauma narratives and instead focusing on ambition and the deep roots of female friendship. Steffensen notes the powerful questions the play raises – “which direction do you go in? How do you forge ahead and stay truthful to your natural internal female power? So many versions of your future lie ahead, are you ready to grab the version you want?”
These performances only run for four performances each, so grab tickets now for the respective opening nights of The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Dance Nation, or head to a double bill from Saturday to Tuesday.
