2018 House Plays Programme

Somerset College presents the House Plays Festival 2018

2017 House Plays Festival Highlights

Welcome to the 28 th Annual House Plays Festival. Each year it is a race against the clock to get ready for the House Plays Festival. To put it into perspective, our Year 11 and 12 directors began their auditions on the second day of Term 1, auditioning a staggering 134 students in 3 days. In 6 weeks they are tasked with auditioning students, selecting a cast, planning and running rehearsals, attending weekly production meetings, creating their sound, lighting, multimedia, costume and set design, and most importantly, making their directorial vision come to life on stage. The process is hectic, but once again our student directors and passionate actors have risen to the challenge. Andrews have worked to explore the stereotypes that exist in the schoolyard. Franklin dealt with the conundrum of impending doom and a clearance sale. Laver delved into the Noir style with an absurdist twist. Starkey sailed a dysfunctional boat onto the stage. Whilst Veivers fused the timeless tale of Romeo and Juliet with pasta. Of course, none of what you see tonight could have been accomplished without the support of their parents, teachers and peers. On behalf of all directors and cast members, thank you to all who have assisted with the House Plays Festival for 2018. With an intense rehearsal schedule to work to, all of the students involved in the House Plays Festival have displayed an incredible amount of commitment, and I know I speak for all involved when I say how proud we are of what you have achieved. Thank you for your support of the House Plays Festival, we hope you enjoy the ride!

Anna D’Arcy Assistant Head of Performing Arts

2018 House Plays Festival Adjudicator

Claire Christian

Claire Christian is a writer and theatre maker from Queensland. Her debut young adult novel, Beautiful Mess , won the 2016 Text Publishing Text Prize and was published in August, 2017. She made her professional stage directing debut with Michelle Law’s Single Asian Female at La Boite in 2017 and

will direct the 2018 Belvoir season. As a playwright, Claire has been recognised both nationally and internationally. Her play Lysa and the Freeborn Dames will be staged at La Boite in August 2018. Talking to Brick Walls, a youth arts project co-created with The Empire Theatre’s IMPACT Ensemble and Youth Arts Director, Ari Palani, was published in 2015 by Playlab. Occasionally she makes cool things with her creative best friend, David Burton, like their online content world called Ask Pew! Pew! or their two published plays, Hedonisms Second Album and The Landmine is Me . Claire is deeply committed to her practice of connecting young artists and their stories with diverse audiences. She is currently the part-time Youth and Participation Producer at La Boite Theatre. Somerset College extends a warm welcome to Claire and thanks her for being the adjudicator of the 2018 House Plays Festival.

Order of plays

There will be a 10 minute interval between each play

Technical Services Crew

Aaron Paddon Joel Andrews Harrison Cripps Mayuri Yamaguchi

Ben Batho James Talbot Valerie Fang

Maito Yamaguchi

House Plays Festival Photographer Darcy Beynon

LAVER HOUSE PLAY

Play : Character Analysis Playwright : Chris Howlett Performance rights kindly granted by arrangement with Australian Plays.Org and Chris Howlett Synopsis : The Movie Star's sister is missing. The Agent doesn't know anything about it. The Detective is willing to help out, but he's all expenses paid.

Three characters are determined to get to the truth, even if their Writer doesn't want them to...

Laver House Directors

Trudi Morris

Sebastian Angliss-Li

Laver House Cast

Kristen Crasto

Jack Daly

Ziggy Enoch

Emma Lekich

Jessica Lekich

Ava McCarthy

Laver House Cast

Lilly McCoomb

Abby Roach

Lachlan Sowerby

Madeleine Strickland

FRANKLIN HOUSE PLAY

Play : Jinxed Playwright : Ash Cresfelt

Performance rights kindly granted by Off The Wall Publishing Synopsis : Therapy is in session with the Doc. Meet the twins, charging round the room as usual, Val the angry girl (nobody seems to know why), Nic, the antisocial young man and a new guy, Ludovic who just wants his money back. It’s also 50% off everything at the local shopping centre and the masses are surging in this fast paced one act comedy, that races against the clock.

Franklin House Directors

Jessica Jackson

Kevin Song

Franklin House Cast

Leigh Amores

Henry Arbon

Yeva Brereton

Rafe Chiltern-Hunt

Stewart Ford

Morgane Garrier

Franklin House Cast

Jenna Goldie

Brock Hudson

Amy Jackson

Min Jae Kyeong

Kyle Moffat

Harry Morrison

Brigette Newing

Iwan Rogers

Ashleigh Shannon

Franklin House Cast

Marco Sudgen

Nikolas Sudgen

Lilly Thompson

VEIVERS HOUSE PLAY

Play The Spaghetti Wars Playwright : Phillip Deally

Synopsis : The families of Anna Capricio and Angelo Monti migrated from Italy to Australia and set up rival pasta factories. Anna and Angelo work in their fathers' factories and struggle to find their own identities in a changing country. They must also face the challenges and conflicts of tradition and home. Then they meet and fall in love...

Veivers House Directors

Taylor Crooks

Lucas Stokes

Veivers Cast

Elise Arnold

Anna Harris

Bella Harris

Maya Hobley

Noah Jay

Thomas Kilmartin

Veivers Cast

Ella Kirk

Thomas Liu

Jack Luke-Paredi

Georgina Powell

Shaiv Ranjith

Eva Wingrove

STARKEY HOUSE PLAY

Play : The Invited Audience Playwrights : Tigger Wise Performance rights kindly granted by arrangement with Australian Plays.Org and Tigger Wise Synopsis: Patsy has attended a new writers' playwriting course for a year. Tonight the short play she has written is premiering in front of an invited audience. Things soon spin out of control, with the help of an incompetent Director, an angry spouse and many unexpected guests.

Starkey House Directors

Vivi Baker

Aidan McKeon

Starkey House Cast

Dom Bensley

Mariella Bourke

Ella Browning Wood

Molly Green

Sarah-Anne Hornsey

Emily Macbeth

Starkey House Cast

Ben O’Boyle

Julia Puhalla

Gianni Restiani

Michael Savic

Candice Taylor

Calvin Walther

Sophie Ward-Harvey

Julius Wright

Hannah Zubair

ANDREWS HOUSE PLAY

Play : Smells Like Impulse Playwright : Stephen Carleson

Performance rights kindly granted by Australian Plays.Org and Stephen Carlson Synopsis : A comedy that explores the different stereotypes in the schoolyard, embracing self-image and taking control of your own school life. There is love, longing, mystery and a dance sequence (of course), in this deliriously daggy comedy.

Andrews House Directors

Alexandra Gerrard

Olivia Hammond

Andrews House Cast

Jade Bailey

Natalie Blauberg

Anna Boone

Desmond Chuah

Geraint Evans

Adam Gornitsky

Andrews House Cast

Alexandra Grgic

Kurt Grgic

Ella Hammond

Heidi Hoffman

Anna Hori

Cooper Jones

Hannah Kennedy

Bria Phillips

Lauren Taylor-Girdler