Mighty Playwrights 2022 finished its run at the Goulburn Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) on Thursday night with a captivating show full of surprises, laughs, more than a few celebrity cameos and some poignant moments.
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Now in its third season, Mighty Playwrights gives an unparalleled opportunity to young people in Goulburn and the surrounding district to put their incredible ideas and words to paper, and to have those words performed and viewed.
Aged between 10 and 12, these seven young playwrights (Keida Voorden, Adele Wakefield, Zara Ridley, Ellie Bale, Riley Jordan-Fermor, Indie Miners and Stella Moore Thompson) worked with mentors from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to bring their concepts to life and the results this year, as with previous years, were stunning, and only the more so because of the ages of the writers.
There's a saying in rugby circles (and presumably in other sports) that the best games to watch are junior games... before players become too regimented and directed, while they're still willing to take chances and ridiculous risks that might just pay off, before the individual initiative and brilliance is coached out of them. And the same is true for the Mighty Playwrights.
One of the real joys of seeing their works performed is that these young writers have not yet become victims to format and style. There is no sense of Chekhov's gun sitting on the mantelpiece, no sense of artifice, predictability, or expectation.
Stories went where they went, often in unexpected directions and with novel structure, because that was the story the writer wanted to tell and the way they wanted to tell it. And every story was unique. There was no overlap or repetition amongst the seven plays with each creating its own world and its own narrative.
There were astronauts (and a robot) stranded in space, a young artist who wanted to be true to himself despite his parents' opposition and disinterest, a whodunnit with cops and everything, a girl who becomes lost at home after her mother's death (complete with evil stepmother and stepsister), a dystopian future where Cheetos may just save the world (crunch, crunch), a touching story about how a girl and a dog find a bond in their aloneness and a musical about being yourself and believing in yourself.
There was a thick layer of humour across most of the plays, ranging the comedic gamut from pratfalls and gross-out pranks to clever wordplay, planned repetition and pay-off loops, a lot of it delivered entertainingly with more deliberate ham and cheese than you'll find on an Hawaiian pizza.
There were some seriously funny moments that had the audience in stitches, but there were also some very poignant ones. And the cameos? I didn't expect to see Ariana Grande, Ryan Reynolds, Pope Francis or Keith Urban when I rocked up to the GPAC, but you just never know who you'll see there. Oh, and even Queen Elizabeth II made an appearance on her own National Day of Mourning. Pretty fair effort, that.
These were amazing stories, and you don't even need to add the disclaimer "for young writers." You would not have been surprised if you were told that many of these were written by an adult... and can I make the point again that these plays were written by children aged 10 to twelve! What were you doing at that age? What was I doing? Nothing as sophisticated as this.
And that is the significance, and the investment and the hope of Mighty Playwrights. It provides an opportunity that you won't find in other regional areas and would probably find hard to locate in major cities.
The program was started with an idea from teacher and performer Greg Angus and the commitment and vision of Goulburn Mulwaree Library manager, Erin Williams, to design it and make it a reality. Created in conjunction with the Goulburn Mulwaree Library and the Lieder Theatre several years ago, all those groups, all the mentors, the actors, directors and other creatives involved in those shows have been like coaches (sorry for yet another sporting analogy) who give generously of their own time, not for personal accomplishment or acclaim, but to nurture talent, create opportunities and help to build a creative community.
And, as always, a successful show is a measure of not only how good the story is, but also how well it is told. And these shows were treated to sensational performances.
Simple but effective sets, clever rear projection, pro-quality pre-recorded videos and effects, and stellar performances. Across the night, the ensemble of actors were in multiple shows, some in all seven I think. Consider how hard it is to remember your lines for a show. Now throw in being up to seven different characters separated by just minutes. It's a lot. But it's what they did.
And as much as the old hands, the young actors that have come through the Lieder Theatre's Youth Program were bang on the mark every time with great comic timing (where needed) and some gut-punch emotional stuff as well. There was no drop in quality from the seasoned to the younger actors, just a seamless ensemble.
Direction was insightful across the board... and I was particularly pleased to see Chrisjohn Hancock, the artistic director for the Lieder Theatre getting a crack at the GPAC stage. He was one of the strongest supporters of the GPAC both in its Montague Street Working Party and in previous incarnations.
While he thrives in making any space work no matter how limited (he could take a two-metre by two-metre cardboard mat surrounded by lava and give you the show of your life), as Goulburn's premier director I was glad to see him get to use this phenomenal space and hope to see him use it again.
Then there's the music. This year, in conjunction with the Hume Conservatorium, the Mighty Tunesmiths program, again providing opportunities for young talent, was launched to add musical scores to each show. While it's not the first season to have music in its shows, it's a progression that offers even more opportunities for Goulburn's junior creatives and greater depth to each show.
Overseeing the whole project was Blake Selmes, who in addition to acting in many of the plays including delivering a buff rendition of Keith Urban, directed the overall show and ensured a cohesive style across the production including designing the sets, visuals, and lighting and coordinating the sound design.
There are many others who could and should be praised; this production truly required a village to make it happen, and was lucky it had such a generous, talented village so keen to make it work. For those that couldn't see it there will be a screening at a date that will be announced on the Lieder Theatre website.
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