The play, which is a monologue for a solo performer (the vivacious star of Spewy, Madelaine Osborn), is a coming-of-age story set right here in Newcastle. It has enjoyed critical acclaim on stages across Australia but has not yet been seen by Newcastle audiences. Cue: 2024’s UpStage program at the Civic Theatre Playhouse where locals will have the opportunity to see a story written by a local playwright, about their town. We chatted to Ang to find out more.
How much of the play is based on true events?
Blueberry Play is inspired by my own experience growing up in the suburbs of Newcastle (shoutout to New Lambton) as well as a personal story that I hold very close to my heart. In most of my work I draw from within – writing my experiences, observations and obsessions down helps me process parts of my life. There is, of course, a lot of artistic licence taken with this play, however, and it is very much a fictional story! I love letting unexpected ideas bubble up from within the weird recesses of my brain to create stories that are new, unexpected, and hopefully relatable and funny. Blueberry Play is all of these things.
Who do you think will enjoy the play?
I wrote this play as a young adult and I think young adults aged 18 to 30 will simply die from the relatability – so I’d really like the young people of Newy to come out to the theatre for an awesome night about a story that actually speaks to them. That being said, it’s a story about life in the ‘burbs, first kisses, house parties, labradors, and how mental and physical illness totally shapes families, for better or for worse. So anyone with experiences of any of the above will get something out of the play, no matter their age or background.
What does it mean to you to be able to bring the play to your hometown of Newcastle?
It means everything. I know that’s a cheesy answer, but no matter what I write about, it’s always grounded in my experience being a born and bred Novocastrian.
Last year, when my play Spewy premiered at Earp Distilling Co. with New Annual, I wasn’t sure if Novocastrians would come. But it totally sold out in the days leading up to the season and sitting in the audience every night, laughing with everyone about the Newy in-jokes and seeing people’s faces recognise exactly where I was writing about was kind of overwhelming, and super magical.
Newcastle has so many amazing stories and I really don’t think the city is given enough credit for how creative, contemporary and also totally down-to-earth it is. So I’m hoping Novocastrians will follow their curiosity to the Civic Theatre this time around and check out another Novocastrian story.
What makes the theatre scene in Newcastle different to other cities and how has it changed and grown in recent years?
There’s no doubt that Newy’s theatre scene is much smaller than that of say Sydney’’s – there are no professional theatre companies here where folks are able to work full time on their art, or stage work regularly in a dedicated venue, and I really think that needs to change. What I love about the theatre makers in Newcastle though is their dedication to the craft despite this lack of funding and institutional opportunity, and their ability to be totally scrappy and still make work that is of an incredibly high calibre.
There are young theatre makers here who are hungry to make work that is unapologetically local, experimental, fun and future-focused, and one of my favourite ways to experience this is when New Annual comes up on the calendar.
New Annual is only a young arts festival but its scale and the exciting programming is already at a level of heaps of other festivals around the country. Adrian Burnett, the Head Curator, has done an outstanding job of curating cutting-edge local art in unexpected spaces (last year I saw a work as contemporary and cool as any Sydney Dance Company work by Catapult Dance Company in a Hunter Street car park).
I also credit the courageous theatre education programs of Tantrum Youth Arts to producing Newy’s current and next generation of bold storytellers – there’s really not many youth arts companies as inclusive, experimental and wholesome in Australia right now.
I also love the queer and feminist focuses of indie companies like HER Productions (check out their update of Romeo & Juliet shortly after the season of Blueberry Play) and also Bearfoot Theatre. There’s really groovy stuff happening courtesy of some incredibly talented and dedicated young artists here and I think the audiences they consistently pull is a credit to that. We just need more arts funding so these artists can keep dreaming bigger over the years to come!
Blueberry Play will run from 14 – 17 August 2024 at Civic Theatre Playhouse Newcastle. For tickets and more information, visit: Blueberry Play
