Join us as we dive into the world of local Ipswich theatre with Glenn Smith. Today, we’re spotlighting the upcoming production by Crossfyre Players, “The Life and Death of Almost Everybody,” directed by the talented Suzanne Matulich from Arts Alive.
Suzanne shares the whimsical yet profound premise of the play, featuring a sweeper who imagines characters into existence on stage. With comedy at its heart, this show promises laughter, imagination, and engaging performances by local talents.
Tune in to hear about the unique set design, the colorful costumes, and the brilliant cast bringing this play to life. Don’t miss out on this local theatre gem running from June 14th to 23rd at Fire Station 101 in Ipswich. Get your tickets through the Ipswich Civic Centre and support local arts!
00:00
Here we go, it’s time to get our arts into gear on this Tuesday morning and Glen Smith
00:17
Yeah, not bad, mate, not bad. But you know, we’re gonna talk theatre today. Oh, theatre, Tom. Theatre. There’s our little theatre. And we have a thespian director, art maker, art person. Art business owner. All the above. All the above, tick, tick, tick. I’m not going to interrupt, keep going. Keep going, keep going. Suzanne Matulich, actually from Arts Alive, if we all know Arts Alive at ECEP Switch, it was the art studio, creative arts school. Thank you, Suzanne.
00:47
But she’s also the director owner of Crossfyre Players.
00:52
And we know, you know, we’ve had a few productions in the last few years and this year is no different. You’ve been in two of them. I have been in two. One, I was only a corpse for half the place. That was… It’s hard to pass the game, Zane. At least he got his lines right. I still couldn’t get it right. That’s right. I couldn’t stop. No. But this year we’ve got… Clearing on. I’m going to hold this up. Can you see that? The life and death of almost everybody now. That’s…
01:22
It really is an interesting title. Can you tell us a little bit about the play, Suzanne? I certainly can. The lovely thing is it’s more comedy than drama, just despite the title. Yeah. Some people do die, but they spring up again later on. Oh, that’s okay. It’s like glamour. It’s a bit like any other play, yeah. So the whole premise of it, which I’m sure you’d like to know, is the main character, and if you’ve seen any of our promos, you’ll see that there’s a guy in a boiler suit
01:52
cap hat and work boots. His job he is the sweeper.
01:58
And it’s his job to keep the stage clean because people fight, they roll around, they even make love on the stage. I’m quoting now and sometimes when it’s in a play. Oh, geez. Wow. I’m glad I got my tickets. So that’s his job. And he talks to the audience a bit at the beginning and he worries that people will think that it’s a lonely job. And he says, no. But he said, I imagine.
02:28
people on the stage with me. And he does this lovely little routine where he imagines a rabbit and he mimes it and it’s just beyond beautiful. You can see the little fluffy rabbit. It’s so cute. And the sweepers played by Chris Sullivan. Chris Sullivan, yes, who really made his debut. I know he was in, I can’t remember the name, caught in the act a few years ago. But last year he was with us as well.
02:58
the role to die for if you’re keen to be a performer. Anyway, he’s sweeping away, he’s talking about the rabbits, he’s talking about a rainforest that he created. And then he says, but I’ve never tried, and he’s talking to the audience directly, no fourth wall here, I’ve never tried a man and a woman. And a man and a woman appear behind him and he turns around and he’s like, oh my.
03:26
I look how amazing, what sort of an act is that? And he has already assured us that he won’t give them minds of their own because he wants to keep control over them. Well, that’s the last time we ever heard about control. So the whole play is based on his imagination. Exactly, and the only other living person that we know of is the manager. Oh.
03:52
And he has two lines in the last page of the script. That sounds like a Glenn Smith role. That’s my part. That’s Wayne Boyle playing that role. Wayne Boyle in his debut on theatre, yes. It’s actually got a TV. But he also plays other roles. So we’ve got 11 in the cast, four who have dedicated roles, like the sweeper, the man, the woman, and the Aunt Harriet.
04:16
who’s Linda Shepcott. And she is killing this role. She’s just made it her own and run with it. When does she ever not kill a role? She’s a phenomenal actress. But the other six people are everything from an amazingly active crowd, which are wedding guests and Viking soldiers and part of the God Squad in full crazy costume. But also they have independent roles they take on.
04:41
especially in Act 2. So it’s a very hard work in play for everybody involved. The set was easy though, it’s a bare stage. Well that’s one thing. But I saw some of the images you sent me of the costumes. Wow, amazing. Guess who the costume maker is? Oh you of course, director, costume maker, set designer, the whole lot. She does the lot. She’s a woman of one stop shop.
05:11
The one with the whip. But there’s so many amazing Arts Connect members. You’ve got Wayne and Jacob and Willow and Chris and Michelle and River. River, I keep calling her River. We don’t do that. That’s the hubby. River. And Mel Sinclair of course. Oh Mel Sinclair. Who has a million beautiful crowns that she wears in everyday life. But she’s also the official Crossfire Players photographer. And she has, oh she’s just booming with her photography.
05:41
choreography career, just phenomenal. And that’s obviously the images that have been sent to me from Mel. And they’re just awesome, especially the, well I don’t know, it was River and Wayne wearing very pink outfits. And you’ll notice that the brooms, who are the boys’ family, are in hectic blue and the girls’ family are in bright pink. And that was really hard for me to do because I just don’t do pink.
06:11
Yeah, in regards to the costumes. The costumes are fun because all the characters, because we don’t know if they’re actually real or not, and the jury is still out on Harriet as to whether she’s real or not. But everyone wears a neutral t-shirt and soft pants, sort of just creams or greys, because they don’t really exist. And some of them have got bare feet, some of them just got soft shoes.
06:41
from the waist up. So there’s a lot of emphasis on the top of the costume, like shirts.
06:46
blouses and all that, but then a whole range of head gear, because they’re not really real, so we can’t costume the whole person. And whether the audience picks that up or not, I just think it’s a lovely subtext that the costumes are from the waist up. And it’s a David Crampton thing? David Crampton, yeah. Why is he wrong with Mr. and Mrs. It’s right there in front of you, Glen. It’s on the poster. Okay, okay. Oh yeah.
07:15
So he was the playwright for Cage Birds, which he did before last. Which was amazing, a couple of years ago. Yeah, a year before last. And he was an English playwright and he actually was the father of The Theory of the Absurd in England. I mean, obviously there are people across Europe, but in France. But yes, so he was like the mentor for all the…
07:37
I guess the comedians in particular who came through the Oxford University and he was probably in his 40s or so back in the 60s, no probably a bit older than that actually. He died in 1972. This play was first produced in 1971.
07:56
but it’s very relevant today. But funny lines. Oh, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. But this is much funnier sometimes. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, stay with us. Come back. I’m not going nowhere. Yeah. You’re not allowed. We’re gonna lock the door. Yeah. And yeah, we’ll come back for a second. What are we doing? Second part? Part two is what we call it. Part two, part two. I’ll get it right one day. Yeah, there eventually. We’re getting our arts into gear. It’s another Tuesday morning here on West Brammer.
00:00
Part 2, Getting Your Arts Into Gear Tuesday Morning with Glenn Smith Me and Suzanne Matulich from Crossfire Plays Oh wow, you’ve done well!
00:11
I’m gonna get a job on radio. You could get a job on radio. I could get a job on radio. Look out Brad, I’m after your role, mate. Come on, mate, you can have it. Oh, no, don’t say that. It’d be a lot of fun. But look, we’re talking about the life and death of almost everybody. Just pick it up a little bit more, please. There we go. And I actually have to hold it this close because I haven’t got my glasses so I can read it. But it’s on Fire Station 101. Nothing’s rehearsed in your face, by the way. Limestone Street.
00:41
Not the one in the Sunshine Cosplay. No, no, not that one, the one here in Ipswich. But I love the fact that they’re re-utilising that for theatre and arts. Exactly. They’ve had several performances there and they’ve all worked really well. So it’s so good to see how they take it out. And so Ipswich Civic Centre.
00:56
We’re in Crossfire Players and Civic Centre in co-production for this. And they’re providing us with the venue, etc, etc. And we’re providing the play and the sets, etc. Not that there’s a lot of sets. In this one, in this one, there’s not a lot of them. But it’s appropriate. But they’re amazing. And it is. Once they turn it from a big concrete floor, glass walled space that fire engines used to park in.
01:22
And then they create a black box theatre, so that it’s four walls of thick black.
01:28
I think they’re Woollen Curtains and it’s so atmospheric. But I actually love… The moment you walk in you think, ah, theatre. I love the Black Spock Theatre because it’s so personal and intimate. You’re nearly on the stage with the actors, you actually feel so much part of it. And it does feel very Brisbane arts, but in Ipswich we do it better. But it is on…
01:58
So six performances. Can’t see it Glenn. There we go. I can see that part. And it’s, you can book through the Ipswich Civic Center. That’s where the bookings are. So you can either pop in in person or do it online. And it is general seating. So it’s, when you get there, it’s first and best dress. I’ll be the one pushing people out of the way to get in the front. Oh, Glenn, smear. Well, I wanna see. I like to be down in the front. The good thing is- With all the groupies down the front. With all the groupies. So the good thing is, if you book for…
02:24
four people or more, you get a really good discount. And as Glenn said, you know, if friends of yours have booked already and you’ve thought, oh, I don’t want to miss out, but I want to sit with them, and you can because it’s unreserved seating. And it’s only, well, booking of 30, three or more, four or more, not 30 or more, is only $35. Now that’s a really cheap, each, not four, $35, but $35 for a great night out of local theater. And it is Christmas.
02:54
Chris is the debut as really a leading man isn’t it? Oh definitely. Big role so and as there’s lots of nearly all local artists. They are all. Yeah so they’re all local Thespians so you know get along and support it because our local theatre.
03:12
industry is so important again to everything. And we don’t have a lot of local groups. There’s Crossfires and it’s a sort of theatre and Tim Wynne. And then we have the musicals. Then we have all the musicals. Oh, the musicals. This is real theatre at its best. You don’t like musicals. Gutsy, raw theatre. With no nerdness and no swearing. Oh, I didn’t realise that. Glenn’s going to cancel his tickets now. It’s probably not suitable for primary school kids, mainly because they wouldn’t understand it.
03:42
But I’m sure teenagers, upwards. Yeah. And the good thing is if you’re in doubt, read the back of the pamphlet before you go because it does give you that… Which is upside down. Yeah, you flip it the right side. I told you I don’t have my glasses on. This looks really interesting. I tell you, I tell you, pick on me. But no, it is going to be a great play full of local artists directed by a local…
04:08
director artist yeah artist yeah so local theatre company in which you know we really do need to get behind and support yeah it’s all gone I don’t keep driving to Brisbane to see a place no no way too far and pay more for parking than you do for what you’re paying to see the play here so exactly yeah so that’s fantastic all right yeah so as I said one more plug 14th of the 23rd of June book through the Ipswich Civic Centre and just one thing there are six
04:37
So Friday Saturday for the first week at 730 a Matinee at 2 on the Sunday and the same the following week So if you don’t like going out at night or you can’t go out at night for whatever reason To matinees at 2 2 p.m. And the others are 730s. I nearly bought matinee tickets. I think I’m just at that stage Book tonight time and it’s such a rebel
05:07
Just poke me with a stick. Grant’s gonna make sure you get all tucked in. That’s right! With the little jammies on. We can adjust who sits where. Oh, there you go. But look, I’m so looking forward to seeing it as a centre. I’ve got my ticket, so get off your butts and come support some local theatre. Or you’ll miss out. That’s right. Last year’s show is…
05:29
all sold out. It was great too, it was really good. And Glenn was in it too. And I would have loved to be in this year, which is just as well because I’m not because I’m blind, I would have fallen off the stage if there was one. But now this is one. That would have been hilarious, that’s the price of admission. No, it’s going to be so good. To see me pull over. Now this is great. Well, thank you so much for coming along and on this early morning Tuesday. Yeah, you’re making it through.
05:58
Now go back to day. And it only still feels like Monday, that’s the weird thing. You’re telling me. Oh dear. Alright, thank you Susan, thank you Glenn. Thank you Brad. And thank you. See you at the fire station. That has been Getting Your Arts Into Gear for another week right here on West Brommer Radio, back with more in a moment.
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