Petits Fours: Have a taste of these bite-sized theatre treats at WAAPA

In June, WAAPA is proud to present Petits Fours, a season of bite-sized theatrical treats that showcases the breathtakingly original work of four local playwrights: Hellie Turner, Chris Isaacs, Gita Bezard and Finn O’Branagáin.

Petits Fours was co-commissioned by WAAPA and Playwrighting Australia with the support of the Department of Culture and the Arts WA and the Minderoo Foundation.

Glenda Linscott, WAAPA’s Head of Acting, explains, “WAAPA has formed an exciting partnership with Playwriting Australia. Together with the support of Minderoo, we have pooled our resources, skills and infrastructure to co-commission four professional WA playwrights to develop these four new plays for our 2nd Year Acting students.”

“Not only is this an powerful way for young actors, and theatre makers to learn their craft, but they now partnered in small collectives of creative team with established WA playwrights, directors and dramaturgs which will undoubtedly help our students once they graduate into the industry.”

Petits Fours, which runs from Friday 16 to Thursday 22 June, will be performed by WAAPA’s 2^nd Year Acting students under the direction of local directors Susie Conte, Trudy Dunn, Nicole Stinton and Julia Jarel in the Enright Studio. This is a fitting venue for the premieres of these new short plays, being named in honour of the late great Nick Enright, one of Australia’s most successful and beloved playwrights and a regular guest artist at WAAPA who worked closely with its staff and students over many years.

Multi-award-winning playwright Hellie Turner headlines the Petits Fours season with her provocatively entitled work, Self Portrait Masturbating, a “peep-hole” into the life of Austrian artist Egon Schiele.

This new short play follows hard on the heels of Turner’s adaptation, The Lighthouse Girl, which recently completed a sell-out season with Black Swan State Theatre Company. For Self Portrait Masturbating, Turner uses as her subject material the rebellious life and erogenous art of Egon Schiele. The artist painted men and women in the most explicit of poses; painted himself, laying bare his internal self in excruciating depictions; and painted children, a predilection that ultimately lead to his imprisonment over a scandal involving a 14-year-old runaway.

Petits Fours will be performed at WAAPA from Friday 16th – Thursday 22nd June. Tickets and more information available from waapa.ecu.edu.au/boxoffice

Source:- Media release, Image:- Jon Green