Well? Do ya wanna hear me out or don’t ya? Private eye, Frank Bigelow, has 24 hours to solve a heinous crime - his life depends on it. Adapted from the 1948 noir screenplay of the same name, D.O.A drops us into a world of crime, poison, whiskey-sours and cigarette smoke. It’s Downtown L.A, baby!
D.O.A
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- - (Everyday)
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Shopfront Arts Co-Op Railway Parade, Carlton
Director: Mark Rogers
Assistant Director: Lily Hensby
Featuring: Graduating Third Year Performance Students
This new version of the screenplay is paralleled by another high stakes drama – a contemporary film crew remaking the classic film. It’s director versus screenwriter, producer versus agent, actor versus actor in a vicious film-industry showdown. No gets out alive.
Using live-film techniques and a fast-paced contemporary theatre form, this show is a head-spinning comedy thriller. Taking inspiration from noir, backstage dramas and the TV show Succession, D.O.A grabs hold and never lets go. Performed by graduating third year students of UOW with a breathtaking display of technical skill and timing, this show explodes onto the Shopfront stage in November.
Director and writer, Mark Rogers says of the work: ‘I actually can’t wait, it’s the simultaneously the cleverest and dumbest thing I’ve ever worked on and the cast is phenomenal”. Writer, Lily Hensby, says “it’s mean, fast and unforgiving – it’s been a real joy writing the nastiest one liners.”
Mark Rogers is a multi-award winning playwright and theatre-maker living in the Illawarra. He holds a PHD from the University of Wollongong, where he lectures in theatre and performance. In 2019, his play Superheroes won both the Griffin Award and the Patrick White Award and will have its premiere season at Griffin Theatre in 2020. His previous work as a playwright includes: The Pecking Order (Shopfront Arts Co-Op, Commission) Tom William Mitchell (Merrigong-X), Plastic (Old 505 Theatre), We’ll Become Good People, You’ll See (Crack Theatre Festival), Target Audience (Novelty UK), The Buck (Rock Surfers, Bondi Feast), Soothsayers (Brisbane Festival: Under The Radar), Blood Pressure (Rock Surfers, Old Fitzroy Theatre) and Gobbledygook (PACT, AC Arts Adelaide). He is a founding member of the performance collective Applespiel, and has made celebrated works with some of NSWs most significant independent companies - Bodysnatchers, re:group and Woodcourt Art Theatre. Mark also runs Merrigong Theatre’s Playwrights’ Program – an initiative providing long-term mentorship to local writers. His play Blood Pressure is published by PlayLab. He is a proud member of the NTEU.
Lily Hensby is a Wollongong based actor, writer and director. She graduated from the University of Wollongong with Bachelor of Performance (Acting) in 2017 and is currently completing an Honours degree. Her work includes Pretty Fly For A Dead Guy (Shopfront, 2019), Central Plaza (UOW, 2019), and The Magnificent, Terrible Hottie Avery by Tasnim Hossain (Shopfront Senior Ensemble, 2018). She has performed in Tom William Mitchell (Merrigong Theatre) and Organs! (Shopfront, 2018). This year, she was one of 14 writers selected nationally to participate in Writing Place SA for ATYP and Country Arts SA.
Cast: Tim Beattie, Samantha Bowyer-Tagg, Hannah Ivery, Ingrid Leighton, Bree-Anna Linsley, Melanie Parker, Charmaine Sharp, Maxwell Tassel, Edward Tuckerman.
Production and Stage Manager: Thomas Doyle
Sound Designer: Liam Halliwell
Lighting Designer or design team: Thomas Doyle