Keith Gow, Writer

2011 was an amazing year for me and my theatre-making endeavours.
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put on The Wooden Leg’s first season of shows at The Owl & The Pussycat in September.
Thank you to everyone involved in Richard Di Gregorio: On Time – my first foray into the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Thank you to Short & Sweet for continuing to showcase new works from emerging artists – and to Nicole Bilson for bringing Poems a Dead Boy Wrote to life.
Onward and upward in 2012.
Thanks to the creative team behind Painting with Words and Fire, which will premiere in February 2012.
Thanks to David Attrill and Sarah Connor, who are working hard on Like a House on Fire, for its late January premiere at Short & Sweet Sydney.
And more thanks to all involved with Richard Di Gregorio: On Time before we head off to Adelaide for Fringe in late February.
I’m already hard at work on shows that will hopefully see the light of day in late 2012: a full-lenth play or two and a s…

With my theatre-going year over, here is a list of my favourite productions of 2011. The Top Ten, The Runners Up and the Honourable Mentions are all listed in alphabetical order. In years past, I’ve ranked my top ten or twenty shows. This year I decided I wouldn’t put myself through that kind of torture.
Without any further ado, my favourite shows of 2011... THE TOP 10
Boxman – If Theatre
Daniel Keene plus Matt Scholten – an unbeatable combination. Again.


Christina: A Story with Music –Attic Erratic
This moving and haunting tale of lost love was beautifully realised by writer/actor/composer Tom Pitts and director Celeste Cody. And the set, the set! Amazing.


Clybourne Park  - Melbourne Theatre Company
A smart and funny satire on racial politics and real estate. A companion piece to the classic A Raisin in the Sun, it was fully deserving of its Pulitzer Prize.
Delectable Shelter - The Hayloft Project
After last year’s one-two punch of Thyestes and The Nest, this is the only Hayloft Project…

In fact, from the opening of Like a House on Fire through the two week season of Painting with Words and Fire (formerly Three Women) to the end of Richard Di Gregorio: On Time – it’s less than six weeks. Late January to early March.
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First up, as part of Short & Sweet Sydney, my ten minute ode to pyromania and sexuality, Like a House on Fire will play at the Newtown Theatre from January 25 to January 28 (8pm) and January 29 (5.15pm). Directed by David Attrill and starring Sarah Connor, I’m thrilled to have something on in Sydney – finally – and it’s a good excuse to go back after having been there so recently.

Also, while in Sydney, I get to check out Griffin’s new production of The Boys – which should be suitably confronting in that small space. Also tempted to check out Hayloft’s Thyestes – which Belvoir is producing at Carriageworks, but I’m afraid that seeing it a second time might dilute its power.
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Next up, at Revolt Melbourne Artspace in Kensington, a tryptic of monologu…

Let’s hear it for new Australian work – from pop-up theatres to our mainstages, new work from established and emerging artists is flourishing across Melbourne. And these are only the ones I’ve seen. But it’s thrilling to have seen four new Australian shows in a row, even when the end results are mixed.
THE ECONOMIST by Tobias Manderson-Galvin, directed by Van Badham
There’s been a lot said of The Economist, even before its first preview on Tuesday night. It tackles the difficult subject of Norwegian terrorist Anders Brevik – slightly fictionalised here as Andrew Berwick. Local media didn’t like Manderson-Galvin’s criticism of the media in regards to the case, nor of his highlighting the fact that Brevik had quoted rightwing Australian politicians and pundits in his manifesto.
The play, as I expected, cannot be judged on the conservative backlash it has received. The play is an interesting meditation on how a man like Brevik and his worldview is formed, but it doesn’t really attack his…