An intriguing dark comedy by Melbourne playwright Jane Miller, 15 Minutes From Anywhere present the premiere of Cuckoo at fortyfivedownstairs for a limited season from 9 July 2015.
In 2014, Jane Miller wrote Cuckoo as part of a major work for her Master of Writing for Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts because she was fascinated with how intense loss can produce a desire to believe in something at the expense of logic or rational judgment.
Miller explains that essentially Cuckoo is a comedy with tragic and intriguing elements. “What happens to people when a hole is so huge but so hidden that they embrace the chance to fill it no matter how bizarre. Ironically, it can sometimes be the lens of a comedy that makes the unknown, the heart breaking and the baffling, more acute.”
When a young man turns up on Mel and Leo’s doorstep asking for peanut butter on toast and a band aid, they want to believe he might be their missing son … but is he really who he appears to be? And how does he know so much about hypnotising swans?
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a big box of Lego, Cuckoo is about the return of the prodigal son who just wants to watch television and eat toast. Jono crashes through the lives of Mel and Leo on a blue bike with a flag spouting half remembered plot lines of films claiming to be their lost child.
Director Alice Bishop states that Cuckoo is a very serious comedy and also a very comedic drama, “Cuckoo may resist categorization, but what I do know is that Jane Miller writes funny plays about very serious things with sharp wit and great compassion.”
Director: Alice Bishop Cast: Natalie Carr, David Kambouris, Matthew Molony, Samuel Russo Set Design: Kelsey Henderson Lighting Design: Bronwyn Pringle Stage Manager: Hayley Fox Playwright: Jane Miller
Cuckoo
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Season: 9 – 26 July 2015
Bookings: (03) 9662 9966 or online at: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
For more information, visit: www.15minutesfromanywhere.com for details.
Image: Samuel Russo – photo by Alice Bishop