The Sly Rat Theatre team are bringing their unique brand of pitch black comedy and melodrama to The Butterfly Club stage this June with Steve McCall’s biting black comedy, Pluck!
Pluck! is the story of psychologist, Jeremy Pluck who is trying to get his marriage back on track. Unfortunately, he’s failing miserably. One night Pluck and his wife, Daphne, are trying to rekindle their passion. They take a romantic stroll through the park at midnight. Things take a nefarious turn when a misspent youth mugs them, nabbing Daphne’s heirloom necklace.
Now Daphne thinks Pluck is a flat-out wuss. She wants her necklace back. She wants a mean-looking dog. She wants a state-of-the-art security system for their bourgeois, suburban fortress. However, Pluck reckons he can satisfy her with his big, black gun. At the end of the day, Daphne just wants to feel safe again.
Starring acclaimed actor Brendan Ewing as Dr. Pluck. He will be joined onstage by a group of Melbourne’s finest up and coming actors. He is joined by Todd Levi, recently seen onstage at the La Mama Courthouse and on TV screens in the ABC’s acclaimed production of Parer’s War (2014). Todd’s playing Pluck’s noble adversary – the nefarious police officer, Wyatt.
Alongside this dastardly duo is Michaela Bedel (National Theatre Drama School), Walter Hanna (Lasalle College of the Arts), and Lee Quek (NICA) in this bombastic comedy, directed by NIDA graduate Alan Chambers.
Nominated for the ARTRAGE Theatre Award WA 2013, Pluck! is a ferocious one-act play that grapples head-on with love, lust, God, and what (if anything) it means to be a man. Blood, sex and shoot-outs that would make Sergio Leone blush, Pluck! is dripping with enough Biblical fervour to fill the Book of Revelations.
“It’s going to be a fun night out. Laughs, a bit of blood… It’s a tale about a couple who reignite their passion for each other through blood and gore. What’s not to love? It’s also being told by a group of Melbourne’s finest actors,” says director Alan Chambers.
Director: Alan Chambers Cast: Michaela Bedel, Brendan Ewing, Walter Hanna, Todd Levi, Lee Quek Design and Lighting: Wally Eastland Sound Design/Composition: Andy Harmsen Costumes: Valentina Serebrennikova Producers: Jennifer Piper & Andy Harmsen
Pluck!
The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Season: 30 June – 5 July 2015
Information and Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Image: Todd Levi and Brendan Ewing will feature in Pluck! – photo by Madz Rehorek