“In this play the oceans are rising

In this play the world is on the brink of a tragedy

In this play our politicians have given into industrial lobbies again and again

And because of that

In this play

People are going to die

Imagine that”

This is what you should know:
1  The ocean is rising.
2  We caused it.
3  We're going to fix it. 
4  Someone has to die.

presented by Northcote Town Hall and MLIVE

directed by Katrina Cornwell

set and costume design Emily Collett

lighting design Lisa Mibus

sound design Raya Slavin

AV design Sarah Walker

performers Chanella Marci, Sonya Suares and Sarah Walker

for the islands
and those who watch their coasts

Winner of the Max Afford Award 2018 and the Helen Noonan Award 2019.
http://artsreview.com.au/fleur-kilpatrick-wins-max-afford-playwrights-award/

https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/fleur-kilpatrick-wins-inaugural-helen-noonan-prize/

REVIEWS

"It’s rare to find a piece of theatre that explores climate change with such a compelling mix of playfulness and authority… it is brimming with imagination and ingenuity. I have no doubt Whale will be a significant marker in how the arts deals with the great issues of our time.”

(Max Afford Award Judges comments)

“Whale is as much about theatre as it is theatre. In Kilpatrick's theatre stories, the audience are, to different degrees, characters and participants as much as observers. Theatre isn't just what happens on the stage, it's how we feel watching it, it's what we talk about afterwards, it's whether we go home and forget it or are still thinking about it days and weeks later. It's what we do.

Whale is all about what we do.”

(Anne-Marie Peard, Sometimes Melbourne)

“This production is bolder in scope than the majority of Melbourne theatre. It’s trying to build empathy, it’s trying to spread awareness, it’s trying to inspire action, and that’s what we need.”

(Theatre People)

“Whale is written to allow other creatives to make a work that belongs to everyone. In the same way that the audiences are trusted to be so vital to the result that everyone puts on their party hats without hesitation.”

(Anne-Marie Peard, Sometimes Melbourne)

“Kilpatrick is a fine playwright with a gift for the poetic.”

(Rob Reid, Witness Performance)

I don’t know
I wasn’t there
My life was changed by their dare
Small one leans in smiles long
Pale eyes fixed
On god of song
‘I’ve never broken a bone
Never broken skin’
Fingers stroke
A hairless chin
‘But I’ve broken hearts without breaking a sweat
Broke sane minds mad without breaking my step’

‘Apollo’
Eyes now the god above
‘You want to do this?’
Said God of Love

This is an old story and it happened yesterday. It is about gods and nymphs and forests and campuses and poorly-lit paths home and the right to walk that poorly-lit path home. More than the actions, I think it is about fighting back and the ways in which we are transformed by this fight. It is probably about transformation, really: the ways some people transform into unstoppable forces, hell-bent on slamming themselves against the immovable object that is human dignity and perseverance.

It is a privilege to be entrusted with Daphne: to take her from the mouths of these old poets and bards, to hand her to a strong, passionate group of artists, to give her a female voice and to claim her as a survivor. My deepest thanks in particular to Josh for giving her a stage, a voice and, in doing so, advocating for new Australian opera that is urgent and responsive to the world around us. That’s important.

presented and commissioned by Co-Opera.
composer Joshua van Konkelenberg
director Bronwyn Palmer
singer Bethany Hill

This one is for the feet
Those that have run and those that have walked
Away from terrible moments
And into good ones
Well done feet
Keep walking
You little heroes

“I would hate to tell you what this lousy little story has cost me in money, anxiety and time. People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore. I’ve finished my war story now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure. It is short and jumbled and jangled because there’s nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everyone is supposed to be dead. Everything is supposed to be quiet. And it always is. Except for the birds”

A theatrical adaptation of one of the most loved, well-renowned novels of the 20th Century. 

'This all happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. The aliens, spaceships, human zoo and assassination, perhaps less so. But there really was a city called Dresden and it really was fire-bombed during a war that was really fought by children. And Kurt Vonnegut Jnr really did witness all that fire and death as a prisoner of war. And he wrote a book about it. And Fleur Kilpatrick really is adapting it for the stage. 
 
It will begin like this, “Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.”
It will end like this “Poo-tee-weet?”'

commissioned by Monash Uni Student Theatre, 2016, remounted 2019
adapted with special permission from the Kurt Vonnegut Estate by Fleur Kilpatrick
director Fleur Kilpatrick
assistant directors Joey Burford, Liam Fergeus (2016) and Kitty Malam (2019)
artistic director of MUST Yvonne Virsik
set design Jason Lehane and Fleur Kilpatrick
lighting design John Collopy
set design Justin Gardem
costume design Alana Coventry (2016) Dil Kaur (2019)
photography Sarah Walker
cast 2016 Alanah Allen,  Awangku Aniq Durar, Tim Banova, Sam Barson, Kristiane Burri, Philip Dallas, Tom Middleditch, Emily Shelmerdine, Alice Stewart, Talia Zipper cast 2019 Alanah Allen, Alex Bartaska, Tim Banova, Sam Barson, Georgie Bright, Caitlin Duff, Simran Giria, Reilly Holt, Emlyn Sugden, Talia Zipper

This adaptation is dedicated to the memory of Liam Fergeus, my beautiful assistant director, whom I entrusted with such crucial tasks as ‘can you make them hump more?’ and who insisted on researching sci-fi and Dresden from his hospital bed with a collapsed lung. Thank you, Liam. So it should not have gone.

REVIEWS

“The art of translation is not to slavishly reproduce the beats and rhythms of the original work, but to capture in some way its essence while striking out in original directions of your own. Playwright Fleur Kilpatrick pulls off the fiendish task of adapting Kurt Vonnegut’s seminal anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five to the stage, and the result is thoughtful and often chilling…. Kilpatrick directs Monash University Student Theatre actors with great assurance.” ★★★★

(Tim Byrnes, Time Out)

“Packs a thematic and visual punch and further highlights the ludicrous fate of war.”

(Stage Whispers)

“Kilpatrick's choice to create a modern Epic Theatre piece is pure genius…. add in a heavy helping of absurdism - and what else are Theatres of War but Theatre of the Absurd ? - and, ironically and sadly, Kilpatrick creates a world far more recognisable than any standard theatre canon piece on offer… Kilpatrick's use of sound at the very end, created by the actors themselves, is more powerful and telling than perhaps anything I have seen in a very long time. "So it goes."“

(What Did She Think)

“Slaughterhouse Five is beautiful, jarring, intense, and funny.”

(Lucinda Naughton, Theatre Travels)

“Hours slip into each other out here
Days identical yeah?
Like someone only wrote twenty-four hours then hit copy paste until eternity
Could sleep for weeks and never know you missed it”

In a tiny town on the brink of collapse, a boy goes missing. Who or what took him?

A mysterious love letter to the abandoned communities of regional South Australia, Terrestrial is a deep dive into a shattered mining industry, the aftershocks of domestic violence and one beautiful, intense friendship. 

Oh and there are aliens. 

presented and commissioned by State Theatre Company of South Australia
director Nescha Jelk
set and costume design Meg Wilson
sound design Andrew Howard
lighting Design Chris Petridis
cast Annabel Matheson, Patrick Jhanur with Patrick White

This play is dedicated
To lonely girls
To bored boys
To quiet towns
 
To riding bikes to pass the time
To making out to pass the time
To walking k after k to pass the time
To smoking whatever you can find to pass the time
 
And it is dedicated to a landscape that looks like Mars
A landscape we worried at for 161 years to get at the blackness inside
 

All images by Kate Pardey.

REVIEWS

“Fleur Kilpatrick has created a tender yet twisting tale of social dislocation in regional Australia… It’s a beautiful new work that announces another powerful voice to the State Theatre Company stage.”

(Geordie Brookman, Artistic Director, State Theatre Company)

“Terrestrial is different, confronting and aimed at challenging our own truths.”

(Jude Hines, Stage Whispers)

“It’s a show that appeals to not only the teen audiences it’s targeted at, but also adults who can appreciate excellent storytelling and an important message at the core of it. This is one of the finest State Ed productions ever presented and shouldn’t be missed.”

(Georgia Brass, thisisradelaide.com.au)

"Terrestrial is everything that good theatre should be and, even better, it has been made to be seen by a new generation of theatregoers."

(Petra Schulenburg, Broadway World)

"The story throbs like a beating heart."

(Maggie Ivanova, The Conversation)

“AND SOUND IS FUZZY AND SHIT IS DARK AND - AND YOU'RE THROUGH ME. EVERY VEIN. AND IT'S A THING. A BIG, BAD THING. END OF THE LINE AND START OF IT ALL IN ONE. GREY'S ON HIS WAY OUT AND GABRIEL'S A-COMIN.

THOUGHT YOUR EYES WOULD BE BLUE. THOUGHT YOU'D BE SOFTER. CLEANER. THOUGHT YOU'D BE READY".”

In a shitty flat sit two shitty people, shitty lives hanging out all over the place.
And something is moving in the cosmos. Fate or God or some such shit.
The world needs saving, someone to switch the power back on and light up the whole fucking mess.

presented by Attic Erratic for Poppyseed Festival 2016
director Danny Delahunty
assistant Director Fiona Spitzkowsky
set Design Luc Favre
sound Design Tom Pitts
lighting Design Rob Sowinski
cast Olivia Monticciolo and Matt Hickey

To Joe Hockey. To Bronwyn Bishop. To helicopters and beach houses. To Laura's friend who works on a yacht owned by some Prince from the United Arab Emirates. To the moments when she has to hide in the cupboard when she hears him coming down the corridor. To yachts with corridors. It is dedicated to business class and to having multiple forks at your table setting. It is dedicated to table settings. And to the herd of cows my mother's cousin shot when his psychosis set in.

Winner of the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award

https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/awards-commissions/

All images by Sarah Walker.

REVIEWS

★★★★
“This boldfaced and blistering urban parable, hardwired to the raging frustrations of the dispossessed sub-poverty line underclasses… Kilpatrick has crafted a sophisticatedly paced drama, balancing a push-pull equilibrium between stark authenticity and literary finesse.”

(Maxim Boon, The Daily Review)

“A brutal, epic and incredibly human love story, Blessed follows two familiar strangers so entangled, dark and claustrophobic that nothing in this world could lift them out of their current situation.”

(Artsreview.com.au)
 

“We’re walking and walking and I’m seeing room after room of things that are special. That someone says are special enough to put in a place like this and keep forever and ever and I’m thinking ‘if I walked past that on the street I would just keep walking.’ It looks like a rock. You gotta lean in real close to see the marks scratched in. Some old, old tag. Some kid saying ‘fuck you’ to his dad or his boss or the cops.

He drew a shitty horse again and again on this rock and they’re all standing here saying ‘it’s special. It’s art. It’s history’ and I wanna to say ‘nah it’s anger. It’s anger and that – that thing that happens in your chest when you do something bad – when you strike the match and it feels so good.”

yours the face is the story of a photograph. Or rather, it is the story of the story that the photograph will not tell. 

An Australian fashion photographer and an American model meet in London to create a single perfect image, but behind the pixels lies a world of obsession, exploitation and emptiness.

A single actor plays both the nineteen-year-old Emmy and the photographer, Peter. A duet for solo voice. 

Premiere performance at Tandanya Firefly, Adelaide Fringe, 2014. Toured to Perth Fringe Festival 2015. 

Sydney season 2018
presented by LZA Theatre/Blood Moon Theatre
director Liz Arday
performer Daniela Haddad

Melbourne season 2015
presented by Theatre Works, as part of the Selected Works ‘Flight’ festival. Bookings here. 
director sarah walker
actor roderick cairns
designer sarah walker
sound design tom pitts
artistic consultant rob reid
design consultant rob sowinski
dramaturgy raimondo cortese

This play is for the man who told me
‘I probably shouldn’t say this’
When I was naked and alone in his home
Then said it anyway

It’s for the man who told me
‘You should have slapped him and left’
When I was naked and alone in his studio
As if that were an option

It’s for the men who said
‘It’s not really a sexy body is it?’
And
‘You’re sort of boxy you know?’
And
‘You’re a hairy little monkey aren’t you?’
And
‘We’ll manage’ when I told him I’d eaten a big lunch
And
'You make it sound like you didn't have a choice'

And this play is for my body
Which walked me through all of it and out the other side
Into my 30s and softness and freckles and cheese platters
And being loved and swimming 50 laps
And tumble turns and sunscreen
And just
Getting on with it

Women
Aren’t we something?

All photos by Sarah Walker.

REVIEWS

“We watch nervously, waiting for disaster to strike, predicting the inevitable in this tale of power imbalance, but Fleur Kilpatrick’s Yours The Face refuses to fit into the mould. It is a relief to see Emmy resist being infantilised, that her sexuality and sense of self are presented as valid, even if the structures that she operates within are problematic.”

(Suzy Goes to See)

★★★★★
"Fleur Kilpatrick, you wonderful weaver of madness...Wit, grit and danger are Fleur Kilpatrick’s game. One can imagine that the writer has been hoarding pain and creative fire inside a locked chest in her shed out the back, because she seemingly has an endless supply. Her characters breathe conviction as they hack their way beyond perfection into Kilpatrick’s breeding insanity.

Roderick Cairns is the lone performer of this piece, and he is brilliant. He brings an astoundingly versatile physicality to the feminine model and masculine photographer. He is unstoppably watchable, morphing with acute precision to embody the world of the play itself.

First-time director and theatre photographer Sarah Walker has tugged at the dark strands of this play with exquisite pacing and tone, and her framing of her lead’s performance is insightful. Walker’s lighting design is heavy but graceful, and is supported with finesse by Tom Pitts’ sound design.

Yours the Face is a powerful glance at the self-indulgent ugliness behind beautiful faces and glinting cameras. Kilpatrick is no new hand at foreboding and electric dialogue. Fans of the inner darkness behind the glistening eyes of the fabulous best be getting themselves to these seats."

(John Back, Time Out)

★★★★☆
"Yours The Face is a masterful snapshot of duality. Fleur Kilpatrick’s Quiet Little Fox production is cunning and discerning...Walker and Reid’s collaboration is flawless...An astounding singular performance."

(Lyn Zelen, Theatrepeople)

★★★★
"Yours the Face...offers an intense investigation of the relationship between a fashion model and a photographer. Much has been written on the objectification of female models, but Fleur Kilpatrick's clever conceit is to roll both sides of the story into the body of a single performer. 

That complicates and deepens the subject and provides a superb vehicle for Roderick Cairns, whose gender-bending tour de force switches from a dreamy, Detroit-born supermodel to the Aussie bloke in charge of her latest fashion shoot.

Cairns brings a cellular discipline and authenticity to these dual incarnations, in a fearless, physically precise performance that's a real tribute to what superior character acting can do.

He benefits from Sarah Walker's direction. You can tell she's a photographer from the clarity of the stage picture, sharp sense of timing, and dramatic use of light."

(Cameron Woodhead, The Age)

★★★★
"In an unexpectedly physical performance, Roderick Cairns embodies the androgyny required to flit between a male and female character. His ability to hold court and craft the distinct yet intertwined characters that he does is impressive, as is the tenuous and ephemeral link between them that he is able to create...Yours the Face balances drama and authenticity well and leaves you with that strange mixture of pleasure, self-consciousness and stinging eyes that follow the camera’s flash."

(Raphael Solarsh, ArtsHub)

"In this production Roderick Cairns is a very commanding tour de force.  He is quite mesmerizing and extraordinarily convincing in both the two contrasting roles...Cairns’s characterization is beautifully interpreted and managed and very skillfully integrated into his body both physically and vocally...Yours The Face is a very strong work based on a narrative that travels, unfolds and surprises and has been extremely competently managed by some outstanding theatre practitioners."

(Suzanne Sandow, Theatre Whispers)

"It’s a fantastic performance by Roderick Cairns. He has done this piece before and seems to relish Kilpatrick’s conspicuous sensuality. Indeed, with Cairns it is the body that we notice first, not the face. He struts and shimmies; twists and turns; sticks out his chest and contorts his spine. It is almost as if he is trying to smash together the two bodies in his own. It’s a strange – somehow mutant – but nonetheless compelling exhibition."

(Andrew Fuhrmann, Crikey)

“Cairns is phenomenal… he IS Peter… he IS Emmy… The fluidity of gender, sex, consent and identity is epitomised in Cairns’ capacity to play both characters… Yours the Face is a thought provoking and intelligent work.”

(Laura Money, The Australia Times)

“Roderick Cairns is superb in this duet for one. Seamlessly switching between a young, troubled, beautiful American fashion model and a down-to-earth Aussie photographer, Cairns plays out this beautifully crafted script of a short, sharp relationship with skill and humour… don't miss it.”

(Sarah McNeill, The Post)

★★★★
"Cairns’ male body acquires an androgyny defined entirely by his performance. He is not male or female, but simply a human frame, upon which the audience builds accordingly. His body is like bony Plasticine, slipping so fluidly and accurately between genders that transitions evaporate and two people seem to appear onstage. Cairns plays his characters with enormous restraint and a primed energy that winds the whole piece up until its mechanisms creak...Kilpatrick’s script delves unflinchingly into their psyches, highlighting simple detail to illuminate all corners of them...The production’s elements are almost a character themselves, crashing over Cairns with impressive texture and intensity...Yours the Face is a stunning, multi-layered work...sheer brilliance.”

(Zoe Barron, Artshub)

“It’s an impressive team, and a slick and assured production. Cairns’ performance is fluid and seamless, his mellifluous voice and angular body adapting themselves effortlessly as he switches back and forth between roles; and the same can be said of Kilpatrick’s script, an alternating present-tense monologue that evidently draws on her own experience as a model as well as her considerable skills as a wordsmith”.

(Humphrey Bower, Daily Review / Crikey)

“The glimpse of a rounded thigh, the resolute turn of a sturdy shoulder, a voice deepened or elevated according to the character he is playing... Cairns gives a brave and unexpectedly tender performance of this two-gender, one-performer play, handling the transitions so adroitly that it is a positive pleasure to watch... the tone of Fleur Kilpatrick’s probing and intelligent play is never lost, making it an altogether highly satisfying Fringe experience.”

(Victoria Laurie)

★★★★
“In a bold move playwright Fleur Kilpatrick asks one actor to portray these vastly different but intricately entwined characters. Here the actor is Roderick Cairns, who does it with ease, in the main, in a laid-back performance that builds impressively to become a small tour de force… One minute he’s striking a pose as Emmy, the next losing himself behind the camera as Peter… Kilpatrick’s crisp, rhythmic writing pops with imagery and detail.” 

(Louise Nunn, Adelaide Advertiser)

“Roderick Cairns is excellent in both modes, physically lithe and emotionally brittle as the troubled Emmy, hard-edged and unaffected as the straight-talking Aussie photographer Peter. Kilpatrick milks the contrast between the outwardly genteel model and the gruff photographer to sustained and successful comic effect. One of the pleasures of this production is watching Cairns keep up with these tonal shifts which grow steadily darker as more is revealed of Emmy’s chequered past… Kilpatrick’s writing is sharp and grittily profane but often funny… [the charactersʼ] uneven, quietly obsessional relationship is lent a graspable reality by Cairns’ skillfully distinct characterisations. The inevitable breakup, when it comes, is strange and affecting… unquestionably enjoyable, its studied interiority making for an intimate and involving experience… Cairnsʼ bravura soloing… unusually well- crafted and pleasurable.”

(Ben Brooker, Marginalia)

“A beautiful piece of writing by Fleur Kilpatrick, skilfully realised by the whole creative team… intimate and intriguing… I was enveloped by the story.” 

(Shona Benson, Limelight Magazine)

“A well-executed piece that both engages and challenges… filled with clever syntactic play and neatly tied-off motifs. Roderick Cairns is deft in his roles… Impressive… not merely engaging, but rewarding.” 

(buzzcuts)

“Into this space steps a lithe Roderick Cairns, who deftly flips between two characters: Peter, the renowned Australian photographer, and Emmy, the young (too young?) American supermodel… the portraits that Yours the Face paints of these two people is thick, rich, believable… the solo performance with two voices is an inspired decision (and possibly the most cutting – yet subtle! – comment on objectification at this year’s Fringe). And Cairns is wonderful in both roles… It’s engaging and thought-provoking theatre that managed to unsettle me in the best possible way.” 

(Peter Muller, Festival Freak)

“We are The Inspectors. We inspect. That’s all we do. We visit and inspect.  A city doesn’t crumble because we have crossed the threshold. We do not doom cities. 

Sometimes they doom themselves.”

The City They Burned is a modern and immersive re-telling of the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom. Stripped of its biblical context, this is the story of a city de-humanised, daughters used and a family dragging themselves through an industrial waste-land. The play unfolds over two contrasting acts in the modern industrialised city of Sodom.

presented by Attic Erratic for Melbourne Fringe 2014 and Brisbane Festival 2015
director/producer Danny Delahunty
assistant Director Fiona Spitzkowsky
set and lighting Design Rob Sowinski
sound Design Tom Pitts
cast Brianagh Curran, James Deeth, Kane Felsinger, Scott Gooding, Soren Jensen, Shoshannah Oks, Gabriel Partington, Dushan Philips, Jessica Tanner 

To Joe Hockey. To Bronwyn Bishop. To helicopters and beach houses. To Laura's friend who works on a yacht owned by some Prince from the United Arab Emirates. To the moments when she has to hide in the cupboard when she hears him coming down the corridor. To yachts with corridors. It is dedicated to business class and to having multiple forks at your table setting. It is dedicated to table settings. And to the herd of cows my mother's cousin shot when his psychosis set in.

Winner of the Melbourne Fringe Best Emerging Writer Award

All images by Sarah Walker.

REVIEWS

“It’s theatre that questions how form and writing can work so closely that it’s impossible to see where one ends and the other begins. Kilpatrick’s writing is so beautiful and strong that it disappears and doesn’t sound like writing because we’re so immersed in the immediate experience of being in Sodom.”

(Anne-Marie Peard, Aussie Theatre)

“A brave new theatre experience … the writing is wonderful, the direction is tight and the performances are focused.” 

(Myron My, Theatre Press)

“The City They Burned is site-specific theatre at its most compelling – gloriously unpredictable, seamlessly negotiated with the audience and brilliantly performed… Sharp, unflinching and ingeniously directed, here’s proof Attic Erratic ought to be spared the wrath of God.”  ★★★★

(Paul Ransom, The Music)

“Superb… The second act stands tall among the best indie theatre has to offer.” 

(Cameron Woodhead, The Age)

“The show has a wicked sense of humour, which it needs to break up the severity of its material. The cast and their interactions with the audience, the dry wit of the text and the shock of some moments leave laugh out loud moments for the audience, and are a welcome release of the show’s tension… The show is above all about humanity, the fight for survival and the struggle against oppressive power. This show is absolutely not for the faint hearted, with it’s themes of sexual violence and the first act spent standing, but it is a rich, well crafted piece of theatre not to be missed.”

(Theatre People)
 

“I mean, I’m fine with you not wanting to get married or hold hands or even see each other after I get my pants on but this world’s pretty big. It’s pretty big and there are 7 billion people on it and I bet some of them are great. I bet some of them have after hour’s access to museums or the keys to adventure parks or cocks the size of pepper grinders or whatever it is that floats your boat. I bet some of them are really nice. You’re fine with never making out on a waterslide? Fine without falling asleep under the bones of whales?”

Poised and ready to jump, the threshold people, the brink people, await an unknown future: a trip to Mars, a cardboard urn, an act of violence and a disappearing township.

Based on Victor Turner's concept of liminoid, Welcome to Nowhere is a poetic, funny and heartbreaking work. Directed by Emma Valente (THE RABBLE), the work is a collaboration between some of Melbourne's most celebrated playwrights: Angus Cerini (Resplendence), Zoey Dawson (Calamity), Daniel Keene (Boxman), Fleur Kilpatrick (The City They Burned) and Morgan Rose (Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise).

commissioned by Centre for Theatrical Performance, Monash University at Malthouse Theatre, 2015.
by Angus Cerini, Zoey Dawson, Daniel Keene, Fleur Kilpatrick and Morgan Rose
director Emma Valente

Photos by David Sheehy.

REVIEWS

★★★★

'The combination of emerging and established voices makes for a vibrant, highly entertaining evening...Even if you think life is too short for student theatre, in this case it could be worth putting your prejudice aside.'

(Owen Richardson, The Age)

“I am very awake.

I’ve never been this awake before.

Except every other night this week.”

director danny delahunty
actor joanne sutton (2013 seasons), fleur kilpatrick (2011 seasons) 
designer sarah walker
animator thomas russell
sound design roderick cairns and steven j hearne
production manager anastasia ryan

This is the story of the sleep deprived. An electric fusion of theatre, original animation and music creates a waking dream of sleeplessness. Witty, wild, poetic, tragic and exquisitely beautiful, Insomnia Cat Came To Stay was described by The Age’s Cameron Woodhead as “a manic, hypnotic monologue… a potent drama from frayed fibres of intellect and feeling”. This engaging cross-media performance was born of a collaboration between award winning playwright Fleur Kilpatrick, animator Thomas Russell and composer Roderick Cairns under the guidance of director Danny Delahunty. 

Insomnia Cat Came To Stay played to sold out audiences in the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival, at The Blue Room in Perth and is coming off a brilliant season at the 2013 Adelaide Fringe Festival. The writing, acting and design have been praised by theatre and art critics alike and “will resonate with anyone who’s lain awake wrestling with their demons at 3am (that’s all of us, right?) and make us grateful for that profound, mysterious gift of sleep.” (Mileta Rien, Arts Hub)

Premiere performance at Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2011 with Fleur Kilpatrick as The Woman. Subsequently performed at Crack Theatre Festival (2011 - Fleur) and then with Joanne Sutton at Perth Fringeworld Festival (2013), Adelaide Fringe Festival (2013), Malthouse Theatre (2013), Brisbane Festival (2013).

REVIEWS

“Amid the hurly burly of a Fringe Festival, and well away from the sequins and feathers in the big tents, it’s often the little solo shows that sneak up on you that you remember most…Add Insomnia Cat Came to Stay to the list, an unusual, bravely staged play (tightly directed by Danny Delahunty)… features a compelling performance by the actor and singer Joanne Sutton and brilliant animation by Thomas Russell… The outstanding technical quality of the show, Russell’s low-fi animation… and the stylish original music of Roderick Cairns, elevate the show to impressive heights" 

(The West Australian)

“The only words for Fleur Kilpatrick’s Insomnia Cat Came To Stay are beautifully artistic and poetic… cleverly simple and delicately magical… Joanne Sutton is absolutely extraordinary… positively brilliant in the role… Danny Delahunty has directed every technical element to be close to perfection… The show is nothing short of stunning and vibrantly funny”

(Aussietheatre.com.au)

“the performance is powerful and compelling” 

(Adelaidenow.com.au (the Advertiser/Sunday Mail)

"a delightful performance… a beautifully complex dance between Kilpatrick’s text, animation by Thomas Russell, and music by Roderick Cairns. These three layers play into and on top of each other, and the animation and music highlight the deep structuring which exists in Kilpatrick’s text”

(Jane Howard, noplain.wordpress.com)

“It’s not often you leave a theatre show feeling that what you’ve seen has actually had an impact on you. Then you see a show like Fleur Kilpatrick and Danny Delahunty’s Insomnia Cat Came To Stay and you’re reminded again of the power that theatre can have in awakening your senses…
Kilpatrick’s text spirals and swirls inside our heads, it scatters and falls, not soft and lulling but as sharp as daggers… As a performer, Sutton has an intoxicating essence… It’s quirky as hell, but it is also skilful and delivered with passion”

(ayoungertheatre.com)

"The stream-of-consciousness-style writing of this piece is exquisite, and seemed to resonate strongly with the audience… Joanne Sutton… performs her hour-long monologue without a stumble, and with a fantastic sense of realism. Her singing voice is powerful and emotive… All aspects of design – the lighting, the wardrobe and the stage dressing, all work simply and harmoniously and add to the text of the show…The flawless consistency of the numerous, complex elements of this production shows that director Danny Delahunty has done excellent work. His [direction] is incredibly artful… As a whole, this show is incredibly cohesive and satisfying… This show will stay with you long after its end”

(Theatreguide.com.au) 

“We float through the house with blinds down, never touching, barely breathing. Just floating and waiting, stuck somewhere between a laugh and a cry.”

director fleur kilpatrick
actors justin batchelor, kristina benton, joanne sutton and alex roe
score kristina benton
design sarah walker

In a land that is drying up and in need of water, a woman slowly dies for want of sleep. Meanwhile, in idyllic suburban greenery a woman faces the struggle to find her husband; a love that is lost in a man without memory.

Based on horrifying true cases of neurological mystery, Awake crafts a tale inspired by two real families where the unexplainable suffering of one’s closest and dearest is told with devastating warmth and humour.

Premiere performance at Adelaide Fringe Festival, 2012. Also performed at La Mama, Melbourne, 2012.
 

All photos by Sarah Walker.

REVIEWS

★★★★☆ “Kilpatrick has achieved something very special. Her ability to draw warmth and humour as well as pain and pathos from these scenarios, and her direction of four very fine actors, has created a very rich and satisfying theatrical experience and one which I would urge everyone to see.”

(Tony Busch, Adelaide Theatre Guide)

“What made you walk through the door that first night?”
”The rent was due.”
”What did you say?”
”I said I needed a job. The woman asked how old I was. I said 18. She asked me to turn around so she could see me all over. I did. She said ‘you have great boobs, show them off’ and told me to turn up to work at 7 o'clock the next night. Which I did.”
”What did you do when you came home?”
”I had a shower. I scrubbed myself and I cried.”

written and performed by kristina benton and fleur kilpatrick
directors danny delahunty and fleur kilpatrick
songs and arrangement kristina benton
sound design steven j hearne
set and lighting design rob sowinski

Skinhouse is a voyeuristic journey through the lives of two very different women. In a poetic blend of physical theatre, story-telling and exquisite music, it strips away the mystery surrounding sex work and, with candour, simplicity and good humour, proves that you are always more than the product of your past. 
 

All photos by Sarah Walker.

REVIEWS

"This play exposes an intriguing and sordid subject matter with sensitivity, honesty and humour. Benton’s presence infuses the performance with authenticity and is crucial to its overall appeal. Kilpatrick showcases her diversity, singing beautifully and dramatising unselfconsciously. Many of the show’s highlights come in the form of vocal duets between the two; the score is small but lovely and adds much to the piece."

(Nicole Russo, Stagewhispers.com.au)

"I emerged into the late Sunday afternoon sun – astounded! This was one of the best things I had seen at La Mama or indeed anywhere since I started reviewing back in mid-2008, some 253 shows, and at La Mama I’ve seen some corkers...but Skinhouse stands proud on its own legs, two from writer/performer Fleur Kilpatrick and two from Kristina Benton, co-writer and performer...In Skinhouse they have made a complete, intricate but straight-forward work, part mini operatic with original songs and cleverly arranged standards – a choral “Love For Sale”, tough, honest, carefully arranged re-enactments, not just violent spray, but instructed as performance, deeply felt confession but made of and into substance and broken the rules of poetics."

(Peter Green, 3MBS 103.5 FM)

"SKINHOUSE has a lot of surprises in store for the audience, from poignant musical numbers, haunting and beautifully created soundscapes, avant garde and deeply moving lighting design to a perfect choice of venue (La Mama) and essentially: knock out, on the mark performances. I was completely blown away.... Honest, hilarious (the girls' comic timing is spot on and feels familiar and unimpaired) and poignant, SKINHOUSE is a dark and charming kaleidoscope into a real persons mind, history and existence. It is there that SKINHOUSE makes a dramatic and severe difference from other independent theatre available. Where SKINHOUSE shines is in the very raw and formed storytelling. This is a real story, these are real people and this is a very moving and exploratory insight into a taboo and silenced world. There are things being said by these young performers/playwrights that needs to be heard and seen and it handles itself incredibly well...It takes the glamour out of sensationalized garbage like Secret Diary of a Call Girl and it presents us with two powerful, strong, emotionally flawed, contemporary Australian heroines in a dark and overwhelming situation and asks us not to look away...Fleur Kilpatrick's writing is brilliantly, and brutally honest, with a silent violence erupting throughout. This is exciting, unpretentious script with a type of child-like innocence and feminine edge that makes it draw you in and then push you away at the same time...Almost too easy to engage with, SKINHOUSE is a must-see for the La Mama season. You should not miss out on this."

(Matto Lucas, Melbourne Art Review)

"The use of music is brilliantly realised, rising organically to augment the show’s emotional impact. Kilpatrick and Benton regularly break into duets for voice and piano. Their songs are a delight, with harmonies forging an ethereal, mournful beauty reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins or, at one point, Massive Attack...the performances are intense and straight from the heart, and Skinhouse remains a soul-baring, bittersweet and moving piece of autobiographical theatre."

(Cameron Woodhead, The Age)

"The writing is wonderful. It is fresh, often poetic but always natural. The play is a lovely weaving of naturalism – in set, lighting and acting – with the non-naturalistic world outside, where the stage is hardly lit, save for the splashes of red light...The real star, however, remained the script which crackled with delightful commentaries on the world around us and how we end up where we are, wherever that may be...It’s so great to see Melbourne represented in all its comedy, pathos, starkness, light, and dark." 

(Angus Cameron, Theatre People)

"There’s something almost disconcertingly delicate about Skinhouse. The fifty-five minute play with music, written and performed by Kristina Benton and Fleur Kilpatrick, is so finely balanced, so compact and precisely executed and human and fleeting, that it feels as if it might float or melt away like a sliver of ice on skin...The performances of the two leads, combined with the work of director Danny Delahunty, create a sense of casual, uncontrived, honest intimacy between Fleur and Kristina that’s rare and incredibly difficult to conjure on stage."

(Hannah Aroni, We Are All From Earth)