Two decades since its debut season, the Old Fitz Theatre proudly announces the revival of Lally Katz’s acclaimed work, The Eisteddfod
Playing in the late night program from the 21st to 31st May, 2024
Press Release
Sydney
Gerture and Abalone are agoraphobic. Left alone to their own devices, after the tragic death of their parents in a tree pruning accident, they prepare to win ‘the eisteddfod’ with the performance of a lifetime; Macbeth. Absurdity and dark humour coalesce with an ugly truth in Lally Katz’s beloved comedy, The Eisteddfod, as we watch two siblings turn their backs on reality and run head first into play-pretend. But as the world of imagination slowly disintegrates, where do we go when reality is too hard to face?
Katz’s viscerally funny depiction of the human condition, performed by two of Sydney’s sparkliest up-and-comers in Fraser Crane and Ziggy Resnick, promises to be a weird and wacky homage to stories – to those that tell them, hear them, and need them to survive. Katz and Resnick’s shared Jewish heritage has forged a connection between the artists, with Katz Zooming in from LA to delve further into how her Jewish background has influenced her work and practice, and to explore why the themes in the work still draw artists and audiences to see it.
“It’s really exciting to me that Ziggy Resnick and their team are doing The Eisteddfod.” Said writer Lally Katz, “It first premiered exactly twenty years ago. It means a lot to me that it’s still speaking to young artists.”
Co-director Jess Bell also talks to the relevance of this piece particular for young people in a post-lockdown era, saying “Stories are guides to living. For Abalone and Gerture, agoraphobic siblings who play out their adult longings and anxieties in a controlled arena of their own making, story gives life purpose and meaning. For Abalone, they must create or they will perish. Perhaps a takeaway question is this: How do we find ways out of the prisons of our own making? Lally encourages us to keep creating, regardless of the outcome or how the ‘maker’ perceives its value.”
The creative team explored an unconventional creative process, with the two performers experimenting with both roles before they were cast. As young, diverse, and queer theatre makers, their goal was to allow the actors to inhabit the characters they authentically connected with, without conforming to gender norms.
Producer and performer Ziggy Resnick said, “As a non-binary theatre maker and practitioner, my goal is to constantly re-evaluate how we can challenge and exceed expectations; reveal the prejudices that we have been operating within and unveil infinite opportunities. It is our responsibility to return to the core of human beings and what we stand for as artists, and that for me, is the truth.”
Reviving the late night program at Old Fitz Theatre was a top priority of new Artistic Director Lucy Clements and Executive Producer Emma Wright. The season creates more opportunities for independent theatre makers by providing access into the iconic space through short seasons that showcase theatrical works from new and established artists.
Emma Wright, Executive Producer at Old Fitz Theatre, “As independent artists, we know all too well that access to space is one of the biggest challenges we face, and so it’s important that we’re doing what we can to activate our little pub basement theatre as much as humanly possible. The Late Night program means that we essentially triple our programming opportunities for artists, and we are able to offer audiences more variety, with the chance to experience cutting-edge, boundary-pushing work led by Sydney’s finest emerging talent”
THE EISTEDDFOD
Dates/Time: 21 – 31 May, 2024 | 9.15pm Tues-Sat, 7.30pm Sun
Cost: Preview $20, Season $25 + bf
Duration: 50 minutes (no interval)
Venue: Old Fitz Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, Wolloomoolloo
Tickets: https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/the-eisteddfod
Social Media Link: @theeisteddfod
