Congratulations to all who entered.

This certainly look like a great series of one-act plays, a couple of nights of great entertainment.

Louis Nowra

The cast is currently rehearsing Old Nick’s next production, Louis Nowra’s The Golden Age.

This will be presented at the Peacock Theatre, and tickets will be available soon from Centertainment.

Discover part of Tasmania’s fascinating history. A true Tasmanian Gothic.

Entries need to be received (not submitted, but received) by the close of business on Friday, 30 July 2010. If you are entering a play, get a move on and submit the form now!

We are looking for people to work on the show in the role of Stage Manager, Backstage, Front of House, Bar or Lighting and Audio. If you’re interested and available, email the Old Nick Secretary.

It certainly is an interesting view of theatre in Tasmania, and Hobart in particular, from an “outsider”.

I’d be interested in hearing if people agree with the idea that the theatrical order really is “upside down” here, or is it that our theatrical “business” model is just different to other states.

The Old Nick Company, Tasmania’s premier amateur theatre company, presents Beautiful Thing.

I would like to thank all the actors who auditioned for Old Nick’s production of “Beautiful Thing” by Jonathan Harvey. The following actors have been cast in the show.

• Cambell McKenzie as Jamie
• Benjamin Winckle as Ste
• Jessica Davies as Leah
• Clare Gray as Sandra
• Rowan Harris as Tony

We recently had confirmation that this production will be the first production of “Beautiful Thing” in Tasmania.

Rehearsals began on May 11th at Lettitia St. headquarters and are running well. Cast and crew are having a great time and some wonderful and funny moments are being captured by our small and talented cast. We will soon have our poster up and out there, so keep a lookout. Centertainment is our booking/ticket agent, so if people want to book for the show you only need to pop in, get onto their webpage, or phone (03) 6234 5998. Tickets are available NOW! Door sales will be available on the night at the Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre, as long as the show is not sold out. We only have 135 seats available for each performance. Ticket costs are $25 adult and $20 concession.

Production season will be at The Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Place from Friday 16^th of July 2010 (Opening Night) and  Saturday 17^th of July. Then Tuesday 20^th July thru to Saturday 24^th July 2010. All performances commence at 8.00 pm.

More information after the break…

“Beautiful Thing” is set in 1993 on a working class South East London council estate called Thamesmead. It follows the bittersweet love story of two 16 year old boys Jamie and Ste. Jamie lives with Sandra his mum who is a barmaid at a local pub. Sandra is searching for a way out of the Estate while trying to maintain her relationship with Tony her boyfriend. She is at odds with her next door neighbour Leah who is a 16 year old school drop out who takes drugs and is obsessed by the music of Mamma Cass. Ste lives with his drug dealing abusive brother and his alcoholic father next door to Jamie. After Ste gets a beating from his brother one night, Sandra invites Ste to stay at her flat. Ste must share Jamie’s bed and with this begins the sexual awakening of the two boys. The play deals with the throws of teenage first love and sexual awakening in a humorous and sometimes tough and tender way. The characters of Jamie and Ste are not effeminate in anyway, they just happen to be two ordinary English working class lads who fall in love for the first time.

Production information and an audition form is available below, as well as some audition pieces. Please read the audition information sheet carefully.

Documents are available in two formats: Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat PDF

For more information, please email beautifulthing@oldnick.org.au

Here it is! Old Nick presents the 2010 Uni Revue – Inglorious Bartletts!

The Revue is being named after the Golden Globe winning Quentin Tarantino film “Inglourious Basterds” and promises a real Tarantino style look at the recent state election.

To start the ball rolling, expressions of interest are called for. You can find more info and the forms you will need on the OneFest web page here.

This is the poster for the Hobart Run. Sorry, I don't have a poster for the new run in Launceston.

In Februrary 2009 Old Nick presented a new play by Paul McIntyre. Well, it’s been picked up by Centr Stage and is being performed at the Annexe Theatre, Centre of Performing Arts in Launceston from 10-13 March. Book online here, or phone Theatre North on 6323 3666.

The show is directed by David Quin.  Here are the program notes:

Paul McIntyre – Bio

Paul McIntyre graduated from the Centre for Performing Arts at the University of Tasmania in 1994. The same year Paul co-wrote the play ‘That Guy’ with fellow CPA graduate James Haslem, which went on to be named ‘Best Tasmanian Play of 1994’ by theatre critic Wal Eastman. In 1995 Paul began working for the ABC in Hobart, writing scripts for radio and TV. Despite his full time commitments with the National Broadcaster, Paul continued writing for theatre (‘Shooting Cupid’, Mainstage Theatre Company, 1999) and directing, (‘Amadeus’, Mainstage Theatre Company, 2000, ‘Fools’ Old Nick Theatre Company, 2001, ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ Hobart Rep 2002). Paul began writing his third full length play, ‘Who Knows’, in the winter of 2006. Nine drafts and five public readings later ‘Who Knows’ premiered at the Peacock Theatre in February 2009 and was also featured at the 2009 National Play Conference.

Paul McIntyre – Writers notes

When I first had the idea for ‘Who Knows’ it was little more than the image of a fan dressed as an Ice Warrior sweltering in the heat of a Hobart summer. It wasn’t much to go on which is probably why it took me a number of years to actually put pen to paper. Eventually, in the winter of 2006, I was hit by inspiration in a second hand clothes shop in Auckland listening to ‘I’m Too Sexy’ by Right Said Fred on the radio. Looking back, the original draft seems embryonic and somewhat niave but thanks to a dedicated band of Hobart’s best performers (you know who you are) the script developed into the glistening and shiny creature you see before you. My heartfelt thanks goes to the BBC for their constant support and trust. Also I would like to pay tribute to all the writers quoted in this evening’s performance – without them this play would never have been possible – no, really!

Also, there is a vague rumour that the play may also get a production run in Canberra.

First off, new registrations are now authenticated by a reCAPTCHA process (those boxes where you type a couple of words to prove you are human and not a spambot). This means I don’t have to approve each new member. You have no idea how many attempts there have been to register fake users so this site can be spammed for cheap drugs and Russian brides.

I have also added this process to the comments box, and removed the requirement that you become a member to leave a comment. I’ll review this after a while and see how it’s going.