Kangaroo, the debut play from Bathurst playwright Miranda Gott, is fast becoming the breakaway success story of regional NSW theatre in 2021.
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After three stellar sold-out performances at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre [BMEC] last month, Kangaroo was greeted by a rousing reception at the Cowra Civic Centre last Saturday.
"Both Cowra shows attracted favourable crowds, and there were people who missed it in Bathurst who drove all the way over to see it," Gott said.
"The actors were even more on point in Cowra than they were in Bathurst. They had a short, intense rehearsal period between the Bathurst and Cowra shows, and I think it did them a world of good."
Directed by Becky Russell, Kangaroo stars Geraldine Brown, Madelaine Osborn and Duncan Wass as three multigenerational characters diving deep into the knife-edge nature of life, death, trauma and suppressed memory.
Gott said the performances in Cowra allowed the production to further hone its identity and bolster its meaning in front of new audiences.
"The actors discovered a lot more nuance to their characters, which allowed the play's core themes to be further refined," she said.
"Kangaroo's success has given me a strong desire to write more plays and from a personal point of view, writing is such an important 'sanity project' to combat the stresses of daily life, especially in our current climate."
The play was originally due to travel to Penrith's Q Theatre this weekend for a further run of performances, but has understandably been cancelled due the ongoing COVID-19 situation in NSW.
But Gott said Q Theatre has put funding towards the production of 'Kangaroo' in podcast form, which is currently in development.
"The actors have been recording the play throughout the week, and I've had to adapt the script a bit to explain key visual elements in further detail," she said.
"When the podcast is made available, initially on the Q Theatre website and later on the BMEC website, people will be able to download the images of key visual queues essential to certain scenes."
Gott hopes the podcast will expand Kangaroo to wider audiences, and is looking forward to touring the production further once COVID reliably settles down.
"I hope this play encourages other people in regional areas to embrace their inner storyteller, as you'll never know the value of your ideas until you present them in front of others," she said.
Kangaroo has been produced by BMEC's Local Stages, with support from Q Theatre, Lingua Franca, Arts OutWest and Martha and Ben Gelin.
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