Plaything by Simon Dodd
Image: Cherrie Whalen-David & David Jeffrey
Photo: Clare Hawley
Multi-award winning comedy writer Simon Dodd has created a one-act play which will be performed at Marrickville’s Depot Theatre.
Plaything is about two theatregoers who accidentally walk on stage and find themselves in a play. They can’t leave the play but they don’t know their characters, the script or even who they are themselves.
The idea for the script all started when Dodd tried to find the bathrooms while seeing a play but nearly ended up on stage instead.
“I saw a big wooden door and thought that was it. But when I opened it, it was very dark and I soon realised that I was backstage,” Dodd said.
“From there I started to wonder what would have happened if I’d absentmindedly walked out on stage and found myself in a play.”
One of the perks of watching this play is the length of it – there it’s one act with no interval. Dodd has experienced plays that he thought they would never end, so he decided to write one that ends all too soon.
“Nobody wants to have to sit through three and a half hours of turgid drama. They want have a laugh and then go home,” he explained.
“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked out of a play at interval thinking, ‘I don’t know about the ending, but at least it was short’ – only to discover we all had to go back in and sit through another excruciating act or two’.” (AMal)
Mar 30–Apr 13 (8pm Wed‐Sat, 5pm Sun). The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville. $22-$32. Tickets & info: thedepottheatre.com
BY ATHINA MALLIS
