Act Natural (staged reading)

Developed through Fruit Box Theatre’s RIPE Development Program and presented during Sydney WorldPride in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company.

A crew of amateur documentary filmmakers convince a timid recluse, Sam, to let them film him for a “quick” university project. Seven years later they are still filming. The constant gaze of the camera corrodes Sam into a dark, desperate imitation of the crew's ideal subject. Until he is no longer controllable, no longer just a subject but a force of subjugation.

He is abandoned. Alone for the first time in years. With no camera, no director and no audience, Sam is left to wade through the waters of person and persona. Feeling himself sink, he turns to the footage of the last seven years.

Act Natural is a queer ontological thriller that explores the performativity of gender and sexuality - can you truly decipher the line between a performed self and a true self?

Join us for a staged reading of Act Natural – the first public showing of this new play and a taster of what’s to come.

CAST & CREATIVES
Writer Miso Bell
Director Emma Burns
Producer / Dramaturg Rowan Brunt
Executive Producers Madeleine Gandhi and Sean Landis
Costume Designer Daniel Rogers
Assistant Director Rebekah Parsons
Stage Manager Alex Bryant
AV Matthew Miceli Photography

Sam Clay Crighton
Director Marty Quinn
AD ‘Ana Ika
Boom Op Ananya Dixit

Special Thanks Em Small, Emily Henderson, Millsya Theda, Sarah Carroll, Shania O’Brien, Helena Gandhi and SB&W Foundation