By Candice Boyle
BRAYBROOK playwright Frank Otis’ ability “to tell it like it is” has earned him a place on the Victorian Arts Centre stage.
Mr Otis’ play, A Dish Best Served Cold, will be performed at the arts centre next month as part of Short and Sweet, the biggest 10-minute theatre competition in the world.
The play was recently shortlisted in the top 30 finalists chosen from more than 1100 plays submitted from around the world.
The appeal of the competition attracted the one-time struggling artist again this year after being listed as a wild-card entry in the top 60 of last year’s competition.
“They get entries from all over the world, and there is a possibility my play will be performed in Sydney and Singapore. It is amazing,” he said.
Mr Otis said he had continued to build on the success of his first play, And Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, that was performed at the Footscray Community Arts to a sell-out crowd.
He puts his success down to the confronting topics and edgy and honest style of his plays.
“I haven’t had an easy life and I tell the story like it is. And I often get feedback from artists about how real my dialogue is. I will look at subjects that no one else will, domestic violence, incest and terrorism,” he said.
A Dish Best Served Cold tells the story of three women who kidnap a man who has raped them to dish out their own form of punishment.
“The guy was only convicted for one of the rapes so they take justice into their own hands,” Mr Otis said.
“It is a fine line between justice and revenge and I want the audience to go away thinking about the issues.”
Mr Otis said it had taken about eight months to get the play to the rehearsing stage where it will be fined-tuned before being presented on Wednesday 19 December at the arts centre.
Picture: JOSEPHINE HARKIN.
