In a first for Armidale, a play written by the city’s most famous playwright will be produced locally at the TAS Hoskins Centre featuring young actors from The Armidale School, New England Girls’ School and PLC Armidale.
‘The Front Room Boys’ first premiered in Australia in 1970 and was subsequently given a season at London’s prestigious Royal Court Theatre. A satire on office life and unquestioning conformity, it’s a laugh-a-minute comedy about a group of office workers and the absurdity of their lives.
Playwright Alex Buzo attended The Armidale School over 50 years ago where the school’s legendary thespian Jim Graham asked a certain budding young writer to contribute to the school revue. The young Buzo loved this experience and never looked back, going on to become Australia’s first full-time playwright and making headlines with his sharp satire of Australian life and keen observation of the Australian idiom. His parents, Civil Engineer Zihni Buzo and former PLC teacher Elaine Buzo, moved to Armidale in 1951 as Zihni was the Designing and Chief Construction Engineer on the Oakey River Hydro-Electricity Scheme.
Director Emma Buzo, the playwright’s daughter, was a professional theatre producer in Sydney before she took up the position of Drama and Hoskins Centre Manager at TAS in 2010.
“I’ve employed a number of top shelf directors in the past to bring my father’s wonderful words to life,” Ms Buzo says, “but this is the first time I’ve dared to direct as well. The language is so rich and colourful, I would hate to miss a single nuance. I have such a clever and talented young cast though, who are having great fun with it.”
Year 10 TAS student Anthony Carlon is the Lighting Designer for the production. Anthony hopes to follow a career in the industry and has already built up an impressive skills base during his years at TAS where his technical production skills are utiised not only for in-house events but for touring productions and community events hosted by the Hoskins Centre.
Keen to involve professionals in an educational setting, Ms Buzo secured NERAM artist Jonathon Larsen to design the set.
“I wanted the students to see how a professional artist can use their imagination to highlight certain aspects of a text for the audience. Jonathan has a great eye for the offbeat and unexpected, so I’m sure we’re in for a treat with his interpretation of a 1970s office environment.”
The cast features Joss Guyer, Tom Henderson, Callum James, Kye Hardingham, Liam Meatheringham, Alex Reeves and Blake Wisemantel (TAS), Laura Spilsbury (PLC) and Bronte Thomson Sparrow (NEGS).
The Front Room Boys will be performed at The Hoskins Centre at TAS on September 8, 9 and 10 at 7.30pm, and September 10 at 11am. Tickets are $20 adults and $15 for concession holders or for groups of eight or more. Book online: www.trybooking.com.au/SWZ or phone 6776 5878.
