Cecilia, you're breakin' my heart

From the tech run for 'Fefu and Her Friends', written by Maria Irene Fornes, co-directed by Nick Sturgess-Monks (me) & Amanda Wallace.  Stage Managed by Antony Aiono, Produced by Mary Rinaldi.  Photography by me (Nick Sturgess-Monks).

Fefu:  Lisa Louw
Cindy:  Lily Empson
Christina:  Hannah Keeley Doherty
Julia:  Hannah Grant
Emma:  Amelia Williams
Paula:  Rachel Clarke
Sue:  Ajsha Trebilco
Cecilia:  Lauren Millar

A classic play from the American Realist Movement by Cuban-American, lesbian, feminist playwright Maria Irene Fornes.

Set and staged in a real house, 'Fefu and Her Friends' reveals a deeply personal glimpse at the dynamics of a complexly knit group of friends and acquaintances. The play follows a group of intelligent women who gather to plan a conference, but all does not go smoothly.
Fefu, an eternally mischievous troublemaker, shoots her husband and announces “women are loathsome!”, much to the chagrin of new-to-the-group Christina. Julia, mysteriously crippled and constantly judged, desperately tries to save Fefu from the same fate. Cindy grapples with an internal struggle that she's afraid to acknowledge. Old feelings are dragged up between old flames, Paula and Cecilia – something that doesn't go unnoticed by Sue. And Emma can't stop thinking about genitals!

“Women are restless with each other. They are like live wires...either chattering to keep themselves from making contact, or else, if they don't chatter, they avert their eyes.”

Fornes' play presents a sharp, yet lighthearted, commentary on contemporary society and gender politics that continues to ring true to this day with events such as the Nigerian kidnapping of hundreds of girls for attending school, and the gender pay gap that refuses to disappear. This informs the Directors' (Nick Sturgess-Monks and Amanda Wallace) decision to set the play in the modern day, despite its having been written in 1977 and set in the 1930s.

Dates: 14th, 21st and 28th of June and 5th July
Time: 7pm
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