Nicole Pingon spins our heads with another captivating work. Spider in my Soup is driven by the quirky understanding that spiders are versions of ourselves from the future, looking back on our memories; either peacefully reliving it or wishing for a change in the outcome.

Performed at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery as a part of Bondi Feast, this work is deeply rooted in its connection to nature. Spiders linger in the corners of the room, spinning and weaving their webs and watching everyone. Strings are tied around the space, looping under chairs and wrapping around posts. Spider in my Soup follows the grounded childhood friendship of two girls, to their meandering adolescence.

Lara Franzi had a conversation with Director (and fellow Playwave Creative!) Nicole Pingon about the show and its evolution.

Here’s a question: What’s the biggest dividing difference between theatre and film?

My response was always: ‘The close ups’

Because of my love for detail, which I thought film was always best at showing. As cameras allow cinema to travel, to flow with the characters and to see insight into their lives that theatre stages cannot give...

Washed in the sorrows of nine morally corrupted characters, this 1971 German play embeds the fears of drunken misfits who share their concern towards issues that are much too familiar to the ones we all still face today.  

Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and picked up by  Blood On The Cat’s Neck challenges the way we observe both theatre as well as otDirector Saro Luxty-Cavallari,hers, and invites us to be voyeurs into the characters' tragic wins and failures. Entering a bar scene, the audience steps into and onto stage to become part of a set that would seem empty without them. This interactive element is a powerful decision that lets us determine where to stand as we are witness to the torments on display.

A grind of thoughts and feelings that characterise before our eyes, Emme Hoy’s Extinction of a Learned Response is a new work showing as part of the 25A Belvoir independent season, filling the stage with an eerie glimpse into a dystopian nihilistic future.

After seeing the performance, Lara was lucky enough to interview playwright Emme Hoy on her motivation and meanings behind Extinction of a Learned Response.

Hell. Demons. A senior prom night in danger. Vietnamese American playwright, Qui Nguyen’s Alice in Slasherland is outrageous, unapologetic and currently playing at the Old Fitz for Sydney audiences.

I was lucky enough to catch not one, not two, but SIX of the cast from Alice in Slasherland, before they jumped into their tech run. Welcomed into the space with warm arms, this charming group of young creatives were all in good spirits.