Playwright offers ‘huge praise’ for Offshore Theatre’s new show

AUTHOR of the new Offshore Theatre play, 2:20AM, Rebecca Lister gets around, which is hardly surprising for someone born at Mount Isa in far western Queensland.

Last Friday night, the award-winning playwright, arts producer and social worker was at Newhaven College’s Blackbox Theatre to witness the latest production of her confronting play about the circumstances surrounding and impact of suicide.

It’s not all black, of course, but there’s challenging material for the four local actors; Chris White, Lauren White, Mel Beynon and Annie Khoury, making her stage debut, and their director Melissa McMillan.

But they all did superbly, across three performances last weekend, and with three to go this coming weekend; Thursday and Friday night October October 26 and 27 at 7.30pm and a matinee on Saturday, October 28 at 2pm.

And if you take the word of the person who should know, the writer Rebecca Lister, it’s a must see.

“Thank you to Offshore Theatre for the fabulous night! Was such an honour to see my work produced by such an astute director, cast and crew. Thank you for the very warm welcome to your theatre and for the dedication given to the work. It was such a pleasure to attend your production of 2:20AM. Enjoy the rest of your season... you all deserve huge praise and applause.”

What a thrill!

And Melissa McMillan said as much: “It was such a pleasure to meet you, Rebecca. Thank you for travelling down to see our show. What a thrill!”

The praise went beyond that with the audience spilling out of the theatre full of praise for the cast and how they dealt with the difficult subject matter.

The experienced Chris White was superb as ‘Dave’ the construction worker and reluctant participant who has shut down since the suicide death of his teenage daughter.

Several people said the portrayal of middle aged Trish, who lost her partner, by Lauren White, the Head of Drama and Theatre at Newhaven College, is some of her best work.

Mel Benyon as pain-in-the-arse Stella, desperate for someone to blame after the death of her father and Annie Khoury as the writers’ group workshop facilitation, just as desperate to save everyone.

These are themes we’re told we have to deal with, understand and be prepared to intervene in if we are to impact the rate of suicides, mostly affecting specific age groups and sectors within the community.

If discussion of these issues are of concern to you, please contact the national 24/7 crisis service Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Book tickets here: