2009: Every Base Covered by Sam Floyd

Every Base Covered, an anthology of short plays by Sam Floyd.  Freshly Ground Theatre at QL2 Theatre, Gorman House Arts Centre, May 20-30 Wednesdays to Saturdays, 8pm.  Bookings 0450 067 322.

9 plays in 75 minutes sounds like at least a half-marathon, but in Floyd's capable hands we arrive at the end laughing and not a bit breathless, with Every Base Covered.  The Ten Minute Play is now quite an established artform as a result of the Short+Sweet Festival competitions which grew from the Sydney Festival Fringe nearly ten years ago.  Included in this program are two of Floyd's successes – The Disclaimer, a winner in the 2008 Canberra One Act Play Festival, and Imaginary Break-up which reached the finals in the Eltham Theatre Ten Minute Play Festival in Melbourne.

Each play is a – usually absurd – solution to a What if question.  What if a café customer exposes his interest only in the waitress to the exclusion of all other norms of behaviour?  What if a suicide negotiator actually thinks the jumper should jump?  What would you sing if you had only a tiny ukelele left in the whole world?  What if a girl ignores you after she has asked you for three drinks?  What if you are the girl?  What if you find yourself with a guitar instead of a ukelele after all?  What if people could be persuaded to waive their right to sue for compensation for their death, when the cause of everyone's death is their birth?  What if the girl you imagine you love is really imaginary and then wants to break up the relationship?  What if the girl in the red polka dot dress you have just run over is the wrong one, because you don't know if the dress was supposed to be white with red dots or red with white dots?

Tight scripting is complemented by an appropriately economical staging and acting style, performed by only four actors.  After a year of working together, I suspect the time is approaching for Freshly Ground Theatre, and Sam Floyd in particular, to take on bigger things.  They have clearly built an audience among their 20-something peer group and could think now of moving beyond the limited QL2 into pubs and clubs, and eventually on to the main stage.  Floyd reminds me of other local successes, such as Queanbeyan's Tommy Murphy, first mentioned in The Canberra Times in 2005 and now a published Sydney playwright.  Let's see Freshly Ground seek new pastures.



   

©Frank McKone, Canberra