Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl
Writer
Jane Miller
Director
Beng Oh
Set and Costume Design
Emily Collett
Lighting Design
John Collopy
Sound Design
Ben Keene
Stage Manager
Teri Steer
Cast
Hudson Emery
Sophie Lampel
Annie Lumsden
Glenn van Oosterom
Gabriel Partington
Fortyfivedownstairs
29 June to 9 July 2023
45 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC
Content Warning
Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl is an adaptation of Medea and is recommended for anyone 15+. The production contains a loud firearm effect and scenes depicting bullying and sexual harassment that some viewers may find disturbing. The work also includes stylized and verbal representations of murder and violence.
“I can only deal with this theme seriously, if I deal with it comically.”
George Tabori
Writer’s Note
Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl looks at serious, often dark, material through a tragicomic lens that combines elements of subversive humour, feminism and pop culture and has its genesis in our desire to adapt a second classical work as a follow-up to Motherf##ker, our 2014 adaptation of Oedipus. In the process of investigating existing adaptations of Medea, often by male writers, I became frustrated with the depiction of the central female character. Medea is almost always portrayed as irrational and driven almost exclusively by sexual jealousy. I was increasingly aware of the way she and female characters of her ilk are portrayed in literature, history and mythology. This led me to reflect on the patriarchal foundation of our society, the way it diminishes and excludes anyone who doesn’t meet or conform to its narrowly defined standards of gender, success, power and strength. Viewing the work via this frame doesn’t exonerate Medea of her actions, but enables interrogation of the role of Jason as well the societal context in which Medea’s place in the world been prescribed.
Using a comedic lens for an adaptation of Medea was always going to be tricky and audiences will judge how well it lands for them. I can say as the writer that the intent is not to ridicule or trivialise the serious themes and events at the heart of this classical tragedy. Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin and in this work the use of humour attempts to illuminate the darker aspects of the piece, bringing them into sharper focus, and stimulate an ongoing conversation. I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t write a version of Medea where the central event is simply the act of a woman scorned. I don’t believe that story and, for me, it belittles what remains among the most fundamental of transgressions. In endeavouring to understand the elements that drive the act of murder, there is no intent to absolve. Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl asks why and how the unimaginable can happen and what complicity if any, we share as a community and society.
Like any writer for performance, I do nothing alone. This work is the result of a rich collaborative process and my love and thanks to my creative partner Beng and our family of artists who so generously contributed their ideas, talent and time. I am immensely grateful to Hothouse Theatre and La Mama for their generous support in developing and presenting the work in its critical formative stage and fortyfivedownstairs for their tenacity and commitment to programming a remounted season despite the slings and arrows of a pandemic cancellation.
Jane Miller
June 2023
Director’s Note
In Just a Boy, Standing in Front of a Girl we see Medea refracted through romcoms, three-panel comics, sitcoms, pop music, video games, TV dramas and more (including William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress) as we follow J and M’s picaresque adventures.
The whole is wrapped up in Jane’s characteristic humour – her tool of choice to illuminate the absurdities, imbalances and unfairness of what it is to be a woman in a man’s world – but never at the expense of the tragedy at the heart of this story. Where the Greeks were preoccupied with fate versus free will though, Jane questions whether the societal mores we are brought up in are equally determinative of our lot, as much as the Fates themselves.
This production has been quite a ride, from early beginnings in 2017 all the way through lockdowns, COVID, Zoom rehearsals, disrupted schedules and more. We’ve come through it though thanks to an incredible cast and production team and I can’t thank them enough for their time, talent, goodwill and generosity.
Beng Oh
June 2023
Acknowledgement
With many thanks to Daniel Barca, Jacob Battista, Keith Brockett, John Marc Desengano, Sam Diamond, Caitlin Dullard, Maureen Hartley, Mary Lou Jelbart, Liz Jones, Zac Kazepis, Cameron Lukey, Andrea McCannon, Michelle Odgers, Sam and Lukas Quinlan, Steph Robinson, Dans Maree Sheehan, Felicity Steel, Yvonne Virsik and to everyone at Fortyfivedownstairs, HotHouse Theatre, La Mama Theatre, Monash University Student Theatre, Richmond Uniting Church and Siteworks for their support.
Emily Collett
Set and Costume Designer
Emily is a set and costume designer whose practice comprises live performance, film, television and costume research. Recent design credits include HELLO, WORLD! (Malthouse Theatre), CONTROL (Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (Watch This), and NICHE (Elbow Room Productions). Emily was nominated for a Green Room Award for DREAM HOME (Northcote Town Hall), and THE ART OF MAKING ART with Watch This, has received grants from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and ArtStart, and has participated in Malthouse Theatre’s Besen Family Artist Program and Melbourne Theatre Companies’ Women in Theatre Program. A PhD candidate and tutor in design at The Victorian College of the Arts, her research focuses on the topic of costume for performance as a cultural marker, specifically in relation to Australian identity and reconciliation.
John Collopy
Lighting Designer
John Collopy is a lighting and visual designer, whose work for the stage has been seen in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane. His lighting design credits include ANIMAL FARM; THE MARKET IS A WIND UP TOY; PARADISE LOST; THE NOSE (The Bloomshed); THE HUMAN VOICE (Periscope Productions and Choral Edge); BODYLEX (Dancehouse/Rhys Ryan); NEW BALANCE and THE OTHER PLACE (Before Shot and Theatre Works); NORMA and OTELLO (Melbourne Opera); SENSORY DECADENCE and KILTER (One Fell Swoop Circus); SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE (Theatre Works/Monash Uni Student Theatre); HELPING HANDS (A_tistic/La Mama); WRATH (Baker’s Dozen Theatre/JackRabbit Theatre); 80 MINUTES NO INTERVAL (Theatre Works/Hot Mess Productions); MARIE ANTOINETTE (Heartstring Theatre); THE MAN WHO CANNOT SLEEP (White Night/Magic Lantern Studio/Sanctum Theatre); TOO READY MIRROR (Darebin Arts Speakeasy); IRONBOUND; HURLYBURLY; and SHINING CITY (Q44 Theatre). He is an founding member of A_tistic, a theatre company committed to putting neurodiverse stories on stage.
Hudson Emery
Actor
Raised in the regional snowy mountains of New South Wales, Hudson is now vehemently pursuing his performance career, frequently jumping between Sydney, Melbourne and anywhere else the arts take him. Through a diverse artistic practice, Hudson has fulfilled roles in performing, directing, script and song writing, and design. Hudson has been a part of a variety of productions including works at Perth Fringe, Sydney Festival and the Inland Sea of Sound Festival. Hudson Emery is a Melbourne based actor and musician. With a chaotic, yet hopefully healthy, mix of genius, ambition, and lunacy, Hudson is forever trying to strike a perfect balance within that trifecta. Please wish him luck.
Ben Keene
Sound Designer
Ben is a Melbourne composer, producer and sound designer. He graduated with distinction from the RMIT Digital Media course and was awarded the RMIT Higher Education Award in 2016, he currently is a course coordinator in RMIT’s Design school. His previous theatre sound design credits include working with MTC, Expressions Dance Company, Fortyfivedownstairs and Melbourne Shakespeare Company. In addition to being a collaborator with Beng Oh, he is also a member of Finucane Smith, composing for INTIMATE 8 for NGV and THE FLOOD at XiXi international theatre festival in Shanghai. In 2019 he contributed to the Prague Quadrennial. He has composed for several film projects, such as 2019’s THE CASE OF THE SHANGHAIED SONGBIRD and the ongoing independent animated series STARQUEST.
Sophie Lampel
Actor
Sophie is a graduate of The University of Ballarat (Performing Arts) and is also an International Fellow of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre London. She works as an actor, theatre producer and pilates instructor in Melbourne. Her main producing work is with the creation, development and management of Essential Theatre alongside her friend and collaborator Amanda LaBonté. Recent credits include the Australian Premiere of EMILIA at Arts Centre Melbourne and Canberra Theatre Centre (2022), THE DREAM LABORATORY – an immersive theatre experience inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2022) & ENTER OPHELIA – a co-production with Three Birds Theatre (La Mama 2018). Performance highlights with Essential Theatre include Bottom (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM), Leonata/Dogberry (MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING), Nurse (ROMEO & JULIET), Viola (TWELFTH NIGHT), the twin Dromio’s (THE COMEDY OF ERRORS) and Anthony (JULIUS CAESAR – Melbourne, Adelaide & Edinburgh Fringe Festivals).
Annie Lumsden
Actor
Annie is an actor, presenter and comic working in Melbourne/Naarm. Select theatre credits include LITTLE DAUGHTERS, COLOURED ALIENS, THREE SISTERS (La Mama), MOTHERF#CKER, JUST A BOY STANDING IN FRONT OF A GIRL (15 Minutes From Anywhere), BOCK KILLS HER FATHER (She Said Theatre Co.) and a tour throughout Asia and Europe with Backyard Theatre Ensemble’s production of MISSING IN ME. TV credits include NEIGHBOURS and WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS (ABC). Annie created and performed sketch show THIS IS OUR PILOT alongside Lena Moon, which was nominated for Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2019. The girls turned selected sketches from the show into an online series titled ANNIE & LENA. This year they completed a sold-out season of their Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut with production THIS IS OUR SHOW.
Jane Miller
Writer
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Jane’s work has been produced within Australia and internationally. Plays include HAPPILY EVER AFTER (La Mama), TRUE LOVE TRAVELS ON GRAVEL ROAD (15 Minutes from Anywhere / Fortyfivedownstairs), MOTHERF##KER (La Mama Courthouse/15 Minutes from Anywhere), THE YELLOW WAVE (The Poppy Seed Festival 2015/La Mama Courthouse 2017). CUCKOO (15 Minutes from Anywhere / Fortyfivedownstairs, 2015 / The Unknown Union 2017), JUST A BOY, STANDING IN FRONT OF GIRL (15 Minutes from Anywhere / La Mama Courthouse, 2018) and ADRIFT (15 Minutes from Anywhere/La Mama). Jane is a recipient of an R.E. Ross Playwrights Script Development Award for TRUE LOVE TRAVELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD and a Green Room Award nominee for independent writing for CUCKOO. As a dramaturg, Jane’s credits include SHIT HAPPENS (La Mama 50th Anniversary) by Sandy MacGregor and P.O.V DAVE (La Mama) by Noel Maloney. Jane is co-artistic director of independent theatre company, 15 Minutes from Anywhere.
Beng Oh
Director
Beng is a critically regarded director and theatre maker. He’s passionate about diversity, new work, queer theatre and is attracted to heightened and non-naturalistic texts. He completed post-graduate directing at the Victorian College of the Arts and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in New York. He is co-artistic director with playwright Jane Miller of 15 Minutes from Anywhere and is on the committee of management for La Mama Theatre. He is an associate of Contemporary Asian Australian Performance. Previous productions include ADRIFT, SOUL OF POSSUM, THE SIX GUYS AN IMMIGRANT TRANS PERSON OF COLOUR WILL DATE IN MELBOURNE, COCK, WILD CHERRIES, THE YELLOW WAVE, COLOURED ALIENS, MEIN KAMPF and PORCELAIN – http://bengoh.com/
Glenn van Oosterom
Actor
A proud member of the 15 Minutes from Anywhere company, Glenn’s recent credits include Patalog Theatre’s TUSK TUSK as well as the feature MISS FISHER AND THE CRYPT OF TEARS. A National Theatre Graduate, Glenn has been fortunate enough to perform nationally through a variety of projects, including: HIT Production’s THE SUM OF US, Essential Theatre’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM; the titular role in ROMEO & JULIET for the Australian Shakespeare Company; premiere Franz Xaver Kroetz’s TOM FOOL with Beng Oh, explore MARCEL & ALBERTINE for Stork Theatre, launch Jane Miller’s TRUE LOVE TRAVELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD; play a critically-acclaimed young Hitler in Tabori’s MEIN KAMPF; and regular touring to rural Australia to promote mental health with HealthPlay’s OUT OF THE BLUE. Additional screen credits include Limelight International’s THE STOLEN, Terry Pratchett & Snowgum Films’ TROLL BRIDGE, BED OF ROSES, RUSH and the web-series CLIQUE. Voice work includes radio, TVCs, documentaries, animation, television, short films and the web-series OPTIMISM BIAS.
Gabriel Partington
Actor
Gabriel Partington is a theatre maker and actor based in Naarm (Melbourne). Recent credits include The Shift Theatre’s MYSTERY IN A BLIMP, Laurence Strangio’s production of TRAPS by Caryl Churchill, SOWING SEEDS at Gasworks Arts Park, and SOUL OF POSSUM for YIRRAMBOI and Castlemaine State Festival. Gabriel has also acted in productions by Attic Erratic, Complete Works, Four Larks, Malthouse, TBC Theatre, 15 Minutes from Anywhere, and others. As a theatre maker, he regularly collaborates with The Indirect Object on national and international touring projects, including experimental theatre production FOR THE LOVE OF AN ORANGE, which was presented at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial. Gabriel is a 2009 VCA graduate and proud Equity Member. This is Gabriel’s second collaboration with 15 Minutes from Anywhere. He enjoys long walks on the beach and feeding the neighbour’s cat when no-one is looking.
Teri Steer
Stage Manager
Teri is a Melbourne-based freelance stage and production manager, who has worked on a wide variety of independent shows in Melbourne since relocating in 2017. She trained in Brisbane and Toowoomba in music, theatre, and technical theatre. In the last decade of her career, Teri has spent time designing, performing, building, operating, and stage managing for theatre. She spent six months of last year touring the country with MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL. Her time in Melbourne has seen her working consistently with Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, La Mama, Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne Shakespeare Company, Citizen Theatre, Arts Access Victoria and 15 Minutes From Anywhere.