Short & Sweet winners named

Sydney based writer-director David Bulmer’s hilarious green-tinged political satire Doing it for the Penguins has scooped the pool at the Gala Final at NIDA’s magnificent Parade Theatre on Saturday night winning all of the major awards of Short+Sweet Sydney 2011, the largest ten-minute theatre festival on the planet.

Sydney based writer-director David Bulmer’s hilarious green-tinged political satire Doing it for the Penguins has scooped the pool at the Gala Final at NIDA’s magnificent Parade Theatre on Saturday night winning all of the major awards of Short+Sweet Sydney 2011, the largest ten-minute theatre festival on the planet.

The play received its award and prizes from NSW Shadow Arts Minister Anthony Roberts, who made a $1.5 Million Short+Sweet funding announcement on the night.

A packed audience applauded in delight as Bulmer’s razor edge wit and straight-to-the-bone insight saw Penguins claim the major award for Best Overall Production, with Best Actress and Actor nods for the cast, Elise Fabris and Damien Higginbotham.

Bulmer himself was awarded the Australian Writer’s Guild award for Best Script and was the first recipient of the Sam Gennochio Memorial Best Director Award, named after one of the founders of Short+Sweet,  who sadly passed away last year. Gennochio’s family was in attendance to see the award presented by his emotional colleague and fellow NIDA grad, actor Michael Denkha.

It was clear the judge’s and audience agreed on the night with Doing it for the Penguins also claiming the People’s Choice Award for the most popular play as voted by audiences during the festival. The hysterical ten minute play follows a State Labor Party staffer (Fabris) who decides to do her bit for the environment and, following the lead of her beloved Kristina Keneally, leave her car at home on World Environment day and take her bike to work.

Along the way our well-intentioned but seriously deluded cyclist meets pushy reporters, bored RTA call centre operators, a border collie, angry motorists and 4WDs drivers on their way to private Zumba lessons (all played by the versatile Higginbotham) – each encounter funnier than the next. Until she meets her own personal nemesis – peak hour traffic on King Street, Newtown! Superbly written and directed by Short+Sweet Playwrighting course graduate Bulmer and performed to perfection by Fabris and Higginbotham the play was given an extra edge by being perfectly timed just before the NSW State Election.

In another popular result on the night, Downs Syndrome actor Gerard O’Dwyer claimed the Best Actor Runner-Up for his funny and touching performance in Beautiful (also written by David Bulmer). O’Dwyer shared his award with Matt Charleston for his stunning portrayal of a man cursed by a super-human sense of smell in Pete Malicki’s fascinating monologue, The Devil’s Aftershave.

In a night full of outstanding female performances the Best Actress Runner-Up prize went to Sophie Cleary for her extraordinary performance as Dorothy Parker in USA writer Laurel Ollstein’s, In the Bath.

Best Independent Theatre Company was presented to Twisted Tree Theatre for their modern take on a classic theatrical form, commedia dell arte, Commedia della Scorreggia.

Written and performed by a talented young cast from the Wesley Institute – Bobby Den Engelsman, Ben Vickers, Andrew Bollom, Nicholas O’Regan and Scott Parker and also directed by Parker – the boisterous production delighted the audience with their true-to-the-form performance.

The Alex Broun Best New Talent award went to young Sydney writer and director Georgia Symons.

The Wildcards Winner award, for the overall winning production in the Wildcards, was presented to The Talk Down by Nathan Finger and Richard Clark that qualified for Short+Sweet Sydney as one of the runners-up of the inaugural Short+Sweet Newcastle last year.

While in a new award Lydia Kelly, Short+Sweet’s tireless and devoted Head Stage Manager was presented with the Spirit of Short+Sweet Award which is awarded to the participating artist, crew member or supporter who best embodied the values and traditions of Short+Sweet during the Festival.