The Truth About Kookaburras: La Boite Indie and Pentimento Productions

Can You Handle ‘The Truth’?

After its success at Metro Arts in 2009, The Truth About Kookaburras is back for La Boite’s Indie programme.

A football team has a Buck’s night for one of the players, but things spiral out of control and one of the team dies mysteriously. As police comb the team’s locker room for clues the next day, the drunken night is slowly pieced back together. During the course of the investigation, the play becomes less of a whodunit and more of a character study. Dark, moving and funny, it explores questions of male identity, the lack of positive role models and sexual identity. Matt Gaffney, who plays one of the lads, Rootrat, describes it as ‘a convoluted physical piece, with movement, fights and simulated football play.’

Since its first run in 2009, the play has evolved and this production has an almost completely new cast, and with Sven Swenson as both writer and director, things can change at any time. Matt says that the play is very different to the one he began working on last November. In fact, a lot of the cast have been involved since November 2010, so one can only imagine the changes they have seen.

Everything about this play has an intense feel – the massive cast of around thirty, the long rehearsal period, the dark subject matter, and the jealous guarding of the plot’s twists and turns, which was clear before our interview with Matt who was given strict instructions about details he can and can’t reveal. It’s obvious Matt, along with everyone involved, is very passionate about this project.

‘Just as piece of writing, it’s very engaging. I got emotionally involved just reading the script’ he explains.

It has a ‘fly on the wall’ feel, so you’ll see behaviour that may be confronting. For instance, for the first 15 minutes of the play there is a lot of full-frontal nudity. As Matt says, “You get hit with that, then you come along for the ride and get hit with a lot of other stuff”.

Show:               The Truth About Kookaburras
Presented By:   La Boite Indie and Pentimento Productions
Dates:               6 – 23 June
Venue:              La Boite, Kelvin Grove
Bookings:         07 – 3007 8600
More Info:        www.laboite.com.au