LOCAL Federal Member Luke Hartsuyker opened a special sold-out event at The Bank Conference Centre on Saturday, when Kempsey audience members experienced a rare treat.
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Crescent Head playwright and film producer, Chris Dockrill, brought his latest production, Benchmarks, to the Macleay.
Benchmarks is a powerful psychological drama about the meeting of two homeless people in a park one evening. One, Ivan, played by John Hincks, is aged in his 70s and has been homeless for years.
The other, Luke, played by Chris Phillips, has been homeless for seven hours.
The audience was taken on a roller coaster ride of emotions as the two characters attempt to control and manipulate one another. Even by the end of the play, the audience is left unsure as to whether anything they heard from the two characters was true.
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Sharyn Naylor, former deputy principal of McDonald Performing Arts College in Sydney, said that she was “haunted by John Hincks’ portrayal of (Ivan), an enigmatic, tragic, cruel yet comedic and pathetic homeless man which was quite epic and Shakespearean in themes and delivery.
Ms Naylor said she also “loved Chris Phillips’ angst-ridden portrayal of Luke and his interplay with the more world weary homeless old man, Ivan.”
The Bank performance was the seventh show in the last 12 days for the troupe. The play has now been seen by hundreds of people on the Mid North Coast.
This is part of the world premiere touring season for Benchmarks which will see it performed along the North Coast, Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra. The play is also booked into The Adelaide Fringe Festival for a week at the end of February next year.
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The project is a not-for-profit venture which aims to raise awareness about the endemic problem of homelessness. It has a crowd funding site at ‘gofundme Benchmarks’. Any surplus funds at the end of the project will go to a charity which works with homeless people.
“We really appreciate Lou Kesby’s involvement in this particular performance,” Chris Dockrill said. “Lou’s café has been an ‘inspirational homeland’ for many of my plays which I have drafted over a coffee surrounded by those classic movie posters.
“The Bank Conference Centre is a brilliant venue for a dinner plus live show of this kind. The beautiful old world atmosphere of the room and the amazing meals served by Lou’s staff perfectly complemented the presentation of our play.
“The intimacy of the venue also definitely enhanced the power and audience-engagement of the play. We are also sincerely grateful to Luke and Irene Hartsuyker for coming down from Coffs Harbour to open the event. It is most gratifying to know that our local member supports arts in such a direct and sincere way.”
