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Review: Queensland Theater Company’s The Pitch

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The Pitch Review

The Queensland Theater Company has opened its 2013 season with a bang. Wait. Make that a double bang. Two one act plays (The Pitch and The China Incident) that showcased the best there is in Australian writing, direction and well.. acting.

Both plays are written by Peter Houghton but have separate directors. The Pitch has Hugh Parker playing a down on luck screenwriter about to pitch to Hollywood biggies, while The China Incident has Barbara Lowing trying to keep communication lines between the big power players from breaking down. The Pitch starts the evening off and after a 20 minute break, The China Incident plays.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to stay for The China Incident so this review basically covers The Pitch.

The Pitch works like a satire on the modern Hollywood movies and the way they end. Hugh Parker plays Walter Weinermann, a screenwriter who was unlucky in love, to talk himself up about a “pitch” he is about to give to a couple of Hollywood biggies for a script that he has been working on for some time but he is yet to finish. With only a couple of hours to go till the big meeting, he has to psych himself up to come up with plots and characters to fill the holes in the story. He draws inspiration from his own (love) life and tries to make a mish-mash  of what a Hollywood script should look like. So you have cameos from Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Chris Tucker, Catherine Zeta Jones and the crowd (and personal) favorite Rupert Everett.

With a one man show, this is hard to achieve and Hugh Parker does a remarkable job of capturing the mannerisms and the styles of each of these actors (except Catherine Zeta Jones) as he goes through his script playing out the scenes and the part the actors play in it. To not only remember the lines, but to capture the essence of an actor so that the audience can instantly identify the characterization is a stupendous feat. Hugh Parker as the actor, Catarina Hebbard as the director and Melissa Agnew as the dialect coach all deserve a standing ovation for this.

CraftGossip.com received complimentary tickets to see the show.

What? The Pitch and The China Incident (two one person plays separated by a 20 minute interval)

Where? Cremorne Theater, QPAC, SouthBank, Brisbane.

When? 2nd Feb-9th March 2013.

Tickets: QPAC

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Learn about Bulgaria for Kids

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is in Southeastern Europe that’s bordered by Greece, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia and the Black Sea. It was founded from an empire that deeply influenced the Slavic nations and was once part of the Eastern bloc controlled by Russia.

Bulgaria Facts

  • Bulgaria is 42,855 square miles, or 110,994 square kilometers, with a population near 6.5 million.
  • Its capital and largest city is Sofia.
  • The Bulgarian Empire, from which the nation takes its name, took power in the area in the late 7th century and developed Cyrillic script, which is used for many Slavic languages. The country was under Ottoman rule for almost five centuries, but it declared its independence in 1908.
  • Bulgaria sided with Germany in both world wars and became part of the Eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union in 1946. The Communist Party ceded control in the late 1980s and Bulgaria adopted a democratic constitution in 1991.
  • It is a unitary parliamentary republic with a president and a prime minister as well as a National Assembly.
  • The word Bulgar might have some from a word meaning to mix or stir, or a derivative of that word that means revolt or disorder. About 85 percent of the country is ethnically Bulgarian, and the official language is Bulgarian.

Bulgarian National Symbols

The Bulgarian flag is made of three horizontal stripes, one white, one green and one red. It was adopted when they gained independence from the Ottoman Empire.

The national anthem, “Mila Rodino,” or “Dear Motherland,” was adopted in 1964 but its lyrics have been changed many times, most recently in 1990, and a shortened version was approved in 1991.

The Eurasian griffon vulture is considered the national bird, and a lion is used as it heraldic symbol.

The patron saint of Bulgaria is Saint John of Rila, the first Bulgarian hermit, whose followers founded many churches in his honor, including the famous Rila Monastery, now a UNESCO World Heritage site (and a very cool looking building).

The national instrument is the kaba gaida, a bagpie that is native to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Activities for Kids

Listen to the kaba giada in this video, or you can listen for two hours(!) here.

Learn more about Bulgarian folk dancing and watch some people doing it. The people in this video are also wearing traditional Bulgarian folk costumes, which is fun to see. (As a knitter I love those socks!) You can learn more about Bulgarian folk costumes here or at Meet the Slavs.

See what your name looks like in Cyrillic and see if you can write it! You can also learn the sounds of the Bulgarian alphabet here.

Learn more about Bulgaria from Kids World Travel Guide, or check out the resources available at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Wonders of Bulgaria has a good rundown of traditional Bulgarian foods you might want to try. For kids I’d suggest their version of moussaka, which is like the Greek dish only made with potatoes and not eggplant or zucchini. The Modern Nonna has a version that includes carrots, but they’re optional.