In Angel Gear
In Angel Gear was first produced circa 1990 at St. Martin's Theatre, Melbourne, as part of the Next Wave Festival. It was considered controversial , owing to its frank depiction of the lifestyles of heroin addicts and prostitutes. It received the Victorian Green Room Award for production and was runner-up in the new Australian play category. A second production was staged at the Universal Theatre, Melbourne a couple of years later, directed by Nico Lathouris.
The play has a cast of eight and runs a little over two hours.
Though certainly an example of realist theatre, In Angel Gear focuses on the elements of subculture that diverge most from the norm, giving the play an unusual flavour. What is day-to-day in the lives of these junkies may seem surreal to the common audience.
The first production was directed by Robert Chuter and was performed by David Tredinnick, Saskia Post, Judith Lucy, Ezra Brick, Kevin Hopkins, Helen Hopkins, Franz Doherty, Matthew McConnon.
"The most devastating play I saw all year... I left feeling I had witnessed something genuinely important." - Allison Croggon, The Bulletin
"Graphic and realistic, it is unsentimental without being patronising, grim rather than sensational, horrific, but never hysterical." - Peter Weiniger, The Age.
"A devastating slice of St. Kilda realism... harrowing, often shocking, but not without humour and sublime poetry." Chris Boyd, The Melbourne Times.
RECENT SYDNEY PRODUCTION AT NEW THEATRE:
