Slick, Disturbing, Memorable, Outstanding

Our first full review is in from Gordon the Optom at Theatre Australia,

"An amazing script.. clever dialogue.. as good as any found in film or television."

"At two hours long, with a break of 15 minutes.. the audience could not wait to get back into the theatre for the second half. With a super cast of well-known names from professional and community theatre, the quality of acting was outstanding."

"This slick, disturbing and memorable play had the rare honour of the audience stamping feet and clapping enthusiastically, as they demanded a curtain call from the outstanding cast."

Read the review here

Interview with Actor Peter Clark at X-Press

Read about Peter Clark's experiences in preparing for 'Cry Havoc' in this interview with X-Press Scroll down the page to the right spot.

Interview with Producer Graeme Watson at Out In Perth

Check out this interview with our Producer Graeme Watson at Out In Perth

Interview with Writer Director Grant Watson at Perth Now

There's an interview with our Writer and Director, Grant Watson at PerthNow

The first review

This evening we held a preview performance of 'Cry Havoc'. Our first review came in at the interval, via Twitter Polemicol posted;

"Halfway thru 'Cry Havoc' - brilliant!!!! If you enjoyed West Wing you'll love this. Great script, awesome acting. A must see at Blue Room"

http://twitter.com/polemicol/status/5042417163

Amy Welsh contributes to SunsetMag for Cry Havoc

Amy Welsh wrote a truly awesome blog entry for SunsetMag this week. Read it here.

Cry Havoc in Xpress! 15/10/09

Peter Clark had an interview with Joe Lui over at Xpress earlier this week and this great article is the result!

Bump In

We moved into the main theatre at The Blue Room last night, the excitement builds quite a lot when you move from a rehearsal room to the theatre.

We're thinking about making some changes to our very minimalist set now we're in the space.

This morning we worked with Richard Mahony from from Toad Hall studios on the creation of our sound effects. It's a mazing how many choices and decision there are in something so simple.

Rehearsal News

The Rehearsals are progressing well, the cast have been working for the last four weeks learning their lines, developing the characters and running through the show. Soon we'll move into the Blue Room space and begin working with the set.

The tickets are now on sale at The Blue Room

Kingsley Judd nominated for Equity Award

Congratulations to our cast member Kingsley Judd who has been nominated for an equity award for his performance in 'Death of a Murderer'.

The Cast Announced

We had an awesome series of interviews for 'Cry Havoc' and saw so many great actors. It was really interesting to see so many different takes on the characters and the scenes. Making the casting choices was really hard but here it is the cast of the debut production of 'Cry Havoc'.

Peter Clark - Marc Douglas
Kingsley Judd - Anthony Bridges
Michael Lamont - Henry "Hank" Nicholson
Sonia Marcon - Bronwyn Hopkins
Mia Martin - Cassandra Ford
Peter Nettleton - James Freeman
Clinton Ward-Horner - Patrick Greenwood
Amy Welsh - Margaret Sayer

Auditions went well

We saw lots of different actors on Saturday in relation to the un-cast roles in the play. I must say we were spoilt for choice, there were some great candidates.

In our audition we asked people to bring a monologue and then perform a scene out of the play. Many people see monolgues as a test of whether the axctos can remember lines, but we look at them as a chance for an actor to show their strengths,

Hearing the scenes read outloud for the first time though was intriguing, I suddenly realised how complex and multi layered the play is.

The Press Release

The Blue Room and Idea ex Machina present

‘CRY HAVOC’

An engaging new show from award winning Writer /Director Grant Watson that re-tells a classic Shakespearian tale of political intrigue and deception by transporting the story of Julius Caesar to the modern political arena.

The play features acclaimed local actors Peter Clark, Sonia Marcon and Michael Lamont, and features a clever mix of live performance with video projections and inventive staging.

Writer and Director Grant Watson comments on the new work,

"William Shakespeare drew on all manner of sources for the plots of his plays - history books, Italian novels, even other plays! By takingan existing and popular story and rewriting it, he would create a work that entertained and spoke directly to the audiences of his time. In the same fashion, I hope Cry Havoc does the same thing - taking a classic, dramatic story and making it fresh and new for a 21st century audience."

‘Cry Havoc’ is the playwright’s significant new work for theatre following the successful productions ‘Degree Absolute’ (1997, 2000), ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ (2002), ‘The Angriest Video Store Clerk in the World’ (2002) and ‘Serpentine’ (2003) – which was nominated Best New Play at the 2004 WA Guild Equity Awards.

This exciting play will have its world premiere at THE BLUE ROOM Theatre in Northbridge on Thursday October 22^nd and will run from Tuesday to Saturday until November 7^th.

Idea ex Machina is a new production collective from brothers Grant and Graeme Watson that is developing projects across a range of platforms from theatre, to television, radio, new media and beyond.

For interviews with key cast and crew please contact Graeme Watson, Producer on 0402 549 811 or email graemejameswatson@gmail.com

Read the behind the scenes journey of the production at http://cryhavocplay.blogspot.com

Peter Clark and Grant Watson in 'A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'

Our Director Grant Watson is currently acting in Stephen Lee's production of 'A Day in the Death of Joe Egg' alongside Peter Clark, one of our lead actors for 'Cry Havoc'. The first reviews of the production are out, and they are incredibly positive.

I caught the show for it's opening night on Friday and it's was hilariously funny. Make sure you see it while it's on at the Subiaco Theatre Centre.

Auditions Notice

Cry Havoc is a new political thriller written and directed by Grant Watson (Degree Absolute, Serpentine) that will be staged at the Blue Room Theatre in Northbridge from late October 2009. The play, a retelling of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, relocates the action and intrigue from the Roman Empire to the corridors of power in present-day Washington DC.

This is a co-op production, with all production participants receiving an equal share of any profits generated. Rehearsals will run from early August. Auditions are being held from Saturday 13 June at the Blue Room.

Roles to be auditioned are as follows:

• JAMES FREEMAN, 40+ male. President of the United States.
• CASSANDRA FORD, 40+ female. Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• PAT GREENWOOD, 30-50 male or female. National Security Adviser.
• MAGGIE SAYER, 20-30 female. Government researcher.

For your audition:

• E-mail me your CV if you've got one, and a photograph if you can.
• Bring along a short monologue to perform. We will also get you to read a scene from the play.
• We are prepared to consider a lot of wriggle-room when it comes to the ages of the characters. Consider them playing ages rather than your actual required age.
• You are not required to use an American accent. We will take a grade A performance over a grade A accent any day.

If you have any questions, or if you'd like to book an audition slot, please get in touch with Grant by e-mail or phone.

fanboy@gmail.com
0430 223604

Payment for this production is on a profit-share basis.

The Promotional Images

The play is still in pre-production but one we had to supply the Blue Room with some promotial images well in advance because their 6 month program comes out soon, and we're the final production of the season.

I sent Grant, the Director through a whole bunch of photographers online portfolios and he picked up and coming photographer Tom Cramond to be the official photographer for the production. I met Tom through the micro bloging tool Twitter, we were both at the V Festival and liking and watching the same bands Jenny Lewis, The Human League and M83.

We took these pictures on the steps of the WA Museum on a cold Sunday morning, Tom's great use of directional flashes means you'd never know these were taken outside in broad daylight. You can check out more of his work at his website.

Having the first image of the production is quite a powerful thing. Imediately you start to think of the character's in a different way, they become more real.

Behind the Scenes

'Cry Havoc' is a new play from Writer / Director Grant Watson that will have it's world premiere at THE BLUE ROOM Theatre in Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia on October 22nd 2009. This blog will provide a behind the scenes glimpse into the the development of the production.