An interview with Tom Pelik staging Lech Mackiewicz's short play "Shit happens" will be conducted on Monday.

The launch of Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 was held on Tuesday December 8th in the Nancy Fairfax Foyer at NIDA - 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington. There was a good attendance of Short+Sweet writers, directors, actors and Independent Theatre Companies and three very special announcements were made about wonderful developments affecting Short+Sweet Sydney 2010.

Copied below is the speech made by Alex Broun, Artistic Director of Short + Sweet Sydney 2010.

As Short+Sweet enters its 9th year with the launch of Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney 2010 it is clear that Short+Sweet is as strong as ever.

Short+Sweet began at the old Newtown Theatre, at St George’s Hall in Newtown, way back on the 9th of January 2002 with a season of 43 plays over 4 weeks.

To paraphrase the old pop song – from there the only way was up.

Short+Sweet expanded to Melbourne in 2005, Singapore in 2006, the Central Coast of NSW in 2007, Malaysia in 2008 and in 2009 it launched in Canberra and Brisbane.

In January 2010 the first ever Short+Sweet Auckland hits the stage.

In its nine year history Short+Sweet has presented over 1500 of the best ten minute plays from writers all over the world, with over 60% of those coming from Australian writers.

Indeed in 2009 Short+Sweet presented 150 plays in Sydney, 40 in Brisbane, 20 in Canberra, 10 in the Central Coast, 50 in Melbourne, 40 in Singapore (including 10 plays in Mandarin) and 30 in Malaysia for a total of 340 plays.

And the strength of the festival is further displayed by the number of artists seeking to be involved in this year’s festival.

We had 1100 plays entered from all over the world – many from Australia – indeed we received entries from every State and Territory- but we also received entries from France, India, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the USA.

It’s clear when it comes to ten minute theatre writers across the globe - Short+Sweet is the premiere event and the festival that writers most want to be a part of.

And for those who want to be parochial – of the (at last count) 163 theatreworks we will be presenting at Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 – 9 are by ACT writers or Independent theatre Companies, 6 come from Queensland, 1 each from Western Australia and the Northern Territory, 3 from Singapore, 15 from Victoria, two from the UK, ten from the USA, one from New Zealand and a staggering 113 from NSW writers or theatremakers.

So NSW won – big time – yeah !

But it’s not just writers who are keen to be involved. We had 125 directors and 85 Independent Theatre Companies submitting to be part of the festival which we had to whittle down to the approximately 160 works that will be presented in the season.

And we had over 600 actors register to audition for the over 400 roles in the festival. At Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 we will present over 160 plays in 60 performances over 8 weeks and 2 days at 3 venues.

I can’t go any further without thanks Nastassja Djalog our Artistic Co-ordinator, who had the unenviable task of wrangling the actors into their auditions times – which as anyone who has ever tried will know is a little like trying to herd cats.

All actors are unique – and don’t we love them for it.

And also a quick thank you to our wonderful Actor’s Committee who worked so hard to make sure the audition experience was as positive and smooth as it could be for all actors involved.

The Actor’s Committee consists of Cindi Knapton, Ali Aitken, Sally Williams, Uma Kali Shakti, Christine Greenough, Susan Stapleton, Kay Symons and tonight’s MC Valentino Arico.

So with actors, directors, writers and technical crew combined, Short+Sweet Sydney – clearly the mother of all Festivals - will have nearly 1000 artists involved.

And of course it’s not just Short+Sweet Theatre that is continuing to thrive.

Short+Sweet is now so much more than theatre with the other members of the Short+Sweet family – Fast+Fresh, Short+Sweet Dance, Short+Sweet Song, Short+Sweet Cabaret and Shorter+Sweeter all continuing to grow strong.

And family is an apt word to use when talking about Short+Sweet.

As I look around the room tonight I see many familiar faces and more and more it becomes clear to me that Short+Sweet is not just a group of artists with a shared vision.

It is a family – and it’s a pretty wonderful family to be part of.

Many friendships, working relationships – romances – have been born out of Short+Sweet. Indeed if we ever wanted to start up the Short+Sweet Dating Service I’m sure it would be just as successful.

It is a testament to the strength of Short+Sweet that everywhere the festival has begun it has continued to develop and grow stronger year after year.

But in the end what defines Short+Sweet is the artists – and a philosophy or belief in the ten minute theatrical form.

I look back over the most extraordinary theatrical experiences I’ve had over the last few years and many of those have been at Short+Sweet.

49 stories about Brian Mackenzie, Uncomfortable Silences, A Safe Pair of Hands, Mandragora, Victor Blott a Desire to Rot, Eastertoon, A ramble through the bushes, Religion Shop – to name just a few.

And you may say “We’ll Alex, you see a lot of ten minute theatre” – and that is true but I think every year writers, directors, actors and theatre makers are comprehending what is possible in the ten minute form – and are packing more and more into every second.

When you look at a play like David Sharpe’s Mandragora, which has now been performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and soon Auckland – you begin to realise what is possible in ten minutes.

Recently I was interviewed by American Theatre magazine and the editor asked me a question: There are lots of short play festivals in the world. Why, in your view, has this particular one grown so large?

My answer was three words – the time limit. We are the only festival in the world, that I know of, that is strict – and I mean very strict – on the ten minute limit.

It’s a contract with our audiences that each play or theatre work they are going to see will be no longer than ten minutes long. So if there’s something on stage that doesn’t appeal to your particular taste it will be gone in ten minutes.

But of course that is not the only reason for our success.

We also give audiences a chance to watch (and artists a chance to create) a wide range of theatrical styles in one night.

At Short+Sweet it’s not just talking head, character based naturalistic plays. We are not a short play festival – we are a ten minute theatre festival. It’s an important distinction.

We don’t just do plays, we create a whole range of theatrical works. There’s every theatrical style you can imagine in Short+Sweet so that when the lights go down after one theatre work ends you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next.

How many other nights of theatre can you truly say that of ? It’s like an entire fringe festival happening in one venue in one night.

And as we know there isn’t currently a fringe theatre festival in Sydney and Short+Sweet unofficially and even officially - carries that title.

Sydney is actually going through an incredibly exciting time right now in terms of a massive explosion of actors, writers, directors and Independent Theatre Companies creating work for the theatre.

One of the major driving factors behind that is Short+Sweet and the opportunities and inspiration it has provided to create theatre.

Another of the reasons for our success is our singularity of purpose and clarity of vision.

Our aims of Short+Sweet can be defined in three simple goals: No.1: that the artists have a positive experience; No.2: that audiences have a positive experience and No.3: that we create some good theatre.

And it is these essential parameters, the underlying philosophy behind the festival that has stood us in such excellent stead.

Short+Sweet continues to grow and prosper primarily on goodwill. And over the years Short+Sweet has built up considerable goodwill with our participating artists and audiences.

But enough background.

As you know at Short+Sweet we like to cut straight to the climax – you don’t have much time to waste in a ten minute play – and as promised I have three very important announcements tonight.

So – in no particular order – here they are.

Firstly – the worse kept theatre in Sydney – Short+Sweet will have a new venue in 2010 – which is coincidentally where we are holding tonight’s launch - NIDA.

For Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 – we will be performing in the wonderful Parade Playhouse for three weeks of Top 100, two Wildcard sessions and the Wildcards Final and on March 12 and 13 we will hold the Gala Final (featuring our new ten minute award ceremony) in the magnificent Parade Theatre.

And a thank you to Lynne Williams, the CEO of NIDA, for bringing Short+Sweet to NIDA and welcoming us here tonight.

Hopefully it will be just the first step in a long and fruitful partnership between Short+Sweet and NIDA. Thank you Lynne.

Secondly in 2010 Movie Extra return for another series of their successful production of Short+Sweet – the TV show.

This began at Short+Sweet Melbourne in 2006 as a three part series before growing to a five part series at Short+Sweet Sydney 2008 before graduating to last year’s ten part series for Short+Sweet Sydney 2009 – where ten of our gala finalist theatre works were each the subject of a 30 minute episode aired on Movie Extra.

For anybody who saw the show – or appeared in it – you would know it was a high quality, fast moving production, produced by Kylie Washington, that took us behind the scenes - both in and out of the theatre - to give us a fascinating insight into the process behind the creation of a theatre work and the stresses, strains and eventual triumphs of the artists involved.

It was no holds barred, probing, intimate and at times explosive television (just ask Con) – and at times things may appear on screen that we wish hadn’t – such as me banging my head against a table several times – but it makes for fascinating television and is bringing Short+Sweet - and Australian Theatre - to a whole new audience.

The numerous calls I received from people who previously had no interest in the theatre but became avid watches of the TV show – shows the success of the production.

We look forward to welcoming Kylie and her crew back again in 2010.

And our third and perhaps most exciting announcement is that at Short+Sweet Sydney 2010, Short+Sweet will present it’s 1000th Australian play.

In its nine year history Short+Sweet has presented 1500 of the best ten minute plays from writers all over the world, with over 60% of those coming from Australian writers.

Currently we are sitting somewhere over 900 Australian plays presented in Short+Sweet’s history - I won’t tell you the exact number as the mathematicians amongst you will quickly work out when the 1000th play will fall in the season.

And like lots of good ten minute plays – we want to retain the element of surprise.

But with over 100 of the works in the festival by Australian writers and theatre makers it is clear we will pass the 1000th play mark somewhere during the season.

But where and when and which play will actually be the 1000th play presented, will be a source of no doubt growing tension during the festival.

Who knows, the 1000th Australian play to be performed at the festival – might just be yours.

But with all seriousness this amazing achievement underlines that Short+Sweet is now the largest producer of Australian theatre writers on the globe.

And it’s arguable Short+Sweet has done more for Australian playwriting over the last decade than any other theatre company or organisation.

Australian writers whose work have featured in the festival read like a Who’s Who of Australian playwriting: David Allen, Alan Seymour, Hilary Bell, Ross Mueller, Kate Mulvaney, Suzie Miller, Daniel Keene, Nick Enright, Tom Holloway, Vanessa Bates, Christopher Johnson, Noelle Janaczewska, Patricia Cornelius, Brendan Cowell and Van Badham. And Short+Sweet has also played a role in discovering a whole new wave of exciting new playwrights including Wayne Tunks, Jane Miller, Ashley Walker, Cerise de Gelder, Mark Andrew, Tom Taylor, Carl J Sorheim, Nathan Curnow, Kate Toon, David Sharpe, Richard Graham, Steven Hopley, Con Nats, Charles Freyberg, Gerry Greenland, Jackie Greenland, Peter Shelley, Robert Luxford, Dona Parise and David Bulmer.

Indeed when you listen to that list of names one thing is certain – Short+Sweet has made a massive contribution to the growth and development of Australian theatre writing and writers.

And Short+Sweet has now spawned no less than three other events which develop plays for Short+Sweet.

So as longer plays have their Playwright’s Conference and other mechanisms to develop longer plays, we have Crash Test Drama, Stage Rage and Writer’s Anonymous – to develop ten minute plays for Short+Sweet.

Indeed many of the plays which will be presented in Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 were developed through these events – so thanks to Scott Grimley (Crash Test) and our resident Crash Test judge (Allan Walpole), “Mr Feedback” Gerry Sont and Stephen McGrath (Stage Rage) and Gerry Greenland (Writer’s Anonymous) for all their hard work on making those three events so successful – which of course helps boost the quality of Short+Sweet.

But I’m getting near the end of my ten minutes – probably already over it – so let me finish by mentioning just a few highlights from the season.

And for those hoping to reach the Gala Final – pray that I don’t mention you – as being mentioned in my launch speech is traditionally the kiss of death to any production’s Gala ambitions.

In no particular order some of the highlights of Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 are:

Guantanamo Bay survivor Mamdouh Habib will be presenting a ten minute theatre-work based on his experiences in Camp X-Ray where he was incarcerated for 3 and ½ years

The work will provide a revealing insight into the toll Mamdouh’s incarceration took on him and his family.

There’s The Fruits of War by USA writer Earl T Roske, which is a parable of escalating warfare told through two actors standing on stage throwing pieces of fruit at each other – beginning with cherries and moving up through grapes, strawberries, mandarins, grapefruits – to the mother all fruits – the watermelon.

A finalist already in Singapore and Brisbane it will no doubt be a huge hit with our Sydney audiences - with Indian director Rajiv Rajendra flying in especially to direct it for the festival.

There’s also Hormonophrenia by Sydney writer Kaz Getts about the battle of Hormones in a woman’s body,

The man who fell off his bicycle, a fascinating play by New Jersey writer Glenn Hergenhahn, to be directed by Peter Hayes, about a man who meets Frederick Nietzsche in Germany, and has an affair with him before Nietzche ends up running off with his wife.

We also have a play about two toothbrushes swapping life stories called We’ll always have peach tiles by Anika Herbert, directed by Bryan Cutts.

In line with Short+Sweet’s aim of Excellence we’re also very proud to present ten minute plays by two of the world’s leading playwrights – Caryl Churchill’s “seven jewish children” and a revised version of Edward Albee’s “The Sandbox” complete with Edward’s new cello score.

It’s wonderful to have works by two living legends of theatre in the festival. The plays qualify for Short+Sweet Sydney as they have not been produced in Sydney previously as full productions.

Short+Sweet is the largest ten minute play festival in the world but we also aim to be the best so are also pleased to welcome awards winners from Short+Sweet Brisbane, Short+Sweet Canberra, Short+Sweet Central Coast, Fast+Fresh Sydney and Crash Test Drama.

From Brisbane comes the winner of Best Independent Theatre Company at the inaugural Short+Sweet Brisbane earlier this year – Dark Prince Productions with Easter Toon, which already qualifies as a must see of this year’s festival.

We also have the winners of Fast +Fresh, ATYP with Bumble Bee, and the winners of Crash Test Drama during the year – Ro Dempsey’s Imperfect, Matt Orchard’s Proposal – the final two who qualified for Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 just last night by winning the December final of Crash Test.

We are also proud to present the winner of Short+Sweet Central Coast – Donna Cameron’s wickedly funny Bangers plus the Judge’s Choice and the People’s Choice winners from Short+Sweet Canberra – David Temme’s moving Our Last Goodbye (another play developed through Crash Test) and Adam Hadley’s outrageously theatrical Wheelbarrow, Stoat & Mountain Man.

And one of my personal favourites – Peter Lewis’s The resistible Rise of Verity Devlin – based on the life of an esteemed Sydney Morning Herald columnist – I’m very happy to say is returning by special invitation after finishing a very close runner up in last year’s Wildcards.

Other notable Independent Theatre Companies in this year’s season include Auto da Fe, Actor’s Anonymous, Melbourne’s much talked about Defector Art, Fat Stallion with a new play by Drew Fairley and the Fuzzbusters with some more madcappery from the O’Sullivan brothers – Tom and Sam – with help from Aaron Beach and Fayssal Bazzi.

So it’s clear in terms of ten minute theatre, Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 is presenting the very best of the best.

Short+Sweet’s ability to attract younger audiences also remains the envy of many established companies.

As a final bonus for the festival artists involved in Short+Sweet Sydney 2010, they have a chance to be selected for Shorter+Sweeter, the professional touring arm of Short+Sweet which embarks on a four month nation wide tour in April 2010.

I can confirm that at least one actor appearing in the season will be selected for the tour in 2010 – an amazing professional opportunity created by Short+Sweet.

As Mark Cleary, the founder of Short+Sweet International said recently, “With our Sydney, Melbourne, Central Coast, Singapore and Malaysian festivals all going strong and Canberra, Brisbane and Auckland coming on line, it’s a wonderful time to get involved in Short+Sweet.”

We will also once again highlight the contribution of artists who have participated in Short+Sweet over multiple years with the presentation of our Artist Recognition Programme Awards during the festival.

So as you can see it’s going to be an action packed Short+Sweet Sydney 2010.

The biggest ever ? Probably. The best ever ? Each Festival Director who runs a Short+Sweet thinks there’s will be the best ever – so why should I be any different.

So welcome to Short+Sweet Sydney 2010 - the largest ten minute theatre festival in the world.

There may be pretenders but there is still only one Short+Sweet. Enjoy it – I know I will.

Alex Broun
Artistic Director
Short + Sweet Sydney 2010