Hot Cross Fun

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday July 20, 2007

By Paul Bibby

It's music, mayhem and wigs in our sleaziest suburb during bite.

"It's a nail-biting romantic comedy thriller set in the backstreets of Kings Cross - CSI: Miami meets Fame: the Musical."

Such wonderfully contradictory PR prose can mean only one thing - independent theatre.

The deliberately wacky description belongs to The No Chance in Hell Hotel. The colourful show is part of BITE, a festival of independent theatre that runs until mid-October.

Created by Drew Fairley and Kate Smith, The No Chance in Hell Hotel tells the story of Diane, a lonely woman who is struggling to keep the last dive bar in Kings Cross afloat. Then she mysteriously disappears.

Two mismatched policemen, Sarge and Rookie, are sent in to find her and suspect that an alcoholic, ex-advertising executive named Jack is involved.

It's a recipe - in Fairley's words - for "music, mayhem and wigs".

"Between [co-creator] Kate [Smith] and I there are seven characters, so the wigs get a serious work-out, along with a few other theatre tricks," Fairley says.

"It's a bit of an exploration of Kings Cross - the fact that you've got ladies who lunch sharing cafe tables with junkies. We're also poking fun at all of those cop shows that take themselves far too seriously. The show is a kind of an

all-singing, all-dancing comedy-thriller. It's classic independent theatre."

BITE's executive director, Moira Blumenthal, says: "The great thing about independent theatre productions like these is that they don't have to appeal to subscribers' tastes and that means they can do material that's more exciting than the mainstream fare.

"It's about people who create their own work, have no financial backing and launch in 100-seat theatres. We're giving them a pathway by putting their shows into a mainstream setting. We're saying, 'Here's the lights, the stage, the production team and here's an audience - let's see what you can do.'???"

Running alongside The No Chance in Hell Hotel is Constellations, a collection of stories about young people on the streets of Sydney, and Bone, an exploration of three strangers by British playwright John Donnelly.

NO CHANCE IN HELL HOTEL

Tuesday to August 18, Seymour Centre, Chippendale, 9351 7940, $21-$34.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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