The second week of Short and Sweet Week 2 Theatre Top 80 featured some interesting scenarios created by playwrights of the short form along with a consistently good quality of acting through the night.

The strongest drama of the night was Luther Canute, Max Moran and Ed Capel’s THE GAME, directed by Phil Cunich, which featured a poignant take on mateship with the setting being  three young men trapped in a combat zone dreaming of being back home playing their beloved Aussie Rules.

The night featured some nice, quirky, playful pieces. My favourites were Dan Borengasser’s OUTSIDE THE BOX, directed by Henrietta Stathopoulos, which sees a young woman receive a mime artist as her birthday gift from her two besties, and Vee Malnar’s THE ANXIETY SHOW that sees a woman get a very different kind of upgrade on her mobile phone.

Courtney Powell delivered one of the night’s most ‘textured’ performances as a very anxious, controlling schoolteacher in David Roberts PARENT TEACHER, directed by the playwright, embroiled in a very difficult parent/teacher encounter.

The evening ended well with Tristram Baumber’s feminist take on an alien encounter, SPACEMAN AND EXECUTIONER, directed by Geraldine Aegerter.

The final performance for Week 2 is this afternoon at 5.15pm at the King Street Theatre, corner King and Bray streets, Newtown