An incisive and contemporary new comedy-drama that asks the question: what would you do for love?

When Noah captures the attention of Tom, a celebrated AFL player nearing the end of his career, sparks immediately fly. But as the season progresses and their relationship grows, questions around identity, sexuality and our devotion to hyper-masculinity begin to surface, forcing them – and us – to consider what happens to love when good intentions and patience aren’t enough anymore.

Using a clever mix of comedy, romance and drama, this new play explores the pressure and continual need for men to perform – on and off the field – and the repercussions when you don’t.

Set entirely in the concrete fortress of Tom’s apartment, the domesticity of this clandestine relationship allows us to both celebrate and send-up stereotypes, while delving deeply into themes and topics as broad as unconditional love, power dynamics between couples and our obsession with sport.

This funny, smart and challenging play won the 2018 Playtime Award for new writing and was subsequently premiered at the 2019 Midsumma Festival, where it received strong critical and audience praise.

★★★★★ "Heart wrenching, raw and categorically brave. We need more of this on our stages." - Theatre People

★★★★1/2 "Excellent. Definitely worth seeing." - Be Melbourne

★★★★ "Presents many layers… the production is meticulously curated." - Arts Hub

Venue Format
Theatre, Hall, Black Box Venue
Technical Rating
C, The production can be modified to suit most venues
Touring Party
4
Considerations

VENUE/BUDGET ADAPTABILITY: We are very open to modifying the set and/or technical requirements to suit smaller or lesser-equipped venues like local halls etc – please contact us to discuss.

LIGHTING REQUIREMENTS The show utilises house stock plus from a standard rig (essentially just require an isolated front wash, side wash and LED backlighting).

LX called by touring Stage Manager, from standard FOH position (bio box).

Venue to supply:

• Basic house stock • Memory console • Minimum 36-channel LX rig

SOUND REQUIREMENTS We will have a laptop loaded with Qlab and our show file ready to patch into your system.

Touring stage manager will operate sound.

Lab Kelpie is a theatre company dedicated to the production of new work by Australian playwrights.

Established as a not-for-profit incorporated association with a board of experienced and passionate industry professionals, we actively seek out works that engage audiences by interrogating with intelligence and vigour how relationships, power and politics function in the twenty first century.

As strong advocates of new writing, we support Australian playwrights by commissioning, developing, presenting and touring their work, encouraging our writers to take risks and inspire audiences with the themes and messages they want to explore.

“One of Australia’s most exciting independent theatre companies on the rise.” – Maxim Boon, The Music

Since we began in 2012 we have presented over 243 performances to 17,894 audiences in 87 venues across Australia and New Zealand.

Company Website
labkelpie.com

Unique Selling Point

Audiences are hungry for work that reflects their world and issues they engage with back at them. They want to see themselves on stage. They want to invest in character. They want to feel. They want to laugh.

People love the mix of comedy, drama and romance on offer in Become The One, and audiences leave engaged with a modern love story that sees them ruminating over issues like love, acceptance and the way we engage with masculinity in our community - not to mention pondering with friends what actually happened at the end of the play!

Marketing Materials

Lab Kelpie will provide each venue with a comprehensive Marketing Toolkit, including all performance, company and artist information, key audience demographics and advice on how to engage them and hot tips for your marketing, publicity and box office teams.

We will also provide access to our growing dropbox of marketing collateral including:

• Promo video (30 sec cinema and online-ready trailer) individually branded to your venue • Exceptional print-quality Promotional, Production and Rehearsal photography (over 100 images) • Social media collateral including pull-quotes • Poster and flyer design templates • Media release with existing reviews

The published script is also available for purchase.

Community Engagement

Q&A Lab Kelpie can provide post show Q&As with the actors and, possibly, the writer and/or director. These are excellent tools for deepening the understanding of the work and its themes.

PERFORMANCE WORKSHOPS Our team can take participants through the creation and themes of Become The One with a 90-minute, behind-the-scenes, hands-on workshop exploring the structure and style, casting and character dynamics, performance, and how to touch on serious subject manner in a real but comedic way.

WRITING INSIGHTS Playwright Adam Fawcett takes participants through his own creative writing process using Become The One as a case study. Perfect for aspiring writers of any genre, this insight session is accompanied by handouts, further resources, and practical exercises to workshop participants’ own ideas.

SECONDARY STUDENTS An excellent example of contemporary Australian theatre, Become The One provides rich stimulus for students studying Drama, Theatre Studies, and a range of Arts and Humanities subjects from Years 10 to 12. Lab Kelpie’s team of education professionals will create comprehensive Teachers’ Resources with activities, creative exercises, stimuli and links to a wealth of external references, designed to prompt discussion and ignite ideas back in the classroom.