Cricket. It’s the quintessential summer pastime. Loved for its purity and lack of pace, the sport of mandatory tea breaks and cucumber sandwiches is part of every Australian childhood. Love it or hate it – cricket is in our blood.
The Pavilion is a new Australian play written by Nick Musgrove, a self-confessed backyard swing-king, and Alexandra Lee, a girl who was dragged to watch her brothers bowl over after over every weekend. It’s a comedy not just about cricket, but the mates who play the game.
The 2011 premiere season is directed by Tom Peterson (Ch 31), produced by Alexandra Lee (Neighbours) and supported by Cricket Australia. It’s cracking comedy that celebrates the 337,536 Aussies who take to their local cricket pitch every summer.
Prepare to love The Pavilion and its cast of grass-roots legends as they serve up more than just a cricket match, exploring how men try, and often fail, to communicate.
Synopsis
The Glendale Cricket Club is on its knees. Needing a win to avoid relegation, a colourful crew of local legends rise as one to protect their summer ritual. The team, aged 16 to 60, chase a very gettable 127 runs, but as wickets tumble, tempers fray and dirty team secrets are revealed.
Set inside the team’s change room, players look towards the audience as if watching the match unfold. There are always two players ‘batting’ offstage, leaving nine on stage – but never the same nine. Despite the change-room politics, these larrikins, layabouts and wise men of Glendale enjoy a laugh and prove the value of community sport lies in the chat – not just in the bat.
The Pavilion is playing at:
Chapel off Chapel
12 Little Chapel St, Prahran
25 February – 5 March, 2011
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