Our 15-Year Anniversary opened with three fabulous one-act plays at the Literaturhaus Graz! (Did you miss the performances? Don’t worry – the comedies will be reprised in October – see the full festival schedule).
Our festival Opening Event began with “The Dinner-Guest,” by Herman and Cecilia Servatius, a reprise of the first play the Pennyless Players ever performed – 15 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same – behold, then and now, side by side:
on the right, this year’s performance, photocredit: Sophia Riederer)
Second, on two nights, we performed “I*dentity”, by Lena Schneider (originally premiered Sept. 22nd as part of this year’s Tag der Sprachen).
Finally, a play familiar to many who have joined us for Script-Tease evenings over years, we performed A. A. Milne’s “Wurzel-Flummery”:
David Newby was kind enough to write us a few words of review:
After 15 years of providing a cocktail of entertainment, surprises and challenges, these ingredients were offered in abundance on Sunday evening by the Pennyless Players in their latest production at the literatur h aus graz. Take a handful of characters from [spoiler redacted], a smattering of the plot and mix them all up with a superbly crafted whodunit of philosophical insights tinged with existential despair. What came out was Herman and Cecilia Servatius’ highly entertaining, moving, thought-provoking collage of scenes, which found their coherence in the one-act play entitled The Dinner Guest.
The second half of the programme had yet more instances of human folly on offer, this time packaged in a comedy written in 1917 by the well-known author of children’s books, A.A. Milne. On this occasion, the folly came not in the shape of Winnie-the-Pooh or Eeyore but of two members of parliament, both of whom were offered a legacy from an unknown benefactor of £50,000 on condition that they changed their respective surnames to that of Wurzel-Flummery, the eponymous title of the play. Any likeness with British subjects, past and present, who take on silly names (Lord, Lady, Sir, Dame etc.) at the drop of a political donation was, of course, entirely coincidental.
Whatever feelings of despair about the human condition that the audience might have harboured at the end of the evening were offset by the immense satisfaction of seeing the Pennyless Players once more display their abundance of acting and production talents. It was Mark Anthony who, according to the bard, said of Cleopatra: ‘She makes hungry where most she satisfies.’ Those of us who are hungry for more Pennyless Players eagerly await the next performances which are being offered as part of the 15th anniversary programme.
David Newby, Prof. Emeritus & Author
Sept. 23 & 24, Photo credit: Irma Servatius
“The Dinner Guest”, by Herman and Cecilia Servatius
Directorial Team: Cecilia Servatius & David Bliem
Friar – Cecilia Servatius
Lord 1 – Zbigniew Nowitzki
Lady 1 Martina Dorninger
Count: Benjamin Daniczek
Lord 2 David Bliem
Lady 2 Meredith Hanson
Costumes: Ilja Ortner
Sept. 23. Photo credit: Irma Servatius
“I*dentity”, by Lena Schneider
Director – Debs Siebenhofer
Annabelle – Caroline Kimbell
Dev- Rajiv Dhanraj
Eavesdropper / Eve S. Tropper – Lisa Kos
Julia – Maja Höggerl
Omniscient Narrator / Waiter – Clara Hudel
Sept. 23. Photo credit: Irma Servatius
“Wurzel-Flummery”, by A. A. Milne
Directorial Team- Cecilia Servatius & Zbigniew Nowitzki
Robert Crawshaw, M.P – Brian Roberts
Margaret Crawshaw – Meredith Hanson
Viola Crawshaw – Bianca Hanzel
Richard Meriton, M.P. – Martina Dorninger
Denis Clifton – Zbigniew Nowitzki
Maid: Clara Hudel
Costumes: Ilja Ortner
The Pennyless Players 