Marooned Public Rehearsals
Why not come and watch the powerful play developand decide for yourself if it’s dangerous.
Public Rehearsals
We are rehearsing in Toorak.
We supply instant coffee and a chair.
During rehearsals we ask that you don’t talk but in the breaks feel free.
The first public rehearsal is Friday the 9th at 7pm.
$10 Donation to attend.
Please contact us if you’d like to come.
WARNING: There will be no mental health advocates there for support only actors and a writer.
So after five rehearsals we have been exploring all the characters which is scary and exhilarating but necessary because different actors bring different energies and perspectives.
This has also let us discover a deeper play under the script. That might sound like a wank, but that’s what’s happening.
This is why we have a new synopsis. I’m not sure it’s very marketable but for now I’m out of marketing ideas.
New Synopsis
“If you want to reach the dawn you have to travel through the dark. There is no other route. That’s what this play is; a journey undertaken by four strangers and their only map has been torn up and the pieces buried deeply in their individual hearts” ~ Michael
Southbank Theatre, The Lawler 18 – 28 Sept 2019
Mindframe blocking Government funding for Marooned
Yet the people of several towns are calling for it and organising how to get it there. This is why the play was written to be set up in halls. The set being similar to below (or rehearsal set) We have a few towns and outer suburbs where we may be heading to that we will announce soon. We have some more professionals backing the play and a huge announcement that we can’t talk about yet .But rather than flog a dead horse, why not decide for yourself Why not read the play. Contact us if you’d like to and decide for yourself
Letter from Felicity May about Marooned and Mindframe
April 13, 2018 The Age ran an article on a play by Michael Griffith then titled Sidelined which tackles the often-censored topic of suicide. ABC Radio National also aired interviews on Life Matters, Making a Play for Men.
The play now renamed Marooned is dedicated to my son Guy May who tragically took his life, impelling Griffith to take the risk and write a play about suicide. It was performed in Melbourne, and Sale and has received strong endorsements.
Mindframe however has not endorsed the play due to concerns that the four fictional characters talk about methods used in an attempt to end their life. This has currently led to various organisations being reluctant to promote or sponsor the play in some way.
After perusing the Mindframe website, I read the play again. As I moved through the initial pages I felt a surge of doubt. Perhaps I was mistaken, perhaps openly discussing the various methods is not OK?
As I read on, I reconnected with the compelling narrative which depicts so persuasively the transient nature of suicide ideation and also its finality. The discussion of the various methods used is part of the realism and gives the characters reason to talk seriously to each other about their state of mind and motivation leading to such an undesirable finality.
The audience will emerge with a better understanding and greater awareness of the value of straight talking. The humour is real, not just comedic. It highlights the best in humanity as the characters overcome personal embarrassment, fear of exposure and more, finding new emotional connections within themselves and towards each other, hope for the future.
This is a play which can be performed at low cost venues, accessible to those in rural areas where suicide rates are high. Support prior to and following the play is proposed.
Marooned needs to be endorsed by Mindframe. It is the end of the play not the methods depicted that impacts on the audience. It is time to end the silence, the sense of shame and to facilitate and acknowledge instead the immense courage needed to pull back from an intended suicide.
Singer required for the Song that ends Marooned.
We used to play another song but we can’t afford the fees so I wrote a song with Simon Walters the compsoer for our Musical Magpie.
The lyrics are in the video. If you are a singer who could or would like to do it or know one please forward this to them and or get in touch.
Rather than my face I’ve attached several of our great backers and advocates to the video.
~ Michael
https://youtu.be/4a2kZtgHczA
Want to support the Wolves
Why not buy the Mannequins?
The Mannequins
Then the old moon peered over the edge of the skip
To find the Mannequin laying upon the trash,
And to the Mannequin the moon was a plastic plate
Serving an old man’s squashed up face
And in the place where all our hearts ache
An emptiness began to sing
For he knew at once that this must be
His Great Plastic God.
~ Michael
The love story of two Mannequins trying to cross Chapel Street is on sale. If you’d like to support The Wolves why not buy a copy.
And last of all we’ve got a new Logo
