Director
“Actors should be overheard, not listened to, and the audience is 50 percent of the performance.”
Carl's directing debut was in 2009 at Titirangi Theatre. He was asked to partake as the "newbie" director in the 24 Hour Play Festival. A frantic 24 hours consisting of five writers, five directors and 20 actors, all randomly matched on the day: the writers had just 12 hours to write a short play. At 8am, the finished play was handed over to the directors and actors, who had 12 hours from read-through to performance at 8pm Saturday. Amongst the chaos Carl found another calling that equalled his passion for acting.
Since then Carl has directed a handful of one act plays and received the Dolphin Theatre award for Best One Act Play 2012.
2014 was to be his first attempt at a full production called The Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig. A laugh out loud comedy set in a golf club. The production was a great success and went on to win a number of awards at the Dolphin Theatre Awards including Best Production 2014.
“I’m not interested in how people move;
I’m interested in what makes them move.”
Proof
Writer: David Auburn
Company: Café Theatre & Ellerslie Theatre
Cast: Jennifer Onyeiwu, Fellis McGuire, Erik van de Wydeven & Munashe Tapfuya
Year: 2020
The plot revolves around Catherine, a young woman facing emotional turmoil after the death of her brilliant yet unstable mathematician father.
As she navigates her own feelings, her estranged sister Claire's return, and the interest of her father's former student Hal in his notebooks, Catherine finds herself grappling with the question of how much of her father's brilliance or madness she has inherited.
This intriguing storyline unfolds over a long weekend, marked by a budding romance and the unveiling of a mysterious notebook.
Close Enough
Writer: Kellie Powell
Company: Short + Sweet Festival
Cast: Zoe Gilmore & Mia Marama
Year: 2018
Fiona (Mia Maramara) is a disgruntled indoor cat who finds herself suddenly transplanted to a new home when her owner moves in with her boyfriend and the couple adopts a new kitten, Prometheus. Like all kittens, Prometheus (Zoe Gilmore) is lively and curious, and Fiona finds herself in an awkward position when the two cats happen to witness their humans “mating”.
Dolores
Writer: Edward Allan Baker
Company: Ellerslie Theatre
Cast: Brooke Petersen & Lyndsey Garner
Season: 24th - 2 September 2017
A woman escapes her dangerously abusive husband and seeks help from a sister who doesn't want to get involved.
Farewell
Writer: David Blakey
Company: Ellerslie Theatre
Cast: Paul Ballard, Brandon Rhoades, Andrea Diprose & Ben Cooper
Season: 20th - 29th August 2015
Dave, happily married and a successful lawyer, searches for the truth of what happened to his best friend twenty two years earlier.
The Fox on the Fairway
Writer: Ken Ludwig
Company: Dolphin Theatre
Cast: Donna Verey, Henry G Warner, Tim Skinner, Maxine Cunliffe, Alice Yuretich, Jetho Wright
Season: 14th June - 5th July 2014
Bingham, president of the Quail Valley Country Club, is in a difficult position, less by finding out that his newly hired hand, Justin, is in love with Louise, the waitress at the club house, but by the discovery that the golfer he thought would play for his club has switched sides recruited by his counterpart and opponent, the cocky and arrogant Dickie, and the huge bet he had foolishly wagered is now likely to be lost.
Fortunately, he discovers that Justin is actually quite a good golfer and finagles his nomination. Justin does not disappoint and has a huge lead, when close to its end the tournament is interrupted by bad weather.
When Justin learns that Louise has lost the engagement ring he gave her - she accidentally flushed it down the toilet - he comes unglued.
The game resumes the next day, but Justin loses the lead, and, upset, takes an unfortunate swing breaking his arm. Bingham is desperate, and the appearance of his wife complicates the matter, as she catches him much too close to Pamela, his sex-starved vice-president. Can Bingham find a replacement for Justin to win the game, win the wager, and get his life in order?
Here's the Thing
Writer: Debra K Chalmers
Company: Dolphin Theatre
Cast:
Year: 2013
Amanda didn’t expect to have much more than a blinding headache after her big night out on the town with her newly divorced sister.
But finding a naked young man passed out on her couch and trying to explain that to her daughter was a doddle compared to dealing with the police searching for an armed robber, her boss looking for his missing son and her mother with a slight drinking problem.
What the hell did they do last night? If only they could remember.
Two Women & a Chair
Writer: Michael Olsen
Company: Dolphin Theatre
Cast:
Year: 2013
Two actors, Jessie and Martine, arrive at an audition to discover only a bare room with a mysterious black chair.
The only instructions on what they should do are contained on the flyer advertising the play, and it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary audition; or is it an audition at all?
Will they obey the cryptic instructions? What of Damian, the director? Is this all a plot to get back at Martine, or is there something more?
The answers, as always, lie in the choices Jessie and Martine are about to make.
Nothing
Writer: Mark Langham
Company: Dolphin Theatre
Cast:
Year: 2012
The people in this play know each other extremely well. The three friends, very relaxed in each other’s company, soon find what inhibitions they may have had washed away by a healthy sluicing of booze!
The action, such as it is, takes place in a garage on a languid day in summer. The meaning of life and death is broken down, built back up again, broken down again after lunch and then, due to a lack of time, left in a heap in the corner by the lawnmower.
This play from left field is about the importance of doing nothing and having time out. We all do it. We all need to do it, but who is going to change the world and what is life all about? Why should we care? Why is it so noisy? And will the lawn ever get mowed?
For F#$% Sake, It's Your Turn
Writer: Jo Holstead
Company: Titirangi Theatre - 24 Hour Theatre Challenge
Cast: Natalie Blighs, Bruce Coventry, Nicola Turner, Karen Soulje
Year: 2009
