The Old Mill Theatre is giving birth this spring – to a new play.

 

Written by Noel O'Neill and directed by Valerie Dragojevic, Snow and Ash follows two clowns left behind by a travelling circus who suddenly find themselves in a country with no liberty or freedom of speech. But their country has been taken over by a dictator who has ordered all gypsies be killed.

 

The play primarily deals with the theme of people being persecuted simply for being who they are and how far you might have to go to survive.

 

It features absurdist theatre where the characters are not mainstream nor stereotypical and the plot is not a fairytale: it just is – or isn't.

 

Joining Snow and Ash for the Old Mill Theatre’s season of short plays is No Exit by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter.

 

Directed by Maree Grayden and adapted by Chris Thomas, No Exit is a depiction of the afterlife where three dead characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity – it’s the play that coined the phrase “hell is other people”.

 

The Dumb Waiter, directed by Susie Conte, features Gus and Ben in a Birmingham basement, awaiting instructions for their next job. Gus needs matches while Ben has a newspaper – and both men have revolvers.

 

Snow and Ash and The Dumb Waiter play at 8pm, September 19, 20, October 3, 4 and 5 with a 2pm matinee September 22.

 

No Exit plays on the same dates except October 4 and 5 when it will be replaced by Jerome McDonough’s Juvie on those two nights. Set in a juvenile detention centre, young suspects come out of their cells to tell why and how they were caught.

 

Tickets are $25, $20 concession – book on 9367 8719, oldmilltheatre@iinet.net.au or at http://oldmilltheatre.com.au/tickets.

 

The heritage-listed Old Mill Theatre is on Mends Street, South Perth, opposite the Windsor Hotel and Australia Post.