GIRL SHUT YOUR MOUTH
BY GITA BEZARD
Photographer: Becky Matthews
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Gita Bezard's (The Last Great Hunt) 'Girl Shut Your Mouth' is an exciting dark comedy about ordinary living under extraordinary circumstances.
When the world you know has been ripped away, what lengths will you go to just to survive?
Katie, Grace, Mia and Darcy are your average young girls. They love boys and dresses and the idea of a feminist future.
Everything about them is normal.
Except their friends die on a monthly basis. Except their lives are in danger if they go out after sunset.
Except they aren't really your average young girls at all.
When Katie is shot in yet another attack on their freedoms, her bullet quickly becomes her ticket out and over to a place rumoured to be free of prejudices, rules and restrictions.
But is anywhere really that perfect? And how can her friends go too?
A poignant new Australian work that comments on the crisis' facing refugees through the lense of young, feisty women ready to take their futures in their own hands.
This production returns to Sydney after a critically acclaimed run at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2020 and marks its Sydney Premiere.
"Brilliant Piece of Theatre" - The Advertiser - 5 Star Review
"What happens next is unexpected, shocking and played with extreme precision by this excellent cast of young actors" - The Advertiser
"Girl Shut Your Mouth is at the top of feminist theatre to watch" - Weekend Notes - 5 Star Review
"This play and its themes will create an important conversation piece for months to come" - Upside News - 4.5 Star Review
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PRODUCTIONS:
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24-27th March 2021
Chippen Street Theatre
Produced as part of the 2021 NO: INTERMISSION Festival
NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIERE
Reviews
Publicity
Program
The Cast
ANTONIA KORN
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Antonia is a Sydney-based Theatre and Screen actor who is currently studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney, and has over ten years of dance and acting training. For the past two years, Antonia has performed at multiple Revues for her university, including Women’s Revue, which headed to the Sydney Comedy Festival this year after an extremely successful run. Passionate about female-driven theatre, Antonia is looking forward to bringing Girl Shut Your Mouth to an Sydney audience, and is excited to be working on an Australian play that showcases the best of what this country has to offer.
KAYLEE ASHTON
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Kaylee has recently graduated from University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Theatre) in 2020, balancing her love for both acting and technical aspects of theatre. After performing for the majority of her life, Kaylee has found a passion in the technical aspects of the theatre scene including, stage managing, directing, choreographing, sound and lighting design, and costume design. Kaylee has had the pleasure of exploring a diverse range of roles the last couple of years, including the costume co-ordinator for Rising Arts Productions’ sold out season of ‘Heathers: The Musical’; stage manager for Living Room Theatre’s ‘The Foul of the Air’ (showing March 2021); and production co-ordinator of multiple shows throughout Sydney.
Kaylee is honoured to be working with Theatre Travels again for their NO : INTERMISSION Festival, after their successful Adelaide Fringe Season in 2020.
ALEX GONZALEZ​
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Alex is beyond excited to be joining this talented cast and to be able to perform live in a theatre once again! Having graduated from Brent Street with a Diploma in Music Theatre last year, Alex is passionate about theatre and performing. Before lockdown, Alex was featured in 1984: The Musical as Big Brother/Ensemble at the New Theatre. Her other theatre credits include Damn Yankees, The Drowsy Chaperone, Inner West Side: The Musical, and Popstars: The 90s Musical. Alex has also branched out into film this year, and has enjoyed taking part in both short and feature films in 2020. After a year of great uncertainty with very few sources of live entertainment, Alex is looking forward to taking part in the magic of theatre once again!
KOBI TAYLOR-FORDER
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Kobi is a Sydney based actor and theatre maker, having completed her BA in performance from the University of Wollongong in 2017. Her UOW credits include Birdland (dir. Tim Maddock), Still Angela (dir. Linda Luke), F**K This Love (dir. Deborah Pollard), and Nothing (dir. Mark Rogers).
Since graduating, Kobi has completed study at Screenwise Australia. She currently works as a production assistant for Partners in Crimes Productions, and is participating in an official mentorship program with screen actor/director Rhondda Findleton. Her recent credits include Gom Jabbar's Monument (Sydney Fringe 2018), touring with Theatre Travels to the Adelaide Fringe for Girl Shut Your Mouth (2020), and Return of Kings (Old 505 2020).
Creatives
GITA BEZARD: PLAYWRIGHT
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GITA BEZARD is a playwright, director, performer and theatre maker, living between Melbourne and Perth.
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In 2016 she was nominated for The Victorian Premier’s Award for her play Girl Shut Your Mouth, which premiered at Black Swan State Theatre Company. She has twice won the Black Swan Emerging Writers Award. She has been commissioned in 2017 by Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, in 2019 and 2015 by Curtin University and in 2013 by Perth Theatre Company to adapt two short plays by Eugene Ionesco. In 2012 she received a DCA Fellowship to do professional development in the UK and USA.
For The Last Great Hunt: Perpetual Wake, Le Nor (Perth Festival), Stay With Us, Improvement Club, The Talk, The Advisors, Price Tag, Monroe and Associates, All That Glitters, Minnie and Mona Play Dead.
CARLY FISHER: DIRECTOR
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Carly is the Founder and Artistic Director of Theatre Travels.
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As a producer, Carly is passionate about bringing debut works to stages in new markets and seeks new writers and performances ready to make their Sydney, Australian and even World premieres. Carly’s portfolio demonstrates her priority of telling the stories of real, empowered women and bringing light to
important social issues on stage.
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For Theatre Travels, Carly has Directed and Produced; In Their Footsteps and Girl Shut Your Mouth (NO: INTERMISSION 2021), Girl Shut Your Mouth (Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020), Final Placement, Falling Skies and Albumen (NO: INTERMISSION 2019) and The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later (Seymour Centre 2018).
Carly has also produced Rattling the Keys and Lipstick (NO: INTERMISSION 2021), 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche (Sydney Mardi Gras 2021), Girl Shut Your Mouth and Bleach (Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020), Broken, Bleach, Lady Liberty and the Donut Girl, Infidelity and Enlightenment and Queenslander (NO: INTERMISSION 2019).
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Carly was selected for the 2019 Broadway Evolved Educators Seminar in New York. In 2018, Carly worked on Carmen: Live or Dead (Hayes Theatre) as Assistant Director and Company Manager.
Carly has also diversified her experience in and knowledge of the industry by working for Sydney Theatre Company’s Philanthropy department, Michael Seider’s Presents as Production Assistant and through secondments with the Gordon Frost Organisation (Company Management), Ian Phipps Publicity (PR) and ACMN (Marketing and Advertising).
Carly is the editor of Theatre Travels reviews and a theatre reviewer.
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As the Producer and Co-Curator of NO: INTERMISSION, Carly is extremely excited to finally welcome you to this year’s festival and has been honoured to work with such talented, committed and considerate creatives on brining this festival to life.
The Crew
SIMONE WANG​
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Simone Wang is a current Bachelor of Arts (Performance Studies & Sociology) student at the University of Sydney. Her production credits include Associate Director to Tiffany Wong, Ching Chong Chinaman (Slanted Theatre); Production Manager for A Deal (Flying House Assembly); Assistant Director to Lillian Smith, Rhinoceros in Love, and Producer for 1984!The Musical! (Sydney University Dramatic Society).
LIZ JAMESON ​
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Liz has spent the last two years living and working as an SM in Toronto, Canada, where she mainly concentrated on dance and site-specific performances. She recently arrived back in the Land of Aus, and is happy to be returning to her one true love, theatre. Prior to moving, Liz helmed more Shakespeare than you can shake a stick at with Secret House, and worked on the Aus/NZ tour of the West End hit Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
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GEORGIA CONDON
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Georgia is a Sydney-based sound designer and composer, specialising in theatre and film. She made her sound-design debut with Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS) four years ago. Since then, she has worked on over forty projects with various production groups, including: The New Theatre; Gensian Theatre Company; SUDS; Perrenial Theatre Company; Queen's University Theatre Company; NO::INTERMISSION Theatre Festival 2019; and various Sydney Fringe Festival productions.
Her most recent productions include: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Tom Wright); Venus of Marrickville (Komninos); Kill Climate Deniers (David Finnigan); Younger and Smaller (Amelia Newman); Bleach (Dan Ireland-Reeves); and Girl Shut Your Mouth (Gita Bezard)
MARK BELL​
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Mark is an emerging playwright, director and theatre maker based in Sydney. They’re currently studying Creative Writing at University of Technology Sydney, and a Diploma of Production Design at TAFE. They recently directed and wrote their debut play, Alan Turing, Joan of Arc and Vincent Van Gogh Walk Into A Bar, at the Cellar Theatre. They’ve helped bring childhood characters to life as a Producer on Shelf Life (dir. Eric Jiang), as well as worked as Co-Set Designer on Orlando (dir. Sean Landis), Set Designer for the University of Sydney’s Dramatic Society’s Major production Macbeth (dir. Lincoln Gidney) at PACT, and A Room With A View (dir. Mark Nagle) at the Genesian Theatre.
JAMES BURCHETT ​
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James is a sydney-based actor, designer, and dramaturge with a passion for new and reimagined works.
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James graduated Design Centre Enmore with an Advanced Diploma of Live Performance Design and Sydney Theatre School with an Advanced Diploma of Acting. He has also been studying classical voice for the past 10 years.
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No:Intermission marks James' first design work in the industry and he can't wait for everyone to see the incredible stories borne of this collaboration.
WILLIAM DUKE ​
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William has just finished his second year at the University of Sydney, majoring in Film Studies and English Literature. Directing and writing short-films since the age of sixteen, William has been involved in a variety of film and theatre productions, including a behind-the-scenes documentary of the 2016 NIDA musical, Crazy For You. Most recently, he worked on Coda, a short-film co-produced by the Sydney Opera House and award-winning film director Thomas Wilson White. William is eager to continue his love of film and theatre here at Theatre Travels.
