A Commerical Farce March 16, 2011

Malthouse Theatre’s A Commercial Farce tells the story of Bill, an experienced theatre director on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Jules is the latest fresh-faced television star of Murder Squad and was brought in as the name that’s going to sell the tickets. Without him the show is doomed. But when Jules fails to perform the simplest of acting tasks, Bill’s reason for existence becomes teaching his young pupil the very meaning of farce.

A Commercial Farce is playing at Riverside Theatres from Wednesday, 16 March to Saturday, 19 March.

Expect slapstick, running gags, misunderstandings and an inability to communicate the simplest of messages. It's one big, complicated dog's breakfast, and it must nonetheless unfold with blind precision. Director Aidan Fennessy revels in Peter Houghton's script, delivering a production that fuses physical humour, sexual innuendo and transgressive behaviour with an almighty bang.

“A Commercial Farce is made up of an excellent cast and creative team delivering a clever and funny show. Audiences are sure to be entertained by the talented young Australian playwright, Peter Houghton” said Director of Riverside Theatres, Robert Love.
Director Aidan Fennessy credits include Ruby Moon, Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee for Playbox Theatre Company and Griffin Theatre Company; The American Pilot for Red Stitch Theatre; The Things We Do for Love for Melbourne Theatre Company; and The Eskimo for Belvoir B Sharp to name a few. Fennessy was the Winner of the Wal Cherry Award for Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee and has received a number of awards for writing and acting. Aiden Fennessy is currently Artistic Associate with MTC.

Writer and Performer Peter Houghton is a multi award winner for both writing and performing. Most recently, his one-man show The Pitch won him two Green Room Awards for 2006 Best New Australian Play and 2006 Best Actor for Independent Theatre. Houghton has recently appeared in Ruby Moon, Tear From A Glass Eye, Tartuffe, The Pitch, A View of Concrete and The Trial.

Actor and comedian, Tim Potter graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007. For Red Stitch Theatre, Potter’s credits include Stop. Rewind, Farragut North, That Face, Lobby Hero, Rites of Evil, The Work of Wonder, Love Lies Bleeding. For VCA he appeared in Fire Face, The Perjured City, Who’s Afraid of the Working Class, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Too Young for Ghosts. He has previously appeared in Tartuffe, Who’s Afraid of the Working Class, The Perjured City, The Venetian Twins and Yes. Potter was elected to join Red Stitch in the inaugural year of the company's Graduate Programme in 2008. Previously, Potter has performed readings for Malthouse Theatre for Tartuffe and Dimboola.

[A] sharp comedy that unstitches the conventions of comic theatre itself while delivering hearty laughs at the expense of the industry.
-The Sunday Age