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world premiere

Cool Pool Party is a new Australian play written by Antoinette Barbouttis and 11 year old Scarlett Beaumont.

A pool party for eight (four boys, four girls) takes place while 16-year-old Mindy’s parents are absent. Mindy like-likes Cam. Cam like-likes Mindy. Izzy like-likes Cam and Cam also like-likes Izzy. What else could happen? Will we find out who Mindy’s secret next door neighbour is? Will the kiss ever come? Find out as a motley troupe of performers and creatives play out absurd enthusiasm, subversive fun and inherent comedy as a response to the theatrical zeitgeist.

Running exhausted off the back of “håmlet”- a new australian play for Bondi Feast in 2018, Antoinette was out of ideas. Traumatised from the show, Antoinette regressed to her 16-year-old self. To pull herself out of this theatrical and personal dilemma, Antoinette, alongside her crew at ‘ban shakespeare’, decided to present a fresh narrative through pure eyes. This isn’t therapy theatre, rather art reflecting life. Any attempt to craft a hopeful written work ourselves would be a lie that audiences don’t deserve in a post-truth era. So instead, Antoinette and ‘ban shakespeare’ hired Scarlett.

Scarlett is a pre-teen writing an optimistic, coming of age drama about teenage-hood, performed by professional actors through the pessimistic lens of what it is to be a rejected theatre-maker in 2019. Post-dramatic, meta-theatrical, experimental but most certainly theatre, Scarlett writes for a recovering Antoinette.

Cool Pool Party is a farcical light-hearted romp, bound to lift the audiences’ spirits, and Antoinette’s. Or is it? Come and find out as ‘ban shakespeare’ take you on this swinging theatrical jaunt. The performance will be accompanied by a pre-show Q&A discussion. So that the show makes sense, of course.

“We need to react against a way of life that seems determined to keep us parochial, narrow-minded and fearful. Art of this calibre is the inspiration that can help set us free.” Suzy Goes See reviewing “håmlet” – a new australian play

Presented by: ban shakespeare
Written by: Antoinette Barbouttis and Scarlett Beaumont
Director: Riley Spadaro
Production Manager: Emily Richardson
Stage Manager and Lighting Designer: Phoebe Pilcher
Set Designer: Mathilda Robba
Costume Designer: Luke D’Alessandro
Sound Designer: Clare Hennessy
Photographer: Clare Hawley

Cast:
Antoinette Barbouttis
Gary Brun
Andrew Fraser
Clare Hennessy
Liam Nunan
Emily Richardson
Shannon Ryan
Jack Scott
Riley Spadaro
Alex Stamell
Alana Stewart
James Thomasson

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Time: 7:30 pm - 8:45 pm

Duration: 75min

Dates: Past Events, Tue 16, Wed 17, Thu 18

Price: $30

Venue: Big Theatre

! Adult themes, Swearing

Address: 1 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach 2026

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    Bondi Festival acknowledges the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal people, who traditionally occupied the Sydney Coast, and we pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders both past and present.