Closer

Alice Mary Cooper is the star of Waves, which arrives at The Wedge on Thursday.

Photo: Contributed

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Playwright is ready to make ‘Waves’ in Sale

Tom Parry

THEATREGOERS can expect an intimate and inspiring story when Waves arrives at The Wedge this week. Written and performed by Scottish-Australian playwright Alice Mary Cooper, this one-woman show tells the story of Elizabeth Moncello, a young woman from Gabo Island who competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Ms Cooper wrote the play after being inspired by pioneering Australian swimmers like Fanny Durack, Annette Kellerman and Mina Wylie. “Elizabeth Moncello came out of research that I did on those swimmers, but also, it’s partly on my experience of being a very keen swimmer when I was young, wanting to be an Olympian,” Ms Cooper said. As the narrator and sole performer of the show, Ms Cooper speaks directly to the audience, constantly breaking the fourth-wall to tell Elizabeth’s story and inhabit the character of Elizabeth herself. It’s also as much an ode to womanhood and growing old as it is a story about swimming. At just 50 minutes in length, the play is described by Ms Cooper as “very accessible” for audiences young and old, but also one that’s “very physical” with “sprinkles of humour” throughout. “It’s got lots of moments… where I inhabit different kinds of animals, in the way that Elizabeth learnt how to swim, through watching fish and penguins and dolphins,” Ms Cooper said. All things considered, it ought to be a fascinating experience for viewers of any age. Waves will be playing at The Wedge for one night only on Thursday, March 17 at 8pm. More information and tickets can be accessed by calling the box-office 5143 3200 or visiting thewedge.com.au.

Danny Aiello and Spike Lee in Do the Right Thing

Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Wedge Does ‘The Right Thing’

Tom Parry

MEMBERS of the Sale Film Society can look forward to a screening of Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing this week at The Wedge. Lee’s seminal drama takes place during a stifling heatwave in Brooklyn, where racial tensions are threatening the peace between neighbours and business owners. With its themes of prejudice, justice and police brutality, the picture remains just as relevant today as it did three decades ago. According to Sale Film Society secretary Gerard Callinan, the film has also been chosen due to the pandemic-afflicted release schedule. “If you look at our (2022) programme, there’s a lot of what you might call ‘classic’ films in the first half of the year,” Mr Callinan said. “Normally, we would have more current films – films that, for instance, might have been released in 2021 or 2020. “But because those films haven’t been released, that also means they haven’t been released on DVD. “So for the first four or five months of the year, we’re actually going back and looking at the more significant films that we have.” But screening Do the Right Thing also ties into the philosophy of the Society, that being to promote lesser-seen films. “We want to bring films that people will be, to a certain extent, interested in, and sort of films that may not see – that are very, very good – in a mainstream cinema,” Mr Callinan said. “I think if you love cinema, if you are interested in seeing different voices and seeing different stories, then the Sale Film Society is worth exploring.”

Do the Right Thing will be screening at The Wedge tonight from 7.30pm. Anybody wanting to become a member of the Sale Film Society is encouraged to visit The Wedge during business hours, or head to their website at thewedge.com.au.