RADIO DA-DA
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Tuesday 18 - Saturday 22 October 2022
Hearkening back to the radio days of old, Radio Da-Da is inspired by works from the Goons, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett. This light surrealist comedy is performed as a live radio broadcast in two parts:
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"The Melbourne Cup Murders" follows a detective as she tries to figure out why cups are being murdered in the streets;
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"The Tartan Curse" sees the demise of humanity as it collapses into a Scottish nightmare.
Writers' Block theatre presents Radio Da-Da.
Starring: Alan Ashby, Elizabeth Blackthorn, Fulya Kantarmaci, Ivan Koetsveld, Michael R. Lister, Kendall Richardson, and Kirsten Shanahan. Understudy: Kerry Turpie.
Director: Phillip Hunting | Writers: The Melbourne Cup Murders: Phillip Hunting; The Tartan Curse: Michael R. Lister and Phillip Hunting; Story by Michael R. Lister | Producer: Wayne Stellini | Stage Manager: Kerry Turpie | Marketing: Phillip Hunting, Wayne Stellini | Executives in Charge of Production: Phillip Hunting, Wayne Stellini
From the
Director/Co-Writer...
I began at the beginning with my birth, as this seemed to be as safe bet at the time. I proceeded to skip forward many years, chained to a desk, being whipped by an ethereal being called Deadline, whilst the twin demons of ADHD and Procrastination tugged and pulled at the pen in my hand. The essay that was due in an hour had given way to a strange, giggle inducing title... The Melbourne Cup Murders; a serial killer cup taking its revenge on a tea-drinking populace. But that essay was due...
Five years later, and I found myself itching, scratching, tugging at the threads of an ever-unravelling mind, when I rose to my feet and declared, “This is it! I can feel it. This is the year I shall finally return to Melbourne Fringe!”
2020 blind sighted us all.
And yet, here we are, several lockdowns later, back to enjoying theatre. I have no idea what surrealism is, and yet, I crave it. I search it out everywhere I go. The Da-Da movement, for which Radio Da-Da is named, brought about some of the best comedic works of all time, such as the Goons, Python, and the Goodies, this is what, comedically speaking, I seek within this cold, confusing world. The silver punchline that enshrines every dark cloud. The oncoming clown car that is the light at the end of the tunnel. If I can make just a single person smile a day, well, then I’ll be the happiest little writer there ever was. Thus, between the insane minds of Mike and I, a crazy-type homage to days of old was born.And so, after several false starts. I am pleased to begin Radio Da-Da. Players, start your scripts. *Revving Noises* And remember... It’s all in the mind, you know...
Writers' Block Theatre would like to thank the team at Melbourne Fringe Festival and The MC Showroom for their support and encouragement throughout the process of bringing Radio Da-Da to the stage.
Our stories could not be told without the generous efforts of our volunteers, backers, and supporters: Malcom Hunting, Lesley Hunting, Bethany Hunting, Fulya Kantarmaci (photography), Kerry Turpie, and the Hume City Council.
Most Importantly, we would like to thank you, our audience, for supporting independent theatre and hope you enjoy the show! —Phillip Hunting
The Performers
Alan Ashby
ANNOUNCER
Alan has appeared in community theatre groups for over forty years, including Maroondah Theatre, Croydon Parish Players, and ARK Theatre, where he is currently president.
He has been the lead in numerous productions, such as ‘Allo ‘Allo (as Rene), Man of La Mancha (as Sancho Panza), and Oliver (as Fagin). One-act and ten-minute plays have been on the performance menu in recent years with several successes, including an award at Seymour One Act Festival in a production written by his wife, Sue.
Currently shooting a short film, his second for the year, Alan is delighted to be at the Melbourne Fringe Festival for his first Writers' Block Theatre play.
Ivan Koetsveld
ACTOR
Ivan Koetsveld returns to the stage to perform oddly and put on funny accents. He has done so before in productions of Urinetown (Old Carey Performing Arts Club), Spelling Bee (Foster Music Arts and Drama Association), Allo Allo (Leongatha Lyric Theatre), and Two Weeks with the Queen (Leongatha Lyric Theatre), amongst others.
Ivan toured in Inheritance, performed in Sovereign Hill, and produced original short plays, as well as festival and cabaret acts while studying Theatre Arts at Ballarat University.
For the last couple of years, he has embarked on a burlesque odyssey at Maison Burlesque, but promises he'll be fully clothed for this production… maybe.
Ivan hopes you enjoy the show (laugh and clap please).
Michael R. Lister
ACTOR
Michael R. Lister is an actor, writer, and producer for various mediums.
Trained at University of Ballarat, Diploma of Theatre Arts, he has performed in The Kitchen (2012), The Tempest (2012), The Crucible (2012), Dr. Faustus/Light the Lights (2011), Boxed In (La Más Collective, 2015), and The Writer (FRED the ALIEN Productions, 2016).
Michael continues to appear in assorted online videos for FRED the ALIEN Productions, the art collective he founded in 2010.
On a hiatus from acting to focus more on family/home life, Michael is back for a triumphant return with Writers’ Block Theatre’s Radio Da-Da, which he co-wrote, for the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2021).
Kirsten Shanahan
ACTOR
Having found her passion for the arts at a very young age, Kirsten Shanahan has starred in various high school and local theatre productions.
Obtaining her Diploma of Theatre Arts in 2008, she went on to preform in numerous shows before taking a hiatus to focus on other work.
Returning to the stage in Shane Harman Productions' Sweeny Todd (2017), Radio Da-Da will be Kirsten's debut appearance in the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Fulya Kantarmaci
LIVE FOLEY
Fulya Kantarmaci is a Twitch streamer, videographer, editor, and art and crafts enthusiast from Melbourne’s north.
A Victoria University graduate, having studied a Bachelor of Interactive Media (2015), Fulya has been an integral part of bringing multiple FRED the ALIEN Productions stage shows to life, serving as producer and stage manager on numerous productions. She first worked with Writers' Block Theatre's artistic directors Phillip Hunting and Wayne Stellini on Boxed In (La Más Collective, 2015) and served as stage manager on The Boy I Paid For (Writers' Block Theatre, 2020).
Kendall Richardson
LIVE FOLEY / ACTOR
Kendall Richardson is an Arts Graduate of LaTrobe University Bendigo and has been an avid content creator of pop culture videos on YouTube.
She has been podcasting since 2016, and is the producer and leading host of A Podcast Called FRED, and appears regularly on The Monthly @ WiniFRED’s and FRED Watch from FRED the ALIEN Productions.
Radio Da-Da marks Kendall’s theatrical stage debut.
Elizabeth Blackthorn
PIANIST
Elizabeth Blackthorn moved to Melbourne in 2009 at the age of eighteen to pursue a career in music, completing a degree in Improvisation with Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts since then.
As well as being in countless bands and musical projects, she has also performed in cabaret, burlesque, circus and magic shows, being part of funk, soul, dance, gypsy, jazz and rock bands, as well as performing at various festivals in across Victoria.
Recording parts on multiple albums of her own and others' compositions, Elizabeth's skills on the piano and keyboards encompass a wide variety of musical styles, but she particularly enjoys the old piano bar styles of the early 1900s.
The Crew
Phillip Hunting
DIRECTOR / WRITER / PRODUCER
Phillip Hunting: Writer, director, actor, and idiot at large. Born of modest parental units, his background includes a Diploma of Theatre Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Writing (2015), and directorial debut with The Writer (FRED the ALIEN Productions, 2016).
His goal is to create great works for Aussie stage, film, and radio. Phillip’s inspirations are Spike Milligan and the Goons, Lano and Woodley, and of course, the mad world around him.
Michael R. Lister
WRITER
Michael R. Lister has written and directed such productions as Uncle Rob’s Cook’en (2009) and Devil’s Dismissal (2009) at Ballarat TAFE Diploma of the Arts.
Having co-created and written episodes of UNI-Bums for FRED the ALIEN Productions, among other titles, Radio Da-Da marks his Melbourne Fringe debut as a playwright.
Wayne Stellini
PRODUCER
Wayne Stellini is a Melbourne writer, director, and producer who engages with as many storytelling mediums as he can.
He worked on such productions as Boxed In (assistant director, La Más Collective, 2015) and The Writer (producer, FRED the ALIEN Productions, 2016), before writing and directing Michael and Phillip Are Getting Married in the Morning (FRED the ALIEN Productions, 2017-18), What Ever Happened to Jeremy Baxter? (FRED the ALIEN Productions, 2019), and The Boy I Paid For (Writers’ Block Theatre, 2020) to critical acclaim.
Kerry Turpie
STAGE MANAGER
Kerry is an actor, writer, and director of both community and independent theatre projects from Central Victoria.
She has been working as a volunteer in community theatre for the past twenty years in Ballarat, Kyneton, Macedon, and Bendigo as a performer, director, props master, stage manager, and production manager.
Other stage management credits include Wicked, Grease, Hairspray, Oliver!, Joseph and His Technicoloured Dreamcoat, and Godspell.
Kerry is also an active committee member with youth theatre groups MAYTE, Mount Players, and Tribe Youth Theatre for the last twenty years, as well as being a qualified primary and secondary drama teacher.
Rehearsal and Promotional Images
