Stage Plays

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Skating in the Clouds is Clare’s latest play.  An uplifting and adventurous new work featuring salsa, skating and Superb Fairy Wrens, this script was developed with a grant from The Malcolm Robertson Foundation. Between 2022 and June 2024, intensive dramaturgy and workshopping with actors led to the completion of the final draft, and the engagement of an all-female cast and crew who will bring this story to life on stage at Theatre Works from 4th – 14th December 2024. We can’t wait!

TICKETS: https://www.theatreworks.org.au/2024/skating-in-the-clouds

Here is a 13-second glimpse: Skating in the Clouds

T H E   S T O R Y
After love comes denial … after denial comes the party to end all parties. But how will this story of love, skating and salsa end?
Summer and Autumn are in love, but there’s a problem in their love nest. Autumn roams the house, spanner in hand, looking for a drip she can’t see while Summer plans a spectacular skating party. With cracks emerging in their relationship, tough questions need to be asked. What if Julia Gillard doesn’t like the ornamental ice vulture, or Penny Wong can’t skate? And why is ice starting to appear on the floor of their St Kilda living room? A modern fairytale that begins with salsa, pirouettes into the clouds and ends on a snow-capped mountain.

C A S T   &   C R E W
Katrina Mathers as ‘Summer’
Rebecca Morton as ‘Autumn’
Shamita Sivabalan as ‘Toby’ and ‘Earth Being #1’
El Kiley as ‘Earth Being #2’

 

Director: Emily Farrell

Assistant Director: Ellie Nielsen
Sound Designer: Sharyn Brand
Lighting Designer: Natalia Velasco Moreno
Set Designer: Bianca Pardo
Intimacy Coordinator: Lucy Payne
Assistant Stage Manager: Barbara Yazbeck
Photographer: Anna Moloney-Heath
Publicist: Sassy Red PR
Producer: Clare Mendes

About the Artists

All media enquiries to Eleanor Howlett at Sassy Red PR.   E: bosslady@sassyred.com.au   P: 0419 664 108

Skating in the Clouds is the first in a series of three epic new plays by Clare – about women, by women and for women. The second play in the series, Sin Hombres, was completed in August 2024. To read the first 10 pages, click here.

We can’t wait to see you at our show. x

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A Flower for Moses was presented at Gasworks Arts Park from 11th – 15th May 2021

For a show summary, photos and video highlights, visit:
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/project/a-flower-for-moses/

To read a copy of the script, please contact Clare via the Contact page.

Writer: Clare Mendes
Director: Cathy Hunt
Designer: D. B. Valentine
Stage Manager: Barbara Toohey

Performers: Uschi Felix (pictured), Clare Larman and Daniel Deards

A pound of butter. A wintery sky. Trentham, 1954. But will she solve the puzzle?

At 81, there’s nothing Germaine Weaving enjoys more than a good cryptic crossword. But no matter how she approaches this one, the clues don’t add up. A pound of butter. A wintery sky. And why won’t Frank come out of the cool room? Desire loves a good mystery, but she’s in no hurry to solve one that links her late father to a crime. Thomas can’t help Germaine either – he has a secret of his own to deal with.

But Germaine didn’t carve out a successful career in journalism by giving up when the going got tough. This is a big story, and it can only be told by her – so why the devil won’t anyone listen?

Highly acclaimed actor Uschi Felix (Marlene Dietrich: Perfect Illusion) heads a stellar cast in this heart-warming play about human frailty, the power of denial and the long-lasting effects of the secrets we bury within us.

Running time: 85 minutes.
Photo credit: Anna Moloney-Heath

This theatrical season was presented at Gasworks Arts Park from 3rd – 6th March 2021.

For a show summary, including photos and footage, visit
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/2021-the-best-the-fairest-the-first/

Causing a fluttering of hearts with their risqué bathing costumes in 1912, winning the hearts of cricket fans across the nation in 1958, and getting to the heart of what it means to be an Australian Sportswoman in 2021 – Olympic hopes high, but who’s doing the school drop-off today? – the women featured in The Best, The Fairest, The First will surprise and delight you.

Created for International Women’s Day 2021, The Best, The Fairest, The First followed on from the one-night show The Best and Fairest, which was presented at Gasworks for IWD 2020.

This collection of original short plays about inspiring Australian sportswomen was devised and produced by Clare Mendes, who also wrote the script ‘The Shoemaker’s Daughter – the Life of Betty Wilson’ – performed by Rebecca Quin, Annie Morris and Alec Gilbert.

Running time: 80 minutes
Director: Elizabeth Walley
Producer: Clare Mendes

Presented by Melbourne Writers’ Theatre in association with Gasworks Arts Park.

STARK. DARK. ALBERT PARK. was performed at Gasworks Arts Park from 14th – 22nd September 2018.

For a show summary, photos and video highlights, visit:
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/2018-stark-dark-albert-park/

This monologue showcase was created and produced by Clare for Melbourne Fringe 2018, and was  directed and designed by Elizabeth Walley. Clare’s monologue ‘Invisible Petition’ was performed alongside four other monologues. Running time: 50 minutes.

REVIEWS

http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/stark-dark-albert-park

http://www.whatdidshethink.com/2018/09/stark-dark-albert-park-theatre-review.html

WATCH ‘INVISIBLE PETITION’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xnsCxGFlGQ&feature=youtu.be

Presented at Bluestone Arts Space in June 2021. For a show summary, photos and reviews, visit:
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/trash-receives-great-reviews/

To read a copy of the script, please contact Clare via the Contact page

Writer:  Clare Mendes
Director: Elizabeth Walley
Performers: Clare Larman (pictured), Emma Cox and Alec Gilbert

On a breezy Melbourne night, a homeless woman stands on the top deck of a cruise ferry. Beside her, Melody Freeburg shivers in her party dress and pearls. They gaze downstream, desperate to reach their shared Utopia. And as the Maribyrnong River dips and darkens, they each develop a plan.

Running time: 80 minutes.
Photo credit: John A. Edwards
Produced by: Clare Mendes and Left Bauer

ARTICLES:

https://thewestsider.com.au/does-footscray-really-need-trash-like-this/

http://www.australianstage.com.au/201705228303/features/melbourne/clare-mendes.html

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS 

Opening Night highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acRWcF0rCeo

Opening Night speeches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdz5szLCWdk

Watch Trash Goes Down The River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gAVe4osKsU

ST KILDA STORIES was performed at the National Theatre from 26th – 30th September 2017.

For a show summary, photos and video highlights, visit:
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/2017-st-kilda-stories/

This monologue showcase was created and produced by Clare for Melbourne Fringe 2017, and was  directed and designed by Elizabeth Walley. Clare’s monologue ‘Big Dipper’ was performed alongside four other monologues. Running time: 55 minutes.

REVIEWS
https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/st-kilda-stories

WATCH ST KILDA STORIES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tQ7YozEC5M&t=1029s

* All show photos courtesy of John A. Edwards

Mathilda has a burning intellect, a thwarted dream and a very sharp knife.

Cindy has spellbinding beauty, a box of melting chocolates and an explosive secret.

A silent desert. A friendship feeling the heat. Tick. Tick. Tick.

THE AGREEMENT was performed from 7th – 18th October 2015 at La Mama Courthouse, Carlton, as part of Page to Stage 2015.

For a show summary and photos, visit:
https://melbournewriterstheatre.org.au/page-to-stage-2015-the-agreement/

To read a copy of the script, please contact Clare via the Contact page

Directed by: Elizabeth Walley.
Performances by: Emma Cox (Mathilda), Ciume Lochner (Cindy) and Alec Gilbert (Bob).
Set construction by: Ian Cairncross.
Sound/lighting by: Mazz Ryan.
Photos by: John Edwards.

Running time: 70 minutes.