Euroa Little Theatre is back again for the second time this year with an original play that might well top the troupe’s earlier pieces.
The medieval ‘time loop’ adventure Flower & Forest is the brainchild of the company’s resident director and playwright Alison Hayes, who is fast approaching her first decade with the company.
It is her first time loop script and the very first full length play produced by the company on her watch, extending beyond the one act plays the company normally does.
Time loops are a narrative plot whereby the entire cast, except for one character, is forced to repeat each day, a genre made famous by the pioneering Groundhog Day and Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow.
This story follows Asher, who is trapped in a time loop, teaming up with the Forest Spirit Mori to learn the truth about the past, break the curse keeping him trapped, and save his family before it is too late.
“This story is actually a bit like Groundhog Day, but with magic and swordfights,” says director Alison Hayes.
“It’s fun for the whole family; I mean, who doesn’t like a good sword fight?”
Hayes said the new style of play was more ambitious than earlier productions had been.
“I feel this one will be pretty exciting as it’s a full-length play, but the main challenge is that it is in a time loop,” Hayes said.
“When writing it, if I changed something in one time loop then I had to really concentrate and make sure that I made that change in all the other time loops.”
She is also self-reflective about her development as a writer.
“I think the trick with writing plays is that the more I write, then the more I can focus on different elements of each one.
“I tended to focus on more fantasy elements in this one, so I might try my hand on working on something a bit more serious for our next show.
“Or maybe I just do one filled with sword fights.”
The company has had a sizeable influx of rising talent this year.
“There is a lot of new young folk joining the cast with a few of the old hands from earlier plays.
“Our lead man in Flower & Forest, Toby, has been in three performances with us and he’s quite challenged in this play because he is in every single scene, and his dialogue changes dramatically with each loop of the base story.
“So good on him for taking on this very challenging role.”