The Collective Presents FALLING PETALS @ BATS

The Collective Presents
FALLING PETALS

Scary, surreal make believe; satire and sci-fi...
Donnie Darko meets Lord of the Flies

Something strange is happening in the isolated country town of Hollow. The children are dying.

Written by Ben Ellis
Directed by Jean Betts

5-21 JULY
8.30pm, BATS Theatre
Bookings: 04 802 4175

Ambitious teenagers Phil, Tania and Sally are desperate to leave their small town isolation but as the Authorities get nervous they threaten to block the only way out. Powerful forces are at work as alliances between the teens shift and the choices between life and death become increasingly fantastical and apocalyptic.

Part science-fiction, part satire, FALLING PETALS is a darkly humorous fable about the consequences of a culture of disposable youth.

Winner of the Wal Cherry Play of the Year Award, and the ANPC Young Dramatist Award, this caustic and deeply contemporary play shows brilliant young Melbourne writer Ben Ellis at his most sharp and observant.

"A savage but extremely inspiring story that's unapologetically rough and grimy and relishes in its anti PC stance" says director Jean Betts. "FALLING PETALS reinvents the stereotype of teen escaping the small town upbringing and brilliantly addresses the question of who has responsibility for our children?"

Ben Ellis fell into writing plays after joining an amateur theatre group while he was at University. Soon learning he was not much of an actor, he turned his focus to his emerging knack for script writing. He went on to win numerous playwriting awards such as the Malcolm Robertson Award and the Patrick White Playwrights' Award, he also writes regularly for The Big Issue Australia.

Extraordinarily well written FALLING PETALS is a gritty, moving, and darkly entertaining piece of theatre.

*** 'Assaulting, confronting, surreal - Ben Ellis's writing is a mix of humour, anger and insight... The new Brutalism comes to Australia... a vivid shock to the nervous system of contemporary theatre.' - Wal Cherry Judges' comments

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