Previous work

SNAFU is pleased to announce the return of Murder at Warrabah House

August, 2013
Upper Yarra Arts Centre, 3409 Warburton Hwy, Warburton, Victoria

the audience left the auditorium in awe
FringeReview

Both homage to, and dark departure from, the traditional Agatha Christie murder mystery, this antipodean re-imagining of the classic tale of death at a country house turns the crime genre upside down in more ways than one.

The play boasts a cast of intriguing characters, all brought to life by phenomenally talented Samantha Hill, and all bound together in a cunning and unexpected narrative that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Ten Months in a Cold Town

August 2013

Spy thriller hits the bullseye.
Theatre Press

snappy psychological drama
Concrete Playground

The tenth-anniversary production from May Jasper and Sam Wilson (SNAFU Theatre) is captivating, clever and just plain creepy. This isn’t Australia. There’s no beaches, no fun, and people get arrested for clapping in public. An undercover agent leads the most mundane existence until an unexpected visitor changes the rules. Suddenly, these two unimportant agents find themselves embroiled in a situation neither are able to control. Featuring an original score, a unique venue, snappy dialogue and sensational performances from SNAFU veteran Samantha Hill, newcomer James Gand-Hunt, and guest artist Cazz Bainbridge, Ten Months in a Cold Town is a must-see in our cold town this autumn.

Murder at Warrabah House

Australian season, 2011-2012

“…A welcome example of what happens when the performer and crew get it right.” – Arts Hub
“Superbly executed.” – BEAT Magazine

Both homage to and dark departure from the traditional Agatha Christie murder mystery, this antipodean re-imagining of the classic tale of death at a country house turns the crime genre upside down in more ways than one.

The play boasts a cast of intriguing characters, all bought to life by phenomenally talented Samantha Hill, and all bound together in a cunning and unexpected narrative that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Murder at the Warrabah House, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011

“the audience left the auditorium in awe” – FringeReview

“performed beautifully” – The Scotsman

Surgeons Hall is no stranger to murder. In 1828 serial killers Burke and Hare brought the bodies of their victims along Nicholson Street to the Hall and sold them, 10 pounds a corpse, to anatomists from the Edinburgh Medical College. So it’s fitting that, one hundred and eighty years later, theSpaces @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53) will once again be the site of violence and death with the arrival of SNAFU Theatre’s critically acclaimed and deeply creepy new show, Murder at Warrabah House.

The show is a one-women Agatha Christie style murder mystery, it follows the adventures of Mr Arthur Parrish, the world renowned consulting detective, who travels to Melbourne, Australia in 1928 with his sister Hattie. They are invited to spend a weekend at the Kyneton home of the famously wealthy McCutcheon family, and while they are there a tragic and disturbing mystery begins to unfold, a dark tale of theft, betrayal, madness and murder.

The cast of deadly and intriguing characters are all bought to life by phenomenally talented Felicity Hopkins, and bound together in a cunning and unexpected narrative that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Murder at Warrabah House is the seventh production for Australian theatre company SNAFU Theatre, and their first trip to Edinburgh Fringe.

“Superbly executed”
– Beat Magazine
“A welcome example of what happens when the performer and crew get it right.”
– Arts Hub Australia

theSpaces @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53)

5 August – 20 August 2011

• Hattie Parish – Felicity Hopkins
• Directed by Sam Wilson
• Written by May Jasper and Sam Wilson
• Produced by May Jasper
• Costume by Hannah Cuthbertson
• Lighting Design by Cail Young
• Set Design by Karleng Lim

Saturday Afternoon Soap Opera

Mirrors Lounge Bar, Sat 31 October – Sat 5 December

go along and enjoy it.
Fitzroyalty

Drama, intrigue, dog food, truth serum, guilt, grief, sexual confusion and seduction. Melbournians are invited to experience the dizzying highs and despicable lows of Soap Opera like you’ve never seen before.
Saturday Afternoon Soap Opera was developed from an original concept by May Jasper. A serialised, improvised theatre piece, where the plot moves along every week, all the while encapsulating the ridiculousness of the soap opera format.

Thankyous

Kyle Shearer, Michael Sloane, Melissa Rodis, Fitzroy Nursery and Fiona Murray.

The Dead Air

19 February – 28 February, 2009
Dante’s, Fitzroy

When you’re a saviour, a hero to others, who’s there when you need to be rescued? And how do you break free from a relationship that’s doing you more harm than good?
The Dead Air recounts the stories of two strangers, whose worlds collide one day in a profound and horrific way. What results is an intense web of power play, heightened emotion, misunderstandings and forgotten memories, escalating to one, near fatal, incident.
Our latest production The Dead Air was a new direction for SNAFU in more ways than one. It marked our first excursion outside the Fringe for many years, and offers the chance to explore some of the darker themes that were present in shows such as Death’s Variety Hour and The Beginning of the End, without our usual comedy safety net.

Thankyous

Ruaridh Atkins, Samantha Hill, Eliza Knight, Andy MacKinlay and the perpetually elusive Wendy Yap.

Production

Beginning of the End

2 October – 11 October, 2008
Broken Mirror, Brunswick

It’s been two years since Germany’s victory in the Battle of Britain, and the citizens of the Occupied English Territories live their lives in a constant fog of paranoia and fear. The world seems to have turned upside down, there’s the SS in Essex, concentration camps in Coventry, and the fight for democracy is waged only by the foolhardy souls of the British resistance. When the Nazi’s most powerful leaders gather for a conference in the English countryside, its villagers are forced with fatal suddenness to choose, to take a side or be silent, with their own lives in the balance. Can any hope exist in these, the bleakest of times? One thing’s for certain, Churchill was wrong. Cause this sure ain’t the end of the beginning.

Script improvised and devised by cast, with additional scenes by Sam Wilson and May Jasper.

Thankyous

Ruaridh Atkins, Chris Donnelly, Graham Jasper, Margaret Jasper, Andrew McKinlay, Phil McLean, Elyjah McLeod, Emmett McNickle, Fee Murray, Ross Sherlock, Nick Wilson.
Anyone who bought chocolate or came to a fundraising event. Or both.

Production

Publicity

Month of Sundays

October 2009
First Floor, Fitzroy

Would you talk about inbreeding over breakfast? How about boob jobs, or hash cookies? Would you discuss the leering lesbian loophole, or the advantage of sex with flautists? Would you talk about cancer or unrequited love, boarding school or sand pits? Month of Sundays, the new play from SNAFU Theatre Company, is set over a series of Sunday breakfasts, and its four frank and funny characters have no problem discussing all these topics and many more. In fact as the play progresses the drama shifts from gasping at how much these people will say to wondering what lurks behind the words they leave unsaid.
Of course Month of Sundays is not really about marijuana, or schoolgirls, or any of the topics mentioned above. The play is set during a perpetual Sunday morning, and so its central concern is actually with the nature of the morning after, the time where we discuss everything that happened last night, all the things we did, and all the things we wish we didn’t. Thus while the play is a comedy, filled with searing one liners and pithy put downs galore, it centres emotionally around the idea of missed chances, mistakes and regrets

Death’s Variety Hour

October 2005
Bar 303, Northcote

Death does not make for an evening of light entertainment. So we’d like to assure you that this play isn’t really about death. It’s more about sex, tap dancing, violence, fishing, insurance and trench coated detectives. Some death obviously. But not much.