When the curtain closes on Bliss! The Perfect Girlfriend! at this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, it won’t be closing on Harris Smart. The writer, producer, actor and director will be only one third of the way through his three-production run – one for each week of the festival – throwing himself head-first back into Fringe after eight years away from the scene.
“It’s kind of a crazy thing to do,” muses Smart, “but I just decided to make a splash.”
Smart has penned, produced and directed the three musical ‘dramadies’, each an exploration of the theme ‘Unlikely Romance’.
Bliss! The Perfect Girlfriend! follows a woman and man in the aftermath of a broken relationship, exploring the different ways in which people can come to view a shared reality. Smart will take to the stage as the male lead in the two-hander that kicks off his Fringe run.
Smart returns to the director’s chair for the all-female Dolly, a (sometimes bloodthirsty) story of love, betrayal and revenge set in a future where “all men have been wiped out by a virus”.
The Debt Collector, the third of Smart’s plays and one that’s been in the works for over twenty years, explores the tension between institutional values and the human spirit as a young debt collector falls in love with a notorious bad-debtor.
The production elements of each play will be stripped back, with Smart keen to avoid elaborate lighting and sets in order to focus attention on the performances and script.
A not-insignificant feat, staging the three-show collection will be a somewhat cathartic experience for Smart.
“I’ve had these shows around for a long time and I just wanted to get them out,” he says. “It seemed like a challenge.”
Bliss! The Perfect Girlfriend will be staged at Club Voltaire, 14 Raglan St, North Melbourne from 15 September – 19 September at 6pm, with a matinee on Sunday 20 September at 2.30pm.
Dolly will be staged at The Owl and Cat, 34 Swan St, Richmond, from 22 September – 26 September at 8pm, with a matinee on Sunday 27 September at 2.30pm.
The Debt Collector will be staged at The Owl and Cat, 34 Swan St, Richmond, from 29 September – 3 October at 8pm, with a matinee on Sunday 4 October at 2.30pm.
For tickets please visit www.melbournefringe.com.au or call 03 9660 9600
