Catapult

by Lachlan Philpott

2004 | Brunswick Mechanics Institute,
Melbourne AU

2005 | Melbourne Fringe Festival,
Melbourne AU

An examination of queer parenting and relationships from the perspective of six interlinked characters.
Premiered at The Mechanics Institute Brunswick, Melbourne in 2004.

Go out of the room, down the corridor, across the waiting room, turn left through reception and there’s a small room with some magazines. All sorts. Ejaculate in there and bring it straight back in the jar.

Now I’m further down the street and you are with me sitting like a puppy I push around in a pram. I sometimes wonder what it’d be like to stand at the top of the hill and push you gently from the top. If I ran behind and let you crash would you let me comfort you when you smashed your face. Which bit of your body would I keep if you were torn in half by a truck and how long would it be before I stopped pushing the empty pram around? You look straight ahead. I look left and right. Our eyes meet and one of us wants to turn the lights off. It changes who.

- Catapult text, by Lachlan Philpott

Premiere Production (2004)

DIRECTOR
Alyson Campbell
PERFORMERS
Gary Abrahams, Kerrie-Anne Baker, Dion Mills, Jane Montgomery, Luke Mullins, Suzette Williams
LIGHTING DESIGN
Richard Whitehouse
SOUND DESIGN
Chris Wenn
MUSIC COMPOSITION
Kim Baston
SET DESIGN
Danielle Harrison
COSTUME DESIGN
Luke Mullins
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Victoria Weelley and Todd Moore
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Ryan Russell

Second Production (2005):
Melbourne Fringe Festival

DIRECTOR
Alyson Campbell
PERFORMERS
Suzette Williams, Dion Mills, Luke Mullins, Craig Burton, Melia Naughton, Kerrie Baker
LIGHTING DESIGN
Richard Whitehouse
SOUND DESIGN
Chris Wenn
COMPOSER
Kim Baston
INSTALLATION
Sharnie Shields
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN
Danielle Harrison
SOUND RECORDINGS
Kate Peake
FRIDGE WRANGLER
Mike Walsh
STAGE MANAGEMENT
Rebecca Tadman, Suzanne Patman
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jodi Jones

‘Catapult’s scenes overlap and collide, playing simultaneously and out of sequence. The text defies a single interpretation, as much as the play initially resists its audience. However, the accumulated and disparate fragments do eventually cohere. Concurrent narrative strands emerge, and in a moment of dawning epiphany you find yourself inside the play. Catapult is all the more engrossing for the effort required to enter it. A major theme of the work is the way in which people construct different identities for themselves, depending on their circumstances and interactions. Philpott has fashioned characters of depth and complexity, all of them lucid despite the multiplicity of facades they present. Like everything worthwhile, Catapult requires effort, but more than rewards the outlay. Take the plunge and immerse yourself in something quite extraordinary.’