DEMONS READING

You can’t build a brick without clay, just as you can’t stage a play without a script. But rarely do we get to see the – often arduous and winding – steps in between the spark of inspiration and finished product. The GRIFFringe Sunday afternoon program offers a peephole into this process, and next up is a read-through of the fledgling script Demons by Abe Forsythe and Damon Herriman.

“Not nearly enough time is spent on the development of scripts in this country so things like GRIFFringe are vital for developing new work,” says Forsythe, who has also starred in the excellent black comedy TV series Laid. “This night is a stepping stone in [Demons’] continued development. Demons needs to feed off the audiences reaction, we’ll probably find out if we’ve succeeded based on this night.”

The play sees a group of middle aged men destroy their own lives and everything around them over a long kept secret. Inspiration hit Forsythe one afternoon while sitting in Damon’s living room. “There was a smell coming from his chimney. We started pretending I found out he’d stashed a dead body up there, and then it became what would he do to stop me from telling the police. This became something we couldn’t stop thinking of and is one of the core ideas of the play.”

The reading will be led by local performers Kate Mulvany, Erik Thompson and Warwick Young, and is directed by Helen Dallimore. Says Forsythe, “[I have] no idea where Demons will head to next, we’d love to see it as a fully realised production at some stage. The cast we’ve managed to assemble is who we would want in the finished production. But if the audience hates it we’ll probably rethink writing a full play the next time we goof off at Damon’s place.”

Dec 18, 7.30pm, SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod St, Kings Cross, $10, 9361 3817, griffintheatre.com.au