Double feature: Carpet and Sand / 100 Reasons for War

New theatre collective Calamity Practice presents a provocative double feature of Australian storytelling: Carpet and Sand and 100 Reasons for War. These politically current plays weave together unconventional narratives that explore global conflict, leadership, and colonialism. The performance will run for a strictly limited season from 30 May to 16 June 2024 at Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs. 

Carpet and Sand is a pastiche of narrative threads. Peter Brook and a troupe of actors travel through the Sahara Desert in search of a new type of theatre. Tens of thousands of sheep spontaneously panic and stampede across Oxfordshire. A flock of birds gather for a conference. The play asks: who do we follow and why? From Melbourne playwright Robert Reid, this is  Carpet and Sand’s premiere production.  

100 Reasons for War is a series of vignettes exploring the nature of war and humanity. A play about the power of language, the birth of public relations, the difference between a society of baboons and a society of bonobos, and ultimately, why we’ve had so many wars since the “Great War”. Written in 2015, the play is a provocative, funny and cautionary response to the 100-year anniversary of Gallipoli. 

This formidable double bill showcases the talents of a dynamic cast; AYA (ADA La Mama Theatre), Ciline Ajobong (More Than This Paramount TV), Clarisse Bonello (Atomic Malthouse Theatre), Finn McGrath (All the Rest Theatreworks), Lucy Rees (We Were Children development Carriageworks 2023), Mark Yeates (Constellations fortyfivedownstairs), Tilly Legge (Mr Burns, a post-electric play fortyfivedownstairs), and Walt Dyson (We Were Children development Carriageworks 2023). Calamity Practice’s premiere production highlights the strength and creativity of an ensemble forged through over 20 years of creative partnerships.