Fourth Wheel Theatre

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A young shelf stacker from the Perth suburbs is met at the Australia Day fireworks by a university sociology professor who specialises in the phonetics of the English language.  The professor teases her about her ambition to be sociably acceptable given her accent and coarse language.  He suggests an experiment. Over 9 months she is intensively taught to speak Cultivated Australian English and behave like a socialite.  She is exhibited and tested at the Melbourne Cup Lunch at the Royal Perth Yacht Club.
Based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913)
Adapted by Tim McGrath (2020)
Cast
Eliza Doolittle (bogan)  | : | Helen Peerless
Professor Henry Higgins (sociology professor)  | : | Stephen McVey
Doctor Pickering (friend and conscience of Higgins)  | : | Peter Hocking
Alfred Doolittle (philosophical father of Eliza)  | : | Ron Potiphar
Mrs. Pearce (Henry’s assistant at the university)  | : | Isabelle McGrath
Mrs. Higgins (mother of Henry)  | : | Fiona McVey
Mrs. Fortescue (snobby mother)  | : | Annie Taylor
Clara Fortescue (snooty daughter)  | : | Duncan McGrath
Nigel Fortescue (soppy romantic admirer of Eliza)  | : | Isabelle McGrath
Bystander | : | Fiona McVey
Sarcastic Bystander | : | Ron Potiphar

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A young shelf stacker from the Perth suburbs is met at the Australia Day fireworks by a university sociology professor who specialises in the phonetics of the English language.  The professor teases her about her ambition to be sociably acceptable given her accent and coarse language.  He suggests an experiment. Over 9 months she is intensively taught to speak Cultivated Australian English and behave like a socialite.  She is exhibited and tested at the Melbourne Cup Lunch at the Royal Perth Yacht Club.
Based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913)
Adapted by Tim McGrath (2020)
Cast
Eliza Doolittle (bogan)  | : | Helen Peerless
Professor Henry Higgins (sociology professor)  | : | Stephen McVey
Doctor Pickering (friend and conscience of Higgins)  | : | Peter Hocking
Alfred Doolittle (philosophical father of Eliza)  | : | Ron Potiphar
Mrs. Pearce (Henry’s assistant at the university)  | : | Isabelle McGrath
Mrs. Higgins (mother of Henry)  | : | Fiona McVey
Mrs. Fortescue (snobby mother)  | : | Annie Taylor
Clara Fortescue (snooty daughter)  | : | Duncan McGrath
Nigel Fortescue (soppy romantic admirer of Eliza)  | : | Isabelle McGrath
Bystander | : | Fiona McVey
Sarcastic Bystander | : | Ron Potiphar

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Cast:
Daniel McGrath | : | Jonathan Brewster | - | surgically scarred criminal on the run (brother to Mortimer and Douglas)
Helen Peerless | : | Mortimer Brewster | - | effete theatre critic for a Perth paper (brother to Jonathon and Douglas)
Isabelle McGrath | : | Abby Brewster  | - | scatty elderly spinster (sister of Martha)
Fiona McVey | : | Martha Brewster  | - | resolute elderly spinster (sister of Abby)
Tim McGrath | : | Douglas Brewster | - | eccentric fantasist (lunatic brother to Mortimer and Jonathon)
Peter Hocking | : | Doctor Edelsten | - | criminal cosmetic surgeon with germanic accent.
Ron Potiphar | : | Constable O’Hara | - | friendly local policeman
Annie Taylor | : | Constable Brophy | - | tough traffic policeman
Mitch McDonnell | : | Mr. Witherspoon | - | officious mayor of Joondalup

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COMING SOON:

The play revolves around the Brewster family, composed mainly of maniacs, some of them homicidal. The hero, Mortimer Brewster, is a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, murderous family and local police in Fremantle, Western Australia as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves.

His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is General Haig and the cellar of the Brewster home (which serves as graves for the aunts' victims) are the trenches of Gallipoli; and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Edelsten to conceal his identity, and now has a face "like dropped meat pie".

Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. This adaption is based on the 1946 screenplay by B.S. George and has been contextualised to Australia by Tim McGrath in 2020.

Title music: Bandas Sonoras "Sad Clown" (Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY)
Incidental music:   Igor Leontyev "Don't Be Sad" (Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY)