SHORE BREAK

SHORE BREAK
Written + Performed by Chris Pitman

3rd – 6th September 2024, 7pm
7th September 2024, 2pm + 7pm
Space Theatre
Adelaide Festival Centre

Isolated in a beautiful seascape, nestled in the dunes of the coast, one man has established a solo existence; simple, insular and free from a world that has served him up a wealth of pain, disconnection, and regret. He seeks solace in seclusion and the waves of the ocean, while he picks through the pieces of his life.

Brought up in an emotionally illiterate, culturally bereft household he is consumed by awkwardness, confusion, anger and an inability to connect meaningfully to relationships and community. Something is broken but cannot seem to put the pieces together.

As old memories overtake him, he must unravel his emotional entanglement from the past, deconstruct what he has done, who he is, and how he can keep living.

Is there a chance he can find a road back to civilisation, and if he is able to get there, will there be enough left of him to engage?

And is there sufficient forgiveness left in the world to welcome him back?

Suitable for ages 15+
75 minute duration
Frequent coarse language

Click here to buy single tickets, or buy through your State Theatre Company of South Australia Subscription here.

Previous showings
LIMITED SHOWCASE SEASON

4th - 13th May 2023
Goodwood Theatre
166a Goodwood Rd, Goodwood

Photo Shane Reid

Showcase season supported by

CAST + CREATIVES

Writer + Performer Chris Pitman
Director Chelsea Griffith with Chris Drummond
Lighting Bob Weatherly

THE ADVERTISER - Peter Burdon
With a resume bristling with major theatre credits, Chris Pitman has a solid and well-deserved reputation as one of Australia’s finest actors. To that he now adds playwright, with his excellent one-hander Shore Break. For a first go, Shore Break is exhilaratingly successful.

A man is sitting on his deck chair on the beach. He can wander down for a surf, or simply sit and “be”. He talks about life and love, his and others, but he’s no armchair philosopher, for he speaks from lived experience, and from the heart.

There’s a distant father, a good man, but remote. A no-nonsense mother, loyal, tough-loving. A childhood and adolescence that’s detached, if not isolated. He flirts with the need to be something, someone, not always in the most sensible or admirable of ways. Likewise the need to be loved by another. A lifetime later, on the beach, with himself for company, he might have just found his calling.

Shore Break is authentic and genuine. Pitman and director Chelsea Griffith have crafted a really persuasive piece. And it’s not just the words, poetically rich and beautiful though they are. It’s the silence in between, one of the most difficult things in theatre. And so successful it is, that this audience member, for one, could have done with even more.

Shore Break is great new theatre.
 

ArtsHub - Megan Koch

Read the full review here.
 

The Clothesline - by David Cronin

"The performance and script by Chris Pitman are a tour de force, and the standing ovation well-deserved after this marathon of a monologue. The direction by Chelsea Griffith is subtle and uncluttered. A compelling and quintessentially Australian theatre piece with universal appeal, this powerful play is an important addition to our understanding of ourselves and our own contribution to this world."
Read the full review.
 

STAGE WHISPERS - Lisa Lanzi
"...an exquisite work of theatre written and performed by Chris Pitman, an actor who is utterly spellbinding..."
Read the full review here.

Lia Loves
"He had us all by both the jugular and heart strings."
Read the full review here

For information about touring SHORE BREAK, please email John Glenn, john@brinkproductions.com