The Brag

Squabbalogic
Extraordinary Days
By Barlow Redfearn

One of the great things about Sydney is the presence of independent theatre – and at present, there’s a wealth of resourceful independent theatre companies staging challenging productions across this city. Occupying a smaller niche in this set is Squabbalogic, an indie theatre company dedicated to musical theatre – a genre usually dominated by big-budget Broadway spectaculars.

Founded in 2006 as a vehicle for co-founder Jay James Moody’s creative talents, Squabbalogic has made its mark with quirky and irreverent Off-Broadway gems, from Reefer Madness and Forbidden Broadway to their critically acclaimed production of the genre spoof [Title Of Show] – and their latest offering, the Off-Broadway hit Ordinary Days.

“We don’t have the budget of things like Phantom of the Opera or Wicked,” says Moody, “and it seems like these days a lot of these big Broadway shows really seem to coast by on their amazing costumes, props, sets, and all this electronic whiz-bangery. But if you take all that away, some of the shows are pretty thin – so we like to pick shows that come at it from the opposite angle, where its all about the story and the characters.”

Ordinary Days, written by American playwright and composer Adam Gwon, perfectly fits the Squabbalogic bill: a stripped down four-hander with a piano, about appreciating the simple things in life.

“Adam Gwon has written an incredible piece of theatre, which on the surface may appear mundane, but there is such a complexity to the characters and their journeys,” says Moody, who stars in the play. “It’s very simple, with quite a static set; our primary focus is on the characters and making them really identifiable to the audience. A lot of what they go through is extremely universal.”

Set in New York City, with the bulk of the action taking place within the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ordinary Days tells the story of four New Yorkers and their ordinary experiences living in an often extraordinary city. When it premiered on off-Broadway in 2009, notoriously picky New York Times critic Charles Isherwood marked Gwon as a promising newcomer, describing his lyrics as “crisp, fluid and often funny,” capturing “with stinging clarity that uneasy moment in youth when doubts begin to cloud hopes for a future of unlimited possibility.”

“We like to find shows that really connected with their overseas audiences,” says Moody. “They might not be the flashiest shows but there’s something in them that speaks to people, and we feel these are shows we should be sharing with [Sydneysiders].

On the interaction between Sydney’s large and lo-fi theatre scenes, Moody offers, “We’ve got these huge shows coming through like Mary Poppins and Hairspray – but there’s a huge surge in independent small-scale theatre, and these shows that are popping up are filling a void in musical theatre with interesting and quirky shows that people who wouldn’t usually go and see theatre are coming to see. I mean, you can only see Annie so many times.”

What: Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon
When: January 19 – February 19
Where: Darlinghurst Theatre
More: darlinghursttheatre.com
squabbalogic.com