Darkly comic thriller for November free season
Warwick Moss’ Silver Tunnel is a hell of a ride… in a holy place
A classic play opens in a new venue with free performances this November 9-14. The Silver Tunnel brings a veteran actor and a new star together in a darkly comic thriller by a larrikin writer. And all in a repurposed church with its legendary minister and his homeless flock!
Sydney’s oldest graveyard: seven tombstones… all suicides from the time of the First Fleet. Old Harry is their ‘keeper’.
He’s tendered their graves for 34 years. He talks to them. They talk back. Now, he’s digging an eighth grave… who is it for?
Jason the suicidal apprentice gravedigger arrives – because the voices have called him in. Harry can’t hear them anymore.
Why not? And who will end up in the eighth grave?
The Silver Tunnel is a wild ride to heaven and hell and back, set in a graveyard and performed in a church!
Penned by veteran stage and screen actor, writer and filmmaker Warwick Moss, this darkly comic thriller is a play about suicide that celebrates life.
It also marks the debut of a new inner west performance space: the Ashfield Uniting Church,
home to the homeless and HQ of the Australian Living Treasure, the Reverend Bill Crews.
Bill Crews has been fighting for the poor, homeless and needy for almost 50 years. Starting off with the street kids, Kings Cross in the 1970s, he worked tirelessly with the Wayside Chapel until he moved to Ashfield in the ‘80s and opened his now famous Loaves and Fishes free restaurant in the grounds of the church.
To this day thousands of free meals are served every week to those in need, while also providing free dental, medical and social services. The only thing that has changed since the arrival of the Coronavirus is meticulous COVID checks and social distancing. The numbers have actually increased as the recession bites. Church services are now mostly held outside, the pews have been removed and the church itself is now an Arts and Performance Space. With the actors moving around the audience, the Silver Tunnel launches this exciting new era.
What a year it’s been eh? No Theatre. No Church, says Rev Bill. But now we’re underway again with a magical combination of both. Like all our endeavours this production is aimed at raising awareness and therefore funds for the poor and disadvantaged people we exist for. And the beauty of this production is that right through rehearsals and performances, our wonderful homeless and sometimes struggling guests are welcome to attend.
After all, this great little play has a huge theme…the wonder and value of life.
