BLIND TASTING
by Paul Gilchrist
Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Fringe 2012
Ensemble Theatre 2013 & 2014
Street Theatre Canberra 2014
Hunter Valley Summer Theatre 2016
Old 505 Theatre 2018
and multiple vineyards around the country
With Sylvia Keays
Director: Paul Gilchrist
Producer: Daniela Giorgi
Part performance, part wine tasting,
Blind Tasting is a nationally toured and critically acclaimed production
"This performance was a delight; intimate, funny, sad, and thoughtful"
Stage Whispers
"a barrel of fun... performed with great vitality and charm
by Sylvia Keays... If you ever hear it's on, go"
Huon Hooke, Sydney Morning Herald
"a punchy, whimsical tale executed exceptionally by actor Sylvia Keays…
superbly written by Paul Gilchrist... fun, thought-provoking and insightful"
Theatre Junkies
"Sylvia Keays is a brilliant performer… a moving, consistent and quality
performance that is a joy to watch… The script is playful, witty and poetic
throughout… thoroughly entertaining”
Fringe Review
"One of those little treasures of a play that fills your glass with optimism,
spills a bit with the laughs, and finds truth"
Canberra Times
"The show has a very smooth tone, sitting happily between wistfully melancholic
narrative and a stand-up routine… actual wine tasting as part of the show
proves a surprisingly effective way of involving us in the story"
Time Out
"a well crafted, tasty piece of small, intense theatre that ponders
some deeply philosophical questions"
The Adelaide Advertiser
"a classy sensory experience….
a passionate and considered performance"
Adelaide Theatre Guide
"another little gem from the strange narrative mind of Paul Gilchrist…
an engaging blend of slightly nutty and melancholic memoir,
delivered in charming style by Sylvia Keays"
The 5th Wall
"exceptionally well crafted... Keays' performance is such that it's as if
she owned the words, as if she wrote them;
I can't imagine a stronger affinity between writer and actor"
Crikey
"At times heart wrenching, but mostly heart warming and hilarious,
this was a brilliantly written show that held me captive from start to end.
Sylvia Keays was absolutely adorable"
The AU Review
"a very appealing work of contemporary theatre. Blind Tasting works well
with its combination of lyrical writing by Gilchrist and a lovely, well measured
and warm performance by Sylvia Keays"
Sydney Arts Guide
"Raw, forthright and astutely funny... Keays is a deeply compelling actor,
seamlessly transitioning from laughter in one moment to tears in the next"
Express Media
Lucy Black
by Paul Gilchrist
24 May - 3 June 2012 TAP Gallery
With Richard Hilliar, Sonya Kerr, Corinne Marie,
Joshua Morton and Zara Zoe
Director: Paul Gilchrist
Producer: Daniela Giorgi
Musical Director: Heidi Lupprian
Designer: Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher
Stage Manager: Angharad Lindley
Bloody, bawdy, beautiful – a renaissance tale.
Lucy’s physician father is gone.
She scrapes together a living
through her skerricks of medical lore.
She watches with concern
as her exuberant younger sister
makes her first steps into adulthood.
And these are troubled times.
Strangers have appeared in the village.
One makes an extraordinary suggestion.
Dangerous, illegal, but very lucrative,
Lucy considers the plan,
unaware of its shocking cost.
"The language is beautiful and flows easily from the actors…
See this play to experience the beauty of Elizabethan language that
was not written by Shakespeare or Marlowe"
Stage Whispers
"The themes are presented thoughtfully and intelligently.
The dialogue is rich.
The characters are complex,
thoughtful and well rounded.
There are some nice touches of humour…
Lucy Black is played wonderfully by the doleful Corinne Marie"
Sydney Arts Guide
"it's great to see such a foreign world on stage.
Domestic Aussie drama this ain't"
Concrete Playground
"a fine play, replete with passionate performances, restraint,
wit and darkness...
Gripping, intelligent theatre" 5th Wall
Photo Credits: Blind Tasting, Paul Gilchrist; Lucy Black, Zorica Purlija;