A deliciously dark comedy about growing up, growing down, and everything in between.

“We only allow grown-UPS at our table, and you little girl, are almost certainly a grown-DOWN…”

Frankie is stuck down a deep, dark rabbit hole. Bit dramatic… but they are at drama school. They’re trying to come up with a concept for their graduating director’s show - an original take on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ - which, by the way, they absolutely, categorically did NOT pick.

But in a classic case of art imitating life, or maybe life becoming art, Frankie’s sister Kayla is also stuck down a rabbit hole of sorts... she’s currently being treated in a clinic for an eating disorder. A very un-merry coincidence? Or too close to the bone?

Imagination and memory, past and present, Wonderland and reality start to morph and bend in Pear-Shaped, a deliciously dark comedy exploring one family’s experience of what happens when food – a symbol of culture, tradition, connection, and love – becomes the enemy.

Following three generations of Jewish women, Pear-Shaped begs the question, how do you love your sister when she’s not the person you remember?

“Now there’s a good riddle… What do you call an eye that tells a lie?”

“★★★★✬ This production would be at home in any professional main stage theatre in Australia. When you see Pear-Shaped you will see a world class production... Miranda Middleton and Ziggy Resnick have masterfully interwoven Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with an age-old human story.”

— What Did She Think

From the Writers

This play began in a family home – like yours, but perhaps slightly different. It began in a home in which protruding bones were hidden by clothes, wars were waged at the kitchen table, food was tucked away in weird places, and tears were shed over missing pears.

Given the significant rise in Australians’ battle with disordered eating, Pear-Shaped is a timely and urgent addition to the Australian theatre landscape. Eating disorders don’t discriminate against age, gender, or race, yet given the particular prevalence in young adults, we believe that this play will resonate strongly with high school students and young adults. Shockingly, 75% of people with eating disorders don’t seek professional help due to stigma, shame, denial, or lack of knowledge.

Rather than trying to educate or provide answers, Pear-Shaped is a grounded and real exploration of the journey a family goes on to cope, to recover, to try, and try, and try again.The play seeks to fill several voids that currently exist in the Australian canon. Firstly, a lack of work that tackle adolescent mental illness in a way that is not dogmatic, but sensitive, imaginative, and funny – never losing sight of the magic and messiness of youth. Secondly, a dearth of works written for intergenerational women; allowing four women to exist entirely outside of the male gaze and focusing on their unique experiences and struggles. Finally, Pear-Shaped celebrates the traditions of Jewish families and communities living in Australia – a culture which is under-explored on our stages.

Eating disorders tear individuals and families apart, but this play seeks to do the opposite – to create a theatrical event which invites a collective act of imagination, connection, and hope.

“★★★✬ Pear-Shaped is ingeniously designed and conceived indie theatre which ventures down the rabbit hole. It gives an inside eye on two sisters battling anorexia, and rather brilliantly adapts dialogue and characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland - itself more absurd and disturbing, and more attuned to delusion than you might remember - to highlight the intractable dilemmas and frustrations they face. ”

— Cameron Woodhead, The Age

Key Audiences

Theatre lovers looking for premiere experiences with high-level technical elements.
Schools and Young People 15-24.
Intergenerational Families.
Fans of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Education & Engagement

The work benefits from the ongoing relationship with two of Australia’s leading support and service organisations for disordered eating - EndED and The Butterfly Foundation. Resources and assistance with designing community engagement activities is encouraged by future production partners and can include:

Information and support leaflets, social media material.
Q&As with experts and those with lived experience.
School-specific resources for education audiences.

Future productions will benefit from a comprehensive Education and Engagement Kit designed for high school students from Year 7-9 and 10-12. The resources will engage study units across English, Drama, and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education.

“★★★★✬ Wholly inventive and deliciously absurd… There aren’t enough stories about sisters. That special, sacred battleground of envy, rivalry and abject hatred, blended and balanced by
uncompromising, complete, seemingly impossible and inextricable love. It takes a sister to understand it and it takes a sister to write it – and in Pear-Shaped, magnificently, we have a pair of startlingly talented creatives weaving the tale.” ”

— Arts Hub

For updates on future presentations of Pear-Shaped please sign up to our semi-regular Rogue News emails.

MONKEY BAA STUDIO CREATIVE TEAM

Written by: Miranda Middleton and Ziggy Resnick
Director: Miranda Middleton
Performed by: Ziggy Resnick, Luisa Scrofani and Deborah Galanos
Producers: Robbi James, Erica Lovell, Talia Meyerowitz-Katz
Production Design: Grace Deacon
Composer & Sound Designer: Oliver Beard
Dramaturg: Brittanie Shipway

THEATRE WORKS CREATIVE TEAM

Written by: Miranda Middleton and Ziggy Resnick
Director: Miranda Middleton
Performed by: Ziggy Resnick, Luisa Scrofani and Cameron Steens
Producers: Robbi James, Erica Lovell, Talia Meyerowitz-Katz
Production Design: Grace Deacon
Composer & Sound Designer: Oliver Beard
Lighting & Video Design: Aron Murray
Dramaturg: Brittanie Shipway
Stage Manager: Gin Rosse
Tech Operator: Tim Dennis
Assistant Stage Manager: Cameron Steens
Design Assistant: Natalie Petrellis
Voice Coach: Laura Farrell
Production Images: Angel Leggas
Hero Images: Byron Martin
Publicist: Jai Cameron
Videographer: Anthony Scrofani

ENQUIRIES

A complete project guide and archival footage from each stage of this production’s history is available on request. Please forward programming enquiries to robbi@rogueprojects.com.au

Pear-Shaped at Theatre Works was supported by Creative Victoria, The City of Port Phillip, Creative Victoria, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts. The work was originally developed by Rogue Projects as part of the Rogues on The Rocks Summer Development Residencies, and with the generous support of Theatre Works. The 2023 Monkey Baa Studio Residency was made possible with funding from Monkey Baa Theatre Company and the City of Sydney.