FULLY COMMITTED

by Becky Mode

Directed by Zac Bridgeman

based on the characters created by Becky Mode and Mark Setlock

FULLY COMMITTED was originally developed at the Adirondack Theatre Festival, Glens Falls, New York, in June 1998 (Martha Banta, Artistic Director; David Turner, Producing Director)

FULLY COMMITTED received its World Premiere September 1999 at the Vineyard Theatre, New York City

Produced on Broadway by Barbara Whitman and Patrick Catullo, Marcia Goldberg, Tom Casserly, Aaron Glick, and David Binder.

About the play:

Time: Now

Place: A booking office in the basement of a high-class Sydney restaurant

Duration: Approx. 90 minutes

Contains some coarse language

Cast:

Callum Doherty as Sam and everyone else

Producer: Chris Baldock of Mockingbird Theatrics
Director: Zac Bridgeman
Set Design: Jess Heffer and Zac Bridgman
Set Realisation: Jess Heffer
Sound Design: Chris Baldock
Props: Jess Heffer and Company
Stage Manager/Sound and Lighting Operation: Archita Sreekumar

Acknowledgements:

Jess and Will for allowing their living space to be turned into a rehearsal space; Anni and Linda from Belconnen Arts Centre; Liz St Clair Long; Claudia Bonifacio of Squeaky Clean Bar

From the Producer:

Welcome to the Canberra premiere of this hilarious and very clever play. The origins of this production came around by chance thanks to the incredible talent of a particular actor and the need to find a suitable play for one of my exceptional directing students. Last year, Zac Bridgman completed the Mockingbird Directing course and proved to be an exciting and insightful director-in-waiting. Along with a couple of the other students, I decided to commit my 2024 to creating opportunities for them to showcase their talents and hone their skills. While searching through many plays to find something suitable for Zac, we skip forward to the first term of this year when I threw a section from the one person play Fully Committed at one of Mockingbird’s longstanding advanced students, Callum Doherty to perform as a monologue. When I saw how amazing he was proving to be with the piece, it was clear that this was the play for Zac to do and a wonderful opportunity to show Canberra what Callum can do.

And so, here we are. I sit here writing this so ridiculously proud to see both my acting and directing students not just fly on their own but soar. It’s an indescribable feeling to see so much potential turn into bona fide talents. I am so looking forward to doing it again later in the year with Celine Oudin and Archita Sreekumar and the play 8 Women.

Thank you for venturing out in the bitter Canberra winter. I hope you enjoy this delightful performance as much as I have loved seeing the boys put it together.

Chris Baldock
Mockingbird Theatrics

Callum Doherty – Sam and everyone else

Callum is an actor, director, comedian, composer, competitive breakdancer, mentor, watercolour artist, philosopher, poet, photographer, political advisor, published author, ordained Dudist priest and fashion icon. Select performance credits include Gene in Third Storey (N.U.T.S.); Player in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] (Canberra REP), for which he won an Ovation Award; Ben in Rosieville; Stew in How to Vote! (both Canberra Youth Theatre); Alva in This Changes Everything(Echo Theatre); Charlie in Jasper Jones (Budding Theatre); Nathan in The Full Monty (SUPA Productions); Luke in Strictly Ballroom (Canberra Philharmonic Society); Pugsley in The Addams Family (The Q); Winthrop in The Music Man (Queanbeyan Players); and Michael in Mary Poppins (Free Rain Theatre). He was the Assistant Director of Puffs and God of Carnage(both Echo Theatre) and has also performed through the Canberra Comedy Festival and Starlight Children’s Foundation. A well documented diva within the Canberra theatre community, Callum has burnt so many bridges that a solo show seemed the only viable vehicle for his equally well documented creative genius. He thanks Zac and Mockingbird for taking pity on him and hopes you enjoy the show.

Zac Bridgman – Director

From a young age, Zac has always had a strong desire to tell other people what to do, a desire that has managed to last well into adulthood, as he now relishes the chance to tell the cosmic comedian Callum Doherty what to do on stage, for your comedy-viewing pleasure.

An original obsessive of film and all things creative, Zac spent most of his childhood lost in imagined worlds of wonder. Now all grown up and working in a delightfully dreary office job, he has slowly returned to a more creative world. Last year he directed, wrote, and acted in the APS comedy/sci-fi short-film DEAD, and this year he directed, wrote, and acted in a romantic zombie comedy (Zom-Com) short-film Till Undeath. Both were top 12 finalists in the Lights! Canberra! Action! Short film competition and both were award-winning. He has also acted in or worked on many various film projects around Canberra (you can even catch a tiny glimpse of his blazer in the background of an Art Gallery in the comedy TV show Austin on ABC!)

Zac has also been a keen student of both acting and directing at the Mockingbird Acting Studio and Theatre Company for the past 4 years, where he first met Callum and thought “Man, he could play AT LEAST 40 more characters”. Zac partly directed a Mockingbird showcase of Every Brilliant Thing last year, before turning his sights to an even more challenging project.

It is now with giddy abandon that he is delighted to bring laughter and joy into your life in his theatrical directorial debut with Fully Committed! He has been assisted by the ever-lovely Jess Heffer, absolutely charming Archita Sreekumar, and simply brilliant Chris Baldock. So sit back, and enjoy the charm, wit, anxiety, fear, confidence, anger, sadness, enthusiasm, chaos, ascension, condescension, and apprehension of one astoundingly transformative and fully committed Callum Doherty!

Jess Heffer – Set Design and Realisation/Props

Jess started out her Production Design career on the award-winning LCA short film Till Undeath and excels at hyper-fixating on minute details, following rules, and being suckered into working on her roommates’ projects. Jess graduated from the ANU with a Bachelor in Art History, but, to no one’s suprise, honed her set placing skills and artistic eye working in retail. Most recently, Jess had to get phsyio on her shoulder because she watched too many Korean dramas while holding her phone. She hopes you like her work! It’s chaotic and wonderful, just like her.

Archita Sreekumar – Sound and Lighting Operation

Who would have thought signing up to an acting class in the middle of a pandemic, would end up landing Archita Sreekumar in the sound & lighting operating HOT SEAT three years later?! But she’s here now, and she’s got to figure out which of Sam’s very many phones are currently ringing.

Over the last three years, Archita has been an active student of the Mockingbird Acting Studio and Theatre company. From playing a ‘snake-eating, hermit brother’ to a ‘screaming bag lady’, she’s played her fair share of fun characters. And if acting wasn’t enough, Archita completed the Director’s course last year and co-directed the 2023 Mockingbird Director’s Showcase of Every Brilliant Thing. Archita has also ventured over to the world of film, having played small roles in the Lights Canberra Action short films DEAD and Till Undeath. Later this year, she will be co-directing the French murder-mystery comedy 8 Women with fellow directing student, Celine Oudin.

Feedback:

Watching a one-person play is often like watching a contortionist. Even if it all looks strange and you have no idea what’s going on, it’s still impressive that someone’s gone and done it. But this is not the case with Fully Committed, a play written by playwright Becky Mode, and directed by Zac Bridgman. Teaming up with actor Callum Doherty, Bridgman brings to life a hilarious and heartfelt 100 mins guaranteed to delight and awe the audience. This one-person play is centered on the experiences of Sam, an out-of-work actor working as reservation staff in a haute Sydney restaurant, constantly harangued by customers, colleagues, family, and and absurdly egotistic chef de cuisine. Doherty plays all of them, and is brilliantly adept in moving between all characters. Each is uniquely funny and quirky, and Doherty delivers each line with intent and excellent comedic timing. The play is Bridgman’s directorial debut (in theater), but you wouldn’t know it from a viewing. The direction is evident in the show; each character is fascinating, but it never loses sight of the humanity in the lead character, and the woes of trying to prosper in two cut-throat industries. The set is marvelously put together, and transports you instantly into the chaotic space of a restaurant office. Each prop goes much further than it has the right to. All things considered, Fully Committed is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that will tickle, entertain, and move. You will want to commit yourself fully to this theatrical experience, and don’t be surprised if you end up sending your compliments to the cast and crew. 11/10 for Artistic and Entertainment value.​ – James Lim, 28 June, 2024

Fully Committed, directed by Zac Bridgman and performed by Callum Doherty was a well-adapted one person play. Original text by Becky Mode in 2000. Originally set in Manhattan the text is expertly transposed by the director and cast into an Australian setting drawing on contemporary characters to provide a complete picture of a young man caught up in hospitality and coordination of bookings, customers and complaints at work while juggling his commitment to his aging father at Christmas and his ambitions to be a professional actor. Callum effortlessly pulls off all the characters required to make this the most enjoyable contemporary play I have seen in a long while. The set and phone ring tones add to its ambiance – I highly recommend it tours to a Sydney or Melbourne performance space or perhaps the Adelaide fringe – I would see it again in a heartbeat and recommend it to everyone wanting an insight into the unlimited possibilities of youth and the extraordinary energy required to be simultaneously dedicated to work and family while following a desire for a fulfilling future that relies on the most fragile of connections and serendipity.​ – Dr Julia Tresiddder, 15 July 2024

A really enjoyable show starring a definitely one day famous Aussie celebrity export! Callum displays a full range of characters that you soon forget that he’s actually just one person!​ – Blair Morris, 16 July 2024

Fully Committed was an experience like no other. Being seated in an intimate theater hall and seeing an  amazing set before me, I was already in awe with the production quality. Knowing it would be one actor on stage covering more than 40 characters, I had no idea how it would be executed. It was done splendidly and had me on a roller-coaster of emotions. The set design, the actor’s endless stretch of characters, the sound production and the flow of the story had me engaged right till the last moment. For 100 minutes I was in a different world and it’s stuck with me ever since. Would be very excited to see this again in Sydney and bring all my friends along!!!​ – Aalapi Sreekumar, 18 July 2024

One actor, forty characters? Talk about a split personality! Do you think the idea of watching a single actor play forty characters for over 100 minutes without an intermission sounds like theatrical torture? Well, I did too. But I was wrong. And so are you! This modern Australian adaptation of Becky Mode’s American cult classic, directed by upcoming film and theatre maverick Zac Bridgman, made me ROFLcopter for 100 minutes straight. Callum Doherty was absolutely mesmerizing, hilarious, and – in a profoundly sensitive way – sympathetic in his performance. I’ve never seen an actor deliver such a fast-paced and engaging performance. He flawlessly nailed 100 minutes of non-stop cracking lines and changes of character. It was a true masterpiece of expressivity by a world class “facial contortionist”. Bravo, Callum, bravo!

Do you want to have a fun-filled, (mostly) unadulted night with your family? Or maybe a whacky, hilarious, and heartwarming date night? Or a chuckle with your group of theatre-geek friends (we all have them, it’s okay to admit it)? This is the perfect performance for a great night out, especially in the deep cold winter of Canberra (or Hobart – encore tour, please!). I travelled all the way from Sydney by the Greyhound for this performance. And despite my initial doubts going in, I would 110% do it again. What a surprise! What a delight! What a night! If you have the opportunity to see Callum perform Zac’s adaptation of Fully CommittedI fully, unabashedly encourage you to get tickets to at least two shows! Congratulations to the team!​ – Levi McKenzie-Kirkbright, 18 July 2024