Old Ride

A tiny venue tucked away in one of the many artistic nooks and crannies in Surry Hills' Hibernian House, the Old 505 Theatre has really made a name for itself in the last year; works by the likes of Kit Brookman and Jane Bodie have been performed in the intimate space, often for the first time, and regularly with a cast you would recognise from some of the larger stages around Sydney. 505 Creator/Director Kerri Glasscock couldn't be happier with the last year at the venue, not least of all because its successes have allowed her and the rest of her team to finally tread the boards there themselves. “It's always been on the cards, we actually have always produced theatre up there, but not officially, when we were just based up there in the old warehouse we used to have theatre shows and things as well.

“But when we launched last year legitimately as a venue it needed us to focus for a good year on just getting the venue working and getting it known, we didn't have time to produce work up there,” says Glasscock. “This year, now that it's hit its stride, we're able to focus a bit more on the artistic side of things, which is great because we spent a year getting other people's shows up, it's really nice now to work ourselves in the space.”

The production of Ride – an emotionally charged two-hander penned by Jane Bodie centred around two people in bed the morning after, piecing together the night before – will very much be a 505 family affair; Glasscock is performing opposite the space's Resident Director Michael Pigott under the direction of Old 505 Associate Artistic Director Gareth Boylan. “We've all worked together for decades now and it can easily be forgotten that 505 is artist run because we've all spent so much time getting other people's work happening that sometimes we don't have the time to do our own,” Glasscock reveals.

“For a while now we've really been wanting to do something that really showcases what, for us, that space is all about – Ride fit that bill. It's something that really was about a relationship, and how far we could go to putting that on stage and seeing how intimate we could get and how real we could get, because the space just lends itself to that.

“It's rare to have a space where you can be really intimate and still be really engaged with an audience, and that's what's so wonderful about that space, it's so small, it's only thirty seats, but as a performer in there there's a sense of space for some reason, it's bizarre,” Glasscock elaborates, clearly relishing the current opportunity to utilise the space she has built up as a performer. “When you're on stage it feels much bigger than it actually is when you're sitting there as an audience member which is a lovely thing as a performer, because you feel secure and that you have enough space from people to really go to extra depths but from an audience perspective.

“They get to see a performer really engaging and going deeply into the work because they're in a safe secure space, and the audience is able to go on the ride because it's so intimate.”