KEY POINTS:
The play is called Rabbit but it's got nothing to do with small furry animals and everything to do with demonstrating that as the Silo Theatre moves into a new home, the show goes on.
Late last year - following a substantial loss in 2006 with its production of Glide Time - the Silo staff and board made a tough call. After 10 years in its diminutive 100-seat venue, the Silo enters a new partnership with The Edge.
The 186-seat Herald Theatre, at The Edge, would become Silo's main stage, allowing it to continue staging cutting-edge contemporary theatre but build larger audience numbers. But with what play to begin the new partnership?
Silo's artistic director Shane Bosher chose Rabbit, by British writer Nina Raine, an apt choice considering it is about growing pains and life-is-what-you-make-it decisions which confront us as we mature.
Rabbit director Oliver Driver is under no illusions about how important the show is for the company. "Silo is in a growing-up phase and of course we want to take the audience that has been established along with us and grow a bigger audience again. It is the first show of this transition and a chance to show what the Silo can become."
Casting took on extra significance. Claire Chitham takes the lead as Bella, and is joined by Dean O'Gorman, Jodie Rimmer, Madeleine Sami and Edwin Wright as her directionless friends.
"Each of us wrote down our picks on a piece of paper and then showed the others," says Driver. "The lists were exactly the same; there was no conflict. It is as if we have a shorthand with these people and there is not a lot of ego in rehearsals which is unusual because this is such a phenomenal cast."
Chitham says given the potency of the cast, it does not feel as if she - as the central character - has to propel the story. "Most characters are on stage for the whole play and it's a story carried by the strength of the ensemble, not just one actor.
"The journey Bella goes on is, I think, one that anyone of that age or anyone who has been that age can relate to. It is about how we respond to change and the fact that Bella doesn't want to lose people."
Bella is turning 29 and fretting about farewelling her last year as a swinging twentysomething. Despite having a pretentious and bullying former flame still in her life and a handful of close friends who don't really know one another, she decides to bring them all together and throw a party.
The drink flows and the sexual tension grows but Bella cannot forget that the one man who has ever meant anything to her is about to leave her. Her father is dying in hospital.
Driver chose Peter Elliott to play Bella's terminally ill father, saying he is an actor who can portray a challenging character with the right amount of humanity. Elliott adds that he may be playing a dying man but he is having the time of his life.
With two major stories running side by side, he gets to enjoy Bella's chaotic birthday party scenes while he is waiting for his next line.
"I find myself drawn into what's occurring on stage because it is so immensely watchable and punches buttons that have not been punched before. I have to remind myself not to get totally engrossed but to concentrate on my lines."
Rabbit debuted at a London pub in 2006 but was so rapturously received it transferred to the West End. Raine won Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards the same year, while Rabbit was selected for New York's Off-Broadway Festival last year.
Picking edgy work for which the Silo has gained a reputation hopefully means it is business as usual as the theatre heads into its second decade.
What: Rabbit
Where and when: Silo@Herald Theatre, March 21 to April 12
