ALTHOUGH BY DAY New Zealander Alister Emerson is the technical and production manager at Canberra Youth Theatre, in his spare time he’s a  playwright and the artistic director of the oddly-titled Duck Bunny Theatre, dedicated to providing “creative, entertaining works which make you look twice”.   

Mystifyingly, Emerson is billing the show as both “a re-imagining of John Steinbeck’s ‘The Pearl” and a satirical play of Monty Python proportions.

“‘The Fridge’,” he says, “mocks the powerful, and exposes the foolish in a comedic fable about the clash of want.” It’s part of his Masters degree on satire, and Emerson figures that with more than 20 years in the theatre industry, he knows how to make audiences “laugh and to wince as they see themselves in a new light at the same time.”

“I have always been inspired by the classic satirists such as Jonathon Swift, Molière and Brecht but I can’t go past the modern comic masters of the absurd…Monty Python or Jon Stewart who smack us in the face with the truth like a wet fish,” he continues.

“The Fridge” has been in development for two years and was read by Canberra Youth Theatre’s Associate Artists program in 2012. this year Emerson received dramaturgical input from Peter Matheson through the Street Theatre’s “HIVE” program and is now staged in association with the theatre’s “Made in Canberra” program.

Emerson says the satirical style of the show provides challenges for the cast. Six of the eight actors in this work play multiple characters. He believes “this creates a Monty Python-esque energy to the play which defies traditional theatrical conventions and demands the actors deliver performances, which are nuanced yet larger than life at the same time. And I am looking forward to seeing the audience reaction in October.”

“The Fridge,” by Alister Emerson, at The Street Theatre 2, 7.30pm October 11-12 and 4pm Oct 12-13, bookings to 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au