Little Fictions: Births, Deaths and Marriages

Olivia Watson
19th Jun 2017

Last week Scoop returned to monthly short story night Little Fictions, for another classy evening of tales entitled "Births, Deaths and Marriages" at one of our favourite locals, Chippendale's Knox Street Bar.

After a theme of "Vaginal Spray" on our last visit, it was hardly surprisingly to be met with another notable collection of visual imagery that included labour, breakups, stillbirth and drowning... They don't shy away from the hard hitting truths at Little Fictions.

Each evening features two sets worth of short fiction, ranging from true "micro lit" that can be less than a minute in duration, to extended short stories, with a short interval (aka bar break) in the middle. The work is written by local authors and performed by a small suite of local actors. It's an excellent set up, showcasing the creative talents of both types of artist.

"Births, Deaths and Marriages" started with a piece sent in to the Little Fictions Call Out for story submissions, written by Matthew Bulman and entitled "The Incredible Exploding Baby" - nothing like a vivid take on childbirth to kickstart a Tuesday evening, right?

Joel Harwood gave an enormously believable rendition of an indignant young child in Jon Steiner's "Rights of Man", from The Last Wilkie's & other stories, a refreshing mood lifter after the punch-in-the-guts ending of Melissa Beit's "A Hospital Birth", which was performed with devastating perseverance by the excellent Eleni Schumacher.

Mark Smith reminded us that "water, like emotion, always channels somewhere", in his haunting piece of micro lit entitled "Less Than a Minute", read by Felix Johnson.

Other writers featured included Tess Pearson, Julie Chevalier and Susan McCreery. Many of the authors' works were available for purchase on the evening and one lucky audience member took home an anthology of short fiction for winning the lucky door prize.

Meanwhile, the Knox Street bar and kitchen kept us fed and 'watered' with their tasty brews and collection of Scandinavian-inspired hot dogs.

Take our recommendation - ditch the Tuesday night telly one month and come and check out Little Fictions. It's smart, it's funny, it makes you think, and you'll feel all the better for having attended, and for having been a part of this celebration of local artistic talent. It is a fabulous city that we live in.

Little Fictions pops up at Knox Street Bar, Chippendale, once a month.

Further information on the upcoming shows can be found in the Sydney Scoop calendar or on the Little Fictions Facebook page. Little Fictions is presented by Spineless Wonders.

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21 Shepherd Street
Chippendale
+61 2 8970 6443

Tue – Wed 4pm – 10pm

Thu – Sat 4pm – midnight

 

http:/www.knoxstreetbar.com