WIT 

By Margaret Edson 

Director: Ben Pfeiffer Set Design: Jeminah Alli Reidy Sound Design: 

Adam Casey Lighting Design: Benjamin Morris

Vivian Bearing, a brilliant and uncompromising Professor of English Literature, who has spent years specialising in the holy sonnets of John Donne, has been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Once the teacher, she is now the student, learning everything she can about the disease and constantly at the mercy of the doctors in authority.

"Hours after the end of this production, I'm fighting back tears just to think of it" - Maxim Boon, The Music 

"An immaculate production, Pfeiffer's vision is impeccable." - Theatre People

THE COLLECTOR

Based on the novel by John Fowles and adapted for the stage by Kristina Brew

Directed, produced and designed by: Ben Pfeiffer Sound design: Russell Goldsmith

Lighting design: Benjamin Morris

Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies. A chance lottery win enables him to make his ultimate dream a reality, and he captures what he considers to be one of nature’s greatest rarities: Miranda Grey. He hopes that she will come to understand him. With time. She will understand. 

"The Collector will live on inside the imagination of all who see it- niggling at the back of your mind for years to come" - The Melbourne Observer

"The Collector is powerful theatre that made a definite impact on its audience. The play is wonderfully acted, the sound and space will terrify you and the result is uncompromising in its message and intent." - PeskyFeminist

"The Collector is thought-provoking and important. The Artisan Collective have staged a creative, dedicated and haunting piece of theatre!" - Theatre People

REQUIEM FOR DALINKA

Written by Peter Marks

Directed by: Ben Pfeiffer Produced by: Peter Marks and Ben Pfeiffer Set Design: Jeminah Alli Reidy 

        Lighting Design: Benjamin Morris Sound Design: Nick Culvenor Original Music by: Nick Marks

May 1945, far East Poland. Rumour has it that the war is coming to an end. The Dalinka concentration camp has only four surviving prisoners; a quartet of Klezmer musicians who have been spared in order to provide entertainment for the SS soldiers. Having survived this long and desperate to stay alive, the Jews plot to overthrow the Nazi’s.  Will they succeed or will the SS soldiers kill them before they can escape or be liberated?

“Pfeiffer creates a startling mise en scene. The precision of the direction can suggest homosexuality close to the surface among drunken Nazi’s, or it can accentuate the vulnerability inherent in a tender moment. The piece bristles with ideas and is absolutely gripping to look at.”  - Stage Whispers

IF IT BLEEDS 

By Brendan McCallum

Directed, produced, set, sound and costume design by: Ben Pfeiffer 

Lighting design: Benjamin Morris

July 15, 1974 - Sarasota, Florida; As stunned viewers watch, well known presenter and TV anchor Christine Chubbuck shoots herself on camera.

Television has changed the world and Chubbuck can see that the potential has become stunted; oversaturated with blood and commercial bullying. Whilst fighting her own inner battle with depression, she rails against her superiors about the output of the station, but her cries fall on deaf ears. Her last story will her biggest; a savage comment on the politics of programming, and a resounding cry broadcast to an indifferent world. 

“A masterpiece of economy' 'Ben Pfeiffer, yet again proves his versatility as a director” - The Australian

"McCallum's play is almost Ibsen-like in its swift and efficient introduction of key characters" - Chris Boyd

PAINS OF YOUTH 

By Martin Crimp

Directed by: Ben Pfeiffer  Set Design: Eugyeene Teh Sound Design: Jared Lewis Costume Design: Kat Chan Producer: Sally Wilson Production Manager: Amber Hart 

Vienna 1923. A discontented post-war generation diagnose youth to be their sickness and do their best to destroy it. In a world stripped of its morality and faith, these cynical twenty-somethings reach dangerous extremes as they struggle to find purpose and meaning in their lives. Unsure of the future and still clinging to the simpler days of their youth, they rashly hurl themselves at adulthood by experimenting with complex power struggles, sexual manipulation and drug use. Bourgeois existence or suicide. There are no other choices.

“This is a curious, intriguing, engaging and well produced work that ‘showcases’ a beautiful, spirited and talented group of young actors” - Stagewhispers.com 

“The Artisan Collective is a talented and ambitious company” - The Age

BREATHE A LITTLE AND CALL IT LIFE

Conceived, directed and designed by Ben Pfeiffer, Lighting Design and Operation: Casey Moon-Waton

We watch a group of housemates carefully barricading themselves against the havoc that is occurring outside. It is December 21, 2012 and the end of the world is imminent. Witness the internal unraveling of seven individuals as they confront their own existential uncertainty. How does one react to impending doom? Do you surrender to fate or try to snatch life back with both hands? Does the prospect of no tomorrow somehow enable us to embrace absolute truth today?  

What began as a Facebook confessionary forum, very much in the same vain as Post Secret, has now evolved into a unique theatrical creation. 

“Keep an eye out for this company” - Alison Croggon

SELF TORTURE AND STRENUOUS EXERCISE

By Harry Kondoleon 

Directed, produced and designed by Ben Pfeiffer

In Kondoleon’s brilliantly imaginative black comedy. Two couples are caught in a web of infidelity, loneliness, desire and denial. As Alvin retreats further and further into his world of vegetables in a quest to understand “God’s great recipe”, Bethany, Carl and Adel are left fighting their hearts’ battles on the literary plane. 

“This company of young VCA acting graduates absolutely nails it. The acting is spectacular and really quite delicious without crossing over into indulgence... a fine line! Every detail of Ben Pfeiffer’s production is thought-out, exact and cleanly delivered” -Chris Boyd, The Herald Sun

                                                                                         TWO

                                                                               By Jim Cartwright 

Directed, produced and designed by Ben Pfeiffer

The Artisan Collective was launched at The Mechanic's Institute, Brunswick in October 2009 with a unique production of Jim Cartwright's award winning play, 'Two'.  

"A sharp and touching slice of English pub-life, Two, skillfully combines pathos and humour, with all fourteen characters played by two actors. During the course of the evening, assorted customers pass in and out; all of them linked by the bar itself, but also by their battle with love and their conflicts between public facade and private emotion. This hilarious and moving play is one of those rare works of art you are destined to recall as a deeply personal experience. The true joy of Two, is in watching these very capable actors give each other the space and care to work without effort; playfully and freely, Bennett and Pfeiffer both illuminate the space in which they're working" - SPARK online

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENTS:

Faith Healer

The Legend of the Villa Della Luna

The Collector

In Hope of Becoming a Memory

Requiem for Dalinka

Chantou

Mercy

The Ring

The Keeper

Yellow