AFTER six years of entertainment, Felt Tip Theatre Company director Alex Robson is ready to close the curtains.
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The dramatist co-founded the company in 2011 and has moved to Sydney to pursue an acting career.
“When Felt Tip started, the focus was on youth facilitation and development in the arts,” Mr Robson said.
“When Chris Curcuruto and I started this we had absolutely no idea what we were doing or how we were going to do it.
“It was truly a trial by fire, we had to learn on the job.”
The theatre company has produced countless performances in Armidale where previously there was little opportunity for young people to be involved in drama.
Mr Robson said in many ways Armidale was the perfect place to start a theatre company.
“Armidale is extraordinary and the community is so blessed to have so many talented, passionate, competent people that have an interest in the arts,” he said.
“None of those people would be deemed professionals, because they work nine to five as hairdressers, nurses, doctors, teachers – then from five to midnight they’ll be creating theatre.”
A patron of theatre classics, Mr Robson said he felt Twelfth Night was the perfect production to bow out on.
“It’s a funny choice, but in hindsight I must have been thinking this would be the last one back when I programmed it,” he said.
“It’s hilarious, uproariously funny – but also it’s incredibly sad, you’ve got all these characters falling in love with people that cannot or will not love them back.
“It’s a play all about duality and folly, in the sense it’s also about beginnings and ends so I think I couldn’t have subconsciously picked a better play to say farewell with.”
Mr Robson said the production of Twelfth Night has been incredibly difficult in terms of logistics, travelling back from Sydney weekly.
“The case are incredible, the creative team working alongside me are brilliant but it’s just so draining,” he said.
“If Felt Tip was my baby, it’s a teenager now, it’s finished high school and it’s enough – it’s time to move out, I need to go back to living my own life.”