Manjimup's Kim Crotty’s The Smallest Stage set for world premiere at Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre

Telling the story of family love, loss and connection, a South West playwright will bare his heart with the world-premiere of his theatre show The Smallest Stage. The Smallest Stage is an autobiographical interactive stage show telling the story of Manjimup writer Kim Crotty’s experience in prison while he endeavours to stay connected with his two young sons through drawing and stories. While serving a two-year sentence in Dartmoor prison in the UK, Crotty reflects on how the communication with his children was perishing and how he became desperate to maintain his relationship with them. Without any reach outside his prison cell, Crotty created, wrote and illustrated 47 children’s stories for his sons in order to overcome the divide that separated them. Soon, Crotty was deported back to Australia and reunited with his two children, and took part in the inaugural BREC Artist Retreat held at Donnelly River Village in 2019 for sixteen South West-based artists where the play was born. The Smallest Stage explores the heartbreaking lessons of children who come to understand their parents don’t always get things right, but through love and connection, the mistakes and trauma that divides us can also bring us closer. The Manjimup-based writer said he did not expect the play to ever be seen by the public. “At the time of their creation, I didn’t know if I’d ever see these stories and characters again,” he said. “I only kept the drafts because I thought it unlikely the originals would survive, so to have the boys, Zoe Atkinson and Steve Aiton working to bring them to a wider audience is surreal.” Crotty said being able to his story through mixed-media makes it more special. “‘It is extraordinary to see the characters I created for my kids come to life on stage via live drawing, puppetry, and animation,” he said. “Had you told me this would happen back when I was in cell 3-16, D-Wing, HMP Dartmoor, I’d have thought you were mad.” Kim Crotty is a former theatre stage technician who worked at several venues in the UK, including the Lyric in Hammersmith, the Bristol Old Vic and the Salisbury Playhouse. He now lives in Manjimup studying English literature and creative writing online at Macquarie University and still writes short stories for his sons. The Smallest Stage will premiere at Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre on February 11 to 19.