Werribee playwright Alaine Beek is in rehearsals for a new play she has written which captures the magic of Christmas.
The Scrunch Test will be performed at the Wyndham Cultural Centre next month.
“It’s based on the true stories of my Scottish parents who emigrated to Australia,” Ms Beek said.
The show is being directed by Kevin Hopkins, with the cast consisting of Ms Beek, Ross Daniels, Will McDonald and Andrew Dang.
Ms Beek said The Scrunch Test was suitable for audiences aged 15 and over, due to adult themes and coarse language.
“We’re calling it a black comedy with heart,” she said.
Ms Beek said writing the script was “a cathartic experience”.
“I had to dig deep into both the joys of Christmas that I grew up with in Scotland but also the challenges of facing difficult family issues,” she said.
“I have tried to be as honest as possible to hopefully connect with audiences who have gone through similar experiences.”
Ms Beek said her father, a “merchant mariner” First Officer in the Merchant Navy, loved his family.
“My memories of him as a child was that he was my hero,” she said.
“He put so much of his energy and time into us as children.”
However, Ms Beek said he was also an alcoholic.
“But looking back I think when he was on the path to becoming a heavy drinker, we judged him too harshly,” she said.
“The challenge in this play is to show with all his flaws, he was essentially a family man.”
Ms Beek described said she hoped audiences would walk out of the production “with a sense of joy and hope that if we communicate honestly we’ll get through anything”.
“It’s original, it’s real, it’s locally written and produced and we’d love to share what we’ve created to as many people as we can,” she said.
“I’m hoping like many favourite Christmas stories and movies, this becomes a yearly Christmas event.”
The Scrunch Test will be staged 7.30pm on December 22 and December 23 at 2pm and 7.30pm.
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