Dysfunctional Aussie family in new, raw and darkly funny play

The Post family are the epitome of dysfunctional. Matriarch Julie is a casual racist with a drinking and pokie habit. Son Jimmy is still reeling from trauma as a teen and 25 years later is still a seething mess of anger and sadness. Sister Robyn works in fashion retail, but her manager, Fiona, is anything but supportive. Robyn has 17-year-old twins, Emma is in love with douche Matt, while Clint may love his boyfriend Reid but suspects he may have been born the wrong gender. Bitch is both gritty drama and black comedy.

Tunks Productions is one of the leading producers of quality Australian independent theatre. Its hits include The Subtle Art of Flirting, We"ll Always Have Wagga, The Bridesmaid Must Die!, Silvertop Ash, Hell Hath No Fury and Everything I Know I Learnt From Madonna. Last year was especially huge for Tunks with Flame Trees, Fag Boy and the Married Guy and two seasons of The Girlie Show all packing them in at theatres around Australia. Wayne Tunks has been a storyliner on Neighbours and is currently the Festival Director of Short+Sweet Sydney.

Tunks says is new Australian work that focuses on real issues people are facing today.

"These are characters that people will recognise - maybe as members of the family we see on special occasions and just shake our heads"¦

"I have been working on this particular play for years, adding new bit all the time, aiming to create an important story, but more than that, a realistic story."

Directed by Jessica Fallico with Tunks, the cast features Amy Victoria Brooks, Felicity Burke, Claire Johnston, Jasper Lee-Lindsay, Emma Louise, Nick Sinclair, Anton Smilek and Wayne Tunks himself.

BITCH BIOS

Wayne Tunks - Writer / Co - Director / Jimmy Post

Wayne is one of the leading lights in the independent theatre world. He is an actor, director, producer and award winning writer. His work has been seen all over the world, his most successful plays include, "The Subtle Art of Flirting", "We"ll Always Have Wagga", "Fag Boy & the Married Guy", "Silvertop Ash", "The Girlie Show", "Everything I Know I Learnt From Madonna", "Flame Trees" and "The Bridesmaid Must Die!". As an actor he has appeared in Underbelly and The Doctor Blake Mysteries, this year appearing in the feature film, "Fragmentary", and his own web series, "Impulse". Wayne has been a storyliner on TV"s "Neighbours", the Festival Director for Short+Sweet Sydney 2017, and this year will release his debut novel, "Electricity".
Suburb: Blacktown

Jessica Fallico - Co - Director

Fanatical about the arts, Jessica has been an active member of the entertainment industry for over twenty years"”acting, writing, directing, and teaching. She has worked as assistant director on Packemin"s productions of "Wicked" and "Miss Saigon", Packemin"s Youth production of "Cats", as well as Birdie"s upcoming production of "Fame". This year "One Punch", written and directed by Jessica, reached the Gala finals of the Short and Sweet Festival. Equipped with a Certificate III in Media (Production) and an ATCL Diploma in Speech and Drama (Trinity College of London), Jessica shares her passion for performance, teaching primary and high school students. Her writing has also been published in the "NSW School Magazine", "Just Kidding", "Bumples", "HistoriCool", "Short And Twisted", and U.S Kids Magazine, "Humpty Dumpty". As an actor, Jessica has appeared in various commercials, film and television, and most recently in the feature film reboot of the webseries, "Event Zero".
Suburb: Epping

Amy Victoria Brooks - Fiona Stern

Amy Victoria Brooks graduated from Adelaide College of the Arts in 2010 where, in her third year, she was cast as the lead role of Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It, directed by Terence Crawford.

After graduation, Amy became the Artist in Residence for Adelaide theatre company Early Worx in theatre & art. During her time with Early Worx, Amy appeared in productions such as Like A Fishbone (Anthony Weigh) and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (Moises Kaufmann). Amy has also worked with the award-winning Adelaide Duende Collective in Slicing & Dicing, and more recently Sex Play, both written by esteemed Adelaide writer Alan Grace. After relocating from Adelaide to Sydney in 2015, Amy has appeared in a NIDA production of Infected by Stephen Sewell, directed by Charles Sanders, played Polinius in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Furies Theatre, written by Tom Stoppard) and appeared in the lead role of Austin in Factory Space Theatre's production of Sister Cities (Colette Freedman).
Suburb: Surry Hills

Felicity Burke - Julie Post

Felicity recently acted in and directed Dead Giveaway for the Short and Sweet Finals (2017). She is currently involved in feature film and web series roles. She has played the role of Bridie in The Shoe-Horn Sonata at Casula Powerhouse and Riverside Theatres. Other acting highlights for various companies include: Mattie Fae in August: Osage County; Nurse in Romeo and Juliet; Linda in Hell Hath No Fury and Queen Elizabeth 1 in Mary of Scotland. Felicity also has various film (Tony, Opposable Thumbs) and TV credits (Keeping Beauty) and has directed Nasty Little Secrets;Silver Top Ash; The 39 Steps and many other plays. In 2018 she launches her theatre company aimed at producing HSC texts for schools.
Suburb: Cobbity

Claire Johnston - Emma Post

Claire grew up in South East Queensland and from an early age was drawn to the performing arts. She has been involved in a range of theatre and musical theatre productions. At the age of 15 she received her Associate Diploma of Performing Arts in Musical Theatre from Trinity Guildhall. She has studied with NIDA graduating from both their Young Actors and Adult Actors Studio courses whilst still in school. She also travelled to the UK to study Shakespearean theatre in Oxford where she was awarded the role of Hero in 'Much Ado About Nothing'. In her final school year, she performed the role of Miss Hannigan in their production of 'Annie' and later received the Drama Prize, graduating top of her class. In 2016 she was accepted into Screenwise's Diploma of Film & TV Acting and relocated to Sydney to commence study. She was also accepted into the Actors Centre Australia Next Step Program which she completed part time whilst continuing her studies with Screenwise. This will be Claire's first professional theatre role in Sydney and she is incredibly excited and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a fantastic cast of actors and directors.
Suburb: Chippendale

Jasper Lee-Lindsay - Reid Fung

Jasper is an acting-graduate from AFTT, where he performed in productions of Reasons to be Pretty, A Midsummer Night"s Dream and Spring Awakening. Since graduating, he has acted in Bard on the Beach"s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, as well as some short films. Along with acting, Jasper is also a playwright and has recently received the award for Best Script at Short+Sweet Sydney for his short play, Arthur and Marilyn.
Suburb: Ashfield

Emma Louise - Robyn Post

Emma has trained as both an actor and voice coach, having completed her Bachelor of Theatre Arts in Acting (USQ), and her Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies (NIDA). As well as years of directing, vocal coaching and performing in many independent theatre productions across Sydney, she also runs "Em"s Entertainment" - a Theatre-In-Education company specialising in performance for under 7"s. Previous roles for Tunks productions include Phillippa (The Bridesmaid Must Die!), Daria (We"ll Always Have Wagga), Sammi (Hell Hath No Fury), Kyra (The Girl From The West Of The City), and Yolanda (Petroleum). Most recently for Tunks productions she Assistant Directed The Girlie Show, which was part of the 2016 Mardi Gras Festival. Emma is also looking forward to appearing soon in Sure Foot Production"s Mauritius, showing at the New Theatre this July.
Suburb: Kingsgrove

Anton Smilek - Matt Bell

Anton Smilek is a 2016 graduate from the Academy of Film Theatre and Television with an Advanced Diploma in Stage and Screen acting. Anton"s latest theatrical credits include Consensual (New Theatre) directed by Johann Walraven, Tapping Out (Short and Sweet- Gala Finals Nomination) directed by Cecile Payet, A Midsummer Night"s Dream (Kings Cross Theatre/ Darlo Drama) directed by Sean O"Riordan, Our Class (Downstairs Belvoir/AFTT) directed by Anthony Skuse, The Time is Not Yet Ripe (Players at the Pub) directed by Mark Nagle, Othello (AFTT) directed by Sean O"Riordan and Reasons to be Pretty (AFTT) directed by Winston Cooper. His latest film credits include the short films: Nick and Norman, Mystery Meat, Power Trip, Crash, Wonder, Thirsty, with appearances in the web series Event Zero (Regency Films) and the pilot TV series, Legends (Ion Nibirui).
Suburb: Concord

Nick Sinclair - Clint Post

Nick is recent graduate of NIDA and also has a Bachelor of Theatre & Performance from The University of New England. His recent credits include Woyzeck (NIDA); A Short Guide to Shakespeare (Sydney Fringe Festival); The Tempest & The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Felt Tip Theatre Company). This is Nick debut at The Depot Theatre and he hopes the audience enjoy this fantastic new Australian work.
Suburb: Waverley