A Klas act

HER performance as a boisterous, singing Centrelink worker has earned Taylor (Galit) Klas the title of best actress at Short+Sweet, the world’s biggest short play festival.

Klas’s character insults her audience and insists on finding everyone a job in Joanne’s Real World; a two-woman cabaret co-written and directed by Klas.

Performed in Sydney late last month, the play was one of 180 selected from over 1000 submissions.

“The first time I performed it, I didn’t even think it was funny, I had no idea. I was so surprised when people found it really funny,” she explains.

Once an out-of-work actor herself, Klas says she spent plenty of time waiting in Centrelink, which is where she came up with the idea for Joanne – a clerk with unfulfilled artistic dreams.

“I’m taking the mickey out of myself. Here’s a perfectly capable woman relying on Centrelink because she thinks she wants to be an actor,” she says.

Klas trusts the audience enough to insult them in her work, calling them hippies and dole-bludgers.

“It was a bit of a risk, but I think that they like this character, who is so over the top. It makes them feel engaged and connected to the piece,” she says.

Melissa Hann co-performs and backs Klas on piano in the short play, which was also voted Best Script by industry judges.

Klas will be singing at Melbourne’s Yom Ha’atzmaut concert this month, as well as ­developing Joanne’s Real World into a full-length cabaret for production later this year.

Klas will be performing Joanne’s Real World at Downstairs at Alma’s for the Melbourne Cabaret festival July 16-17 and 25-28. Enquiries: www.downstairsatalmas.com.au.

LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA