Matt and Rich in Oz

Matt's show - 'After The End'

The show was a two hander. It ran at 1hr 30mins without an interval and both actors were on stage the whole time. Not easy!

The first scene where Mark tells Louise that a bomb has gone off killing everyone and everything they know.

There were some funny bits in the play honest.

The last scene of the play set in a prison.

This scene always proved tricky in reheasal obviously being uncomfortable for both actors and needing a hell of a lot of trust between the two.

Louise really looses it...

The charming scene where Louise threatens to cut my dangly bits off unless I tell her the truth about the bomb explosion. It was staged and lit in such a way that the audience didn't see a thing except a quick cheeky bum shot. Well we had to do something to get people to come and see it!

After days of Mark starving her Louise takes control and starts to give him a taste of his own medicine.

The bit I dreaded most each night. I really awful scene to do plus we would have bets backstage as to how many audience members would leave at this point. In the whole run I think only 3 people left. They claimed it was just too confronting and disturbing too watch. I would like to have explained that that was the point of the piece and that we were of course just acting!

This is Kathryn who played Louise. A very talented and intense actress. She was wonderful and scary in equal measures.

My close up...

The play gets increasingly disturbing as lack of food and water and physcological manipulation takes its toll.

The play only involved two characters Mark and Louise. They are trapped in Mark's bomb shelter after a nuclear bomb has wiped out everyone and everything they know. They just have to wait two weeks before they can go outside.

The moment the play turns very dark.

The play did have a few incredibly funny and comic moments before getting extremely dark.

Getting all riled up in one of the play's many political arguments. My character was a paranoid racist.

Rehearsal Pictures

In rehearsal with Juliet.

Matt in a dramatic moment in rehearsals. Or more likely saying to the director 'I just can't work under these conditions!'

Romeo and his two best mates Benvolio and Mercutio.

A bit of off-stage rehearsal!

Romeo and Juliet backstage.

On a rare day off from the show we headed out of Sydney and drove down the south coast.

On his one day off during rehearsals Matt rather foolishly decides to run yet another half marathon. He was a bit ill the next day.

Half Marathon man

Matt's running another half marathon. So has been in training for the past few weeks. Here's an action shot of him at Bondi beach.

You get the idea how difficult it is to get a decent photo of him.

This is usually how Chris looks.

Chris's visit also left our livers in a worse situation than they already were. It was a good few weeks of late nights and drinking. It was only after too many beers that we managed to get the only photo ever of Chris without him sticking his fingers up.

Becoming grumpy old women lifted our social standing and soon we were in the social pages of the Sydney Morning Herald. It's funny how many people saw it.

Grumpy Old Women

No.. not us. We had a visit from a friend in London who was directing the stage show of Grumpy in Sydney.

So like the hanger-ons we are.. we joined the cast for the opening night party.

Matt's first close up.

Romeo and his Juliet.

Matt has just been cast as Romeo in a production of R&J. Here is an early publicity shot. Rather dramatic!

Rich pretending to know the intricate details of Cancer research while interviewing the award finalists.

Hostess with the mostess!

Rich in action at a Cancer research charity dinner that he had to co-host at the last minute. Channel 10 sponsored the event. The main newsreader was supposed to host, but got sick.

Matt and Rich's Desert Adventure

We finished off the day in White Cliffs with wine and a desert sunset on top of the roof of our underground hotel room.

We spent the afternoon 'noodling' but didn't have much luck finding a fortune. Just a few stray chips of opal were all we could muster.

The place was full of characters. This is Mick - a one eyed miner who showed us around his place. He has a pet dog, as well as a goat and pig that think they are dogs. Strange but true.

Seriously. There are no windows and all the rooms are just painted rock walls. It is the only way to stay cool out there. If you need a bigger house, you just dig an extra room!

We checked in to our room in 'The Underground Hotel'.

White Cliff's is a remote opal mining town. It's a strange but interesting place where people live underground.

Narrowly avoiding an emu as we drive up to White Cliffs. It just shot out in front of the car and ran across the road as fast as it could.

A sculpture park just outside Broken Hill. Matt looking mystic just before we were attacked by a swarm of flies.

In the middle of nowhere. On a hill overlooking Mundi Mundi plains. It's the last hill for a long long time.

Silverton Hotel. A dusty old town on the outskirts of Broken Hill. There's only a pub and a few old buildings left.

Tackorama! The trip was already beginning to resemble the movie 'Priscilla, Queen of the desert'. So we decided to go one step further and stay in the same Broken Hill hotel they did in the movie.