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‘Snow’ live at Rosebud
NOAH Zorzi and Jahli Cannon are part of the 26-member cast in Dreamhouse Theatre’s production The Snow. Picture: Supplied
Wednesday 31 August 2022
THE Snow, the play chosen to perform this year by Dreamhouse Theatre Company, is suitably mysterious and entertaining for families. Recommended for audiences aged from seven up, The Snow by Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer is a tale of adventure involving seven “bravest and strongest” residents of Kishka, a village trapped inside a snowfall. The not-for-profit Mornington Peninsula-based Dreamhouse creates performing arts opportunities for young people. The Snow’s cast is aged 13 to 22 under the direction of Carole Patullo. “We have our biggest cast and crew to date, with 26 young people from different peninsula schools and community settings taking part,” Patullo said. “It’s been wonderful to connect and rehearse the play, after what we’ve all experienced over the last couple of years. The ensemble has formed lasting friendships through collaborating and that sense of community is an important and precious thing. “Telling Australian stories and showcasing our wealth of local talent is very important to Dreamhouse. “Our budgets are small, but we pack a punch with a resourceful, repurposed, minimal approach to set and costume design, which allows the words and performers to shine.” The Snow will be performed on Friday 9 September and Saturday 10 September at The Southern Peninsula Arts Centre, Rosebud. Booking: trybooking.com/CBPWF
Food, housing in short supply Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au WELFARE groups and community houses on the Mornington Peninsula’s are facing unprecedented demand for free meals and food packages, as a result of homelessness and cost of living rises. The lingering impacts of the pandemic have left people struggling to make ends meet and charities are having to fill in the gaps. A growing number of homeless people are also lining up for food as the peninsula faces a shortage of affordable rental properties. It is estimated that 1000 people are homeless every night on the peninsula, being forced to sleep in their cars, tents or couch surfing. Earlier this month Mornington Pen-
insula Shire called on state Housing Minister Danny Pearson to review regulations that allowed holiday houses and “party houses” to operate “to the detriment of longer term rental options”. At their 6 September meeting councillors will receive a report on how much it will cost to write to non-resident ratepayers “asking them to consider putting their peninsula dwellings onto the local rental market as an immediate solution to the housing crisis”. Real estate agents will also be asked to support the shire’s actions to free up more houses for rent. Cr David Gill said it would “go a long way” to helping ease the crisis if “just 100 of the estimated 4000 available houses were made available for rent”. He said offering “incentives” such as cutting Land Tax to owners of multiple
dwellings “would be a lot cheaper [for the state government] than building social housing”. A forum organised Peninsula Voice last Wednesday heard that people were being forced to move away from their social network and health providers because they could no longer afford rents. The first in a series of three forums at the Peninsula Community Theatre was centred on discussing circumstances that lead to homelessness. The next forum on 8 November will cover housing affordability. Peninsula Voice president Peter Orton said many people in the community wanted to help ease the housing crisis. Ben Smith from Mornington Information and Community Support Centre said, “the energy in the room showed just how much this community wants action”.
“When this many people [and estimated 300] come out to discuss something like homelessness, on a cold midweek evening, it’s hard to deny the motivation people have to work together to build positive outcomes,” he said. Some charities and groups involved in providing meals and food packages have reported a more than doubling of demand in the past six months as families are hit with rising power bills with less cash left for groceries. Smith said the Mornington centre’s cafe, which provides free food in a social environment, was seeing up to 80 people a day, compared to 20 five months ago. Hastings Community Centre’s Lisa Glover said her centre was also seeing an increase in demand and she had noticed a change in the type of people
needing help. “There has been a clear demographic shift in the past six months. We used to just get elderly people then, during the pandemic, we saw out of work men and co-parents, but now we are seeing lots of homeless people,” she said. Capel Sound mental health advocate Shane Willis said welfare agencies and community houses did a great job providing food and support for needy families. “These people are the unsung heroes of the current cost of living crises,” he said. “We have the tireless workers at Seawinds Community Hub in Capel Sound providing bacon and egg breakfasts, while charities Vinnies and Splash are looking out for people in need. Mornington Peninsula Shire website lists places to go and organisations to phone for support. With Liz Bell
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