What Melbourne loved in 2016, part 4

Today's moments are from three men whose theatre voices are bold, challenging and totally their own: Daniel Lammin, Stephen Nicolazzo and David Finnigan. We're going to see a lot more of their work of in the years to come

Daniel Lammin
director, writer, obsessive collector

Daniel Lammin's 30th birthday present-to-self selfie

DL's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: No piece of theatre this year hit me with as much force as Picnic at Hanging Rock. The book is my favourite Australian book and the film is my favourite Australian film, both having had an enormous impact on me growing up. I also love the work that Matt Lutton, Tom Wright, Zoë Atkinson and Paul Jackson have done together in the past, so consequently my expectations were enormous. The result though exceeded my expectations beyond my wildest dreams. The production captured the concerns of Lindsay’s story, the sexual repression of young women and the Australian landscape’s rejection of us as an invading force, and crafted it into an impressive work of art in its own right, pulsing from Matt’s rigorous direction, Zoë and Paul’s remarkable design, the cast’s tremendous performances and Tom’s diabolical, awe-inspiring text.

It also understood the most misunderstood aspect of the story, that at its heart it is a work of horror, one that crawls under your skin and festers there for the rest of your life.

Watching Picnic was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had in the theatre, both because of what was happening on the stage and what was happening in the audience, a mass of people battered and thrown by the uncompromising force of what they were seeing, jumping and screaming and gasping in unison. The teenager sitting next to me literally jumped out of his chair at a moment of sublime theatrical horror, and sat on the edge of his seat for the rest of the night. It was a perfectly executed theatrical event, one that shows tremendous respect for its source material but with the imagination and rigour to be a great work of art on its own. It left me breathless, exhilarated, disturbed, in awe and in tears, and like the book and film before it, left an enormous and life-changing impact on me and my work as a theatre maker. I confidently rank it as one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen.

What DL is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: Unsurprisingly, I’m incredibly excited to see how the same team approach The Elephant Man. It’s a beautiful story but a theatrically complicated one, and if they apply the same rigour to this one that they applied to Picnic, it could be something really special. I also can’t wait to catch CULL during the Comedy Festival (I missed it during the Fringe and regretted it enormously), and to see what She Said Theatre does next – their work is just getting better and better, and continues to be some of the most important being made.

SM: Daniel wrote and directed Awakening for MUST (performed at Trades Hall). It was an adaption of Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (not the musical also based on it) and was one of the most moving and gut-punching pieces of theatre I saw this year. Another MUST show that nowhere near enough people saw. I really hope that someone gives this show another season because it's heartbreaking to think that it won't be seen again – with the same cast please.

Brilliant update: Awakenings has been picked up by the super-wonderful fortyfivedownstairs, so put 10–21 May in your diary now. Book here.

And while you're there, look at the at what else is coming there next year. What a season!

Stephen Nicolazzo
director,  Little Ones Theatre; likes Madonna 

Stephen Nicolazzo

SN's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: Hands down, my favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016 were: Cain and Abel (The Rabble ), Gonzo (St Martin’s/Malthouse) and Terror Australis (Leah Shelton at Melbourne Fringe). These works were brave, beautiful, and furious. They were focussed on the craft of visual story telling and the presentation of complex political perspectives in cheeky, adventurous and moving ways.

All were born from Australia’s most courageous female artists: Emma Valente, Kate Davis, Clare Watson and the divine Leah Shelton, and all were a formally adventurous master class in contemporary theatre practice. Finally, each of these works had exquisite craft on display, which to me is an integral part of theatre making. They didn’t bend the rules simply to provoke. They bent them to explore craft and courage.

This is what I want in my theatre. My personal moment of 2016 was getting to tour Dangerous Liaisons for the last time. It has been two years since Dangerous opened at MTC Neon, and it has grown substantially since then, blossomed into a work that I am extremely proud of. It is so rare to develop a work after its initial presentation and in the case of this one, it has been such a unique gift to refine, reassess, and nuance. So very grateful to all of the festivals and presenters who took a risk on our huge mother fucker of a show and to the audiences across the country who have fallen in love with it.

What SN is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: The Theatre Works 2017 season. CAN.NOT.WAIT.

SM: I'll see any theatre Stephen makes, but I missed the return of Dangerous Ls and I missed the Madonna night that he programmed for Melbourne Fringe – but I loved lying in bed and watching the pics and videos of it on Twitter.

If you want to support Little Ones Theatre's Midsumma show, donate here.

David Finnigan
playwright

Georgie McAusley and David Finnigan. Photo by Sarah Walker

DF's favourite moment in Melbourne theatre in 2016: This might not be the moment, but I found myself really, really sinking into Nat Randall's The Second Woman performance at Next Wave. I went along intending to stay for a few minutes, found myself there for an hour or two at least. It was weirdly satisfying, so many dimensions to it, but it was sitting afterwards with Jane Howard while she unpacked it for me, that was the real lightbulb moment. I dug that. Maybe that's the combination: good artwork, good analysis, good chats with good humans. That's all you need.

What DF is looking forward to in Melbourne theatre in 2017: I'm looking forward to the major companies retreating further out of touch, the existing funding structures coming apart at the seams and the whole system continuing its histrionic slow-motion collapse, so we can hurry up and see what weird alternatives emerge out of the edges.

SM: I loved seeing Kill Climate Deniers at the Melbourne Fringe, but my moment was reading the play. I was sitting in a cafe in Avalon on Sydney's north coast (which is exactly like the awesome web series Avalon Now, made by real estate site) eating a huge salad with purple cabbage, kale and every super food – while listening to a woman ask why they didn't have a quinoa salad (nuts weren't good enough protein for her) – then being recommended a chocolate cake that was pretty much melted dark chocolate and dates. It was like I was living in the world of Kill Climate Deniers; I WAS in the world of Kill Climate Deniers – and willingly being part of it.

(PS: I love being sent new scripts to read.)

part 1
part 2
part 3
2014
2013
2012

MICF: Fake It 'Til You Make It

Fake it 'Til You Make It
Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburn & Theatre Works
19 March 2015
Theatre Works
5 April
theatreworks.org.au

Tim Grayburn & Bryony Kimmings

While, I'm writing about Hannah Gadsby's mis-diagnosis of depression, it's impossible not to talk about Tim Grayburn's diagnosis of clinical depression and the astonishing Fake It 'Til You Make It that finishes at Theatre Works on Sunday.

It's been difficult to get a seat for this one because the consistent raves about its Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth seasons have been consistent raves.

So I'm not writing a review of the production. Please read all the others, starting with Jane Howard's in The Guardian.

Melbourne's indie arts scene fell in love with Kimmings last year when she brought us Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model (my favourite show of 2014) and Sex Idiot (my favourite audience participation of any show).

In her performance art, she shares her life and experiences to make connections with people who have had similar experiences. You don't see one of her shows and leave thinking about Bryony, you leave thinking about yourself. This is what makes her work so powerful.

She made Fake It 'Til You Make It with her partner Tim Grayburn. He's wasn't a performance artist or any type of performer but quit his job in marketing to make this show with Bryony, which premiered at the Perth Fringe earlier this year.

It's about their falling in soppy get-a-room love, her finding out about his illness, what they did next, and how they continue to deal with being in love and everything that goes with it.

I didn't write about the show because I didn't know where to start. I knew/know too many people with diagnosed and undiagnosed depression who suicided or have thought of suiciding.

I also know people who found the help they needed and have helped others.

I've also seen a lot of work about depression. Why this one should be compulsory is because it makes the connection between this illness – this common and treatable illness – and how it makes the person think about death.

Like a symptom of the common cold is a cough, a symptom of clinical depression is thoughts of death. It's what this illness does to brains and, like a cough, it can be treated.

I have a friend who when he was really sick, made sure that his partner had the keys to the box where his medication was locked away. This person loved their life and knew that their illness made them think about death. He found a way to create time when those thoughts came; time that made acting on those thoughts very difficult and enough time to deal with the symptoms.

If Fake It 'Til You Make It can make even one person make the connection between depression and thoughts of death, between illness and symptom, maybe they will also get the time they need.

It finishes on Sunday and there are still tickets available, especially for Saturday.

What Melbourne loved in 2014, part 5

Today, we're hearing from other reviewers: Jane Howard, Myf Clark and Kevin Turner, and Jane gives us the three words that all reviewers should have o a sticky note stuck on their computer "passionate, detailed, intelligent".

Jane Howard

reviewer

Self portrait with dog by Jane Howard

Jane: Since this blog is filled with moments in the theatre, I’ve picked one that came after the theatre. Jordan Beth Vincent’s review of HEX for DanceTabs is the sort of criticism I aspire to write: passionate, detailed, intelligent.

It’s impossible to succinctly summarise her review. She looks at the difficulty galleries and art critics had confronting work about HIV/AIDS in the late 80s and early 90s; she makes us consider how different contemporary dance would be today if so many dancers and choreographers hadn’t died from the disease; she looks over the history Welsby and his collaborators used to create the work; she shows incredible knowledge of the independent dance scene in Melbourne; and, of course, she takes us through the piece itself with a precise dance vocabulary.

I’m very lucky to be constantly learning from and inspired by other critics in Australia and internationally, but it’s the Melbourne critics I keep coming back too. Through their work, I am given an understanding of a cultural scene I am all to often watching from afar, but most importantly I learn more about my craft – while having wonderful friends in them, too.

This piece, in particular, inspired me to work harder. Jordan had a much larger word-count than I did for the production, but even then I couldn’t have begun to write a review as detailed and knowledgeable as hers. One day, I will. In the meantime, I’m very glad there are critics like her I can look up to.

SM: We have a pretty fine group of arts writers and critics in Melbourne and I'm not the only one who considers Jane one of ours. She's passionate and articulate and she cares, and she reads reviews from all over the place. She showed me this review site, which makes me smile so much that the only reason I didn't steal the idea is that it's one of the first review sites I show students and emerging writers when we talk about finding your voice. As for a favourite moment: It was in Adelaide where we had brunch at Lucias and I almost forgot that I haven't known Jane for years.

Myf Clark
reviewer

Myf: My favourite show of the year was definitely Bucket’s List in Melbourne Fringe. Written by Sarah Collins and directed by Yvonne Virsik, this beautiful and touching production had me run through the gamut of emotions and I was definitely struggling to hold back tears by the end of the show. I honestly can’t wait to see what Sarah creates next.

The MTC Neon season once again was a highlight of the year. Seeing so many people I know be involved made my day, especially Kerith Manderson-Galvin. I will see everything Kerith is in because she is amazing. A particular image stuck in my mind was the breathtaking sight of Nicola Gunn slowly coming down from the tower of mattresses in the terrific Green Screen, while it was fantastic to see Angus Cerini on the stage again, after so many years, in Resplendence.

Workwise, I loved watching the first year students from my work perform in their end of year showcase With You, Alone at Theatre Works. The last scene was just a sublime and magical moment filled with blue lights, slow dancing and a beautiful rendition of Nat King Cole’s “Smile”. Simple and stunning

Other highlights of the year included experiencing Adelaide Fringe for the first time, seeing Juliette Burton’s wonderful When I Grow Up twice at MICF (because once just wasn’t enough!), having a gleeful squeal at the Buffy references in Keith Gow’s terrific Who Are You Supposed to Be?, feeling incredibly proud of Sarah Hamilton and Justine Campbell’s They Saw a Thylacine (my 2013 theatre highlight!) being programmed into the 2015 Malthouse program.

And finally getting to put many faces to names of people I’ve previously only know from online, include Anne-Marie herself! To sum up, 2014 gave me some of the most beautiful and touching pieces of theatre that I’ve ever seen (and many hilarious nights out). Bring on 2015!

SM: Myf and I had followed each other on Twitter and finally met during the Fringe, I think it was after a conversation about the ever wonderfulness of Buffy and our love of Bucket's List. 

Kevin Turner
reviewer, theatre maker

Kevin: I really had no idea what to say when I asked myself what my favourite moments of 2014 theatre were. But when I thought about it, moments started to clarify. They centred around getting caught up in the action. Audiences sweeping the performance up and carting it to heights it could never have otherwise achieved.

The first occurred during True Romans All, a pervasive street game inspired by Julius Caesar. Pop-Up Playground, Melbourne's resident makers of awesome situations, worked in conjunction with Bell Shakespeare to bring the Romans of Shakespeare's play to the streets of Melbourne.

I was lucky enough to be one of the facilitators assisting the company in making sure that the players had the best possible experience. Three quarters of the way through every run through, there came the point where the members of the audience I supervised were brought to meet the man himself: Julius Caesar. No matter the group, high school students or adults, the moment became charged with power, and from that moment on even the least interested audience member got caught up in the action.

From that moment onwards there was no controlling the audience. They made their way to Treasury Gardens with a sense of desperation. They made up chants like "Spqr we know who our leaders are hail Ceasar" and "Hey Caesar your so fine, your so fine you blow my mind. Hail Ceasar". In that moment every actor got caught up in the flow, even as the objective facilitator I was positive we were going to win and Caesar would survive. It was magical and it was powerful and it was terrifying. It was exactly the awesome situation Pop-Up promise to deliver.

The second moment of audiences sweeping a performance away came earlier in the year during the Fresh Air Festival. Pop-Up Playground and Serious Business together created one of the flagship games of the festival: Spirits Walk. Players travelled around Melbourne communing with "Spirits" and acquiring tokens that were used to create a mask that let them infiltrate and take part in the spirits walk. A parade through Federation Square, where we hollered and hooted, danced and jigged. It was one of the most magical moments I have ever been a part of. Helped also by it being the first Pop-Up Playground game I got to play not having had anything to do with its creation.

On the main stage my love was split between two shows. The Good Person of Szechwan at the Malthouse was batshit, bugfuck insane and gave no apologies for the madness we witnessed on stage. It was refreshing and joyous. I sat there with a giggle on my lips and a grin on my face.

Finally I got to see Once, one of my favourite stories/movies to come out of my home country. My response to this was simple, I was so happy I cried. I think that say's it all.

SM: As Kevin's review editor, I've had the joy of seeing his writing and his critical eye develop over the last year as he's found his voice. And he puts up with me telling him to use less words, kill adjectives and trust his subtext. As for a moment: him showing me what he did to Rob and Sayraphim's (from Pop up Playground) car after their wedding/performance/live-art/celebration.

2103 Favourites

2012 Favourites

NEXT WAVE: Madonna Arms

NEXT WAVE
Madonna Arms
I'm Trying To Kiss You 
7 May 2014
Arts House, Meat Market
2014.nextwave.org.au

Photo by Sarah Walker

Shows don't speak to everyone, but I thought that Madonna Arms would be one for me.

I'm Trying To Kiss You's last show captured the experience of 20-something love and friendship so beautifully and this one is about women and body image, food and fitness with 80s sci-fi references, pop-culture jabs and drag kings. Sign me up!

But I don't know what this show is trying to say.

It had some moments about salads and chips and strength, and I laughed at the big cock, but it seemed so focussed on its own big picture and what it looked like (and I don't think they were trying for the ultimate irony) that its content got lost in the razzle dazzle and support underwear.

I saw it without my review hat on, so I recommend Jane Howard's review on The Guardian. 


PS. When you start late on purpose during a festival, you know that other shows lose some of their audience.

What Melbourne loved in 2013, part 2

Today, my fellow-arts-blooger Jane Howard talks about the inspired ecstacy of the Nature Theater of Oklahoma, photographer Sarah Walker talks about sighing in the theatre, and Mike Finch from Circus Oz takes us to New York and wishes that our gloriously subversive local companies had more support.

I'm also doing a series for Issimo magazine that starts today. As a bonus, these ones also include what people are most looking forward to in 2014. And most will also pop up here with the full responses to what they loved.

Jane Howard
Reviewer and arts blogger 
noplain.wordpress.com

Photo by Sarah Walker

JANE: Over the past year and a half, I am very grateful for Melbourne embracing me as a transient and honourary member of your fine community.

It’s your independent artists that keep me coming back and in love, but in 2013 it was Nature Theatre of Oklahoma that really stole my heart and ran away with it. I was so excited before I went into Life and Times that I was certain the only way my emotions could go was downhill. As the ten-odd hours progressed, though, I became happier and happier, more inspired and more ecstatic. The fact that I got to spend the time with so many of my friends and loved ones from Melbourne’s theatrical community just made it all the better. As we emerged, eyes bleary and mind blown, I knew nothing would be the same.

SM: Everyone who was at Life and Times is bonded for life and will always be tiny bit sad when the cast of a show don't make us a burger. What a magnificent day!

I love reading Jane's blog and being reminded about the arts passion that is created in Adelaide. I'm from there and doubt that I'd have had the career I've had if my theatre expectations hadn't been formed by Adelaide Festivals and Fringes and by companies like the STC (the State Theatre Company in Adels) in the 80s.

But my favourite moment was watching Jane answer the question of a Melbourne theatre maker (cough, Tobias) at the Melbourne Festival and Wheeler Centre's panel "Criticism in the Digital Age".

Sarah Walker 
Photographer

Photo by Sarah Walker

SARAH: As an audience member, my favourite moment was thirty seconds of The Rabble's Room of Regret. After spending half an hour squinting at the show through the lace veils with which each audience member was draped (and giving myself a headache in the process), my sudden kidnapping and de-veiling by a cast member was a welcome respite. I was shunted into a cupboard, with a thin lace curtain halving it. The lights in the theatre flickered and died.

Footsteps approached and, as they settled, I knew that there was a person standing perhaps 30 centimetres in front of my face. I could hear their breath. I could smell them. The darkness swelled, the silence pressed in on me so that those breaths became loud, immediate. I was so acutely and profoundly aware of the proximity of that body in the darkness; aware of them hearing and smelling me in return. The moment was electric, erotic and charged with expectation. I imagined kissing anonymous lips through the lace, not knowing whether they were male or female. And then a feeble light dawned, and I made out David Harrison's features, skewed and made grotesque by the curtained pattern of flowers. We stared at each other. "You are a very attractive young man",  he whispered.

And then hands dragged me back out and into the party.

Photo-wise, Night Maybe by Stuck Pigs Squealing at Theatre Works blew my socks off. As a photographer, you hang out for the shows where the visual elements come together and just sing, and golly was this one of them.

Mel Page and Richard Vabre created the most extraordinary, enigmatic, mercurial world for that text. As the first scene came up, with those gorgeous shafts of orange and gold light suspended like oil in the haze, I audibly gasped. I continued to make little happy sighing noises whenever a new section of the space lit up. (I think, on reflection, that the creatives in the audience bank probably thought I was totally unhinged.)

Luke Mullins let me walk on the set, provided that I took my shoes off, so I sunk my toes into real grass, peeked through real trees, breathed earth and crushed lawn and smoke. It was such a rich, physical experience, shooting that show. And when it started snowing, I honestly don't think there was a happier person on the earth than me at that moment.

SM: I was sitting next to Sarah the night she gasped. As I was doing the same, it didn't occur to me that that it wasn't completely normal behaviour.

And as for her photos, I use them whenever I can because no one captures the emotion of a moment quite like she does.

And see what Sarah's looking forward to in 2014 at issimo.com.

Mike Finch
Artistic Director and co-CEO, Circus Oz, and self-described itinerant half-wit

Cranked Up. Photo by Rob Blackburn.

MIKE: So many, but to be honest the two highlights weren't in Melbourne! They were both in New York City. Sleep No More is a totally immersive site-specific exploratory theatre piece with a masked audience. A noir take on the themes of Macbeth with the text removed. It’s similar in concept to work I've loved and admired before, but performed on a massive scale and with a level of integrity, design and production I never thought would be thrown at immersive theatre.

Fuerza Bruta (originally from Buenos Aires) is a simply audacious spectacle, with two or three elements I've never seen before, including some moments that only contemporary technology could make possible; looking up through the underside of rolling surf, with bodies suspended.

Both pieces keep the audience on their feet, and both pieces allow and actively encourage full participation, whether it be handling and touching the scenery, right through to dancing half naked in the rain.

Local, but world-famous, Melbourne companies like Snuff Puppets, Arena and Polyglot have this kind of beautifully anarchic, physical, immersive or subversive edge, but can often afford to only work at a certain scale. I'd love to see these artistically innovative, groundbreaking companies fed and supported more, both by audiences and government.

What Mike is looking forward to in 2014 at issimomag.com.

SM: It is simply impossible to not love Circus Oz and everything they do from shows to workshops. But, I saw this year's show (Cranked Up) on the night that Rudd ousted Gillard. A friend and I watched ABC 24 on my phone until we had to go into the tent, knowing that the result would be there by interval.

After interval, the show felt different. It was as awesome as it always was, but there was a sense of sadness, a sense that something had been done that goes against everything that Circus Oz believe in and that we'd been unwillingly pushed down the wrong path.

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Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

2012 part 1, with links to the rest