What Melbourne Loved in 2012, part 11

As if I wasn't going to turn a 10 up to 11.

The stragglers are Kerith Manderson-Galvin, Sayraphim Lothian and me

The What I Loved awards are on their way. I'm thrilled that so many of them have already been suitably raved about – Melbourne creators have great taste – but no one has talked about my favourite show of the year.

Kerith Manderson-Galvin
writer, actor

KERITH: When I saw Cinquanta Urlanti Quaranta Ruggenti Sessanta Stridenti, the first Dewey Dell piece in Next Wave, I thought I was going to have to leave the theatre I was so terrified. I experienced all the emotions in all the world from this piece. The first being fear. It was a true experience and so wonderful that so much went in to each facet of the performance. It was extreme and powerful and it made me feel sick and inspired and wish I hadn't quit ballet when I finished school.

sex.violence.blood.gore  had me at EVERYTHING WAS PINK. It was a wonderland. Before it started I kept leaning over to people saying, "It's so beautiful, isn't it? Isn't it beaauuuutiiiffuuulll. Oh it's really beautiful isn't it? Beautiful!" And then it happened. And then the conversations happened. We got to talk about gender and sex and race and our cultural histories and our neighbouring countries' histories and it was relevant and it was what we SHOULD be talking  about. Also, it showed an alarming lack of understanding of trans identities by some critics (who I can't even remember), which made plays like s.v.b.g even more relevant and important.

Also, Hello my name is otherwise known as The Gun Show. Nicola Gunn is amazing. It was amazing. I want more.

Brigid Gallacher's death scene The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of  Romeo and Juliet). Traumatising and truthful and other adjectives and I'm actually tearing up a bit thinking about it.

Comedian/performer Lisa-Skye pissing with perfect aim in to a doggie bowl only to have my partner/performer/BDSM educator Hunter Bruin aka TransBear knock it all over himself and the stage, and without taking a beat to take in what had happened, he just licked it all up. Art.

Greatest theatre moment of my life: 'An afternoon with Stephen Sondheim'. I had to spend the first ten minutes talking myself down from over excitement and reminding myself to breathekerithbreathe but it was STEPHEN SONDHEIM!!! I pretty well saw Shakespeare.

SM: Kerith wrote a play called Jack for this year's Short and Sweet Theatre. Of the 43 plays, it was the only one that I wanted to award Best Writing to; the other judges agreed – but I was prepared to fight for it, if they didn't.  Here was a young female voice talking about sex without any of the enforced perceptions/boundaries/dullness surrounding young woman having sex, who was really telling a heartbreaking story about the relationship with her mother.  Filled with subtext and vivid details that took us into a little girl's bedroom with a roof of stars, Jack told a story that only that character could tell and has ensured that I'll see everything Kerith writes.

Sayraphim Lothian

public artist, designer

I loved the 5pounds of repertory theatre work; such an incredible amount of effort, 5 plays in 5 weeks. I especially loved Falling Petals, it was great to see such an amazing Australian play again, too often these works get a single showing and then never see the light of day again. I also love the venue, The Owl and Pussycat has the enthusiasm and supportive nature that The Store Room did last decade. It's awesome to see such a venue alive and well.

I also loved four lark's The Temptation of St Anthony, a beautiful show with great music and an amazing set.  Made my heart sing to see it all. These guys are making really interesting work, work that no one else is creating. I'm also looking forward to being able to own the music once they release it.

But I think my favorite moment in the whole of 2012 was No Show's participatory work Shotgun Wedding. Getting to attend a wedding of two strangers who had only just met and with a community of people; we created the whole reception, from an empty hall to tables set, walls decorated, bar organised and cake decorated all in half an hour. It was an amazing work to be a part of, examining community and the rituals we all know how to perform and I was thrilled to be a part of it. (Plus, it may or may not have influenced my own upcoming nuptials.) 

SM: Guerrilla kindness cupcakes and the craft table. There was a craft table at This is a door. A craft table! I loved that craft table. There were ribbons, lace, glitter, pipe cleaners, stick-on eyes, little pom poms and tiny coloured ice-cream sticks. Then a few weeks later, my sparklie hoola princess arrived in my letter box! 

Anne-Marie Peard

writer

ANNE-MARIE:  The revelation of my favourite show of the year isn't far away, but what was my favourite moment?

There was falling (and the hand letting me go) onto blue inflated plastic in Hold, where I ripped a nail, pulled my shoulder, bruised my leg and realised that no one was coming to save me. Before I fell,  I was scared, and for a second I was genuinely fucking terrified. I've never felt such a pure emotion in a performance.

(It was scarier than Nicola Gunn making me draw in public.)

Then there was the relief of getting through the claustrophobic entrance of Impasse without using my panic button and the joy of finding a soft foamy world to climb, crawl and rest on; it must be like what cats feel like when they play on a bed.

Maybe it was crying when a woman held the crying baby taken from her dead mother in the opening scene of Lipsynch.

Or seeing how happy Margret Fulton and her family were at the opening of Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert.

Or talking to the backyard chooks at Summertime in the Garden of Eden.

Or Matt Jesus Kelly's birth in the Last Tuesday Society's Xmas ballet.

My favourite moment was at the Melbourne Recital Centre for the Bang on a Can All-stars performance of Brian Eno's Music For Airports. I've had a groupie-like crush on this group since I saw them in 1996 and have always found it hard to describe why I love them so much. It's not just that they are virtuoso musicians; I've seen many virtuoso musicians who bored me. It's not just that they play music I dig; that's easy to find. It's not even that live music is incomparable to recorded music; I'm happy with iPod headphones. I'd already seen them perform Field Recordings, so I'd had my Bang fix. But guitarist, the super-adorable Mark Stewart, introduced the night and talked about the Bang on a Can community of musicians in New York and how the "travelling circus" All-stars bring their audiences into that community by playing for us. And he talked about their joy in spending two days rehearsing with the Melbourne Conservatorium students who played and sang with them for Airports.

The music was perfect, the venue made it sound even better, but it was knowing that every musician on the stage LOVED what they were doing and would have been just as happy if they were playing to an empty hall. Everyone in that audience is now a member of the Bang on a Can community.

Do what you love and love – really love – what you do (even if no one who enjoys it knows that you're there) and you will have an audience who can't get enough of you.

SM: AM stops me from publishing angry first drafts, goes back and fixes my typos, and doesn't let me call people wankers.

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What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 10

Glyn Roberts, Tobias Manderson-Galvin and Yvonne Virsik are the last three to the post. (Maybe.)

Thirty of  Melbourne's writers, actors, directors, creators have shared their favourite moments, shows and memories for 2012 and it's been a hoot.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. This series has been the most-read of all posts this year, so let's do it again next year.

It's clear that our commercial and subsidised theatres aren't creating the art that our theatre community remembers. MTC got votes with The Golden Dragon and On the production of monsters and Malthouse with Pompeii L.A., but these shows were mostly created by artists who have been working in our independent theatres for years. Perhaps it's time to see more of these artists on our subsidised stages?

Pompeii L.A., Summertime in the garden of Eden, The unspoken word is 'Joe' were often mentioned favourite shows and all have one thing in common: Declan Greene (writer, writer/director/lighting designer/stage manager, director). So Declan wins – another – brand new award as the Most favourite of Melbourne's favourites for 2012. (I'm also in the process of writing something about our Dec.)

Now all that's left is for me to write up my favourites (which I decided on before this started) and have a couple of weeks off.


Glyn Roberts
MKA creative director

Photo by Sarah Walker

GLYN: I really liked the Dewey Dell show at Arts House. It was a form of dance/performance art/theatre that I want to see more of in town. I think The Golden Dragon at the MTC had a loneliness and sadness to that is rarely seen here, particularly in ensemble pieces. I loved it.

Over with us (MKA), the best moments were usually audience based.

Jamming 100-plus people into the restaurant/kiln at the Malthouse at 11 pm for our National Play Festival readings.

Sneaking into a hot and heaving and pink theatre to watch the final acts of sex.violence.blood.gore, then doing it all again in Sydney.

Hearing the gasps when Janine tore up the floor in Triangle and again as she disappeared into the distance.

When the earthquake happened during Tuesday and the entire audience (60 people) just collectively assumed that it was Toby and me shaking the set/entire room as a prank.

Also The Unspoken Word is 'Joe' was pretty cool in general.

SM: MKA have collectively shaken up Melbourne's theatre scene and reminded a lot of us why we keep going to theatre, so pretty much every moment with them is memorable, but my favourite moment with Glyn was at a show at the warehouse. I bought a drink from him and realised that I hadn't bothered to bring money with me. He gave me the drink.


Tobias Manderson-Galvin
MKA creative director

Another photo by Sarah Walker

TOBIAS: According to a document I've been keeping, I've seen about 300 live performances this year. That said, I count going to the Rugby League and seeing live music in there but it's about 200 for capital P performance and capital T theatre combined.

With that in mind, what I loved was:

Tom Green Live: ostensibly comedy but anyway he's more than that and I loved seeing him.

Justin Shoulder, The River Eats Itself was spectacular. (Next Wave)

The Lana Del Rey live concert. A stage covered in ferns, a string quarter, a grand piano, but it was the ritual of it all and Del Rey's impeccable character work that made this one of the theatre moments of 2012 that I loved. And that she performed without any percussion contributed to this being one of the most intimate experiences I had this year.

Nicola Gunn's Hello my name is was the only of its kind that Melbourne had to offer this year. And it was a pleasure.

When Amaya Vecellio and I apparently got too boisterous at Impasse (a fantastic interactive memory foam maze/world) at Arts House, one of the artists accosted me afterwards. Despite the bullying, it was the playground within that I loved.

When Hayley Bracken and I turned up one minute late for Schaubuhne's Enemy of the People, we had to sit in the 'viewing room' for 16.5 minutes, so we started reading the subtitles out loud. The show was great but that's was what I'll remember. Someone should put this in a show on purpose.

Stephen Sondheim in conversation. Rare opportunity to see a master. Insightful.

SM: 300 live performances. Three-fucking-hundred! Even if only 200 are theatre, that's still a number that few get near. (I see about 100 theatre shows each year.)

Tobias writes, directs and creates exceptional theatre;  he's the co-founder of MKA, the company with the reviews where writers try to out wordgasm each other; and he freaked out Brynne by wearing a hat.

See the correlation? When new playwrights ask me for feedback, the best thing I can say is, "See more theatre". If you want to make great theatre, you have to see a lot of theatre. It's like if you want to write, you have to read – a lot.

If you've never created theatre but want to, I promise that if you see 200 shows next year, you'll be making better theatre by 2014 than a lot of people who have been around for ages but see 20 shows a year.

Favourite moment with Tobias? Every MKA show and Judging Short and Sweet when he didn't get why he didn't hate a play with very dull content. (It was because its structure was textbook and it hit every story mark.)

Yvonne Virsik
director, MUST artistic director

YVONNE: In the middle of 2012, I was lucky enough to spend three months overseas. I saw some extraordinary theatre while I was away and clearly missed some back here.

Two verbatim pieces had a strong effect on me and made me determined to investigate the ‘genre’ in my own work.  At Edinburgh Festival, Fringe, I saw Look Left Look Right’s Nola, which dealt with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill – subject matter I didn’t think I’d be interested in – but it was well-executed and complex, leaving loads to ponder.

Hate Radio in the Berlin Theatertreffen festival was a punch in the gut – maybe more of a pummel. It portrayed the vicious anti-Tutsi propaganda proliferated by the popular Rwandan radio station RTLM, which fuelled the violence during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Can you even imagine a radio show call-in topic: ‘Tell us where the Tutsis and their sympathisers are hiding so we can broadcast it and the Hutus can get them’? The fact that it was theatre that brought me this part of the Rwanda story reignited my belief in what it can do.

There were a few very memorable moments in Berlin with audiences. On one occasion, in a theatre rather like The Playhouse, several audience members yelled "speak up" and "louder" to the actors onstage and we often saw people walking obviously along the edge of stages to go to the bathroom and then back again!

Caroline Horton's Mess (Edinburgh) again dealt with a seemingly theatrically unfriendly subject – anorexia – but was written and staged with incredible charm, humour and inventiveness.  I’ve become a huge fan.

SM: Yvonne, have I really not seen anything you've directed this year? Oh yeah, you spent three months in Europe. No wait, Girls Do Gertrude. Pyjamas, mystery and a cast who loved every moment and ensured that the audience had as much fun as they did. Sometimes Stein wrote for the sake of showing off, but you found the absolute fun, the delicacy and the story in Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters.

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Chat: Bridgette Burton, PlaySix

PlaySix
Williamstown Little Theatre
13–15 December 2012

Bridgette Burton has been writing for theatre since the early 1990s and formed Baggage Productions with Christina Costigan in 1999, a company dedicated to original work for women. She won the R E Ross Trust Playwrights Script Development Award in 2005 (Killing Jeremy) and again in 2009 (Rhonda is in Therapy) and in was awarded a grant by The Malcolm Robertson Trust in 2012 to develop her new work Fury.  Bridgette has been involved with PlaySix every year and is very happy to be back again in 2012.

The PlaySix annual short play festival was founded in 2006 to provide exposure to the work of emerging and established playwrights and to act as a networking forum for Melbourne actors and directors. Directed by Shannon Woollard, the seventh festival takes place 13–15 December at the Williamstown Little Theatre.

What six words best describe your PlaySix play?
Satirical, political, absurd, humourous, topical and short.

What six words best describe the play you’re directing?
All of the above (I’m directing my own play) .

What makes a good short play?
A good idea, well told in the time permitted. Basically the same things that make a long play good, but shorter.

What’s something else that’s good when it’s short?
A trip to the dentist.

What’s something that should never be short?
A basketball player.

Apart from the PlaySix, what other short-play festivals have you been involved in?
Short and Sweet, Melbourne Writers Theatre: Melborn, Boxashorts, Bite-Size, Crashtest Drama.

Quickly, convince northsiders/southsiders to head west to Wiliamstown?
Come for the theatre, stay for the ocean side views.

What else should people do while they’re in Williamstown?
Steal a pelican.

Write a Tweet for me to share about PlaySix.
Playsix – six short plays about clever short things.

If you could invite anyone to see this show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Julia Gillard, she’d get a kick out of seeing herself on stage, I’m sure

What is the best directing advice you’ve received?
Cast your play well, and the rest will follow.

As a director, what advice do you give to actors?
Do everything. Write, direct, act and produce – what we need in Australia is people that can do it all and that are motivated.

What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
A Kind of Fairy Tale, Joyce.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 9

Today it's Jackie Smith, Anniene Stockton and Jason Cavanagh.

Jackie Smith

co-artistic director of Finucane & Smith, playwright

JACKIE: My favourite theatre experience this year has to be Yumi Umiumare and Theatre Gumbo's DasSHOKU Shake at fortfivedownstairs.

It was wild and funny, sometimes deeply chilling, scary, touching, and completely bonkers. It was one of those fantastic theatre shows that happen with the confluence of hard work, passion and dedication, and will never happen in that same way again. Not to say the show won’t go on and have a life, but it will never be that season again. It had an impossibly large cast, and an explosive set, and a galaxy of hand made and found props to rival a Snuff Puppet Garage sale. And it had Yumi Umiumare. Her performance and genius left me stunned. Always does. And we are very lucky to have her in Melbourne.

SM: It's no secret that I adore everything Jackie has a hand in creating, but 2012 was the year that I missed most her stuff. I was crook for this year's The Burlesque Hour and was so incompetent at reading a phone map that I missed most of the return season of her play The Flood. Acts 2 and 3 were still bloody good (but not the same as the cramped intimacy of the La Mama season), but the best bit was the post-show conversations with Jackie, Moira and co.

22/12. Opps. I DID see The Burlesque Hour. Just found my notes.  I went on the last night. I loved it, but I was sick and my brain had forgotten. It's come flooding back now. 

Anniene Stockton
producer, performer, arts addict

ANNIENE: Last week I went to the HotHouse Theatre season launch in Wodonga. I took my cousin, Tennile, as  she lives in the area and is fabulous company.

When we arrived, Tennile said that she had never been inside the HotHouse before and couldn't explain more than, "Just hadn't gotten around to it".

As we enjoyed the food and drinks before the official proceedings, she was asking loads of questions about the company and what happens there, so by the time we hit the "official" bit she was keen to hear what the Artistic Director had to say.

He started with the good news that Arts NSW had returned its funding and that Hothouse could continue its work. This was greeted with cheers and woops. He went on to share the dire stats around the steep decline of regional companies presenting Australian work. They are an endangered species.

Next came the season info and my cousin sat silently.  I wasn't sure if she was listening or bored out of her gord.  Had I done the right thing dragging her along? She might never wast to hang out with me again...

I gave a gleeful yelp when I saw that the season includes a work by the overly talented wordsmith Van Badham. Tennile smiled, leaned over and asked “do you know him?” I whispered back. “Her. Know her. Van is short for Vanessa and yes. Dear friend, exceedingly talented. Makes me the best cups of tea.”

At least she was listening. But, once the last work is announced, she turned to be and said, “Well I'm going to buy a subscription.”

It's very nice to introduce someone else to your passion and be there at that very moment when they become passionate too.

SM: I was also crook for Anniene's only performance this year (it hasn't been my best year), but Club Tristen will be back in 2013 and I will be there. As for a favourite moment with Anniene, well that's  too difficult, so I'm setting for every time she laughs louder than anyone else in the theatre.

Jason Cavanagh
actor, The Owl, co-founder of 5Pound Theatre

JASON: It was week two of the 5pounds of Repertory season.  I was walking out of the theatre, after having choreographed one of the musical numbers for Sally: A Musical, which I had only learnt to sing that morning. Leaving the theatre, I had to step over the little army of set makers, sourced from the Celeste’s first year Monash students, cutting and creating our cardboard sets and props.

Up the stairs I went to cook something quick, easy and healthy so we had time to get ready for the performance of Pygmalion that night. Whilst I cooked, I had the sheet music on the bench and was going over my melodies. As Dave (music director) passed, packing his gear away in the dressing room, he joined in for a second and then stopped in to help me with a specific bit I was having trouble with. He then left the room saying I shouldn’t do too much on it until he has sent me the mp3 of him singing it, so I don’t get into any bad habits.

So I continued to sing the bits I was slightly more confident in. I used the song to jokingly serenade Celeste as she passed the kitchen and she started singing it to herself, changing the lyrics slightly.

Then Sebastian bounded up the stairs asking if he could use my computer to email the script to someone or other for a reason that is still unclear to me. I said ‘fine’ and pointed him towards my room.

A short while later, as I had gone through the song a little more and the soup was on the boil, I went to my room to find Seb on my computer and Susannah sitting on my bed singing to herself. I flopped onto the mattress next to her and lay for a second.  I could vaguely hear Freya and Tom singing in the theatre downstairs.

In this moment those last five minutes came flooding through my mind – of course, what I haven’t been able to capture is the details, the multitudes of little things that was adding to the chaos of that five-minute period, the ambient noises, the other people in the building and beyond – and I thought, "If it could only always be like this".

SM: Finally getting to The Owl and the Pussycat space (founded and managed by Jason) was a highlight in itself. Once a single-front cottage in once working-class Richmond, it's now an intimate theatre with a super-gorgeous bar that's established itself as an independent theatre venue that assures something worth seeing. And it's so easy to get to. Get a train to Richmond, walk out of the Swan St exit and cross the road.

As this is a day of missing shows, I missed two of the five 5Pounds of Repertory shows, but three was  enough to see the impact this process had on the creators involved and I so hope Jason and 5Pounds do it again.

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Chat: Melissa Fergusson, PlaySix

PlaySix
Williamstown Little Theatre
13–15 December 2012


The PlaySix annual short play festival was founded in 2006 to provide exposure to the work of emerging and established playwrights and to act as a networking forum for Melbourne actors and directors. Directed by Shannon Woollard, the seventh festival takes place 13–15 December at the Williamstown Little Theatre.

Melissa Fergusson is the Creative Director and founder of the New Zealandbased company charlatan clinic, and is directing The Death of Caesar by Alex Broun for PlaySix.

What six words best describe your PlaySix play?
Honest, tender, poignant, raw, dark, confronting

What makes a good short play?
Succinct storytelling.

What’s something else that’s good when it’s short?
Coffee, short black.

What’s something that should never be short?
Holidays.

Apart from the PlaySix, what other short-play festivals have you been involved in?
Short + Sweet, Auckland.

What else should people do while they’re in Williamstown?
Check out the many historic homes in Williamstown, including one that was used for the police station set for Blue Heelers.

Write a Tweet about PlaySix.
Amazing theatre performing in Williamstown, PlaySix on Dec 13–15, 8pm. Innovative theatre at a small price! See you there!

If you could invite anyone to see this show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Alex Broun, playwright

What is the best directing advice you’ve received?
It’s all about the work, not about the ego.

As a director, what advice do you give to actors?
Trust the process.

What’s a great book you’ve read recently?
Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom.

What play would you love to direct?
Betrayal by Harold Pinter.

What work changed how you make theatre? Why?
The Shape of Things by Neil Labute. This play explores love and what we are willing to risk, to have it all.  The work is provocative and captures the vulnerabilities of love.

What’s the first piece of theatre you remember seeing?
The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde.

What director/actor/writer/creator would you just die to work with?
Cate Blanchett.

What would you like to get this gift-giving season?
MacBook please Santa.

What would you like to give this gift-giving season?
To make clean water accessible to the developing world (over 1 billion people).

This was on AussieTheatre.com

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 8

A week ago, I messaged some artists to see if they had anything to share about theatre this year.

Every day another three or more memories has turned up in my email, without too much prodding. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has contributed; those who are friends and those who I've passed in a foyer. It's been a joy.

Today, Telia Nevile explains why her heart nearly burst, Narrelle Harris found more vampires in Melbourne, and I'm glad that James Adler wasn't arrested for walking up and down a plane aisle talking about a b-o-m-b.

Telia Nevile
poet laureate

Not Molly Ringwald

TELIA: My favourite moment was standing backstage at the Last Tuesday Society Xmas Office Party. We were waiting to go on to do the rock eisteddford and were all really excited and buzzy. Gaby was dressed as a sheep and Jodee was a cow; Jof made a very handsome and understated Joseph and Miles was trying on the donkey head which was drooping down over his torso; Matt's rainbow, sparkly loin-cloth was being pinned in place by Bron, who was dressed as Mary; and Vachel was rubbing glitter into his beard and trying not to accidentally inhale it. I stood there looking around and thinking I am so incredibly lucky to be here, to know these people, to be doing this. We went on and performed, the crowd was amazing, the music was pumping, and when the glitter dropped at the end I thought my whole heart was going to burst.

And, the theatricality of the Rally exhibition at the NGV right now really excites me. It's immersive and playful and political but without being didactic; it's persuasive. The current Thomas Demand show also fills me with a special kind of joy. The humour and light and colour that emmanate, and the playlist he has going through the toilets, extending the show out past the traditional space and enhancing the visitor's experience.

SM: No one who saw the Xmas dance will ever forget it and to know how much the performers were enjoying it, makes it even better. Telia's work always makes me grin like a loon and I love using her photos. Then there's delights like her "I'm not Molly Ringwald" series of self portraits, and the Poet Laureate let me write my favourite review of the year.

Narrelle Harris
writer, vampire specialist

NARRELLE: I've been trying to remember the theatre I saw this year! I must say, I just loved the idea of a vampire living in Edinburgh Gardens, which is why I went to see MKA's Triangle, and it was brilliant. I especially loved the bored housewife revelling in the spectacular violence of finally DOING SOMETHING, who confronts (an imaginary) Vince Colossimo in the bloodbath at Piedemontes and ended up with his head being torn off, with the additional comment "he's such a nice man". That was a perfect commentary on middle class existential ennui and the act of making choices, even if they're terrible ones, rather than remain stuck in resentment and inaction.

Narelle's review

SM: Narrelle is another writer from Stage Left who realised early on that the internet is a terrific place for reviews, and she still occasionally reviews on her own blog, Mortal words, when she isn't writing books (like The Opposite of Life: about a nerdy vampire in Melbourne)  or speaking about writing or making awesome apps (like Melbourne Literary: a booky, readery, writery guide to our city of literature).

James Adler
actor, director, writer, producer and anything else he needs to be

JAMES: The strangest and most wonderful ironic creative experience was on the plane on the way to Amsterdam.

As well as touring Charles Dickens performs 'A Christmas Carol', Nela Trifkovic and I have been given the opportunity to tour An Actor Prepares (another review, another). This play is a musical monologue for two or more players about a suicide bomber.

Now Nela and I have been extremely time poor leading up to the tour and so we found ourselves learning lines and rehearsing on the plane. You cannot even begin to imagine how terrifying and how beautiful it was wandering up and down the aisles muttering away at my lines while people stared.

In their gaze I could, of course, sense them saying "what the FUK is this nutter doing"; if only they knew the words being muttered. Language, context and imagination are powerful creatures and this moment will remain my inspiration for our performances in this tour.

SM: I miss too much of James's work because he's always doing something with his company Eagle's Nest Theatre and I don't have enough free nights. Right now they're giving Europe a good Dickens and I so wish I could have been on that plane, but my favourite moment this year was realising that I didn't care and it didn't matter that I couldn't speak German as I watched Thomas Dentler perform. (The company had been collaborating with Theater in der Westentasche from Ulm in Germany.)

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Meanwhile ...

Meanwhile ...

On another theatre blog, in a critical galaxy that doesn't discuss poo, cheese or glitter,

Cameron and Alison are at it again.  Head to the comments.

It's only been a couple weeks since we farewelled Theatre Notes, but they can't help themselves.

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 7

Today Matt Kelly talks about the "horrific flaying of one's dignity", Tom Molyneux says how LePage sent him to MacDonalds and Nicole Eckersley remembers No Child.

Matt Kelly
actor, poo aficianado

Matt and Richard Higgins (The List Operators) are in the middle of developing a new show (hooray), but he couldn't miss putting his favourites in.

photo by Max Milne: Matt and the giant poo

MATT: Summertime in the Garden of Eden and Miles and Simone's album launch.

SM: My favourite Matt moment was his playing an ass's arse and baby Jesus (in a rainbow adult diaper) in the Last Tuesday Society's Xmas ballet. It made me understand the meaning of "Good god".

MATT: That photo sums up everything that I love about Last Tuesday Society. It's a wonderful collection of weirdos who will do everything they can to make the audience laugh. Often it involves an unquestioned and horrific flaying of one's dignity. Miles playing a donkey, Richard dressing as a giant shit, Bron's jazz ballet. And well, the photo ... fuck it ... use it if it makes you laugh!

SM: It made me laugh. If that's not art, buggered if I know what is.

Tom Molyneux

actor

TOM: I've thoroughly enjoyed the smorgasbord of theatre in Melbourne in 2012; although, haven't been able to see nearly as much as I would have liked. Some memorable moments were the classy performances in The Wild Duck, the unrestrained hilarity and beauty in The Rabble's Orlando, the delicious mind-fuckery that was Enter Certain Outlaws as part of Short and Sweet, and just about everything that was On the production of monsters. 

But the one that stands out above all others was Robert LePage's Lipsynch. Despite being exhausted and hungover, despite the fact that it was nigh impossible to get any food at the Arts Centre (and Swanston St Maccas became the only viable option...) and despite the fact that this sprawling nine-hour epic could easily have been two hours long without losing a great deal, I came out the other end of it with a mile-wide grin and the satisfaction of having completed an endurance theatre event that challenged and provoked in more ways than I can remember. It was pretty rad.

Oh, and I can't neglect to mention the fantastic work that is coming out of the next generation of theatre-makers through universities. Some truly experimental and cutting-edge stuff being done there, it's a shame that so many people miss out on it!

SM: Tom was one of the wonderful cast of The Well, but it was his performance in Falling Petals that made me pay attention.

Nicole Eckersley
Skewers hapless artists in words for Artshub

There was so much deliciousness in theatre this year that I barely know where to start. 2012 has been a great year for genius off-kilter comedy. Fringe was a goldmine of joy, with Slow Clap's Truth, The Unspoken Word Is 'Joe' and The Lichtenstein Nursing Home Massacre burning little holes of hysterical laughter in the programme. At Next Wave, Wheyface's post-apocalyptic museum of 20th-century ephemera was utterly fascinating and deadpan hilarious, and Karlis Zaid and Karin Muizniek's Australian Horror Story (which ran for about 43 seconds at Chapel Off Chapel) had me mopping tears of laughter from my eyes with my delicate lace-edged handkerchief. Okay, so it was my sleeve.

On the serious side, it's hard to go past Nilaja Sun's astonishing No Child at the Melbourne Festival, which was everything a one-human show should be: funny, insightful, immaculately characterised, tearjerking and totally, utterly brilliant. Usually it takes a good thirty seconds for a standing ovation to properly get going; this one took about two. I have never seen an audience leap out of their seats that fast.

SM: I met Nicole at the nine-hour experience of Lipsynch. May we never forget the inspirational bliss of such endless cheese. Not the art, the catering. (Sorry, Tom. We didn't have to go to evil Ms.)

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It's stopping at part 10, so if you're thinking of sending your moments in, now is time.

What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 6

The worst thing about this is discovering that I missed some really great performers (like Dr Brown and Tim Spencer); the best is being reminded of the brilliant folk I didn't miss.

Bron Batten
performer, producer

photo by Max Milne 

BRON: There have been so many great things I've seen this year I couldn't possibly choose just one!

I though Nicola Gunn's Hello, My Name Is was the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. Full of ideas that I wish I'd thought of and a structure that shows an intimate knowledge of and attention to theatrical craft.

Similarly Tim Spencer's Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine was elegant and restrained, intricate whilst accessible and possessing a very dry wit. The performance of Not Nick was extraordinary and I actually gasped during the show – which rarely happens to me at the theatre.

Some other highlights include The Suitcase Royale's Zombatland, Dr Brown's Befrdfgth and all of the artists I get to work with, present and produce as part of the Last Tuesday Society. Youse are all inspirational and ace.

SM: Bron is half of the mad genius that produces the Last Tuesday Society.  I grew up imagining life as a boho arty person: LTS is better than my dreams. Seriously, if you haven't been to a Last Tuesday gig, what are you doing? OK, so I miss a lot cos they are on Tuesday nights and I'm asleep when the good stuff happens, but I made it to the Xmas Office party and never has a better Xmas party been had.

Without a second's hesitation my favourite Xmas party moment was the rat running across the rafters. It wasn't a performance; a rat ran across a beam over the stage. It was brilliant. But was it as brilliant as Bron's lithurgical-cum-rock-eisteddfod-nativity jazz ballet? Nah. And I don't know that any Xmas performance will ever be so glorious.

Celeste Cody

director

photo by Sarah Walker

CELESTE: I am the kind of person who lurks around in the shadows of comedy shows desperately hoping not to be seen or acknowledged, watching other poor suckers get picked on for their glasses or laugh or job... My favourite moment this year was having Dr Brown completely turn this fear on its head. I saw Dr Brown's Befrdfgth four times this year in its festival tour and found myself completely drawn in and actually desirous of being noticed by the irreverent clown and wanting to become a part of the ridiculous world playing out in front of me. It wasn't a fanatic thing either, as speaking to Phil (Dr Brown) doesn't make my knees knock or lips tremble. It is the feeling that I am enjoying myself so much that I am so much a part of the scene in front of me that I find it hard to hold myself back from becoming a part of it. Thanks Dr Brown!

SM: Celeste's inspired and beautiful direction of Choir Girl ensured that the girl was joined by a choir (it was written as a solo piece), and the finals gala of the Short and Sweet Theatre program showed just how much she'd re-invigorated this program. Keep an eye an her.

Daniel Kilby
cabaret artiste, Eurovision tragic

DAN: Wild Duck. Anita Hegh's breakdown was absolutely devastating.
An Enemy of the People. An almost shockingly timely play (particularly given its extreme age) and profoundly affecting.
Lipsynch.  Nine hours of theatre in three (?) different languages. It was spectacle that packed an emotional punch.
More Sex Please, We're Seniors. If only because it mitigated how utterly terrible the other major new musical which premiered in Melbourne this year was.
Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine. A breathtaking exploration of the world's oldest profession: entertaining.
Pompeii L.A. Everyone else has cast their billets doux on this show; so, what they said.

SM: Glitter and bad pop can bring the world together and at Dan's Fringe show, Eurotrashed, I got to sit in in a room with people who also wanted to sing along to "Euphoria" and make Jedward jokes.

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What Melbourne loved in 2012, part 5

Today it's Miles O'Neil, Stephen Nicolazzo and Shannon Woollard.

Stephen says how his experiences in 2012 "have changed me and allowed me to find a platform to express myself without censorship or fear".

The artists who break through the fear and trust that their unique voice is the only way to tell their story are the ones who keep appearing in favourite moments. So, on 12/12/12, let's declare our creative mantra for 2013: "Without censorship or fear".

Miles O'Neil
performer, singer, story teller

photo by Telia Nevile

MILES: My favourite theatre experience was The Last Tuesday Society's Pimp My Play-A Streetcar Named Desire, some night in September at the Melbourne Fringe Hub. It was a beautifully run night full of wonderful performers trying things. I always love a Black Lung short piece, and a dance from Gabi Barton and Vachel Spirason. Finish it off with a conga line from Lessons with Luis and the sweet voice of Simone Page Jones and get Bron Batten serve it up with a bit of cream and a cherry on it and you've got my theatre sweet treat of 2012.

SM: Miles, Jof and Glen left me hurting in The Suitcase Royale's Zombatland with its giant zombie wombats and pineapple doughnuts, but my moment is my ongoing meeting with Miles and Simone Page Jones in my car. In November, Miles and Simone released the most fucking gorgeous album: Home in Your Heart. Its ten original songs are melancholic but filled with hope and a love that's so close you can touch it with your fingertips. Each song draws you into its story and world, and the rather exquisite recording sounds like they're sitting next to and singing just for you. You can listen to three tracks here, then buy it  here.

photo by Pierre Baroni 

Stephen Nicolazzo

director

STEPHEN: Summertime in the Garden of Eden was the only theatrical experience of the year that inspired me to carry on as an artist and engage. Sisters Grimm are a unique force and, though I am biased, I feel that their work is intelligently crafted, razor sharp and odious in a way that not much theatre in Australia has been for many years. Having said that, my personal aesthetic and interest is completely present in their work, so it is a matter of taste and appreciation that influences my decision here.

I also loved Matt Lutton's production The Misconception of Oedipus and The Rabble's showing of The Picture of Dorian Gray at Theatre Works. Both of these pieces dissected the literary in such a magical theatrical way that I couldn't help but wonder how on earth the creatives involved had orchestrated these events.

This year was also a really big year for me as I had returned to Melbourne after many years living in Sydney and finally got a chance to produce the work I have always wanted to make.

MKA'S sex.violence.blood.gore and now Psycho Beach Party have changed me and allowed me to find a platform to express myself without censorship or fear.

I also concur on the praise for Sarah Walker's photography this year. She really has captured the diversity and brevity of theatre in Melbourne unlike any other and hopefully will continue to document the contemporary history of our new theatre makers for years to come. I love her so much I flew her up to Sydney to shoot photos for Psycho Beach Party. I recommend every one to do this.

SM: sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore   sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore  sex.violence.blood.gore   sex.violence.blood.gore

Loved it to pieces and then more.

If you're in Sydney, there's a few more chances to see Stephen's Psycho Beach Party. It's at the Bondi Pavillion and features leopard print and Ash Flanders. Details here. The only reason I'm not upset that it's on in Sydney, is that we get it in January at Theatre Works.

Shannon Woollard

actor, director

SHANNON: While it didn't quite enter the realm of perfection, I thought that Bridgette Burton's Rhonda is in Therapy (Baggage/Hoy Polloy at fortyfivedownstairs) came pretty close. My fave theatre moment this year would have to be watching Kelly Nash and Louise Crawford nail a critical scene. It's one of those scenes where you're not completely sure if someone is actually real. Genuine disconsolation floats – like a troublesome but intriguing ghost – right in front of you. Sometimes you read a script (I was pretty familiar with this one before I saw the show) and something evokes a very specific dramatic idea or mechanism. I saw that mechanism perfectly translated by director Wayne Pearn and the actors in this production.

SM: Last week I saw Shannon in Death of a Comedian at La Mama and loved being taken into the insecure backstage world of stand up comedians, but I think my favourite moment will be this weekend when I head to Williamstown for PlaySix, the annual short-play mini-festival he directs. Details here. And I'll get to hang out at the super-cute Willamstown Theatre where they sell packets of lollies and have old-school brocade-covered seats.

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