Wow, this hasn't been updated in a while

 

I still am

Well, the last time I put something on here was about the time I caught Covid and that was a life time ago or last week. I'm not sure. It was a tough time.

Our industry took a beating, but we're still here and we're beginning to thrive again.

I'm mostly on Instagram now: @SometimesMelbourne. 

I've written a few reviews over the last year or so and will put them up as backdates. They were all published elsewhere, so the love was shared.

And you can here me on radio  RRR SmartArts every second Thursday where I talk with Richard Watts about all of the amazing shows I've seen that fortnight.

What Melbourne loved in 2019, part 11

My best of 2019 will be published on Monday.

Melbourne's most loved shows of 2019 are Daddy, Unwoman, Barbara and The Camp Dogs and Grand Finale.  

What an amazing selection! Two Melbourne indie shows, one Sydney/Melbourne company co-production show and one international festival production. (I haven't seen Daddy yet, but will do what I can to see it during Midsumma.)

Thank you so much to everyone who's been a part of the series this year and since 2012: I've loved doing it and love that so much theatre and so many artists can be celebrated and supported in ways that don't care about star ratings.

So let's finish with someone who has been here every year and whose ongoing support of independent arts and arts writing in Melbourne is unsurpassed: Richard Watts. (And me.)

Richard Watts
Performing Arts Editor at Arts Hub, presenter Smart Arts at RRR, bloody legend

Richard Watts at the Cliffs of Moher

As a result of taking long service leave from my day job at ArtsHub in August–September, I didn’t see as many shows as usual this year – I even missed the entire Melbourne Fringe for the first time in over 20 years, due to spending most of September holidaying in Ireland. I did see some great shows at the Dublin Fringe and Dublin Theatre Festival, but that’s a whole other entry

My many Melbourne highlights (not including the many shows I also saw interstate) included:

Barbara and the Camp Dogs. Co-written by and starring Ursula Yovich, this raw, electrifying, vital piece of theatre at Malthouse was skillfully directed by Leticia Caceres. One moment you were roaring with laughter, the next sobbing as an emotional gut-punch caught you unaware. Part sweaty pub rock, part theatre, and always thrilling.

Cock. Directed by Beng Oh at fortyfivedownstairs, this indie production featured the year’s most sensual sex scene – in which the actors kept their clothes on the whole time.

Mr Burns: A post-Electric Play. A triumph of independent theatre directed by John Kachoyan for Lighting Jar Theatre. Great performances, exquisite lighting by Richard Vabre, and Sophie Woodward’s sets and costumes were an absolute triumph.

Harry Potter and Cursed Child Parts One and Two. I went in cynical, I came out awed. Stunning stagecraft and some truly remarkable coups de théâtre which had the audience gasping – myself included. Yes, tickets are prohibitively expensive, but it really is worth it – and there’s always the Friday Forty lottery!

33 Variations. My god, wasn’t Ellen Burstyn amazing?

A View from the Bridge. Tension so tight you could hear the whole audience holding its breath, superb direction by Iain Sinclair, and judiciously minimal staging thanks to Christina Smith’s set and Niklas Pajanti’s lighting. Yes, there was a clear debt to Ivo van Hove's Spartan 2014 production, but instead of a stark white stage, here we got dark, brooding, electrifying minimalism. If Zoe Terakes and Steve Bastoni don’t get Green Room nominations for their performances in this production I’ll eat my hat.

Giantess. Cassie Workman’s imaginative, incisive and moving show at this year’s MICF was a thing of rare beauty: wryly funny, skilfully constructed and performed, and occasionally heartbreaking. So good I saw it twice.

The Aspie Hour. This clever cabaret about neurodiversity and musical theatre was another MICF highlight. If you missed it, it’s been programmed in Sydney Festival in January, should you fancy a trip north.

Magma. Also at MICF, Andy Matthews and Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall’s offbeat, intelligent and hilarious investment seminar was without doubt the funniest show I saw all year. I literally roared with laughter.

Neal Portenza is Josh Ladgrove. Bilge pumps! Bilge pumps! Bilge pumps!

Wake In Fright. My god, wasn’t Zahra Newman amazing?

Modern Maori Quartet. Initially this cabaret at Arts Centre Melbourne struck me as a trifle too slick for its own good, but about 15 minutes in it all clicked into place for me, and I was enthralled and delighted and crying and applauding rapturously.

Between Tiny Cities. Contemporary dance that’s inventive, technically adept, passionate and accessible. I love the fact that it was programmed as part of Arts Centre Melbourne’s family program – watching an enthralled circle of kids watching such virtuosic b-boying was an utter delight.

Come From Away. If you don’t like musical theatre ,then go see this show. If you love musical theatre go see this show. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Gander in Newfoundland receives an immediate increase in visiting Melburnians as a result of this life-affirming, heart-warming production.

Overture. Comedy in dance? Jo Lloyd makes it work beautifully. I’m so glad that Jonathan Holloway programmed a return season of this work for his final Melbourne International Arts Festival.

High Performance Packing Tape. Thrilling contemporary performance at the Meat Market as part of MICF in which Phil Downing’s sound design played a critical part. Never has watching a balloon inflate been so anxiety-inducing.

Colossus. Choreographed by Stephanie Lake and created for the 2018 Melbourne Fringe, Colossus was remounted for MIAF, and what a delight it was. Featuring some 50 dancers on the small Fairfax Studio stage at Arts Centre Melbourne, this exquisite work explores everything from subsumed individuality and the frightening power of the mob to the sound of the body in motion – hissing breath, snapped fingers, pounding feet. Athletic and multi-sensory, courageous and profound, it can soon be seen at Sydney Festival in January and Perth Festival in February – don’t miss it.


Looking forward to in 2020.
So much! Joel Bray’s Daddy, Selina Jenkins’s Boobs, Campion Decent’s The Campaign and You & I by Casus Circus at Midsumma; Kim Ho’s The Great Australian Play at Theatre Works; Grey Arias, the long overdue mainstage season of Patricia Cornelius’s Do Not Go Gentle... , and, especially, Loaded at  Malthouse; Benjamin Law’s Torch the Place, Dan Giovannoni’s Slap. Bang. Kiss., Fun Home and, especially, Andrea James’s bio-play about Evonne Goolagong, Sunshine Super Girl at the MTC; À Ố Làng Phối, Metal and Black Ties at Asia TOPA – and so much more. Most of all, I’m looking forward to seeing our beloved La Mama rising from the ashes as construction of the restored and future-proofed theatre gets underway.

SM: Richard is the hardest working arts journalist that I know. He sees as much as he possibly can, writes about the issues that no other publications write about, is the chair of the La Mama board, and has been on RRR on Thursday mornings for Smart Arts for FIFTEEN YEARS – as a volunteer.

How cool would it be if for his every show of 2020, a different delicious cake, a strong morning coffee and a cold post-show cider (he doesn't like beer) were waiting for him at the station. This isn't a joke.


Anne-Marie Peard
Arts writer

Anne-Marie Peard at Lakes Entrance

Favouirte moments of 2019
Lou Wall as Satan in Oh No! Satan Stole My Pineal Gland! at Melbourne Fringe.

Joshua Ladgrove as Satan in The many names of Bilge Pumps at MICF and Melbourne Fringe and, especially, dealing with the crappest microphone ever at the final fundraising performance in Decemeber.

Gender Euphoria with Mama Alto and the most incredible casts at Midsumma and MIAF. If the absolute joy generated by this show could be shared, the world would be a much better place,

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child: The relief and complete toe-tingling joy at the first cape swish and knowing that it was going to be as good as I imagined it could be. It was better. One day, I'll win the lottery and get to see it again.

The now-gone gun in Bron Battern's Waterloo and watching audience members make a choice that would swear they would never make.

Nikki Viveca's bee dance in Wasp Movie at Melbourne Fringe.

Break up by New Zealand's Binge Culture at Melbourne Fringe. This year, I watched more of this five-hour impro show than I did last year, and want to sit through all of it one year.

Running workshops with indie artists and seeing them get media coverage as a result. 

Seeing students get published.

What I'm looking forward to in 2020
Asia TOPA,  Po Po Mo Co's Summer of the 17th Doll, and seeing all those first shows that introduce new artists to the Melbourne arts community.

But what I'm most looking forward to is that significant companies, funded organisations and commercial producers SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA.

There are many amazing independent critical voices out there and so many more emerging voices wanting to be heard and wanting to be advocates and supporters of the arts in Melbourne.

But these voices are rarely supported by the companies and organisations that have the resources to offer support. 

The best funded and supported companies in our town don't support independent voices, including  online sites, podcasts, radio shows, student publications and social media wonders. 

Writers aren't invited to shows, and if they do see work, their considered commentary isn't shared. 

I know where I'm welcome when I write for mastheads and not welcome otherwise.

There is lots of love about these companies in indie writing; none of which is shared by the companies with their audience. All the positive and supportive things said about any company with funding in this series hasn't been shared, liked or, possibly, even read by companies. 

None. 

I reckon that subscribers, sponsors and the artists would love to know that their work was among some people's favourite moments of the year.

These companies are also missing the opportunity to have commentary from people who see so many shows that they can write about the big picture over many years. There isn't room for this type of reflection in 300-worder in a masthead. They miss the voices of people who were  there when some of the biggest names on our stages were performing in tiny venues. These writers were the early support and encouragement and can write about work with an understanding and a history that can't be summed up in a star rating.

They miss out on being part of the history and the archive that indie coverage offers.

They miss out on writing that is more than a quoted word or phrase. 

By focusing on the potential short-term benefit of a review, they miss out on the long-term gains.

And what about all the new writers? Writers need to see work and need to write and be read. If they aren't welcome at shows, what does this say about your company?

If all you want is stars and adjectives, here:

****

Quote away.

I know how important indie voices are to artists; they talk to me and sometimes those messages and conversations are enough to keep writing.

So, here's to a year where every funded company invites EVERY indie voice, says yes to every student and emerging artist who would like to see shows, reads what they say and shares those voices.

SM: A-M spends a lot of her year convincing me to keep doing this. She reads the emails and messages. She buys me dumplings and convinces me to see another show each night during a festival.

But it's time to say goodbye.  

I look forward to passing on the torch, teaching and mentoring new voices and putting my hand up as a date to shows.

What Melbourne Loved in 2017, part 9

This is your last week to get your moments included. Today we hear from Richard Watts, Sharon Davis and Ash Flanders.

Richard Watts
Professional pontificator, ArtsHub/3RRR

Lee Zachariah's photo for Richard Watts's 50th this year

Favourite moments in 2017
It’s been a memorable and fascinating year; one in which compassion, connection and community were the dominant themes of the works which resonated with me the most.

Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette remains the single most perfect and important piece of art I saw this year; a work that weaponised comedy by turning the art form against itself, ratchetting up the tension by depriving us of punch lines and in doing so letting us not just see but experience the damage inflicted by homophobia. Heartbreaking, brilliant and important – I don’t know how Hannah keeps performing it, and I hope she has a mental health professional on speed-dial to talk with after each and every show.

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music performed by Taylor Mac and friends was an epic, life-affirming celebration of queerness at a time when my community most needed succour and hope. Taylor gave it to us in spades – and so much more besides. I won’t go on at length about how magic and marvellous this four-part work was – it’s already had a lot of love in What Melbourne Loved this year – but I will thank the Melbourne Festival team once more for allowing us to experience this glittering gem of a show.

The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family at Perth Festival is another highlight; I’ve never seen realism done with such subtly, such truthful finesse, and such impact. Three plays performed back to back; the American family in miniature; a tri-part work about class, politics and feminism that was fresh and electrifying and never once didactic or hectoring; the best stage drama I’ve witnessed in 2017.

Attractor at Asia TOPA was my favourite dance work of the year, alongside several other brilliant contenders. Take a bow, Bunny (another Asia TOPA event); Restless Dance Theatre’s Intimate Space at Adelaide Festival; Nicola Gunn’s Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster and Nick Power’s Between Tiny Cities (both at Dance Massive) – A cross-cultural collaboration, an ecstatic celebration, a skilled blending of creative voices, a triumph.

Honourable mentions: All the Sex I’ve Ever Had at Melbourne Festival, another work in which a palpable sense of community built in the theatre as the work progressed; Kate Mulvany’s mercurial and moving Richard 3 for Bell Shakespeare; Wot? No Fish!! at Adelaide Festival, a deceptively simple work with so much heart, and Richard Gadd’s honest, confessional and experimental comedy at MICF, Money See, Monkey Do. And so much more…

Looking forward to in 2018
It’s probably cheating to say everything, isn’t it? There’s so much I’m hanging out to see next year: Daniel Clarke directing Taylor Mac’s Hir at Red Stitch; Daniel Lammin directing Tommy Murphy’s Strangers in Between at fortyfivedownstairs; Brian Lucas giving voice to Wilde’s De Profundis at Gasworks… and that’s just during Midsumma!

I’m especially excited to see not one but two mainstage works – finally! – by Patricia Cornelius in 2018, though I don’t know if I’ll get to both: her adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba at MTC, directed by Leticia Cáceres and a new, original work, In the Club at State Theatre Company South Australia, directed by Geordie Brookman.

I’m also hanging out for Jada Alberts’s Brothers Wreck at the Malthouse; Albert Belz’s Astroman and Jean Tong’s Hungry Ghosts, both at the MTC; Gravity and Other Myths’s intimate, brilliant circus work A Simple Space and Griffin Theatre’s long-awaited production of Angus Cerini’s The Bleeding Tree, both at Arts Centre Melbourne, and so much more.

Most importantly I’m looking forward to more new voices; more works by new artists; more works from artists from diverse backgrounds telling stories that when we hear them we’ll be like, “Why haven’t we heard this before?!”. Bring on 2018

Richard & Daniel at Taylor Mac. Photo by Sarah Walker

Me & Richard during Purple Rain. Photo by Daniel Kilby

SM: Watching "Purple Rain" together at Taylor Mac. And the look on Richard's face during the interval of The Book of Mormon.


Sharon Davis
Director

Sharon Davis. Photo by Cricket @ Cricket Studio

Favourite moments in 2017
Hands down, the stage lift during the storm in Away at The Malthouse. I have never felt that kind of pure excitement and adrenaline in the theatre before. It was just magic and it made me feel like a little kid again. I loved the rest of that show too. It took me by surprise which is remarkable for a piece so familiar. It had the intensity of purpose that you often get with a new work while still feeling like a dignified “classic”. I don’t know what I mean by that except that that is how it made me feel.

Of course Melbourne is rich with so much theatre to feast on but my other highlights include:

Nanette by Hannah Gadsby. Her challenge to the idea that artists must be tortured to be of value lingers with me.

Britney Spears: The Cabaret. I know it’s been kicking around for years but I’m one of those people that hadn’t seen it until this year at Chapel. Holy shit, Christie Whelan-Browne is an absolute knockout. Jaw stayed on the floor. If she does it again, don’t think, just go.

The Happy Prince. I always really get a kick out of Stephen Nicolazzo‘s work but this piece came in like a little bird and carried my heart away with such tenderness and humour that I just had to sit a few moments at the end and gather myself. Just beautiful.

Red Stitch really knocked it out of the park for me with Incognito by Nick Payne. I love plays and I love watching actors deliver complex ideas while revealing meaning through human connection, intention and emotion. It’s such an epic play and I still don’t know how they managed to fit it into that space but it worked and it was like jazz and science had a love child.

And finally, Songs for a Weary Throat. An incredible team of artists made this piece epic and beautiful. There was so much danger in the way the performers moved and played. The space was chaotic and broken and full of, seemingly, actual danger. Yet what stuck me most was the absolute trust and care that shone through with every movement, look,and exchange that took place between the performers. It reminded me that theatre doesn’t have to be a competition of endurance, aggression,or trauma for it to be high impact for the audience.

Looking forward to in 2018
A safe, supportive, and respectful work space for EVERYONE.

I can’t wait to see what Stephen Nicolazzo does with Abigail’s Party for MTC. Also really looking forward to seeing one of my favourite directors, Kirsten Von Bibra, take on Venus in Fur for Lightening Jar Theatre at 45 Downstairs.

SM: Sharon directed Spencer, one of my favourite new works of this year.


Ash Flanders
Sister

Ash Flanders. I let him choose his own pic.

Favourite moments in 2017
Number one has to be Declan Greene performing the monologue “Conserve water, drink piss” for me at Blondies earlier this week. It’s a found monologue from an Eagle Leather email. I hope it gets picked up.

But in terms of actual things, like anyone with a die hard love of grooviness, I am now a devout member of the church of Betty Grumble. Getting to witness Love and Anger was like getting a front row seat to a tornado where everyone fought to be pulled in. Emma Maye has the potential to be a worldwide ecosexual terrorist of the highest order if smart gate-keepers can open their eyes, hearts and orifices.

Other standout moments include: Peter Paltos delivering the incredible monologue Dan Giovannoni wrote in Merciless Gods; The Listies deservedly selling out their Edinburgh season; marveling at the plot mechanics of Declan’s Faggots or The Homosexuals; the insanity of Phil Dunning’s House of Pigs; and any time I got to witness Nick Coyle be the icon, legend and lunatic he is.

Personally I am very grateful for the opportunity to tour a work overseas and also make a dream come true by finally having an all-lady band help Dave, Stephen and I take Playing to Win to the heights I dreamed it could get to – big thanks to Daniel Clarke and The Arts Centre. I’m beyond thrilled to see The Rabble getting the respect they deserve. Oh I also got to improvise with living legends Nicola Gunn, Mish Grigor and Marcus McKenzie and I’m hoping someday we share the idiotic fruits of that endeavour.

Looking forward to in 2018
Apart from taking over the world myself (any day now), I’m looking forward to witnessing other people do the same. Ich Nibber Dibber sounds like manna from heaven, Melancholia sounds like the end of the world (finally!), and both Accidental Death of a Anarchist and The House of Bernarda Alba have me convinced that people finally realised Bessie Holland should be in everything. Oh and what’s the other show... oh that’s right, only the GREATEST PLAY EVER WRITTEN – Abigail's Party! I’ve never wanted to be Eryn Jean Norvill more – and should she somehow be unable to play the part I’m already word perfect. Just. In. Case.

SM: I can't get past that Ms F is looking forward to main-stage shows next year. Oh how far we have come! But it has to be reading the reactions to Lilith the Jungle Girl in Edinburgh and Ms L getting to Amsterdam.

What am I doing on Xmas Eve? Seeing Ash in Nothing at Hares and Hyenas. He's the tangerine in my stocking. He's back with Stephen Nicolazzo and Dave Barclay for the fourth time, following Negative Energy, Special Victim, and Playing to Win. Details here. You can also go on Sunday 17.

part 8
part 7
part 6
part 5
part 4
part 3
part 2
part 1
2016
2014
2013
2012

MELBOURNE FESTIVAL: Taylor Mac, Chapter I & #QueerGrannySquares

MELBOURNE FESTIVAL 2017
A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Chapter 1: 1776–1836
Taylor Mac, Pomegranate Arts and Nature's Darlings
11 October 2017
Forum Theatre
www.festival.melbourne

#QueerGrannySquares

Taylor Mac. Hour 1. Photo by Sarah Walker

With a Milky Way of critical stars and superlative quotables, review voices can do little more than add to the glorious noise and love that leaves little room for objectivity when describing Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.

One song per year for 240 years over 24 hours. It was performed once over 24 hours last year in New York, but Melbourne gets four shows of six hours. This gives us over a week of being thrilled to count the sleeps until the next show.  

If it somehow hasn't been made clear, by everyone who was at parts I and II, missing parts III and/or IV isn't worth the regret.

One of the many joys I've experienced, so far, was sitting on the stage as one of six people – with Zeb, Dierdre, Daniel, Phil and Julia – who "made things" in respect to the first 30 years of music, that started in 1776. I made #QueerGrannySquares.

About a month ago I crocheted my first #QueerGrannySquare. It was the same week that the not-binding not-votes of survey disgrace started arriving in our letter boxes. I've filled in many government forms and never been so disgusted by one. I still can't get it into my head that our government is so cowardly that they have to ask if we are equal.

Counting down to hour one. I know where I am on the stage.  Photo by Sarah Walker

Reading Facebook on the train one afternoon, I didn't know what to do. I'd seen the "protect my children from the nasty queers" ads, I'd seen the posters that equate having sex with wearing a seat belt – they really aren't doing it right – and I'd been handed pamphlets by Christians who insult every thing that religion and faith stand for; these just made me swear. But this afternoon I saw so many posts from people who were breaking; mostly people who I never thought would break. And if confident, happy and loved people are hurting this much, the damage this vile survey is doing is going to be deep.

I can't stop ignorance, fear and hate, but I can sit on my couch and make rainbows.

Taylor Mac and costume designer Machine Dazzle. Hour 2. Photo by Sarah Walker.

I was inspired by Sayraphim Lothian's live art project A Moment in Yarn. She asked me to tell a happy story and made me a granny square that tells the story of a cat called Flue moving in with me.

The square still sits with Flue's ashes and it still makes me cry; a handmade object can hold a story and a memory so powerfully.

Some of the Dandy Minions. Photo by Sarah Walker

It took me three more years to learn how to crochet (at classie.com.au). I was also inspired by the #PussyHat movement and knitted (I could knit) my first #pussyhat in January on the day of the Women's March in Washington against he whose name I don't need to write. I spent the next couple of months making them for anyone who asked. The cost was do something nice for someone else.

I bought most of the yarn from op shops (charity shops) – every ball had already been used to make someone else's story and the money was going somewhere positive – and some of my favourite moments of this year have been seeing photos of friends and their daughters (and one cat; it was a one off) wearing their hats. Making these hats even rekindled a friendship with someone I knew in kindergarten.

It also connected me with other craftivism projects and it inspired some new #pussyhat knitters. One of them was Daniel.

Daniel didn't tell me that he'd also been chosen to make stuff with Taylor until we both turned up at the theatre with our bags of yarn!

Pre-show on-stage selfie by Daniel Kilby. We were a bit excited.

A few minutes into the show, I whispered to Daniel, "I think I've found my happy place". As an extroverted introvert, there isn't anything much better than being in the best seat, being irrelevant enough to blend in, being surrounded by cool people (the band), only having to interact with one person (a friend) and being able to do something that doesn't involve interacting.

But what was even more amazing was watching the audience. I've been to hundreds –  and hundreds – of shows and I have never seen or felt an audience who were this happy.

And that includes the National Theater of Oklahoma Life and Times: Episodes 1–4  that was so glorious that the friend and I who went together decided that we can't see shows together because it will never be that good again. Bryce, you need to come to Taylor.

Richard Watts being comforted by a stranger. Photo by Sarah Walker

It was more than happy.

Sparklie makes me happy.

Subversion makes me happy.

Deconstructing the heteronormative musical narrative wearing a blindfold makes me happy.

We kept them on for an hour. Photo by Sarah Walker

But Taylor Mac, and everyone his USA company and the Australians who have joined them in Melbourne, have created a space without shame.

Stephen Russell telling his story. Photo by Sarah Walker.

We're dealing with an active campaign that's about creating shame, especially queer shame. It's trying to create shame for being who you are, who you fuck and who you love. It's about making children ashamed before that know who they are. It's about families being shamed for being families. It's disgraceful.

This year, the gorgeous Hannah Gadsby has been talking about the damage done by kind of shame in her show Nanette. It's the best piece of stand up I've seen; it broke me. It's also had all the critical stars and won a pile of awards, but I recommend going to Twitter and reading the responses to its Australian and UK seasons to understand how this piece of theatre is changing lives. There might still be some tickets left for her Hamer Hall shows at the Arts Centre in December. This is the other show that missing isn't worth the regret.

Taylor Mac et al have created a world where this kind of shame doesn't exist.

Taylor Mac. Hour 3. Photo by Sarah Walker.

And even if we're only in that world for a few hours, we're taking its acceptance, love and outrageous kink out of the theatre, into our hearts and our lives. We may not be able to stop ignorance, fear and hate, but we can do everything we can to drown out the shame with as many rainbows as it takes.

Taylor Mac Hour 4. Photo by Sarah Walker

PS. Seeing friends and strangers – on and off the stage – with the squares has also made me so fucking happy that I've cried.

PPS. I have a pile of new mini ones for Wednesday night. If you want one, please just ask.

I'm scared to review: Wild Bore

Wild Bore
Malthouse Theatre
18 May 2017
Beckett Theatre
to 4 June
malthousetheatre.com.au

Wild Bore. Zoe Coombs Marr. Photo by Tim Grey

Wild Bore. noun
1. Those who talk out of their arse, dribble shit and don't understand dramaturgical intent.
2. Theatre reviewer.

It's also Zoe Coombs Marr, Ursula Martinez and Adrienne Truscott's response to critical responses to their own work, and that of others. Opening to a critical contingent of two at Malthouse on Thursday, its verbatim(ish) mash-up of memorable reviews is as much a celebration of arts writing as it is a hilarious damnation of us who write those so-wanted-but-so-hated reviews.

Readers of reviews and critical writing in Melbourne will recognise some of the quoted voices.

But I'm not cunty enough to have been quoted.*

I don't know how I feel about that.

It's really nice to be quoted.

There are plenty of theatre makers who think I'm a bitch. I've seen the letters about my ignorance and know about the quest to get me banned. Most of these criticisms of the critic have been over writing about women's voices, women's points-of-view and how women are presented on stages.

I should have said feminist (bitch).

Wild Bore is mostly about people who write about women with a gaze that makes women feel so fucking special.

It's why these performers continue to make theatre that also encourages critical responses that use less-quotable words like gender, privilege, diversity and gaze. And why that writing can get a bit sweary because we're fucking over having to explain why we're fucking over it.

Remember when Jane Montgomery Griffiths wrote a response to reviews on ArtsHub that questioned a gender bias in reviews about her interpretation of Antigone (Malthouse, 2015)? Grab a snack and go deep into the comments – some are in the show – and know that the ones that were going on in a not-so-public sphere were funnier, smarter and bitchier. Some of us do censor our public voices.

Wild Bore. Ursula Martinez Photo by Tim Grey

This work – which they've been developing in their three home continents while performing their own shows – naturally focuses on the negative reviews and the failure (perceived or willful) of the writers to understand (or accept) the intent of the works.

With their best cheeks forward – the talking-out-of-the-arse imagery is clear –, each discuss reviews of their work that didn't get chosen for their pull quote of adoring adjectives or appropriate number of stars. Having seen the shows discussed, it was confronting to hear only the negative voices.

As artists and creators, do you really listen to those voices? Are the positive, researched, sat-up-until-4am-trying-to-get-the-words-right, you-made-me-feel-and-care reviews dismissed by the negative?

Of course, it makes far better theatre to use the negative voices – and the Wild Bore performances as described by the reviews may be worth the pain of those bad reviews. But it highlights why the bad bad reviews are encouraged, and why the responsibility of a reviewer's voice isn't necessarily considered.

Negative, bitchy reviews with memorable metaphors get read. They get shared. They get clicks. They encourage engagement and conversation. And so writers are encouraged, and often paid, to write more reviews like that.

It's awesome to be read.

It's brilliant to get paid to write.

Arts writers are writers. WE LOVE BEING READ.

Verbose metaphors get read.

Can anyone who read Byron Bache's corn-in-the-poo quote ever forget it? The show (The Crucible, MTC 2013) may have been forgotten, but not that quote. It got him regular paid work; the dream of most arts writers. But despite him continuing with some excellent writing and critical comment, he might only be remembered as the corn-in-the-poo quote critic. Arts writers understand irony.

Those gloriously hideous reviews are read.

They not only get read more than the positive ones, they get a bloody wonderful feminist theatre show made out of them.

 And, shhh, Krishna Istha.

Wild Bore. Adrienne Truscott & Zoe Coombs Marr. Photo by Tim Grey

*Or nice enough to be in nice quotes on the web page.

Time to Talk with The Guardian, 23 May after the 7 pm performance, Van Badham joins the cast to talk about their encounters with critics.

Monash Meets Malthouse, 27 May at 5 pm at  Jane Montgomery Griffiths, Alison Croggon, Cameron Woodhead, Richard Watts and Fleur Kilpatrick join the cast to discuss artists responding to critics.

The reviews

Maxim Boon: themusic.com.au

Alison Croggon: The Monthly

Cameron Woodhead: The Age

Rose Johnstone: Time Out

Keith Gow: keithgow.com

Kate Herbert: Herald Sun

What Melbourne loved in 2016, part 8

Everyone today loved Maltilda. Welcome Richard Watts, Sara Collins and Jason Whittaker.

But before you read. If you want to be part of this series (and your friends and fans want to read what you think), you have to send your answers to me.


Richard Watts
Performing Arts Editor, Arts Hub; Smarts Arts presenter; legend

Richard Watts. Photo by Nicola Peniguel

RW's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: I’ve seen some brilliant, beautiful, challenging and moving life performances this year, in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and the Northern Rivers region of NSW, as well as in a diversity of Melbourne venues.

Works such as Zoe Coombs Marr’s Trigger Warning and Sammy J’s Hero Complex made me roar with laughter even I as marvelled at the skilled writing on display. The Artisan Collective’s Wit at fortyfivedownstairs and MUST’s Awakening at Trades Hall made me sob. Backstage in Biscuit Land and Matilda the musical made me cheer. Dancenorth’s IF _ WAS _ and Le Patin Libre’s Vertical Influences allowed me revel in the splendour and the beauty of the human body moving through space.

But if there’s one moment that typified everything I love about the performing arts, it was the Lotus play readings at the National Play Festival back in July. Extracts from four new plays by Asian Australian playwrights; four fresh new perspectives; four very different takes on storytelling that didn’t rely on the familiar tropes and clichés of Australian mainstage drama.

Siti Rubiyah by Katrina Irawati Graham, Squint Witch by Shari Indriani, My Father Who Slept in A Zoo by Ngoc Phan and Entomology by Natesha Somasundaram – each reading made me hopeful for the future and hungry for more.

What RW is looking forward to in 2017: The further decolonisation of our theatres and performances spaces, more plays and stories by First Nations and culturally diverse artists, more amazing work by female-identifying playwrights and directors, and more stimulating conversations with friends, peers and colleagues in the foyers of Melbourne’s theatres.

SM: Every moment with Richard is pretty damn good. One of my favourites was seeing Sammy J's Hero Complex with him. We braved front row centre because we knew we were in safe hands, but had no idea just how great this show was going to be. Being able to share the love you have for a show with someone is what live theatre is all about. Laughing by yourself on the couch is never as good.

Richard is a tireless advocate for independent art and artists in Melbourne, he sees more theatre than most of us, and he listens to music, reads books, and goes to films and art exhibitions. He loves theatre and art with the kind of unconditional passion that we wish from our lovers. Every time I see Richard chair a discussion or I listen to a radio interview, I learn more about how to be a journalist. He researches, he asks excellent questions and knows when to change tack during an interview.

I'm sure that indie artists in Melbourne know how lucky they are to have Richard (I hear some very lovely things being said), so let's all make sure we make sure he knows how respected, appreciated and loved he is.

Sarah Collins

playwright, photographer

Sarah Collins

SC's favourite moment in Melbourne theatre in 2016: It's been a hard old year. Where previously I felt "the less money and resources we have the more punk we will be!",  I'm really struggling to get past the cuts, the closures and the lack of opportunity in theatre in 2016. (I'm writing a comedy about it so please get in touch with me if you want to laugh your way through this too. I'm sick of feeling despondent). 

The best performance I saw this year was Lyall Brooks in A Prudent Man. He. Did. Not. Skip. A. Beat. It was a huge treat to see such a polished performance at the wonderful Melbourne Fringe and he made the script sing and every word count. Matilda was fantastic. Tim Minchin (that writing!) and James Millar were the highlights for me. James Millar could honestly play that role on Broadway; he was born for it. Unfortunately due to my niece just missing out on that role I was a bit pissed with our Matilda. I'm sure under any other circumstances I would have found her a true delight. 

Finally my favourite moment that happened IN a theatre in 2016 was a moment told by a friend who has been teaching drama at an all boys private school in Brisbane for ten years. Irrespective of the fact that support for the arts is being ripped from here there and everywhere, theatrical expression can never be killed. In the context of an all boys school this was breathtaking. In the context of why we all gravitated to theatre in the first place it's a great reminder.

SM: It's been a year without a new show from Sarah – toddler wrangling is more time consuming than making art –, so I've had to be happy with Facebooks posts that make me know why social media was invented. I think my favourite was vomiting on the way to Ikea and the Christmas photo.

Jason Whittaker
journalist, critic

JW's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: What made me feel the most? The cry-o-metre registered one Melbourne show in 2016: The Events, the singular and devastating Edinburgh Festival choir-backed play brought to Malthouse Theatre via Belvoir Street in Sydney. Catherine McClements broke me; it must be a career-best performance and she’s given plenty of them.

Malthouse had a strong year under an artistic director growing in confidence. Matthew Lutton’s Edward II and, particularly, Picnic At Hanging Rock were urgent pieces of auteur theatre. And I have enormous affection for The Glass Menagerie production bought in from Belvoir, even though the Malthouse space sucked out intimacy. Melbourne Theatre Company’s best was probably Disgraced, though Jasper Jones was a terrific adaptation and I liked Kip Williams’s Miss Julie more than most. And don’t forget The Secret River, STC’s simply yet stunningly staged adaptation that got to us in March. It wasn’t new in 2016, but it’s probably the best Australian work we saw this year.

What made me happiest in the theatre in 2016? Matilda  is the best commercial musical to come to Australia in decades. Little Shop of Horrors via the Hayes Theatre in Sydney was so smart and so much fun. The foul-mouthed, sweet-singing Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour were a Melbourne Festival highlight.

But the absolute best piece of theatre in this city in 2016? I’d give it to Robert Lepage’s masterful, magical bio-monologue 887. A spell of wide-eyed loveliness, as I gushed on Twitter afterwards. A genius theatremaker wringing everything out of himself and the form.

What JW is looking forward to in 2017: Red Stitch has secured some super-hyped US and UK plays next year: Rules For Living, The Realistic Joneses, Incognito and The Moors. I’m excited by all of them. I think the Malthouse program looks as strong as this year’s. I’ll be interested to see what MTC does with Annie Baker’s John, which I had mixed feelings about in New York and will really test subscribers, and of course what Simon Phillips does with Macbeth. And trust me: The Book Of Mormon is as good as everyone says it is.

SM: Jason and I know each other and read each other, but I don't think we've met. I'll fix that in 2017. What I love about his reviews is that he shares his gut feelings towards a show and I'm either "What he said!" or "Did he see a different show?" – no in between. And that's what I love about reading other criticism: I want an extreme reaction; reading something meh is as meh as doing something meh.

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
2014
2013
2012

Your Turn 5

Your Turn 5
Pop Up Playground
19 November 2015
Bella Union
popupplayground.com.au




Game shows are awesome. Live game shows are more awesome. Live game shows where the audience join in are even more awesome again. Live game shows with audience participation hosted by Ben McKenzie are the awesomest.  Live game shows with audience participation hosted by Ben McKenzie where Melbourne clever-pants people make fools of themselves made by the Pop up Playground team? Invent your own superlative!

And be at the Bella Union on Thursday 19 November from 6.30 for Your Turn 5. Info here.

If you weren't at Your Turn 3, you missed the wonderful Ming-Zhu Hii and me win bronze. (Highlights above.)

On paper, we look like a winning team, but either we aren't as nerdy as we thought we were or are the sort of people who need a quiet room and thinking time. My personal highlight was not remembering that the fourth Young One was Vyvyan, making a toy diorama of Terminator 2 thinking it was Terminator – which Ming-Zhu still guessed correctly – and our team effort of not being able to pinpoint Washington on a map despite knowing that between us we could answer obscure plot questions about The West Wing and House of Cards.

You can also watch Ming-Zhu in The Ex-PM on ABC.

Your Turn 5 guests are:

Richard Watts from RRR's Smart Arts and Arts Hub
Yvonne Virsik from Monash Uni Student Theatre
Sarah Jones from shows like Jonestown
and
Marcus Westbury, who I don't know, but if he's as smart and funny as the other three, he'll be terrific.

What Melbourne loved in 2014, part 7

Richard Watts, Cassanda Fumi and Tobias Manderson-Galvin share their favourite shows today.

Richard Watts
arts journalist

Richard: At the start of 2014, I made a vow to myself to cease constantly and consistently burning the candle at both ends. Consequently I’ve only seen 112 live performances across various genres this year (so far – there’s another few to try and squeeze in before Christmas!) but I’ve also avoided the debilitating, lingering lurgies that had regularly laid me up for weeks at a time the last few years running.

Consequently, despite missing out on some apparently excellent productions as a result of pulling things back a notch (e.g. The Rabble’s Frankenstein and Grounded at Red Stitch), I still managed to see some mad, magnificent and moving productions in 2014. Here are the highlights of the year that was:

From Adelaide, Gravity and Other Myths staged the single best circus production I’ve seen all year at Northcote Town Hall, as part of the City of Darebin’s Speakeasy program. A Simple Space wasn’t just exhilarating, intimate and a bravura demonstration of fine-tuned human physicality, it was also a glorious display of circus as art, and an evolution of that form that was the perfect counterbalance to the corporate Euro-pudding blandness of juggernauts like Cirque du Soleil.

Also at Northcote Town Hall, Elbow Room’s Prehistoric lit up my synapses and set my heart racing like no other show in 2014. Infused with a punk sensibility, it was vibrant and alive, it was also a knowing, insightful and carefully crafted work that managed to be simultaneously nostalgic and utterly of the moment; everything that indie theatre should be, and more.

Bryony Kimmings’s Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model at Theatre Works was not only a continued demonstration of producer Dan Clarke’s astute eye for programming the brightest and best, but also a marvellous, insightful, deeply moving and empowering exploration of life in our modern world. Without doubt the most affecting production I saw this year.

Finally, my single best show of the year: Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s Roman Tragedies at Adelaide Festival. Six hours of Shakespeare in Dutch, with English surtitles. Going into this show I was full of dread. Coming out of it, I was envious of those audience members who would be experiencing it in the following days, and would have killed a Liberal Party politician to see it again. Exquisite acting, a thunderous and dramatic live score, inspired direction by Ivo van Hove, and intelligent and nuanced use of multimedia and social media – as well as giving the audience the opportunity to not only move around the auditorium at regular intervals but to actually take to the stage – made this one of the most memorable productions I have any seen anywhere in my 47 years. Fuck it was good. If it ever comes to Melbourne – or anywhere else in Australia for that matter – DO NOT MISS IT.

Honourable mentions: The Worst of Scottee at Theatre Works; Bryony Kimmings’s Sex Idiot at Melbourne International Comedy Festival; Trygve Wakenshaw’s Kraken at Melbourne International Comedy Festival; Ray Chong Nee’s performances in The Motion of Light in Water and Jumpers for Goalposts; Caroline Lee and Maude Davey in MKA’s The Trouble with Harry, and Lachlan Philpott’s beautiful, poetic script; Carousel Des Moutons at Melbourne Festival; Big hArt’s Hipbone Sticking Out at Melbourne Festival; and Sisters Grimm’s Calpurnia Descending at the Malthouse.

SM: Richard’s been hosting Smart Arts on RRR for ten years: that’s a lot of pretty amazing moments. I can’t imagine Melbourne’s theatre and arts scene without Smart Arts. Richard always asks great questions and from his choice of music to his guests, he’s one of the greatest advocates and supporters of independent theatre, music, artists and creators in Melbourne. Buy him a drink when you see him.

Cassandra Fumi
arts editor, theatre maker

Photo by Sarah Walker

Cass: When I think of 2014 it's green! Green Screen was the standout work for me. I loved the delicateness and vulnerability of this piece. It was a Nicola Gunn show unlike other Nicola Gunn shows, but then oh so much a Nicola Gunn show (does that make sense?).

I also loved Bron Batten’s Use Your Illusion that was part of Field Theory. I thought it was a clever, engaging piece. My presence as an audience member was really needed, not only to be hypnotised but also to go on a journey with Batten. Oh yeah, I totes bought into the hypnosis thang.

I also adored Calpurnia Descending; the dancing rat made me laugh. Ugly laugh. Like Dawson’s ugly cry. This work made me think, whilst having a great, entertaining time at the theatre. I also went to Katy Perry a few nights later and – yes, yes! – Katy also had a rat on stage. The gift that keeps giving.

SM: I so nearly had a Live Art moment with Cass at the Melbourne Fringe, but it turned into a very individual live art moment because I missed her by seconds. (Bloody burger that took forever that I ate  as I ran to be on time – and it wasn’t even nice.)


Tobias Manderson-Galvin
maverick

Tobi: My best top 5:

5) Perth's Fringe World. That was a really great fringe festival. It may be the best in the world right now. Supportive core staff, varied curated and non-curated spaces, selection of hub areas, a real cool artist bar, great audiences, beautiful design. I can't give this festival a better rap. It is the best. Fuck you Adelaide and Melbourne, do we need to call an ambulance – and any other Australian fringe you don’t really exist, get over it.

4) Luke Devine's The Land Than Time Forgot (Melbourne Fringe, Hares & Hyenas). Luke in nothing but a black tee, white 'away' shorts, and holding a hot pink notebook, tells the story of growing up in Tasmania. This better happen again. If you missed it. Whooo boy. You missed it.

3) Inventing a festival with MKA massive and primarily Mr John Kachoyan. Calling it HYPRTXT. It having almost nothing to do with the internet. Doing a show in it that also didn’t really have anything to do with the internet. My new pal John Kachoyan reading in the show on the final night. JK also doing a reading of his solo show. Just everyone involved in all of that. Like Jenn Taylor. Like people from the Gong. A playwright from Finland. All of you/them!

2) Kerith Manderson-Galvin's commissioned work for Union House Theatre Don’t Bring LuLu. I went more than once. I gather that for a while there people thought Kerith was a pseudonym I'd made up, but she's actually my sister. I think for a while there, people thought she was my sister but she's also herself and that's a thing too. But she is my sister too, so obvs i'll deck you if you don't like her shows. And this was a great show. Really a show more than a play. There has not been another script like it. Not here not anywhere. If you haven’t read it, you should find a way. It better have another life. Meanwhile i guess you could just see Being Dead (Don Quixote), her next show in Midsumma in January.

1) Big thanks to Stephen Armstrong and the Arts Centre who were part of hosting IETM/Asian Satelite Meeting and Lab in Melbourne.

Also a special mention of something bad/good so far: my podcast with Kerith has only had two episodes because a bunch of data got deleted and then I was without internet for weeks/also without a credit card for a month and a half and lost my account. So anyway.... Jolly Good Radio returns sometime when I'm rich and the gods smile upon us.

SM: Every moment with Tobias is a moment, but my favourite was watching his mum watch him in his Thank You Thank You Love (HYPRTXT).

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The Sublime discussion & links

The Sublime

MTC

mtc.com.au

Photo by Jeff Busby

The response to my commentary about the MTC's The Sublime has been positive and nearly overwhelming with so many social media and real life conversations resulting.

I wrote about the aspects of this play that disturbed me the most (and I wanted to keep it less than a thesis). But there IS much more to say about it, including how honestly the men are portrayed.

Many of the conversations have been about the intent of the playwright, the director, the company and everyone who has had an input into the production – that's a lot of people.

It seems like the creators couldn't see what they were saying about young women and power because all they could see is what they were saying about men caught in football world.

Theatre is something that we all see through different eyes. You will never have the same experience that the person sitting next to you has. Please read all the reviews and rants or decide to see or not see it without reading the commentary. And #mtcSublime is worth a visit on Twitter.

But be thrilled that we have a critical arts community that wants to discuss our theatre and writing. Here are some links. I'll add more as they happen.

**NEW**
Alison Croggon saw it last night (10/9/14). She published this on alisoncroggon.tumblr.com (11/9/14).

Eloise Brook on The Conversation (12/9/14). However, I can't tell if she's seen the play.

I also have to add that so many of the conversations about this play are happening in private and away from public glare.

The others (from 5–6/9)

Me on AussieTheatre (3/9/14). I'll publish it in full here next week.

Richard Watts on RRR's Smart Arts (4/9/14). About 1hr 45 min in.

Peta Mayer on ArtsHub (5/9/14), with an excellent discussion about how the female character doesn't sit comfortably in a work that's wanting to be an honest depiction of society.

Byron Bache on his blog (5/9/14). Byron was the first on Twitter to call any negative response and I too stress his point that NO ONE has accused the MTC or this play of condoning rape. Read what we say, don't cherry pick trigger words.

MTC management on Crikey's Daily Review (2/9/14) while the reviews were positive. And why is anonymous "management" commenting? Surely it should be AD Brett Sheehy?

Chris Boyd in The Australian (1/9/14). And a text version if the pay wall stops you.

Andrew Furhmann on Crikey's Daily Review (29/8/14).

Cameron Woodhead in The Age/SMH (29/8/14).

Kate Herbert in Herald Sun (29/8/14).

Reuben Liversidge on ArtsHub (30/8/14).

Peter Craven in The Saturday paper (6/9/14).

Brendan Cowell in The Age (6/9/14, but the interview was during rehearsals).

Brendan Cowell in The Age (18/8/14).

And here's playwright Brendan Cowell talking about it the 2014 MTC season launch.