tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/theatre-1888/articles
Theatre – The Conversation
2024-03-25T16:39:39Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225713
2024-03-25T16:39:39Z
2024-03-25T16:39:39Z
Lear is Not Okay: meta play explores what happens when teenagers rewrite Shakespeare’s tragedy
<p><a href="https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/double-bill-lear-is-not-okay-lessons/">Lear is Not Okay</a>, which played at London’s Almeida Theatre this month, was something of a meta performance. The show tells the story of a youth theatre company as they rehearse a new play that responds to William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear. </p>
<p>King Lear, <a href="https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/king-lear/">currently showing</a> at The Almeida, is about an ageing king who divides the kingdom among his three daughters, leading to betrayal and chaos as his sanity shatters. Lear is Not Okay (directed by Germma Orleans-Thompson and written by Benjamin Salmon) is a satirical piece about issues that also reverberate throughout Shakespeare’s play – the burden and dispossession of youth, and the uncertainty of the future. Making a comedy out of tragedy asks questions about what we laugh at, and why.</p>
<p>The director characters within the play (played by Alexander and Evie*) are broad stereotypes of phoney drama group leaders. The actors’ depictions of identity anxiety and awkward social interactions in a youth theatre group, although set up to provoke laughter among an enthusiastic first night audience, cut close to the bone.</p>
<p>In one scene, the actor Sarah (played by Josephine*) performs a posthumous speech she has written for Lear’s daughter, Cordelia. She explains that she sees Cordelia as a powerful woman, but the monologue she delivers sounds more like a sulky teenager. </p>
<p>Cordelia, banished to France by her father, has been forced to invade her own country to restore political stability and is somewhat disgruntled to have ended up dead. Sarah’s Cordelia concludes with the evergreen adolescent retort: “Whatever.”</p>
<p>Youth theatre encourages actors to connect with characters of canonical plays, but the trajectories of young women within them can make it hard to find redemptive or empowering touch points. Here Sarah’s attempt to find “empowerment” in the story of Cordelia is absurd, while the collapsing of high political tragedy into teenage soap opera inevitably prompts laughter. </p>
<h2>Themes of fairness</h2>
<p>We don’t see much of Lear himself. Each time someone playing Lear goes to speak, they are interrupted, or the scene cuts away. We hear more from Shakespeare’s young villain, Edmund. Kelly (Shadia*) delivers a compelling rendition of Edmund’s first monologue in a classical acting style to contrast with Sarah’s devised Cordelia speech. </p>
<p>In the monologue, Edmund is bitter and vengeful about his status as the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester and reveals he has a plot to undermine and replace his legitimate brother Edgar. </p>
<p>Edmund’s evocation of the arbitrary unfairness of the world and assertion of the necessity to fight for your place – to the detriment of others if necessary – resonates ambivalently throughout this play. Another actor, Dylan (Yee*), concludes that while we’d like to think everyone had equal rights and opportunities, we know the dice are loaded from the start.</p>
<p>This cynical insight follows an altercation in the play about private and comprehensive schools, a lottery the youth cast are very conscious of. In 2019, Nottingham Playhouse chief executive <a href="https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/increasing-social-division-schools-theatre-access">Stephanie Sirr said</a> theatres “had never witnessed a bigger gap in the cultural opportunities open to those in private schools compared to those in state education”. The subsequent five years are only likely to have widened the gap. </p>
<p>When I asked the cast how they found out about the Almeida’s Young Company, they said by word of mouth. These things depend on their school, or which youth groups they attend (though the Almeida also <a href="https://almeida.co.uk/get-involved/young-artists/young-company/">announces opportunities</a> clearly on its website). </p>
<p>Reviews of youth work are almost nonexistent, which also affects the visibility of these theatre opportunities for young people and makes the chance to write about this production all the more important.</p>
<h2>The legacy of COVID</h2>
<p>The age group represented by the Almeida Young Company (14-18) has endured deprivation as a result of COVID that has affected their personal, educational and social growth and development. In addition, 14 years of sustained public service cuts <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/24/schools-england-real-terms-cuts-since-2010-tories">to education</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/19/arts-funding-austerity-collapse-tories-labour">the arts</a> mean they inherit a landscape as bleak as that of Lear’s demise. </p>
<p>The numbers of students taking drama at GCSE has <a href="https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/news/article/drama-gcse-entries-continue-rapid-decline#:%7E:text=The%20number%20of%20students%20taking,49%2C247%20entries%20to%20the%20subject.">dropped by 39.6%</a> since 2010. Specialist drama staff have <a href="https://www.nationaldrama.org.uk/response-arts-in-schools-review/">dropped by 18%</a>. </p>
<p>Giving evidence at the House of Lords inquiry into education for 11-16 year olds in May 2023, National Drama chair, <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13147/html/">Geoffrey Readman said</a> “few subjects have been so consistently undervalued” or “marginalised” as drama. </p>
<p>While youth programmes run by theatres might help to stem the drain in creative arts in schools, opportunities remain overly focused on London. Theatre critic Lyn Gardner <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/news/education-policy-has-had-disastrous-impact-on-drama-in-schools--inquiry">has argued recently</a> that “the performing arts are no longer available to many children in today’s hard-pressed, underfunded schools”, describing them as a potentially <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/without-access-to-theatre-in-schools-kids-are-denied-more-than-just-great-art">“lost” generation</a>.</p>
<p>Redman quoted <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13147/html/">the words of Noah</a>, a 15-year-old boy who spoke to ministers at the House of Lords: “Drama holds a mirror up to life” and in doing so, it makes us “think, explore, communicate, challenge and even change things for the better”. </p>
<p>The Young Company at the Almeida do exactly that. The crisis point of their play arrives with the results of their auditions for the final show. Malicious comments about race-led affirmative casting made by Zara (Eleonora*) when Kelly secures the leading role prompt “circle time” to talk it through.</p>
<p>Racism and discrimination is another key area of complexity for young people to navigate and this scene plays out clumsiness and inefficacy in the handling of racist speech that reflects the young actors own fraught experiences in the rehearsal room and beyond. </p>
<p>In this youth theatre production, drama creates an environment for young people to collaboratively play out the things that matter to them, the things that are hurting them and the things that are “not okay”. </p>
<p><em>*Only first names have been given for safeguarding reasons.</em> </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penelope Woods does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Youth theatre encourages actors to connect with characters of canonical plays, but the trajectories of young women within them can make it hard to find redemptive or empowering touch points.
Penelope Woods, Research assistant, Empire, Migration and Belonging, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226004
2024-03-20T19:03:09Z
2024-03-20T19:03:09Z
Adelaide Festival 2024: a moving marriage of local and international works – with Indigenous voices front and centre
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583039/original/file-20240320-30-grg01y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C47%2C6177%2C3489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jada Narkle photographed by T.J. Garvie.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Between COVID, increasing production and transport costs, and changing audience tastes, the country’s largest arts festivals have had to rebadge themselves.</p>
<p>Festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have all undergone major cultural shifts – generally away from internationalism. The new kid on the block, Hobart’s <a href="https://darkmofo.net.au/program">Dark Mofo</a>, offered a brew of Tasmanian winter funkiness. This vision was transferred to <a href="https://rising.melbourne/call-to-artists">Melbourne’s Rising Festival</a> in the wake of lockdowns. </p>
<p>This leaves the Adelaide Festival, founded in 1960, as the venerable grandparent of the region’s art festivals. Against the odds, the Adelaide Festival continues to offer a carefully curated program of international work, placing it in active conversation with domestically produced work.</p>
<p>From 2017-2023, festival co-directors <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/latest-news/changes-at-the-top-of-australia-s-leading-international-arts-festival/">Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy</a> delivered a solid program that balanced high-culture spectacle with local work. Their curatorial choices required mutual approval, extensive travel to international festivals, and healthy <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/getting-their-acts-together">doses of fortitude</a>.</p>
<p>This year’s was the first full program curated by experienced international festival director <a href="https://www.fiftyplussa.com.au/arts-culture/introducing-ruth-mackenzie-adelaide-festival-artistic-director/">Ruth Mackenzie</a>, who has worked extensively in the UK and Europe. Under her watch, the festival placed high-quality Indigenous Australian work front and centre, while also showcasing superb offerings from the nation’s smaller companies. </p>
<p>On the international front, it brought big-ticket extravaganzas alongside outstanding theatre and dance groups from outside the mainstream. </p>
<p>I saw all the shows in this year’s theatre, music theatre, dance, dance theatre and opera categories. The music and visual arts program, as well as the events of Writer’s Week and WomAdelaide, were too much to take in simultaneously. </p>
<h2>Indigenous Australia front and centre</h2>
<p>When it comes to programming Indigenous work in the festival, pulling existing work off-the-shelf isn’t possible. And if it were, it wouldn’t be respectful or desirable.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583034/original/file-20240320-27-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dancers Maanyung and Rika Hamaguchi performed in ‘Baleen Moondjan’ on the shores of Pathawilyangga (Glenelg) beach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Boud</span></span>
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<p>Indigenous artists must be in positions of cultural and artistic leadership. Perhaps the greatest challenge is identifying and obtaining the financial resources from local and national funding bodies to support these artists.</p>
<p>Such work requires tact, solid community contacts and a deep knowledge of how funding and local systems work. Mackenzie, with the help of chief executive Kath M. Mainland and a capable festival staff, appears to have mastered these challenges.</p>
<p>This year’s festival featured outstanding works by Indigenous artists both local and national. For me, the standout was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/baleen-moondjan/">Baleen Moondjan</a>, Stephen Page’s first commissioned work since leaving the helm of the Bangarra Dance Theatre.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583004/original/file-20240320-23-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Baleen Moondjan was staged amid a row of large whale bones at Pathawilyangga (Glenelg) beach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SA UAVs</span></span>
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<p>Staged on a sandy ridge amid a row of whale bones extending to the water’s edge at Glenelg (Pathawilyangga) Beach, the work dramatised the transfer of faith, spirit and knowledge across the generations. </p>
<p>Masterfully blending music, dance, movement, song and text, it featured powerful performances from Elaine Crombie as Moondjan elder Gindara, and Zipporah Corser-Anu as her granddaughter.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583002/original/file-20240320-24-fm9yug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baleen Moondjan is Stephen Page’s first commissioned work since leaving the Bangarra Dance Theatre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roy VanDerVegt</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Guuranda, written and directed by <a href="https://www.jacobboehme.com.au/about">Jacob Boehme</a>, was another breakthrough work of local Indigenous storytelling. Like Baleen Moondjan, it was commissioned by the festival and supported by donors to the Adelaide Festival First Nations Commissioning Program. </p>
<p>The creative team drew from consultations with four elders from Narungga Country, traditional owners of the Yorke Peninsula region. Their personal stories were connected to creation stories linked to physical features of the land. </p>
<p>These ancient, living stories were beautifully evoked through dance and song. Lyrics in Narungga, written by Jacob Boehme and Sonya Rankine, were powerfully delivered by Rankine, Warren Milera and the Narungga Family Choir. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583003/original/file-20240320-26-nv4olv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Guuranda’s creative team drew from consultations with Narungga country elders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Standing</span></span>
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<p>Another standout was the Australian Dance Theatre’s production of <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/marrow/">Marrow</a>, choreographed by Daniel Riley. </p>
<p>The starting point for this work, Riley noted in post-show remarks, was the heartbreak that followed <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-17/sa-aboriginal-leaders-call-to-learn-from-referendum-result/102981736">the failure</a> of the Indigenous Voice referendum in October.</p>
<p>This work evoked that disappointment viscerally. Dancers moved with difficulty, against obstacles, then walked backwards toward the audience. Later they were tossed about, as if responding to external blows. </p>
<p>The work’s trajectory suggested it is the power of the land itself that provides the strength to continue the fight. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3jyYtGvp41","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>A celebration of indie creators</h2>
<p>Australian work has long had a strong presence in the festival. But this year’s programming brought festival audiences into unaccustomed spaces to experience work by some of the nation’s most consistently interesting non-mainstream companies. </p>
<p>No longer was the best work of our independent companies relegated almost exclusively to the nation’s two large Fringe festivals (Adelaide and Melbourne). Mackenzie had the curatorial confidence to program their work alongside audacious, high-brow, big-ticket extravaganzas from some of the world’s most famed directors and choreographers.</p>
<p>Among the local standouts was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/private-view/">Private View</a> by Adelaide’s Restless Dance Theatre. Their honest, gentle and confronting exploration of the ups and downs of love drew from the experiences and imaginations of the company’s troupe of dancers living with and without disabilities. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583010/original/file-20240320-26-os9kab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Private View was a gentle and confronting exploration of the ups and downs of love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The work broke down barriers between audience and onlooker, able and disabled. It ended with many of us on our feet, dancing in a sea of confetti, joyous.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583011/original/file-20240320-23-an3u1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the audience members ended the show on their feet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another supremely memorable show from the independent sector was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/grand-theft-theatre/">Grand Theft Theatre</a> by Pony Cam, led by David Williams. With equal amounts of humour, charm and earnestness, highly skilled actor-dancers reminded us not just why we go to the theatre, but of how this experience can change lives.</p>
<p>It was a pleasure to also see work from <a href="https://vitalstatistix.com.au/">VITALStatistix</a>, a company that has been making high-quality, socially engaged work in Port Adelaide since 1984. The company’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/i-hide-in-bathrooms/">I Hide in Bathrooms</a> was staged in their home in the historic Waterside Worker’s Hall. </p>
<p>Writer/performer Astrid Pill offered a quirky, serious and moving take on life, partnership and death. We were left with an obvious but often overlooked truth: “We will all be left, and we will all leave.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583012/original/file-20240320-30-ad1jmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Astrid Pill’s I Hide In Bathrooms offered a quirky yet moving take on life, partnership and death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Oster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>International fare</h2>
<p>Mackenzie brought in work by four of the established superstars of the international festival circuit: directors Barry Kosky, Robert Lepage and Thomas Ostermeier, and choreographer Akram Khan. </p>
<p>She also programmed a deeply satisfying selection of carefully crafted, timely works by smaller companies, mostly based in Europe. </p>
<p>Among the outstanding works in this category were <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/qui-a-tue-mon-pere/">Qui a tué mon père (Who Killed my Father)</a> and Antigone in the Amazon.</p>
<p>In the former, acclaimed German director Ostermeier teamed up with Édouard Louis in a theatrical adaptation of Louis’ novel. The writer himself narrated and enacted the story of his troubled relationship with his father, and of growing up gay in a conservative, working-class town a world away from Paris, condemned to “poverty, homophobia and conformity”. The work suggests the ultimate killers of his father were a long line of national leaders from Jacques Chirac to Emmanuel Macron. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583013/original/file-20240320-17-r6duw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">German director Thomas Ostermeier teamed up with Édouard Louis in this theatrical adaptation of Louis’ novel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roy VanDerVegt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For me, however, the most emotionally taxing but rewarding work of this year’s festival was <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/antigone-in-the-amazon/">Antigone in the Amazon</a>. It’s a collaboration between the Belgium company NTGent and the Amazonian activist group Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST).</p>
<p>Brilliantly directed by Milo Rau, the work offers complex, multi-layered insights into the ongoing battle between Indigenous peoples in the Amazonian rainforest and those profiting from the land through deforestation and habitat destruction. The dramatic recreation of a well-known <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2016/04/the-eldorado-dos-carajas-massacre-20-years-of-impunity-and-violence-in-brazil/">massacre of 17 civilians</a> in the state of Pará on April 17 1996 was masterfully paired with Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigone_(Sophocles_play)">Antigone</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583016/original/file-20240320-26-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antigone in the Amazon offered multi-layered insights into the struggles of Indigenous peoples in the Amazonian rainforest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Live action was cleverly linked to videos shot in remote locations in the Amazon. In turn, the onstage actors appeared in sequences shot on location with actors associated with the MST. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583019/original/file-20240320-21-5johew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antigone in the Amazon drew on Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, Antigone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result was an uncanny and powerful doubling. Drawing from Sophocles’ play, the work concludes with the tragic observation that “the killers and the killed” are “all one family”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583017/original/file-20240320-18-jcr03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Live action was linked to videos shot in remote locations in the Amazon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kurt van der Elst</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The festival’s three big-ticket items were clear crowd-pleasers. </p>
<p>Berlin-based Australian Barry Kosky offered up a dark, brilliant staging of Bertolt Brecht’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/the-threepenny-opera/">The Threepenny Opera</a>. Actors moved up, down and across a massive black constructivist set, playing a game of cat and mouse that ends with the capture of arch-villain Macheath. </p>
<p>All are equally complicit in creating misery in this Weimar-era German classic, in which Kurt Weil’s lilting tunes contrast with Brecht’s hard-hitting lyrics to create that sense of estrangement Brecht is famous for.</p>
<p>Canadian director Robert Lepage’s <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/the-nightingale-and-other-fables/">The Nightingale and Other Fables</a> came in two parts: a prelude of Russian folk tales, ingeniously presented with human bodies creating shadows, and a wildly extravagant staging of Igor Stravinsky’s short opera, The Nightingale.</p>
<p>Based on a Chinese classic tale, it tells the story of a nightingale (sung by soprano Yuliia Zasimova) who enchants the emperor and ultimately returns every night to sing to him.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583021/original/file-20240320-22-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The work used Vietnamese water puppetry, with the puppets manipulated from a pool of waist-deep water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lepage’s staging relied on the charming and enchanting tradition of Vietnamese water puppetry. While puppets were manipulated from a pool of waist-deep water in the orchestra pit area, the stage of the Festival Theatre was filled to capacity with members of the State Opera of South Australia Chorus and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.</p>
<p>It was a thrilling production with inventive and ingenious puppets of all sizes, even if excessive in its visual splendour at times.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583020/original/file-20240320-30-h1inp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One part of the production included a staging of Igor Stravinsky’s short opera, The Nightingale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583022/original/file-20240320-30-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Nightingale and Other Fables was a vibrant, visually enchanting production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Beveridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Choreographer <a href="https://www.akramkhancompany.net/">Akram Khan’s</a> work famously builds on the vocabulary of the traditional South Asian dance, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathak">Kathak</a>, as a basis for his company’s unique style of contemporary dance. His work <a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/jungle-book-reimagined/">Jungle Book reimagined</a> is far from the Disney version.</p>
<p>In this darkly dystopian world, climate change has brought devastation to the planet. Humans are useful only for what they can teach the remaining animals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583023/original/file-20240320-28-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Kathak-inspired dance in Jungle Book reimagined involved extraordinary precision, speed and athleticism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Camilla Greenwell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though I found the use of text intrusive and confusing at times, the dance work involved all the extraordinary precision, speed, athleticism and full use of the body associated with Khan’s choreographic practice. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583035/original/file-20240320-16-7taj2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jan Mikaela Villanueva played Mowgli in Jungle Book reimagined.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Camilla Greenwell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An old vision realised</h2>
<p>The depth, breadth, range, grit and good-heartedness of this year’s festival made me reflect on one of the most infamous of international festival fails: the dismissal of artistic director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sellars">Peter Sellars</a> in November 2001, months prior to the opening of the 2002 Adelaide Festival.</p>
<p>Sellars, who met great success as a theatre and opera director in Europe and his native US, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/17/books">had a compelling vision</a> for an Adelaide Festival. He wanted one that was international, yet intensely local, and which featured new Indigenous Australian work.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, for a range of reasons – not least of which was a lack of understanding of how things work in Australia – Sellars was sent packing.</p>
<p>Some 22 years later, we have a festival that in many respects realises Sellars’ three-pronged vision. It’s made possible because Ruth MacKenzie and her team did their homework, and did it well.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4mZembvEdb","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-magic-tricks-and-the-deep-souls-of-theatre-dance-and-music-at-the-2024-perth-festival-225343">The magic tricks and the deep souls of theatre, dance and music at the 2024 Perth Festival</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Peterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The theatre, dance and music works at this year’s festival have helped fulfil a three-pronged vision from some two decades ago.
William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225340
2024-03-12T03:35:39Z
2024-03-12T03:35:39Z
Respect and disrespect clash throughout 37 – a brilliant new play exploring Australian Rules Football
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581116/original/file-20240311-26-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C9%2C1592%2C1053&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/MTC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Guernsey number 37 belonged to Aboriginal star football player Adam Goodes when he played for Sydney Swans. Goodes was loved by the AFL and spectators, admired for his skill and leadership for most of his outstanding career. Goodes loved his job and he was a role model for younger generations. </p>
<p>But something went wrong.</p>
<p>It was May 2013, the “Indigenous Round”. Goodes’ team was playing against Collingwood. A 13-year-old Collingwood fan <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/goodes-gutted-after-racial-slur-20130525-2k7gj.html">yelled at Goodes</a> and called him “an ape”. </p>
<p>Overhearing this, Goodes asked security to have the girl removed from the stadium. There were supporters of Goodes and supporters of the girl. The media focus was intense. </p>
<p>In 2014, Goodes was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/25/adam-goodes-wins-australian-year">awarded Australian of the Year</a>. This fitted the climate: get things back on track; do something positive. </p>
<p>In 2015, after kicking a goal, Goodes <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/bradley-goodes-war-dance-reveals-our-moral-confusion/6657960">celebrated with a cultural dance</a> in front of Collingwood fans. The dance ended when Goodes threw an imaginary spear. Performed by Aboriginal men across Australia, the “spear dance” symbolises when men are facing other men from a different clan/tribe for war – like teams facing each other before the siren. </p>
<p>The dance was mistaken to represent something else by AFL spectators across Australia: a war dance and spearing all white people. </p>
<p>From then, Goodes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jul/29/afl-great-adam-goodes-is-being-booed-across-australia-how-did-it-come-to-this">was booed</a> across Australia whenever he played. The intensity of the media and the debates raging made him hate being on the football field. </p>
<p>After 18 years of playing elite football – 372 games, 464 goals, two Brownlow Medals, two premierships – Goodes <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/allanclarke/adam-goodes-breaks-his-silence">left the game in silence</a>.</p>
<p>Today Goodes is a mentor and a cultural warrior outside the game. He has established a foundation to support youth with their identity and culture while at school and university. </p>
<p>The incidents are referenced in the play 37, from playwright Nathan Maynard. We watch a local football team gathered around a television to watch the game that ended it all for Goodes.</p>
<p>The best player of the team, Jayma (Ngali Shaw), is Aboriginal, and arrives to watch the game proudly wearing the Swans Indigenous Round guernsey with 37 on the back. Jayma is confronted by negative comments made about Goodes. </p>
<p>Then they watch Goodes celebrate with the spear dance. </p>
<p>The banter is no longer funny and the tension and disregard to the Aboriginal player honouring his idol is an insult to the team. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-afl-sells-an-inclusive-image-of-itself-but-when-it-comes-to-race-and-gender-it-still-has-a-way-to-go-124351">The AFL sells an inclusive image of itself. But when it comes to race and gender, it still has a way to go</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Pushed to the edge</h2>
<p>Australia loves sport – even more so with a good drama. 37 has it all and more: history, gems of insight into black and white aspirations, cultural dance, swearing, sporty actors, young and old men in their element as they bond to play football with hopes of winning a premiership. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men sit on benches." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581117/original/file-20240311-24-u1thdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">37 is set in the locker room of a local football club.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/MTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Directed by Isaac Drandic, 37 opens with Jayma showing us the <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/blog/afls-aboriginal-origins">Marngrook</a>, the Gunditjmara/Aboriginal word for a team game kicking and marking a possum-skin ball. The game would go on for days. Jayma and Sonny (Tibian Wyles) identify as “Marngrook cousins”; a minority in a majority non-Aboriginal team.</p>
<p>Like Goodes, the team starts out great: they bond and have a great time. As the play progresses, Aboriginal and white relations change and mateship is put to the test. </p>
<p>The team dream about winning the premiership, and we watch them in the locker room where the players change pre- and post-game. There are hopes and aspirations for every team member, but the Aboriginal players carry burdens the other team members do not. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Ngali Shaw and Tibian Wyles sit on the edge of the stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581118/original/file-20240311-18-vh3bcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Aboriginal players carry burdens the other team members do not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/MTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jayma’s father has a history with the football club - he was a star player in the team – but didn’t show up for the final game – costing the club a premiership. There are other stories of parents and their behaviour. The team learns of the contract the Aboriginal players signed to be paid for playing; Sonny explains the contract is helping his family to pay rent, buy food and items for the kids.</p>
<p>The highs and lows of 37 are centred around winning the premiership. As the season progresses they are winning, but the mateship becomes less friendly. What starts as happy banter changes. The jokes take on a sinister tone. How long will these team mates tolerate such personal comments? Even the coach, “The General” (Syd Brisbane), gets pushed to the edge when his wife is targeted. </p>
<p>When the siren sounds, aggression on the footy fields subsides – but for the Aboriginal players, the confusion and disappointment lingers. </p>
<h2>Levelling the playing field</h2>
<p>Maynard tackles difficult topics, using his talent to poke and prod the audience to witness the uncomfortable perspectives around the Goodes incident, raising ideas about family, success and trauma. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The coach yells at the team." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581119/original/file-20240311-22-y65idw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maynard tackles difficult topics, using his talent to poke and prod the audience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/MTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is a wonderfully athletic cast – a spectacular fast warm-up shows the cast’s sporting skills, and Drandic carefully plays with tension. We observe how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal team mates try to support each other against other team members’ comments that leave us stunned – but then another comment is made and we’re even more stunned.</p>
<p>But some things said can not be diffused, not even by the cultural awareness program a team member was ordered to attend.</p>
<p>Among the racial backlash, and in a tribute to Goodes, the Marngrook Cousins perform a mesmerising spear dance to illustrate their pride and strength. </p>
<p>Respect and disrespect clash throughout the play leaving us guessing and bracing ourselves – even, perhaps, embarrassed. I walked away from the show in awe of Maynard’s ability to apply history to the stage. I hope audiences can keep learning about Goodes, and continue levelling the playing field against racism in sport. </p>
<p><em>37 is at the Melbourne Theatre Company until April 5.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-long-and-complicated-history-of-aboriginal-involvement-in-football-117669">The long and complicated history of Aboriginal involvement in football</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Andrews is a member of the Rumbalara Aboriginal Football and Netball Association. </span></em></p>
Playwright Nathan Maynard uses the story of Adam Goodes to explore race in a local footy club.
Julie Andrews, Professor and Academic Director (Indigenous Research), La Trobe University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223655
2024-03-10T22:48:00Z
2024-03-10T22:48:00Z
Bell Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is side-splittingly funny – yet some of the magic is lost
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580594/original/file-20240308-18-hd5iby.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C14%2C1885%2C1264&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Matu Ngaropo and Ahunim Abebe in Bell Shakespeare s A Midsummer Nights Dream. Photo by Brett Boardman</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Shakespeare’s delightful A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a perennial favourite – and the production run by the Bell Shakespeare company (first prepared in 2021 but hindered by COVID lockdowns) is a swift and pared-back reimaginingreimagining of the play.</p>
<p>It follows the comedy of four lovers – Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius – who are lost in a forest and get tricked by the fairies, King Oberon, Queen Titania and the impish Puck. </p>
<p>The play also features the bumbling mechanicals – a carpenter, a weaver, a bellows-mender, a tinker, a joiner and a tailor – who meet in the forest to rehearse a play to perform at the upcoming wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/25/10-of-the-best-plays-within-plays">play within a play</a>, performed at the end, has always brought the house down with sidesplitting laughter, and this show is no exception. It must have been just as hilarious during the play’s first performance, if it’s true that Shakespeare <a href="https://www.rsc.org.uk/a-midsummer-nights-dream/about-the-play/dates-and-sources">wrote it</a> to be performed at an aristocrat’s wedding.</p>
<h2>Finally, Shakespeare for the whole family</h2>
<p>Bell Shakespeare promotes the show as “fast, funny and family-friendly”. This is welcome news for theatregoing parents. Few of Shakespeare’s plays are suitable for children, despite there being a significant market for Shakespeare-related books and activities designed <a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-for-kids/">for young people</a>. </p>
<p>My two boys received a storybook version of Shakespeare’s plays from family members some years ago, but it’s a delicate operation to tell bedtime stories about the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fratricide">fratricide</a> in Hamlet, the domestic violence of Othello, or the romantic suicides of Romeo and Juliet. </p>
<p>Certainly, Shakespeare’s delightful comedies lend themselves more readily to the young. So taking Bell Shakespeare’s promo at its word, I took my son Heathcliff, aged 9 (who contributes to this review) to the show.</p>
<h2>Powerful presence onstage</h2>
<p>Seasoned playgoers will be thoroughly impressed by the vibrant and engaging performances of the cast, who make Shakespeare’s language (and their connections to it) ring as clear as a bell. This is harder to achieve than it sounds. </p>
<p>The delightful charisma of Matu Ngaropo as Nick Bottom (the weaver) positions him as a type of leading man. A galvanising force, Ngaropo combines refined flamboyancy and outrageous sensitivity to keep the audience firmly in his pocket. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580603/original/file-20240308-18-prhzxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Matu Ngaropo was a galvanising force onstage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ella Prince is subtle in their rendering of Puck, the sprightly spirit – so watchable in their intriguing silences and confusion when manipulating mortals.</p>
<p>Richard Pyros gives a commanding performance as Oberon: fastidious and curious, with a propensity for bellowing through the forest. Imogen Sage also shows tremendous range by delivering a sultry Titania, a restrained Hippolyta, and a librarian-esque Quince. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580600/original/file-20240308-18-bbvl9q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ella Prince as Puck, Imogen Sage as Titania and Richard Pyros as Oberon in Bell Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, the four comic lovers: Hermia (Ahunim Abebe), Helena (Isabel Burton), Demetrius (Mike Howlett) and Lysander (Laurence Young), give feisty performances wholly committed to the verse.</p>
<h2>A subtle set and costumes</h2>
<p>This is Bell’s national touring play for 2024, and the <a href="https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/2024-midsummer-dream-design-inspiration">set design</a> by Teresa Negroponte centres around a dilapidated wooden construct that looks like the roof of an old barn tipped on its side.</p>
<p>But despite this dynamic set (which might double as the shipwreck from The Tempest), there are no leaves or any sort of greenery to help indicate most of the play is set in a forest – no sylvan milieu. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580601/original/file-20240308-28-vh4rq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The set, which resembled a rundown wooden barn, didn’t effectively depict the play’s setting in a forest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, this production seems, in several instances, to presuppose the audience’s familiarity with the play. This can prove confusing for newcomers to Shakespeare.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/2024-midsummer-dream-design-inspiration">costumes are</a> intriguing and subtle if you know the play, but may also be too realistic – too bland and “everyday”. This made it difficult for young people to recognise the kings, queens and fairies.</p>
<p>For example, there was nothing fairylike about the fairies, whose costumes were almost always plain black, with no hint of glitter or sparkles in sight. </p>
<p>As Heathcliff commented: “They all changed into black clothes and called themselves fairies […] I didn’t know they were meant to be fairies until the second half […] they looked more like ghosts.”</p>
<p>“Thou shall wear <em>not</em> black costumes for fairies,” he added.</p>
<p>With actors needing to double (and sometimes triple) character roles, they quickly don a new coat, scarf or hat. But again, these distinctions may be too subtle for newcomers to recognise. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580602/original/file-20240308-28-6nsuxr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laurence Young and Ahunim Abebe played Lysander and Hermia, two of the four comic lovers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Heathcliff’s highlights</h2>
<p>While the acting proved second-to-none, many typical features of this famous play were absent. Heathcliff found the play “entertaining, but not laugh-out-loud funny”.</p>
<p>His favourite parts were the “horse’s head”, the slow-motion sequences, the fake swords used in the ridiculous staging of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pyramus">Pyramus and Thisbe</a> at the play’s end, and “the man playing the princess” (with hairy chest exposed) – which he thought was funny but a bit odd.</p>
<p>Yet, the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe at the end delivered on its promise. Many of the audience members doubled over in stitches, throwing their heads back with laughter. </p>
<p>I’ll remember this show for the many exemplary renditions of the famous characters, but while Shakespeare’s script is itself family-friendly, the play can be confusing when many of its typical features are <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136330433/view">pared back</a> to the bone. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-50-shades-of-shakespeare-how-the-bard-sexed-things-up-106783">Friday essay: 50 shades of Shakespeare - how the Bard sexed things up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirk Dodd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
I took my young son Heathcliff to the show, and his perspective helped me see it through a kid’s eyes.
Kirk Dodd, Lecturer in English and Writing, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219366
2023-12-11T21:10:27Z
2023-12-11T21:10:27Z
COP28: Climate change theatre and performances reveal new narratives about how we need to live
<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cop28-climate-change-theatre-and-performances-reveal-new-narratives-about-how-we-need-to-live" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>How can arts (broadly defined) help us think about the state of the planet and walk the talk when it comes to addressing climate change — including climate finance <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/raising-ambition/climate-finance?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NWrBhD-ARIsAFCKwWu7xZgmkpsJ87IJTcy3ox--Bkswp_PT6NMM6RP3i-338JeAfIhEDCYaAmZyEALw_wcB">where those who contributed more to the problem assume greater responsibilities for solving it</a> — <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-could-power-a-new-green-movement-by-talking-about-energy-change-132906">and energy transition</a>?</p>
<p>As a theatre scholar and practitioner <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-the-scientific-basis-for-a-rapid-fossil-fuel-phase-out-219382">attending the COP28</a> climate summit, I was invited to experience a performance of the play <em>Bright Light Burning</em>. Playwright <a href="https://www.stevengaultney.com/happenings">Steven Gaultney</a> authored this play, and it was produced by the Cairo-based, internationally recognized <a href="https://www.theatreofothers.com/">The Theatre of Others</a>. Adam Marple, <a href="https://greenfutures.exeter.ac.uk/latest-events/">co-artistic director of this theatre</a>, invited me to the performance. </p>
<p>Marple is also project lead of the <a href="https://sustainable-theatre.org/about/">Sustainable Theatre Network</a> and a guest on one of my climate change research projects, <a href="https://howlround.com/series/people-planet-and-performance-global-south-world">People, Place and Performance</a>. </p>
<p>The performance <em>Bright Light Burning</em>, in dialogue with my own research and theatre practice, led me to reflect on the role of art in climate change issues. </p>
<h2><em>Bright Light Burning</em></h2>
<p><a href="https://news.exeter.ac.uk/world/middle-east/we-are-the-possible-uk-uae-initiative-to-catalyse-climate-action-and-solutions-for-cop28/"><em>Bright Light Burning</em>, set in 2100</a>, is a stage performance that is inspired by <a href="https://www.cop28.com/schedule/we-are-the-possible"><em>We Are the Possible</em></a>, an anthology of 12 poems for 12 days of COP28.</p>
<p>The project takes its name from <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/05/09/a-brave-and-startling-truth-maya-angelou/">a Maya Angelou poem</a>. The poetry anthology was a collaboration between scientists, health experts, educators, translators, artists and youth leaders in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. The project aims “<a href="https://greenfutures.exeter.ac.uk/our-impact/we-are-the-possible/todays-poem-interstellar">to unite us to forge a greener healthier, and fairer world</a>.” </p>
<p><em>Bright Light Burning</em>, inspired by this larger poetry endeavour, is a theatrical journey that merges artistry, storytelling and environmental activism. The play presents choices made by individuals in responses to climate change — from denial to activism. </p>
<p>It addresses policymakers on the importance of storytelling in forging new directions. The ensemble comprises actors from different parts of the world — from Singapore to Australia, Egypt to the United States, United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cFawfcQW3Ro?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Bright Light Burning’ Dec. 7 performance at COP28.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As different stakeholders continue to enact signed deals, pledges and commitments after COP28, and as communities grapple with the need for political will to implement needed change, who is present or absent at the table is important to achieving an equitable future. </p>
<p>Here are four ideas that could guide interactions, negotiations, thinking and actions around climate justice.</p>
<p><strong>1. Think globally, act locally and personally</strong></p>
<p>Central to the perspectives offered in these performances is the need to decentre a universalist approach to resolving climate issues. <em>We Are The Possible</em> reminds us to start where we are — not out of fear, but hope that humans have the capacity to bring about change. We have to believe in that.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stay-hopeful-in-a-world-seemingly-beyond-saving-210415">How to stay hopeful in a world seemingly beyond saving</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We need to re-engage place-based and localized solutions, because what works in Latin America may not work in North America. </p>
<p>In my own context in Saskatchewan, theatre artists in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-theatre-we-want-in-2040-we-used-strategic-foresight-to-plan-on-the-prairies-199968">have relied on “strategic foresight”</a> to imagine how the theatre we want in the Prairies could help people navigate climate instability while transforming racial injustice. Through such approaches, the capacity of different regions can be built. </p>
<p><strong>2. Embrace alternative ways of knowing</strong></p>
<p>The performances I have seen at COP28 and other theatre projects such as <a href="https://www.sustainablepractice.org/ccta/">climate change theatre action</a> remind us of the need to return to a relational approach with nature in our existence, and advocate for green theatre. </p>
<p>When we develop habits of seeing ourselves as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/12/future-generations-ancestors-politics-business-planet">future ancestors, this means we have to save for the future generation and this means consuming less</a>. This way of seeing and knowing ourselves in relationship to our world in turn affects how we use resources. The performances of <em>Bright Light Burning</em> were designed with a minimalist approach — no prop, set, light or make-up etc. This approach to “greening theatre” has been reiterated by arts practitioners.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gvQB80DJS0Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa: People Planet and Performance roundtable discussion from July 2023.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://cset.ca/">Socially engaged theatre</a> is about holding urgent social questions at the centre of our theatre practice. In so doing, as we engage with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, questions emerge: What alternative knowledge systems critical to ecological and cultural processes are yet to be known? How can alternative knowledge that has been pushed to the periphery help us think and walk through the <a href="https://theconversation.com/polycrisis-may-be-a-buzzword-but-it-could-help-us-tackle-the-worlds-woes-195280">polycrisis</a>? In what ways can knowledge from the global majority be amplified? </p>
<p>For instance, prioritizing the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples will require genuine inclusion since it is believed <a href="https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all#">that Indigenous Peoples are stewards of 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity</a>. Their intergenerational leadership, practices and knowledge in sustainable climate justice need to be recognized for biodiversity to be recovered.</p>
<p>As I saw in my work on <a href="https://iletisim.com.tr/dergiler/kultur-politikasi-yillik/5/sayi-2-cultural-policy-yearbook-2019/10044/diversity-metrics-a-reflection-on-themes-from-a-refugee-theatre-project-in-canada/11822">theatre and immigration</a> which resulted in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENyqnOdTgZk">Onion Theatre project</a>, where youth devised a play about immigrant experiences, art can offer us space to foster dialogue to gain insights into ways we can be open to alternative and new ways of knowing — <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352818852_On_Border_and_Identity_A_Performative_Reflection_from_an_Applied_Theatre_Project">something critical to forging a pathway to an equitable future</a>.</p>
<p><strong>3. Embrace the need for a holistic system approach</strong> while fostering equal partnerships that seek to account for inequities, such as class-based and racialized inequities. <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/atr.5.2.67_1">Holistic system approaches mean that participation</a> in climate change mitigation, anticipatory adaptation and climate justice initiatives should involve equal and genuine partnership and collaboration across geographies.
Having a “co-design” mindset is essential to building sustainable systems and solutions.</p>
<p><strong>4. Finally, artists and creative initiatives continue to challenge us to champion climate action.</strong> <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/theater/article-abstract/25/1/23/23626/There-Must-Be-a-Lot-of-Fish-in-That-Lake-Toward-an">Creatives are invited to think about the impact of</a> their production on health, recovery, peace finance, just transition, gender equality and Indigenous Peoples globally.</p>
<p>All hands must be on deck to walk the talk emerging from COP28, if these conversations are to yield the desired results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taiwo Afolabi acknowledges the support of the University of Regina and the Centre for Sustainable Practices in the Arts (CSPA) in attending COP28.</span></em></p>
Theatre and the arts can be vehicles for thinking globally and acting locally, embracing alternative ways of knowing and acknowledging holistic approaches to addressing climate change.
Taiwo Afolabi, Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre; Director, Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET), University of Regina
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219212
2023-12-05T16:56:45Z
2023-12-05T16:56:45Z
John Byrne: paying tribute to one of Scotland’s greatest creative cultural forces
<p>Marking his immense contribution to the creative life of Scotland, a great outpouring of affection for the artist and playwright <a href="https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/artists/359-john-byrne-rsa/biography/">John Byrne</a> followed the announcement that he had died at the age of 83 – fittingly perhaps – on St Andrew’s Day. </p>
<p>His impressive catalogue of outstanding works developed over the last 60 years has become synonymous with the Scottish cultural landscape, and garnered him international recognition.</p>
<p>His desire to create extraordinary pieces of work burned fiercely to the end. A cultural polymath, Byrne traversed a number of genres throughout his illustrious career, with successes as a playwright, painter, screenwriter, set designer, costume designer, illustrator, muralist and printmaker.</p>
<p>His retrospective at Kelvingrove Art Galleries in Glasgow in the summer of 2022 was a fitting tribute to his remarkable talents. His legacy was primarily portraits of actors and musicians, also including many self-portraits, figurative works, gable-end murals, illustrations, cartoons, album covers and films.</p>
<p>More recently he designed mural work for the ceiling of the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, and on the side of a city centre building in Glasgow, marking his friend Billy Connolly’s 75th birthday. His paintings hang in galleries all over Scotland, including his beloved <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum">Kelvingrove Art Gallery</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cTuCqAdbE1k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Finding his way</h2>
<p>Born into an Irish-Catholic family in January 1940, Byrne grew up in Ferguslie Park in Paisley, one of Scotland’s most deprived housing schemes. Many might expect this experience to have deeply marked and influenced his work. But there is rarely any sign of darkness or trauma in any of his artworks or writings; in fact, his art is predominantly joyful and irreverent, often displaying a gentle playfulness.</p>
<p>Byrne struggled to make a living as an artist after leaving Glasgow School of Art in 1963, and after a few years he decided to create an alter-ego called “Patrick”. Under this name he submitted some primitive-style artwork to the Portal Gallery in London which he pretended was painted by his father. It was accepted and exhibited in 1967, kicking off Byrne’s professional artistic career down south.</p>
<p>The exhibition attracted the attention of The Beatles who considered using his artwork on their albums. It didn’t happen then, but in 1980, Byrne’s work appeared on The Beatles Ballads compilation album, and seemed to perfectly encapsulate their style.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The cover of the Beatles Ballads album." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476303/original/file-20220727-7170-89sgjt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Byrne’s many album covers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_Ballads#/media/File:TheBeatlesBalladsalbumcover.jpg">John Byrne/Parlophone Records.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alongside his art he progressively developed his writing skills in the 1970s, becoming fully immersed in the world of theatre. In 1973 he created the pop-up-book set for John McGrath’s play <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/may/21/the-cheviot-the-stag-and-the-black-black-oil-review-john-mcgrath">The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil</a>, which explored the exploitation of Scotland’s land and people over the centuries.</p>
<p>His own successes soon followed in <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/full-circle-look-back-creation-writers-cramp-1655568">Writer’s Cramp</a> (1976) and <a href="https://digital.nls.uk/scottish-theatre/slab-boys/index.html">The Slab Boys</a> (1978) – based on his own experiences working in a carpet factory in the 1950s. The play made its way to Broadway in 1983 where the leads were played by fledgling actors Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.</p>
<p>Then came the multiple Bafta-winning <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/tutti-frutti-30-making-bbc-scotland-cult-classic-1437061">Tutti Frutti</a> (1987), starring Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson, and <a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/your-cheatin-heart-1990/">Your Cheatin’ Heart</a> (1990) where he met <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tilda-Swinton#:%7E:text=Swinton%20was%20born%20into%20Scottish,political%20sciences%20and%20English%20literature.">Tilda Swinton</a>, mother of two of his children.</p>
<h2>Seeing the world</h2>
<p>Byrne’s extraordinary talent was grounded in his exploration of the human experience, always at the heart of both his scripts and his visual artworks. He was the architect of narratives exploring deeply human characters and their complex relationships, capturing specific periods in time. </p>
<p>His love of RnB and rock'n'roll, together with his close friendships with musicians and actors drove his early artworks through album cover designs, paintings, portraits and caricatures. Besides The Beatles Ballads album, he created covers for Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel and Billy Connolly, whom Byrne painted several times.</p>
<p>His visit to Los Angeles with the Scots singer Donovan had a significant impact, inspiring watercolour studies such as the gentle Burnt Orange LA (1971), and larger scale paintings of black musicians which were exhibited in Glasgow on his return. This fascination seeped into his artistic fantasy lands including <a href="https://artimage.org.uk/17918/john-byrne/the-messiah--2015">The Messiah</a> (2015), a tryptic of musical figures in a fictional American city.</p>
<h2>Seeing himself</h2>
<p>His portraits, in which he wrestled to understand both himself and the personalities who sat for him, provide insight into a deeply personal journey. His portraiture was often comedic, and full of playfulness and irreverence, particularly when it came to his own reflected image.</p>
<p>In real life Byrne always cut a dash. Tall and striking with a distinctive hooked nose and a head of wild grey curls, he carried off his own look effortlessly, sporting tweed jackets, stripy tops, a colourful bandana at his throat and a yellowing half-smoked roll-up hanging permanently from his lips.</p>
<p>His many self-portraits were larger than life, often set within city and seascapes, using a variety of mediums. In his earlier works, such as <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/self-portrait-with-red-palette-83437">Self-portrait with Red Palette</a> (1975), they can be serious and melancholic, and later on, full of humour where he does not take himself too seriously. But in more recent works, such as <a href="https://artimage.org.uk/17935/john-byrne/big-selfie--2014">Big Selfie</a> (2014), for example, darker traits revealed themselves, as Byrne mused on his mortality and image as the ageing artist.</p>
<p>In 2002 at the age of 62, Byrne <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/john-byrne-says-he-is-child-of-an-incestuous-relationship-602925">discovered</a> that his adored grandfather Patrick McShane was in fact his father, and that he was the product of an incestuous relationship. Byrne felt bitter at the time, and that it explained the long-term mental illness that blighted the life of his mother Alice and his own childhood. But the artist reconciled himself to it and only went public with the information 15 years later.</p>
<p>This resilience, this ability to accept and understand the frailty of human experience on the edge of working-class communities is what elevates the Paisley artist’s work, his way of seeing things. His compassion, his humour and the quintessential Scottishness of his art and writing all highlight John Byrne’s rightful place as one of Scotland’s finest and most prolific artists. He will be missed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blane Savage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Scotland has lost a wonderful writer and artist in the Paisley-born artist.
Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice and BA(Hons) New Media Art, University of the West of Scotland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219110
2023-12-04T03:55:49Z
2023-12-04T03:55:49Z
At the End of the Land: an avalanche of images that invites us to sit alone in time and space together
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563198/original/file-20231204-21-ly2bjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C4%2C2978%2C1991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aaron Claringbold/PICA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the End of the Land, a world premiere production by Western Australian interdisciplinary theatre makers Too Close to the Sun, is an experiential encounter with the liminal space between life and death and other unknowable things.</p>
<p>Performed, written and co-devised by Talya Rubin with co-devisor and director Nick James, At the End of the Land integrates Rubin’s live, amplified voice, delivered via direct address, with Samuel James’ luscious, seemingly three-dimensional video. </p>
<p>Working in concert with the soundscape (composed by Rachael Dease with sound design by Daniel Herten and Hayley Forward), the performance is a parade of images – aural, live and projected – that hold for a moment to imprint on our retinas, but then are gone as quickly as they appeared. </p>
<p>Rubin’s spoken text, sometimes heightened and poetic, other times direct and specific, has multiple narratives. The most recurring throughline references a story of the deaths of 18 young women in a Victorian-era boarding house. Speaking as one of these vanished women about “the day we all died” and what it’s like to be dead, Rubin guides the audience into this in-between place. There is a slightly disembodied quality to her presence, anchored by the serious sincerity of her deliberate delivery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hardest-and-most-beautiful-conversation-ive-ever-had-how-end-of-life-storytelling-on-tiktok-helps-us-process-death-206999">'The hardest and most beautiful conversation I've ever had': how end-of-life storytelling on TikTok helps us process death</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Dreamscapes</h2>
<p>The stage is variously zoned, with miniature rooms and landscapes enlarged via projection that plays with perspective, as the performer manipulates the tiny scenes. </p>
<p>One of the zones features a red velvet armchair, with a small side table and lamp, on a black and white checked floor, reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. This space places Rubin in her Peter Pan-collared outfit as a sort of Alice in the underworld.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A scary red monkey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563201/original/file-20231204-17-nm67f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Red Monkey is a sort of demonic oracle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aaron Claringbold/PICA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes accompanied by the recurring figure of the Red Monkey, the narrator’s sidekick who acts as a sort of demonic oracle, the overall effect is of a surreal, painterly dreamscape. </p>
<p>At one point Rubin narrates a verbatim interview with American filmmaker and painter David Lynch talking about his ideas and process, particularly with regards to his first feature Eraserhead. It works to position the performance in the highly visual “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/620859">dreamlike logic</a>” of a Lynchian landscape.</p>
<h2>Our own memories</h2>
<p>At The End of The Land creates a very specific, sustained introspective mood, twice deliberately broken by Rubin when the house lights are raised and the audience directly engaged. </p>
<p>There is a relief in this direct connection, momentarily unfiltered by technology. Rubin invites us to embrace the living and the dead, to contemplate and embrace the inevitability of our own death and the invisible threads that guide (and sometimes abandon) us all. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman talks into a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563200/original/file-20231204-22-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rubin becomes an Alice in the underground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aaron Claringbold/PICA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These moments of suspension create space and self-reflection leaving us alone with our own memories. </p>
<p>Operating in a non-linear surreality, Rubin’s text gives us hooks and signposts, but ultimately the density of images create a sensory overload that washes over you. It works to open the viewer up to the varied associations that accord with their own experience, ensuring At the End of the Land will land differently for each person. </p>
<p>For my companion, the references to the 18 dead women, provoked an association with <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-communities/16-days-wa">16 Days in WA</a>, a family and domestic violence campaign currently running in the state. Amid the myriad associative possibilities, Rubin’s endeavour is personal but also invitational as she finds ways to bring us together.</p>
<p>It is a seamless performance, which is pretty remarkable considering the work is really all seam: an avalanche of images knitted together with visible seams that invite the audience to sit alone in time and space together.</p>
<p><em>At the End of the Land played at PICA, Perth. Season closed.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/49-women-have-been-killed-in-australia-so-far-in-2023-as-a-result-of-violence-are-we-actually-making-any-progress-217552">49 women have been killed in Australia so far in 2023 as a result of violence. Are we actually making any progress?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Mercer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This production by Western Australian interdisciplinary theatre makers Too Close to the Sun is an experiential encounter with the liminal space between life and death.
Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217274
2023-11-24T04:24:35Z
2023-11-24T04:24:35Z
The exquisite physical comedy of Dirty Birds: a new Aussie post-COVID Theatre of the Absurd
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561500/original/file-20231124-25-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C5%2C3964%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel J Grant/BSSTC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Theatre is littered with sister double acts: Antigone and Ismene, Kate and Bianca, Blanche and Stella, Fleabag and Claire. The shared history of sisters delivers inbuilt emotional stakes and lots of baggage. The doubling of experience brings both love and rivalry, the joys of being known and the horrors of being trapped by the reflection of the other. Looking like not-quite twins, real-life sisters Hayley and Mandy McElhinney are the dirty birds of the title, in the world premiere of a co-written work in which they play reclusive sisters.</p>
<p>With a broad resume of work on stage and screen, Dirty Birds is their debut play and the first time the McElhinney sisters have shared the stage. It wasn’t until COVID shut us all down that they found the time and space (on Zoom) to collaborate on the script, later developed with director Kate Champion.</p>
<p>Dirty Birds is indebted to Theatre of the Absurd. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/359954">Writing in the 1960s</a>, Martin Esslin brought an otherwise disconnected group of playwrights like Beckett, Adamov, Ionesco and Genet together under the umbrella term “Absurd”, coined via Albert Camus’ 1942 essay <a href="https://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Efreeman/courses/phil360/16.%20Myth%20of%20Sisyphus.pdf">The Myth of Sisyphus</a>. </p>
<p>For Esslin, such theatre “strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach”. Emerging as it did after the horrors of the second world war, absurdism makes sense in a post-COVID work such as Dirty Birds.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tragedy-is-dead-in-australia-long-live-laughter-and-weather-reports-34185">Tragedy is dead in Australia, long live laughter and weather reports</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Are we inside or outside?</h2>
<p>At first the set (designed by Bruce McKinven) seems to be a single, nondescript brown house interior. But over the course of the play, with the addition of Paul Jackson’s lighting, a multitude of locational possibilities appear: an abandoned house; a submerged shipwreck; a cubby house; a cathedral; a doll house; a paper house; a box. </p>
<p>Matching the experience of the sisters, the longer the audience spends in the space, what seemed like the inside becomes the outside, until they are interchangeable. The interplay of McKinven and Jackson’s images do a lot of the narrative heavy lifting in terms of the structure, build and cumulative emphasis of the performance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The stage, a house built of cardboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561498/original/file-20231124-17-fo4hpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inside looking out, or outside looking in?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel J Grant/BSSTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a sculptural quality to Champion’s use of static imagery in recurring sequences of one sister waiting for the other. Flickering through images like a life-sized flipbook, the sisters are in a constant state of waiting – perhaps the most well-known absurdist trope. </p>
<p>The sense of time passing could be minutes, years or forever. And yet, despite this stasis, as layers of costume are shed, there is a build from winter to spring, from dormant to active, until the expanse of time becomes today.</p>
<h2>You could be anyone else</h2>
<p>We are introduced to the sisters via their multiple alter egos as they pretend to be anyone other than themselves in a series of games and rituals that keep them separated from the outside world and embedded in their shared, internal world: both an escape and a trap. </p>
<p>In what could be a continuation of childhood games, the sisters play with tropes of Irish storytelling (tied to the McElhinneys’ own Irish heritage), 1950s American sitcoms and moments of camp horror. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The sisters dance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561499/original/file-20231124-15-8g45hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A childhood game – or an act of camp horror?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel J Grant/BSSTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s a tonal touch of the psychological rivalry of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? – another story of sisters – of one sister being held captive by the other. </p>
<p>Having cobbled together their own personal mythology of stories, the sisters are pulled between the games and the outside world, where everything’s big except the conversations (which are small). There are glimpses of it via trips to the box (aka the letterbox) and the mounting foreclosure notices that culminate in a stunning visual cavalcade as the outside world awakens.</p>
<p>Unlike Beckett or Ionesco (the most famous of Esslin’s absurdists) Dirty Birds often breaks the conceit when one of the sisters (usually Hayley) brings them crashing into their present by referring to their predicament. The rules are also broken non-verbally when the other sister breaks the confinement of the house to appear at the edges.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-samuel-becketts-waiting-for-godot-a-tragicomedy-for-our-times-157962">Guide to the Classics: Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a tragicomedy for our times</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Well-worn relationships</h2>
<p>The McElhinneys have written themselves a spectacular showcase. The meta-quality of them as real sisters is unavoidable, and their compelling biological chemistry is on full display. Women’s bodies are central in this contemporary rendering of the Absurd. The stink of embodiment is tangible, comforting and symptomatic; it speaks to the joyous freedom as well as the suffocating snare of secretive, sisterly intimacy. </p>
<p>There are also moments of exquisite physical comedy emerging from the timing and repetition of a well-worn relationship.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3982%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two sisters on stage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3982%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561497/original/file-20231124-26-cvpb0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The biological chemistry is palpable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel J Grant/BSSTC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Esslin refuted the common misconception that Theatre of the Absurd should necessarily be despair-filled and meaningless. Rather, he saw these plays as an “endeavour to come to terms with the world”, to “face up to the human condition as it really is” and free us “from illusions that are bound to cause constant maladjustment and disappointment”. </p>
<p>Or, as theatre critic Michael Y. Bennett <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19646109-reassessing-the-theatre-of-the-absurd">argues</a>, absurdist plays are “ethical parables that force the audience to make life meaningful”. </p>
<p>As the sisters grapple with themselves and each other, between taking personal responsibility or being overwhelmed by despair, what perseveres is the poignancy of their connection and in the play’s final moments the endurance of hope.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Dirty Birds, from Black Swan State Theatre Company, is at the Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth, until December 10.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Mercer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Dirty Birds at Black Swan State Theatre Company is the debut play by the McElhinney sisters, and the first time they’ve shared the stage.
Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216469
2023-11-01T11:35:18Z
2023-11-01T11:35:18Z
Dear England: ‘feelgood’ Gareth Southgate play reviewed by a sports coaching expert
<p><a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/dear-england/">Dear England</a>, a play about football manager Gareth Southgate, immaculately encapsulates the light and dark sides of the game.</p>
<p>At the start of the play – which recently transferred to the Prince Edward Theatre – Southgate watches his earlier self <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pytk8d_yBTI">missing the crucial penalty against Germany</a> that sent the men’s England team crashing out of the Uefa Euro tournament in 1996. It’s an old wound that refuses to heal. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ImSrTQnJHII?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Dear England.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The loss sparked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iikWy2iwFeM">dejected England fans</a> to vandalise German cars, and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/dear-england-prince-edward-theatre-review-joseph-fiennes/">burn Southgate effigies</a>. Despite his emotional baggage, circumstances thrust Southgate into the managerial role 20 years later. </p>
<p>The play shows how he selected a young, talented, multicultural squad. But also how he sensed that for them to survive the pressures of expectation, he needed to cultivate <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew-Slater-3/publication/342530780_LEADERSHIP_AND_SOCIAL_IDENTITY/links/5efa0ea245851550507b2ffd/LEADERSHIP-AND-SOCIAL-IDENTITY.pdf">a supportive, collective culture</a> that transcended violent, racist, hyper-masculine football narratives.</p>
<h2>Sport on stage</h2>
<p>Portraying football on stage is tricky, but the superb staging – featuring a centre circle and a hovering illuminated halo intimating the iconic Wembley arch – provides an evocative setting. </p>
<p>Joseph Fiennes’s portrayal of Southgate is masterful, embodying his essence with nuanced mannerisms and timbre, without resorting to caricature. Southgate is portrayed as self-deprecating, an unlikely leader and a reluctant figurehead. Brought in to provide stability, he enacts revolutionary change.</p>
<p>Playwright James Graham’s script is witty. Harry Kane’s (Will Close) depiction as an awkward communicator with a curious voice steals the most laughs. This poignantly pays off later when the audience is humbled by listening to the character lamenting that people denigrate him for his vocal shortcomings. </p>
<p>Jordan Pickford’s (Josh Barrow) character adheres to the stereotype of the goalkeeper as a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdqcCARcDDY">crazy man</a>”, but is amusingly endearing. A liberal amount of swearing had the audience creasing up, while epitomising the gritty underbelly of football. There was a broad range of famous character cameos, adding interest and jovial familiarity, but sometimes smacking of <a href="https://theconversation.com/spitting-image-the-puppet-satire-that-captured-thatchers-britain-107241">Spitting Image</a>.</p>
<h2>Southgate’s tactics</h2>
<p>The play also explores the existential crisis of what it means to be the England team. In an age of increasing societal division and inequality, who and what do the team want to be, and represent? </p>
<p>Southgate urges the players to contribute to the vision and take responsibility for co-constructing a modern football identity. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2020.1810021">Their challenge</a> is to move beyond the football superiority complex of the past, to forge a spirit of togetherness and belief.</p>
<p>Psychologist <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/07/21/meet-pippa-grange-doctor-helped-transform-england-football-team/">Pippa Grange</a> (Dervla Kirwan) is recruited to help players confront their fears and confide in one another about insecurities. Southgate displays much soul-searching in overcoming his own traumas, and in attempting to bind the group together. Grange’s character is almost a manifestation of Southgate’s consciousness, as he attempts to enact change in himself and others.</p>
<h2>Penalties in the play</h2>
<p>Penalties, the ultimate high-pressure football test, are a significant part of this drama, acting as a vehicle through which Southgate encourages the players to <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Fear_Less/NqGwDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Fear+Less:+How+to+Win+at+Life+Without+Losing+Yourself&printsec=frontcover">fear less</a> and to find strength and love in unity. </p>
<p>England broke their run of bad penalty shoot-out luck under Southgate in the 2018 World Cup. But they then lost the subsequent one in the Euro 2020 final, where Southgate’s decisions unintentionally exposed unsuccessful penalty takers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/12/football/england-racist-abuse-bukayo-saka-jadon-sancho-marcus-rashford-euro-2020-final-spt-intl/index.html">to racist abuse</a>.</p>
<p>In Dear England, Southgate comes across as a quietly heroic, decent man, cultivating a culture where players are empowered to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029220301497">take the risks necessary</a> to achieve greatness. Ultimately, Southgate and England learn how to play with joy, lose with dignity, survive trauma and emerge in more meaningful roles. </p>
<p>For Southgate that means supporting others compassionately to achieve in the psychologically safe environment he did not experience himself. </p>
<p>We still lack the unwritten final act denouement, which for England managers is rarely satisfying. Euro 2024 is likely to be Southgate’s last tournament as national manager, but he will surely embrace the challenge, and try once more.</p>
<p>Fundamentally, Dear England is a feelgood play, as evidenced by the enthusiastic standing ovation, clapping and singing of Sweet Caroline at the performance I attended. Dear England exceeded my expectations, and its unusual fare might attract a non-traditional theatre audience to bravely shelve their doubts and with an open-heartedness, connect with a different story.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216469/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Turner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The play captures the light and dark sides of the beautiful game.
David Turner, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching, Anglia Ruskin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214753
2023-10-09T17:19:19Z
2023-10-09T17:19:19Z
The Tony Blair Rock Opera features bagpipes, Lady Macbeth and a wrestling match with Gordon Brown
<p>If you’re looking for subtlety and sophistication, Harry Hill and Steve Brown’s <a href="https://tonyblairrockopera.co.uk/">Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera</a> is probably not for you. It starts – literally – with a bang and careens through a hectic hour and a half of high-energy songs and skits. </p>
<p>The committed cast are happy to provide their audience with caricatures, as opposed to characters. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Prescott">John Prescott</a> (Rosie Strobel) is portrayed as a professional northerner, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robin-Cook">Robin Cook</a> (Sally Cheng) as a priapic ginger gnome, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cherie-Booth">Cherie Blair</a> (Tori Burgess) as a sharp-tongued Scouser – you get the picture.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qKf-RIOvoVk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for The Tony Blair Rock Opera.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the occasional joke misfires (blind <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Blunkett">David Blunkett</a> walking into a door frame, really?) and some of the actors’ accents are as woeful as the deliberately dodgy wigs they whip on and off, it works on its own terms.</p>
<p>The music and the lyrics might not be that memorable, but the songs rhyme well. In the run up to the 1992 election, for example, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Neil-Kinnock-Baron-Kinnock-of-Bedwellty">Neil Kinnock</a> (Martin Johnston) sings: “We’ve been waiting in the valleys, I’ve been storming it at rallies.” And <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-princess-dianas-death-came-to-define-tragedy-for-the-media-82939">Princess Diana’s fatal accident</a> is neatly, if rather bluntly, summed up as “the chauffeur was smashed, no wonder he crashed”. </p>
<p>And they cohere nicely – perhaps even especially – when they stray beyond the bounds of good taste. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Osama-bin-Laden">Osama Bin Laden</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/saddam-hussein-how-a-deadly-purge-of-opponents-set-up-his-ruthless-dictatorship-120748">Saddam Hussein’s</a> numbers (the latter done via a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Groucho-Marx">Groucho Marx</a> impression) are a case in point.</p>
<p>The occasional cameos are particularly well done (Britpop’s Liam Gallagher was a favourite of mine), the impressively athletic choreography is basic but effective and one or two of the set pieces work particularly well. The momentous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jun/06/labour.uk">Granita deal</a> (at which <a href="https://theconversation.com/gordon-brown-political-giant-and-wasted-talent-at-the-same-time-34673">Brown was persuaded</a> to give Blair a free run at the leadership in the wake of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/12/newsid_2550000/2550803.stm">John Smith’s untimely death</a>) is staged as a wrestling match complete with ropes and shiny leotards. Believe it or not, this actually conveyed what was allegedly discussed and agreed during that dinner pretty accurately.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-princess-diana-story-why-everyone-has-their-own-version-82224">The 'Princess Diana story': why everyone has their own version</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The show’s limitations</h2>
<p>So far, so good(ish), then. But there are some downsides. The most obvious is that in order to get most of the rock opera’s jokes, you probably had to be there – “there” being the 1990s and the early 2000s. Those under 50 might struggle to appreciate some of the political and cultural references, unless they’ve done or are doing a politics degree that covered the New Labour years.</p>
<p>Having not only lived through them but taught them, too, I had no trouble. But that didn’t mean I had no problems with the show.</p>
<p>First and foremost, it fell into the trap of inferring that Blair (Jack Whittle) was driven almost entirely by his love of the limelight. As a result, he is portrayed as an amoral airhead throughout – a puppet whose strings were pulled by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Mandelson">Peter Mandelson</a> (Howard Samuels). </p>
<p>In reality, I suspect even Blair’s toughest critics wouldn’t deny that his extraordinary powers of communication rested not just on his natural charisma but on a penetrating intelligence, too. Nor would they deny he was animated by a passion to do what – by his own lights anyway – was right.</p>
<p>Whether that sense of moral purpose (misguided or otherwise) deserted Blair once he left Downing Street and entered the shadowy world of high-paid, globetrotting consultancy is another story. But it’s a story that the authors (who were apparently determined not to write something too long) stop short of telling.</p>
<p>Other all too familiar tropes are much in evidence. Mandelson, who is effectively the narrator of the show, is predictably portrayed – albeit with considerable aplomb – as some sort of vampire or Mephistopheles. And by the same token, Cherie, although wonderfully played, is presented (not for the first nor, I suspect, the last time) as Lady Macbeth.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Gordon Brown comes over (very amusingly, as far as the audience were concerned) as a stereotypical angry Scotsman. <a href="https://twitter.com/campbellclaret?lang=en">Alastair Campbell</a>, for good or ill, only gets a brief walk-on part, coming on, complete with kilt and bagpipes, after the ghost of Princess Diana has – bear with me – persuaded Blair to sex up the “dodgy dossier”.</p>
<p>My main gripe, however, was with the supposedly showstopping last number. Blair, not unreasonably, reminds the audience that 9.5 million of us voted him in for a third term, notwithstanding his decision to go to war in Iraq. The song that follows declares that “The whole wide world is led by assholes”, accompanied by pictures of a bunch of strongmen leaders from around the world.</p>
<p>To equate the UK’s prime minister, however little one may think of him, with the likes of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-recap-kim-jong-un-visits-putin-for-arms-for-tech-talks-while-kyiv-urges-west-for-longer-range-missiles-to-aid-counteroffensive-213603">Kim Jong Un</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/bashar-al-assad-13775">Bashar al-Assad</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/vladimir-putin-6680">Putin</a> seems, to me at least, a category error. And, even if you disagree, the underlying message merely serves up more of the populist take on politics that, frankly, we could probably do with rather less of these days.</p>
<p>That said, if you happen to be in Liverpool for the <a href="https://labour.org.uk/conference/">Labour Party conference</a> next week, don’t miss the chance to go see it at the city’s Playhouse. You might not love it, but there’s no way it won’t leave you laughing.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Bale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Written by comedian Harry Hill, it’s a hectic hour-and-a-half of high-energy songs and skits.
Tim Bale, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214432
2023-10-02T09:31:11Z
2023-10-02T09:31:11Z
Great Expectations: new theatrical adaptation sets Dickens novel in partition-era Bengal
<p>We set eyes on Pip, the protagonist of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel Great Expectations, for the first time in the churchyard where his parents and brothers are buried. The vision of the boy in front of the ruins of his family is one of rude survivalism. It’s a trait that will see Pip through the misadventures ahead – but the sorrow of surviving on these terms is unmistakable. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/event/great-expectations-2023/">Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of Great Expectations</a>, currently showing at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, opens with “Pipli” buzzing around, doing cartwheels, at ease in his world. Gupta’s version is set in Bengal in 1899, where alarming rumours of an imminent partition of the province have spread.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjZ6FPSiduo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Great Expectations at the Royal Exchange Theatre.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is disorienting at first to see the adult actor (Esh Alladi) impersonating a child. His effervescence seems unlike Pip – or any other Dickensian waif – but we learn that Pipli is drawn to the banks of the river because the ashes of his parents rest there. </p>
<p>As in the novel, an escaped convict (Dickens’s Magwitch) then pounces on the boy, demanding that he fetch him food and a file to unshackle himself.</p>
<p>In this adaptation, Magwitch is an Indian man of African descent, renamed Malik (Andrew French). This is perhaps a nod to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30391686">Malik Ambar</a> (1548-1626), an Ethiopian slave who rose to power and whose military prowess in the southern peninsula of India was dreaded by the Mughals. </p>
<p>Dickens brought the upper classes to their knees in his novels, exposing the entanglements of gentility and criminality. In Gupta’s version, race enters the mix. The play addresses not only the virulence of British racism toward natives, but the ingrained colourism and phobia of the caste Hindu toward their darker-skinned compatriots – in particular Africans. </p>
<h2>Pip and Magwitch</h2>
<p>In the Dickens novel, Pip refuses to treat his terrifying encounter with Magwitch as anything other than a “chance occurrence”. </p>
<p>Ironically, it is this encounter which makes Pip a gentleman. Magwitch – who reinvents himself in the penal colony of Australia, where he is transported to – becomes the anonymous benefactor whose colonial labour finances Pip’s education. </p>
<p>Similarly, Malik funnels the fortune he has made in Assam into Pipli’s prospects – and Malik too is denied rehabilitation in the system whose equitable distribution of wealth he aids. </p>
<p>Shocked to see Magwitch/Malik reappear in his London lodgings years later, Pip/Pipli tells him stiffly that he does not wish to renew their accidental acquaintance.</p>
<p>Dickens’s Pip does not treat his entry into Satis House – the estate of Miss Havisham – as the random event it is. He chooses to believe that it is the heiress’s benign scheme to uplift him to high society. </p>
<p>Miss Havisham wreaks havoc, choreographing Pip’s unrequited love for her adopted daughter Estella, and Estella’s cruelty in return. Divested at last of his delusions of kinship with rich folk, Pip describes himself as a “chance boy,” picked to gratify a whim. </p>
<p>Gupta unsparingly portrays the interplay of self-regard and self-loathing in Pipli as he comes of age. The play shines new light on the individualism and elitism shaping Pipli’s deferred outrage at Miss Havisham’s (Catherine Russell) brutality and his withheld affection for his real benefactor.</p>
<h2>MacCaulay’s Minute</h2>
<p>“You will never become truly English,” Miss Havisham taunts Pipli. She jeers that the colonial education he covets is designed to knock the “Indian” out of a native. </p>
<p>In Gupta’s play, the backdrop to Pipli’s soul-searching is the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Partition-of-Bengal">first partition of Bengal</a> into East and West Bengal (1905). This division was engineered by the British viceroy in India, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lord-Curzon">Lord Curzon</a>. Despite its annulment in 1911, it had a violent climax in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947</a>. </p>
<p>Nationalist resistance against this partition, supposedly carried out for administrative convenience and uniform material development of the region, mobilised a mass movement demanding self-rule and self-sufficiency. </p>
<p>Pipli’s lawyer, Jaggers (Stephen Fewell), tells him bluntly that he will amount to nothing more than an interpreter. This echoes politician Thomas Babington Macaulay’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150518/page/n5/mode/2up">Minute Upon Indian Education</a> (1835), which shaped British educational policy. It was designed to create “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”.</p>
<p>The Macaulay Minute ushered a colonial modernity no longer reliant on the indigenous literature and culture and bred mimic men fully compliant with British rule. </p>
<p>Malik, sustained by his dream of vengeance against the British, imagines that his “boy” Pipli, “with his education, will teach them”. It is left to Pipli to realise that his English education is a poison as well as a cure.</p>
<h2>The language issue</h2>
<p>The treatment of language in decolonising Dickens’s Great Expectations is a missed opportunity. In the absence of any Bangla, the choice of context – the partition, which powerfully mobilised Bengali identity – seems random. Furthermore, little attention is paid to differences between Bengali Hindus and Muslims when it came to their respective reckonings of Curzon’s division. </p>
<p>The “Indian” characters speak English with an accent, while the native languages are spoken in crisp received pronunciation. This is clever, but reinforces once again the power of English to stand in as both global language and local vernacular.</p>
<p>Adaptations of classics can imply a warped power structure, the latecomer writing back to a precursor from the erstwhile ruling classes. It also implies a shift in power, whereby the adaptation reinvents an old staple, drawing attention to the necessity of timely tune-ups. Tanika Gupta’s Great Expectations succeeds in giving itself – and its famous namesake – what Pip calls “a chance in life.”</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ankhi Mukherjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This adaptation is set in Bengal in 1899, where rumours that the British Empire’s plans for partition have spread.
Ankhi Mukherjee, Professor of English and World Literatures, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214662
2023-09-29T16:15:44Z
2023-09-29T16:15:44Z
Michael Gambon: an unshowy actor of enormous range and charm
<p><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/michael-gambon-dies-harry-potter-dumbledore-2bcmw9zc2">Sir Michael Gambon</a>, who died on September 28 at the age of 82, was a hugely versatile actor who enjoyed numerous and varied roles in film and television throughout the course of his long career. </p>
<p>Gambon was also a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/sep/28/michael-gambon-obituary">titan of the theatre</a>. His major theatrical roles include Shakespeare’s Othello, King Lear and Falstaff, and Brecht’s Galileo, together with starring roles in works by the finest contemporary playwrights of his era: Beckett, Pinter, Churchill, Hare, Gray and Ayckbourn.</p>
<p>But the reality of theatre is that aside from newspaper cuttings of rave reviews and the fading memories of theatre-goers, very little record of these performances can actually survive for posterity. It is through film and television most audiences know Gambon and these are the media through which his image and presence will continue to circulate far into the future. </p>
<h2>The acclaimed Singing Detective</h2>
<p>Despite recent media obit headlines, Gambon was not just about <a href="https://www.wizardingworld.com/fact-file/characters-and-pets/albus-dumbledore">Dumbledore and Harry Potter</a>. Indeed it was <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/451441/index.html">another Potter – Dennis</a>, not Harry – through which Gambon first became a household name. In 1986, he starred as lead character Philip Marlow in the TV playwright’s most successful and seminal work for BBC TV, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/november/the-singing-detective/">The Singing Detective</a>.</p>
<p>Covered in abrasive lesions and scales from a condition that also afflicted Potter in real life, Gambon’s wracked and hospitalised visage became an iconic part of 1980s British TV culture. The grotesque and tormented character in his hospital bed imagined doctors and nurses dancing all around him as they mimed to old 1940s big-band tunes.</p>
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<p>But watch Gambon more carefully over the course of the six episodes and we get a masterclass in bravura performance. The serial could not have worked without Gambon at its core, making the audience believe in the character’s emotional journey from extreme despair and misanthropy, to more optimistic self-acceptance and a sense of equanimity at its close.</p>
<p>The serial’s director, Jon Amiel, insisted on Gambon for the role, knowing the actor would have the ability to embody not just Marlow’s rage but also, crucially, his vulnerability. This was vital for the audience to go on an emotional journey with the character, learning to peer behind all the anger, railing and self-loathing to the root causes that lay beneath.</p>
<p>And this is exactly we see. Amid all the flashbacks, fantasy sequences and musical numbers, it is Gambon to which the camera always returns as his eyes flash or his face tenses and another unwanted fantasy or forbidden memory begins to surface. It was a towering performance which would go on to win him the Bafta for best actor in 1987. </p>
<h2>Swashbucklers, gangsters, aristos</h2>
<p>The success of The Singing Detective divides Gambon’s TV and film career. Before that, he had acted in a range of plays for television in the heyday of the single play era when drama slots such as <a href="https://www2.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/introduction-bfi-collections/bfi-mediatheques/play-for-today">Play for Today</a> (BBC 1970-84), ITV <a href="https://thetvdb.com/series/itv-playhouse">Playhouse</a> (1967-83) and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l2wcq/episodes/guide">Play of the Month</a> (BBC 1965-83) peppered the TV schedules.</p>
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<p>But he also tried series acting, including an early part as a Scottish swashbuckler in 26 episodes of the 16th-century period drama, <a href="https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/borderers-the/">The Borderers</a>, made for BBC Scotland between 1968 and 1970.</p>
<p>In 1985, Gambon took the title role in the three-part BBC2 serial Oscar, about the life of Oscar Wilde. This gained him critical praise and TV industry attention ahead of being cast in The Singing Detective. Soon Gambon’s screen acting career was flourishing as more television and cinema opportunities came his way. </p>
<p>Interestingly, there is often a division between his “rage” and “vulnerability” parts. In the former camp, there are Gambon’s coruscating turns as various species of gangster, beginning perhaps most memorably with his role as Albert Spica in director Peter Greenaway’s film <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-cook-the-thief-his-wife-and-her-lover-1999">The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover</a> (1989).</p>
<p>Here, we see extreme levels of rage and misanthropy as Gambon channels the utter despicability lying right at the heart of his character Spica’s name. By the end of the film, Spica embodies all the horrors of conspicuous consumption Greenaway clearly loathed about the 1980s. </p>
<p>If not quite as vivid in their depictions of pure evil, other memorable villain roles would follow, including a warmongering general in Toys (1992) and ruthless Irish rancher in the western Open Range (2003) – both made for Hollywood – as well as wealthy crimelord Eddie Temple in the hit British crime film Layer Cake (2004).</p>
<p>But in amongst the variety of gangsters and villains, not to mention haughty aristocrats in British period films such as Gosford Park (2002) and The King’s Speech (2010), we also see the more vulnerable side of Gambon’s characters, sometimes running parallel to the gruff exterior. </p>
<h2>Older wiser characters</h2>
<p>What pleased Gambon so much about being given the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise (taking over from fellow Irish actor Richard Harris who died in 2002), was the recognition and affection from children the world over. And among his numerous television credits post-Dumbledore, we find similar traits of darkness and redemption within his Scrooge-like turn in a special episode of another family favourite, Doctor Who.</p>
<p>Though he retired from the theatre in 2015, Gambon continued to act in film and TV until just before his 80th birthday. It was that mesmerising combination of rage and vulnerability that always made him a compelling screen actor to watch, making audiences always care about the characters he inhabited. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Britain has lost one of its greatest actors in the Irish-born star who found fame in Dennis Potter’s groundbreaking TV drama The Singing Detective.
John Cook, Professor in Media, Glasgow Caledonian University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212830
2023-09-14T12:51:27Z
2023-09-14T12:51:27Z
How Russia’s theatre scene has been obliterated by Putin’s culture war
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546988/original/file-20230907-20-qz81ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4668%2C2908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">View from stage of Moscow's Vakhtangov Theatre.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/moscow-april-23-view-stage-auditorium-135726527">Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past decade, Russian president <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/vladimir-putin-6680">Vladimir Putin</a>’s regime has introduced ideologically driven cultural policies intended to shape a new, virtuous Russian citizen for the future. </p>
<p>For those – like Putin himself – old enough to remember the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/soviet-era-76198">Soviet Union</a>, the imposition of an authoritarian cultural policy in the name of ideology comes very naturally. In those days it was called “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Socialist-Realism">socialist realism</a>”, and was intrinsic to the goals of the ruling Communist party. </p>
<p>Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel sworn to the promotion of those goals, has substituted for communism an ultra-patriotic Russian nationalism, drawing deeply on the social conservatism of the Orthodox church.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph-detail?docid=b-9781350142497&tocid=b-9781350142497-chapter3">New legislation and guidelines</a> have banned the use of obscenity in literary texts, theatre and cinema. They’ve also censored blasphemy, forbidden the promotion of “non-traditional” (a euphemism for LGBTQ+) family values to anyone under 18, outlawed any public expression of disrespect towards people or symbols representing the authorities and forbidden the representation of historical events unless these match “official” narratives of the past.</p>
<p>Theatre has been one of the most outspoken art forms of the Russian cultural scene since the end of the Soviet era. State theatres in Russia are still heavily subsidised – as they were in Soviet times – and are correspondingly cautious about subject matter and language. But since the 1990s, independent theatre has also flourished in many provincial cities, as well as in crowded black-box studios in Moscow and St Petersburg. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/new-drama-in-russian-9781788313506/">New Drama</a>”, the most innovative movement of this period, has brought marginal voices to the fore. It often draws upon verbatim material to give voice to former prisoners, disenchanted youth, drug addicts and alcoholics, homosexuals and abused women. The “documentary” aspect of much of New Drama foregrounds the thirst for raw truth after so many decades of Soviet propaganda.</p>
<p>As the Putin regime has become more politically oppressive over the past ten years, independent theatre has staged challenging works questioning the state’s complicity in stealing elections, silencing opposition, endorsing police brutality and tolerating corruption. Unsurprisingly, it is therefore the world of theatre which has suffered most harshly and most visibly under the new, wartime cultural clampdown by the Russian authorities.</p>
<h2>An obliterated cultural scene</h2>
<p>One early manifestation of the shift towards ruthless intolerance of free-spirited theatre-makers came in 2017. The celebrated theatre and film director <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/kirill-serebrennikov">Kirill Serebrennikov</a> was accused – outrageously – of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53197479#:%7E:text=Prominent%20Russian%20director%20Kirill%20Serebrennikov,has%20called%20the%20charges%20laughable.">embezzling state funds</a>. The charge was undoubtedly associated with Serebrennikov’s criticism of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and his support for LGBTQ+ causes. </p>
<p>Having endured two years of house arrest, Serebrennikov was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/26/top-russian-director-kirill-serebrennikov-convicted-of#:%7E:text=A%20Moscow%20court%20has%20convicted,artistic%20freedoms%20in%20the%20country">found guilty in 2020</a>. His sentence was lifted in 2022 following the payment of a large fine, after which he left Russia for the west.</p>
<p>Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia’s independent theatre scene has been obliterated. Many well-known playwrights, directors and actors have been sacked by nervous theatre managers for expressing opposition to the war and <a href="https://oteatre.info/hronika-razgroma-god-pervyj/">many have left the country</a>. This includes not just the young and those at the cutting edge, but also the older generation, representing what remains of the post-Soviet liberal intelligentsia.</p>
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<img alt="A stately theatre lit at night with fountains outside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546990/original/file-20230907-2978-jivs63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fountains near the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jets-fountain-near-bolshoi-theater-evening-685824145">Baturina Yuliya/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Playwrights whose works have been removed from the repertoire of theatres or banned for performance in Russia by the Ministry of Culture include <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/47541/boris-akunin/">Boris Akunin</a> (also one of Russia’s most popular novelists), <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jan/24/mikhail-durnenkov-russia-the-war-has-not-yet-started">Mikhail Durnenkov</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/18/russia-orders-arrest-alexander-rodnyansky-ivan-vyrypaev">Ivan Vyrypaev</a>. </p>
<p>Durnenkov, a playwright, director and brilliant theatrical pedagogue, left Russia for Finland very soon after the invasion began. His case illustrates the authorities’ swift ruthlessness. On April 19 2022 he posted on Facebook expressing hope that Russia would lose the war, since the country needed to wake up from the appalling nightmare into which it had plunged. </p>
<p>Within a week, his plays had been banned by the Ministry of Culture for performance in all Russian theatres. Then, the state-affiliated Union of Theatre-Makers proposed his expulsion. He was sacked from his post running a studio at the Moscow Art Theatre and deputies in the Russian state called for him to be <a href="https://www.svoboda.org/a/osudil-voynu-zatravitj-na-meste/31816566.html">charged with a criminal offence</a>.</p>
<h2>Theatre under the state</h2>
<p>Under their new managements, several large state theatres such as the Moscow Art Theatre have started staging patriotic plays instead of their previous repertoire. “<a href="https://novaya-media.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/novaya.media/amp/articles/2023/03/07/bolshe-korotkikh-iubok">Agit-brigades</a>” (a Soviet term describing theatre groups sent to the front to disseminate Bolshevik propaganda) have been formed to undertake tours of the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, to boost morale. In other words, theatre has now been fully instrumentalised by the state in line with its new patriotic cultural policy.</p>
<p>To appreciate the daunting scale of this damage, imagine the equivalent in England. The Royal Court, Southwark Playhouse and Arcola as well as innovative theatres outside London all placed under new government-sanctioned management. Socially controversial works pruned from the repertoire of the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre. West End theatres compelled to stage plays supporting government policies. </p>
<p>Star actors such as Ian McKellen and Judi Dench banned from further work or forced to flee the country. Playwrights of the calibre of David Hare, Lucy Prebble, Tom Stoppard and Jez Butterworth silenced. Directors such as Declan Donnellan, Katie Mitchell and Simon McBurney fired. </p>
<p>This is the extent of the devastation which has been achieved by the Putin regime in Russia, in just a few years.</p>
<p>Timofey Kulyabin, a theatre and opera director from Siberia, left not long after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and now lives in Germany. While <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/25/putin-says-west-treating-russian-culture-like-cancelled-jk-rowling">Putin complains</a> that the west has been attempting to “cancel” Russian culture, Kulyabin comes to a different, <a href="https://meduza.io/feature/2023/01/03/est-odna-strana-kotoraya-tochno-otmenyaet-russkuyu-kulturu-eta-strana-rossiya">bitter conclusion</a>: “There is currently one country which certainly is engaged in cancelling Russian culture. And that country is Russia itself.”</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Julie Curtis receives funding from AHRC (OWRI project)</span></em></p>
Theatre has now been fully instrumentalised by the Russian state in line with its new patriotic cultural policy.
Julie Curtis, Professor of Russian Literature (Emerita), University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211581
2023-08-16T11:02:15Z
2023-08-16T11:02:15Z
17 of the best political Edinburgh Fringe shows to watch this year, tackling issues from gender to climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542637/original/file-20230814-15-9fy8qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C17%2C5892%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/edinburgh-scotland-august-8th-2019-little-1571561086">Powerofflowers/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m at the Edinburgh Fringe this year directing <a>CREEKSHOW</a>, a play about the gentrification of Deptford. While here, I’ve watched as much politically minded work as I’ve been able to. With <a href="https://www.timeout.com/edinburgh/theatre/edinburgh-fringe-international-festival-reviews">3,031 registered shows</a> a complete survey would be impossible, but below are some of my picks of the more interesting political shows on offer this year. </p>
<h2>Gender and feminism</h2>
<p>The past few years have seen a significant increase in political work exploring gender and feminism – helped by the emergence of the <a>FemiFringe</a>, a community that champions non-binary and female creativity at the festival. </p>
<p>Two hit shows this year have been <a href="https://tickets.summerhall.co.uk/event/26:5638/26:85109/">High Steaks</a> and <a href="https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/frankie-thompson-and-liv-ello-body-show">Body Show</a> – productions that sit somewhere between clowning and performance art. Both shows explore societal attitudes towards gender and the body. Eloina Haines’s High Steaks investigates labia-shaming and cosmetic surgery while Frankie Thompson and Liv Ello’s Body Show tackles body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria. </p>
<p>This trend towards addressing challenging gender-related issues through comedy can again be found in <a href="https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/all-aboard-termination-station">All Aboard! At Termination Station</a> – a provocative comedy-cabaret about reproductive rights by Lilly Burton. </p>
<p>Meanwhile <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ask-a-stripper-the-vip-experience">Ask a Stripper</a> is a Q&A session with “ethical strippers” Morag and Stacey Clare that veers between outrageously silly striptease and a discussion of sex workers’ rights.</p>
<h2>Ethnicity, race and nationality</h2>
<p>This year there has been an inclination towards more lighthearted treatments of themes of ethnicity, race and nationality. <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/playing-latinx#:%7E:text=This%20one%2Dhuman%20show%20merges,%27%20(OughtToBeClowns.com)">Playing Latinx</a>, for instance, by Guido García Lueches and the Mariana Malena Theatre Company, is a hugely entertaining solo show merging spoken word, comedy and music to investigate the stereotyping of Latinx culture within western society. </p>
<p><a href="https://festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/pilot/">Pilot</a>, by Eclipse artistic director Lekan Lawal, is a visually and textually rich exploration of the themes of race and narrative, alternately playful and complex. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/soldiers-of-tomorrow/">Soldiers of Tomorrow</a> by Itai Erdal and The Elbow Theatre finds a surprisingly light touch in dealing with Erdal’s harrowing experiences as a former Israeli soldier.</p>
<h2>The LGBTQ+ community</h2>
<p>Probably the most politically contentious LGBTQ+ production up at this year’s fringe has been Aida H Dee’s <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/drag-queen-story-hour">Drag Queen Story Hour</a>, regrettably for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/07/man-convicted-after-aggressive-protest-against-drag-queen-event-at-tate-britain">attracting angry protestors</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9-PeMqXvM98?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for THISISPOPBABY’s Party Scene.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond this, two shows stand out for their bold approaches to making politically-minded LGBTQ+ themed work – both adopting a high-octane approach to storytelling. First, Breach Theatre’s <a href="https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/after-the-act-festival-23">After the Act</a>, a musical about Section 28. And second, THISISPOPBABY’s <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/party-scene-chemsex-community-crisis">Party Scene</a>, which uses dance to explore the chemsex (sexual activity while under the influence of drugs) crisis.</p>
<h2>Capitalism</h2>
<p>There has also been a refreshing amount of theatre directly confronting the experience of living under capitalism at this year’s fringe. Three shows stand out for similarly addressing the encroachment of corporate logic into our everyday lives in a sardonic but entertaining fashion. </p>
<p>First, is <a href="https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/its-a-motherfking-pleasure">It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure</a> by disability-led theatre company FlawBored, a satirical account of the corporatisation of identity politics. </p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/chatham-house-rules">Chatham House Rules</a>, by Louis Rembges, presents a surreal account of hospitality agency work and our wider cultural malaise.</p>
<p><a href="https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/event/international-house-of-vape">International House of Vape</a>, by T Brennan and J Newton of The Wardrobe Ensemble, meanwhile, offers a stinging critique of the relentless commodification of the cultural sphere.</p>
<h2>Social inequality</h2>
<p>Lastly, a number of shows this year have tackled the theme of social inequality in the UK. Two productions stand out here: both shows that buck the trend described above of light-hearted exploration, electing instead for stark confrontation. Each deploy verbatim techniques and visual storytelling and each present sometimes harrowing accounts. </p>
<p><a href="https://festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/concerned-others/">Concerned Others</a> (by the award-winning Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Tortoise in a Nutshell) is a beautifully crafted piece of visual and object theatre exploring the political causes behind the stark rise in drug-related deaths in Scotland.</p>
<p>Fringe stalwarts LUNG’s <a href="https://festival23.summerhall.co.uk/events/woodhill/">Woodhill</a> is a devastating piece of theatre using interviews to tell a tragic story about three inmates at HMP Woodhill, in the process chronicling the demise of Britain’s failing prison system.</p>
<p>Clearly, 2023 has been a strong year for work with a political leaning. Interestingly, much of this work insists on tackling serious subjects in a light-hearted vein – rejecting more austere approaches to political theatre-making.</p>
<p>At the same time, there has been a notable shortage of work tackling the climate crisis. Klanghaus’s <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/klanghaus-darkroom#:%7E:text=Description,from%20the%20creators%20of%20KlangHaus.">Darkroom</a> and <a href="https://www.auroranova.org/shows/dimanche/">Dimanche</a>, by Chaliwaté Company and Focus Company, are clear exceptions. But given its magnitude, the limited number of hyped shows addressing this issue is surprising.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Lewin Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
With 3,031 registered shows at this year’s fringe, a concise survey would be impossible. But these are my picks of the best political shows on offer.
Luke Lewin Davies, Lecturer in Film Studies, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211575
2023-08-15T15:56:34Z
2023-08-15T15:56:34Z
Adults: how a sex play about boomers v millennials brings both together
<p>Kieran Hurley’s new play <a href="https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/adults-festival-23">Adults</a> brilliantly illuminates an intergenerational clash that should leave <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2008/06/25/baby-boomers-the-gloomiest-generation/">boomers</a> (born between 1945 and 1964) and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">millennials</a> (born between 1981 and 1996) in the audience with a little more empathy for each other.</p>
<p>It all starts entertainingly when a strawberry milkshake bursts open in the face of Iain (Conleth Hill) just as he arrives early at the flat of thirtysomething Zara (Dani Heron). Zara is a sex worker who runs her business from home “collectively and ethically”.</p>
<p>Iain, in his 60s, married with two grown-up daughters, is completely out of his comfort zone and there to have sex with a young man: Zara’s business partner, Jay (Anders Hayward), who is running late.</p>
<p>As Iain wipes the pink goo from his face, Zara recognises him as her former teacher Mr Urquhart. And so Hurley sets up his character triangle. For the next 80 minutes, the audience has the pleasure of watching Zara, Iain and Jay argue with, blackmail, and eventually simply hold each other across the generational divide.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/29/millennials-struggling-is-it-fault-of-baby-boomers-intergenerational-fairness">spat</a> between boomers and millennials has been rumbling on for the last few years, pitting the former against their children’s/grandchildren’s generation who are viewed as whiny, lazy snowflakes with an overinflated sense of entitlement.</p>
<p>Conversely, millennials view boomers as the generation that took everything, ruined everything, and have left very little for those who came after. As journalist David Barnett has succinctly <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/millenials-generation-x-baby-boomers-a7570326.html">pointed out</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Boomers live in the past and have ransomed the future. Millennials fear the future and are ignorant of the past.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Envy, resentment, misunderstanding</h2>
<p>Disappointed expectations and repressed resentment bubble up during Zara’s and Iain’s initial confrontation, which plays out in her small one-bedroom flat while she matter-of-factly turns her living space into a brothel, replete with dildo collection (set and costume design: Anna Orton).</p>
<p>Zara, a literature graduate now earning money through sex work, begrudges the older generation their safe careers and settled lifestyles, and resents her teacher for instilling in her the bogus belief she could do anything with her life. Iain, meanwhile, feels trapped and envies the younger generation their seeming freedom, abandon and sexual confidence.</p>
<p>Both are deliberately ignoring the fact that the object of their envy is a fantasy. Iain is oblivious to the fact that the carefreeness of the younger generation (the young men he watches in his videos) is largely performed for a capitalist market that values only these qualities.</p>
<p>Zara’s resentment, meanwhile, doesn’t take into account that the apparent safety of her teacher’s generation came at the expense of not pursuing other, maybe more exciting or fulfilling alternatives.</p>
<p>Their debate treads the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/29/millennials-struggling-is-it-fault-of-baby-boomers-intergenerational-fairness">familiar territory</a> of millennial precarity versus boomer affluence, but is nonetheless supremely entertaining. Spontaneous applause rewards Zara’s viciously eloquent takedown of Iain’s cherished memories of reading his kids Thomas the Tank Engine, which, according to Zara, is simply “pseudo-imperialist nostalgic colonial nonsense … some big nostalgic cry-wank for a lost idea of Britain”. </p>
<p>However, once Jay arrives, with his infant daughter screaming in the pram, the stakes are raised considerably. While Zara berates him for bringing his daughter to work, he insists that she owes him money, thus revealing her talk of an ethical and “non-hierarchical business practice” as hypocritical.</p>
<p>Jay needs money to secure shared custody of his daughter. And when the little one finally goes to sleep, he puts all his expertise into performing the willing, lascivious little “twink” to seduce the inhibited Iain and earn his money.</p>
<h2>Comedy and tragedy</h2>
<p>Hayward and Hill (who played Varys, Master of the Whisperers, in Game of Thrones) excel in this seduction scene that alternates beautifully between moments of physical comedy and verbal exchanges that reveal profound sadness. Hill’s Iain, a sexually inexperienced older man who has never explored his desires, gradually develops into a tentative, then enthusiastic punter who enjoys roleplay – only to revert to the condescending, middle-class teacher who judges Jay for how he earns his money and is scathing about his parenting.</p>
<p>Hayward’s Jay writhes seductively on the floor, performs the invested listener and works his literal butt off, but draws the line at being insulted. When he vindictively posts a compromising picture of Iain on Facebook, the secrets that Iain and Zara have kept from their families are revealed.</p>
<p>Roxana Silbert’s confident direction lets the play text breathe and leaves room for her actors to insert some well-timed physical comedy – Hill sliding/falling off various bits of furniture hits the spot every time. </p>
<p>In the end, Iain, shocked but also relieved that he has nothing more to lose, comes clean to his wife in the face of his very public outing. The humbled Zara acknowledges in yet another reference to children’s literature, this time <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-lorax/dr-seuss/9780007455935">The Lorax by Dr Seuss</a>, that she just might be a “Once-ler” too – meaning to “accept that the world you’re passing on is in a worse state than when you inherited it”.</p>
<p>Before the lights go out, we see Jay, the overwhelmed millennial father, lying on the bed holding the sobbing Iain, while offstage the voice of his crying baby clamours for attention to the coming generation.</p>
<p>With Adults, Hurley, a millennial author himself, seems to appeal to his own generation to let go of their rage, be more understanding of their elders, and accept that, one day, they too will to be blamed for the future. Because as it turns out, confirms Iain: “Everyone always grows up thinking it’s the end of the world.”</p>
<p><em>Adults is showing until August 27 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh</em></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann-Christine Simke is affiliated with the theatre company Stellar Quines. She is a member of the board for the company.</span></em></p>
Kieran Hurley’s new play treads the familiar debate of millennial precarity versus boomer affluence with verve and insight.
Ann-Christine Simke, Lecturer in Performance, University of the West of Scotland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209753
2023-08-04T10:27:05Z
2023-08-04T10:27:05Z
Edinburgh Fringe 2023: how to immerse yourself in the world’s biggest arts festival
<p>When the <a href="https://www.eif.co.uk/">Edinburgh International Festival</a> launched in 1947, it was inevitable that a fringe event would follow. Beginning with just eight companies of performers in five venues, the <a href="https://www.edfringe.com">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a> (known as “the Fringe”) is now the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62427442">biggest arts festival in the world</a>, and welcomes tens of thousands of performers across over 250 venues every August. Given the scale of the Fringe – almost 3,000 productions this month – navigating the array of shows on offer can be a challenge, so a visit needs some planning to make the most of your time and budget.</p>
<h2>First things first</h2>
<p>Many famous performers and writers found their big break at the Fringe, including <a href="https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/phoebe-waller-bridge">Phoebe Waller-Bridge</a>, when her hit show <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p070npjv">Fleabag</a> premiered in 2013. The tradition of discovering emerging stars, especially those who have won an award, is often characterised by winning a <a href="https://www.edfringe.com/learn/news-and-events/final-fringe-first-winners-announced">Fringe First</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A young woman in a red jumper standing on a stage, spotlit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541222/original/file-20230804-15-4t1zo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Phoebe Waller-Bridge brought Fleabag to the Fringe in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Waller-Bridge#/media/File:FleabagWyndham290819-3_(cropped).jpg">Raph PH / Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Most famously, the comedy award (formerly and best-known as the Perrier Award) is given to outstanding comedians and has been won in the past by <a href="https://www.contactmusic.com/steve-coogan">Steve Coogan</a>, <a href="https://www.bridgetchristie.co.uk/what-on-earth-is-bridget-christie/">Bridget Christie</a>, <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1210573/index.html">Dylan Moran</a>, <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/476881/index.html">Emma Thompson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lily-savage-how-paul-ogrady-helped-embed-drag-in-the-british-mainstream-202910">Lily Savage</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/aug/26/the-league-of-gentlemen-review-stage-tour">The League of Gentlemen</a> among many other household names. The scale of the Fringe, however, means that it’s difficult to know who or what might be the next big thing. Based on many enjoyable years of attending the festival, here are my top tips.</p>
<h2>Before you go: do your homework</h2>
<p>Looking at the <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=*%3A*">programme online</a> to plan your visit is almost as daunting as attending the Fringe itself. In August, Edinburgh can feel like a strange planet. Everywhere you turn you’re confronted with impromptu acts of performance, colourful characters and flyers decorating the city’s old streets advertising myriad shows. Spending some time in advance choosing what to watch can help curate a more fulfilling experience. </p>
<p>Usefully, the Fringe website has a <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/plan-your-fringe">tool for planning</a> which helps schedule your chosen shows to ensure you will be in the right place at the right time. Downloading the <a href="https://www.edfringe.com/experience/app">the Fringe app</a> is also essential, now that all tickets are digital. </p>
<p>When deciding what to see, first consider your preferences. Put simply, what do you enjoy? It can be tempting to seek out what might be considered serious or worthy. After all, the world’s talent is gathered within a few square miles. For me, as a researcher of performance, the Fringe is an opportunity to indulge in theatre that engages the senses, and experience a city that is intensely alive with performers, spectators and transient inhabitants. </p>
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<h2>Dive right in</h2>
<p>In recent years, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/immersive-theatre">immersive performance</a> – a highly sensory experience for the spectator – has grown in popularity, and this is no exception at the Fringe. During the festival, Edinburgh itself feels like one big immersive performance. Everywhere the city is alive with sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile experiences to be enjoyed.</p>
<p>To kick things off, I recommend seeking out an immersive theatre experience. <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/without-sin">Without Sin</a> (at Summerhall) is described as a “contemporary confessional for the modern sinner” for an audience of two. Produced by <a href="https://www.unqualified-design.com/people">Unqualified Design Studio</a>, this show places the spectator at the heart of the action. While short at just 15 minutes, Without Sin promises to be an intensive experience.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://trust.pleasance.co.uk/content/edinburgh-pleasance-dome-0">Pleasance Dome</a>, another immersive show, <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=eulogy">Eulogy</a>, offers a “surreal, otherworldly journey through a dreamlike, labyrinthine hotel that exists entirely in your mind”. Like other immersive theatre, Eulogy offers a good deal of agency for the participant-spectator. The producing company, <a href="https://www.darkfield.org">Darkfield</a>, is known for using technology to create immersive experiences, both in-person and through an <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/darkfield/id1586116023">app</a>.</p>
<p>Darkfield’s second show at the Fringe is <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/seance">Séance</a>, which transforms a shipping container into a Victorian séance. While the audience is plunged into darkness, it’s for a mercifully short time, but it should certainly heighten your senses, ready to enjoy myriad other Fringe experiences. </p>
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<h2>Something for everyone</h2>
<p>If an immersive theatre experience is not your thing there’s a whole smorgasbord of entertainment ready for tasting, from comedy – traditionally a defining element of the Fringe – to theatre, dance, circus and burlesque. Whether you find joy in watching a comedian competing to win the <a href="https://www.timeout.com/edinburgh/edinburgh-fringe-best-jokes">Joke of the Fringe</a>, or you want to see some world-class <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#fq=category%3A%22Dance%2C%20Physical%20Theatre%20and%20Circus%22&q=*%3A*">dance and physical theatre</a> or even something to <a href="https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#fq=category%3A%22Children's%20Shows%22&q=*%3A*">entertain your children</a>, the Fringe is so broad everyone will find something that appeals. </p>
<p>As a spectator, having a “successful” Fringe experience doesn’t necessarily mean catching the big zeitgeist comedian or bagging tickets for the latest show from a star actor. A successful visit to the Fringe might just mean you’ve soaked up the atmosphere, seen some interesting shows and come away feeling stimulated by the experience. </p>
<p>Sometimes that can include seeing a bad show. Seeing something truly terrible is all part of the Fringe experience and can help us hone our instincts for the good stuff in future. As can seeing something wonderful that has only a handful of people in the audience, giving you bragging rights of the “I saw them at a tiny venue with three people and a dog at the Fringe” variety, when it produces future stars of stage and comedy.</p>
<p>So, while it’s impossible to offer a failproof guide to navigating the Fringe, a little forethought and planning will pay off when you’re there. Even booking ahead for a couple of shows creates a focus for a day at the Fringe and can prevent feeling overwhelmed by what to see. And just like immersive theatre, sometimes all we need is a faint sense of what to do and then let our instincts guide us. </p>
<p><em>The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs August 4-28</em></p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Layton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There will be almost 3,000 shows playing at this year’s Fringe, which can feel a little daunting, especially for the first timer. Here’s how to get it right.
James Layton, Lecturer in Performance, University of the West of Scotland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210932
2023-08-03T14:07:16Z
2023-08-03T14:07:16Z
Rock Follies review: powerful new musical brings 1970s feminist TV sensation to the stage
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074049/">Rock Follies</a> was a groundbreaking television series about an all-female rock band that originally aired for two seasons in 1976 and 1977. It wove fantastical, trippy and campy rock-musical numbers together with the often less glamorous realities of show business. The television show also led to two soundtrack albums, Rock Follies and Rock Follies of ’77, that charted in the UK.</p>
<p>Now, nearly 50 years after it first aired, the show has been reimagined as a stage musical with a new book by Chloë Moss that showcases the TV show’s original music from Howard Schuman and <a href="https://www.andymackay.co.uk/">Roxy Music’s Andy Mackay</a>. </p>
<p>The Chichester Festival Theatre staging is a successful update for a contemporary live audience. It pays musical homage to the glam decadence of 1970s rock while simultaneously illustrating how far women still have to go in the ongoing struggle for equality. As political as it is fabulous, the new musical plainly shows how the patriarchy is not merely a relic of history. </p>
<h2>A strong staging</h2>
<p>The new production sounds fantastic, with strong performances by not only the Little Ladies – the name of the all-female band – but also the versatile and dynamic supporting cast.</p>
<p>Set designer Vicki Mortimer’s simple setting of stage platforms, lights and road trunks effectively transforms the Minerva Theatre studio into an intimate concert venue. The Little Ladies are backed by a live rock band whom I found myself wishing could jump over the barrier and rock out with the cast at several points during the show. </p>
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<p>Retaining the synth-heavy roots of the original show, this musical feels like a worthy addiction to the world of bombastic and flashy rock musicals like <a href="https://www.batoutofhellmusical.com/">Bat out of Hell</a> or <a href="https://www.rockofagesmusical.co.uk/">Rock of Ages</a>. </p>
<p>The show is packed with more than 30 musical numbers – standouts include Glenn Miller is Missing and The Things You Have To Do, sung by Kitty (a powerhouse Tamsin Carroll), the new American female manager of the Little Ladies. </p>
<p>But perhaps the most timely of the songs, Jubilee, is sung by the Little Ladies at a fundraising gala to protest the event’s corporate whitewashing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Take a bus and see the dole queues
Enjoy spectacular inflation<br>
You’ll be knocked out by our poverty<br>
Another British institution<br>
Like the Silver Jubilee.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These lyrics from 1977 echo newspaper headlines from last year, about a coronation celebration amid a cost of living crisis. Sound familiar? The writers have been able to make this story of 1970s female rock power strikingly contemporary as it tackles issues like sexism, racism and income inequality. </p>
<h2>Voices for change</h2>
<p>While much of the sexism faced by the original television trio was of its time, this new iteration of Rock Follies makes it clear that the patriarchal power structure faced by Q, Dee and Anna in the 1970s are still in place today. </p>
<p>Repeatedly objectified as mere sex objects or dismissed as unqualified, the three women navigate a landscape of obstacles when it comes to establishing their own voices in the music industry. They are as passionate about music as they are about finding their own way, despite the societal pressures at both home and the workplace that keep telling them to stop. </p>
<p>Anna (Carly Bawden), a drug-addicted middle-class Cambridge graduate, is a strong singer but a much better songwriter. When she dreams of performing rock music, her husband instead encourages her to work in an office. “You’d make a good secretary!” he tells her in a backhanded compliment. </p>
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<p>Dee (a fantastic Angela Marie Hurst), who lives in a commune with her boyfriend Spike, faces not only sexism but racism by a whole array of record industry executives who either dismiss her star power as “exotic”, or refuse to support a Black performer. And the charming Q (Zizi Strallen), who offers to do another soft-core porn film to financially support the band, is weighed down by a freeloading partner who only wants her when she is successful. </p>
<p>Each of the performances is strong and charismatic. All three of the Little Ladies also posses the lung power to do Howard Schuman and Andy Mackay’s music more than justice. At a time when celebrating girl power (albeit a more complex version) is back, with big hits like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hyper-femininity-can-be-subversive-and-empowering-just-ask-barbie-209623">Barbie film</a>, Rock Follies is a welcome fierce feminist addition to the UK’s theatre scene. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.cft.org.uk/events/rock-follies">Rock Follies</a> is on at Chichester Festival Theatre, till Saturday 26 August</em></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erika Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Foot stomping songs and charismatic performances make the stage adaptation of the 1970s TV series a hit.
Erika Hughes, Reader in Performance, University of Portsmouth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209794
2023-08-03T02:27:24Z
2023-08-03T02:27:24Z
New Aussie musical Bloom misses an opportunity to interrogate the gaps in aged care – and in our social fabric
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540921/original/file-20230802-26-b7ng1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C17%2C5742%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bloom, the new Australian musical produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company, is proudly billed by the company as born and bred right here in Melbourne/Naarm. </p>
<p>Written by Tom Gleisner (of The Castle fame) with music by Katie Weston, the show follows the story of Rose (Evelyn Krape), who reluctantly arrives at Pine Grove Aged Care Home after being told she can no longer live alone. Finn (Slone Sudiro), a university student studying music, arrives on the same day as Rose as part of a scheme offering students board in exchange for domestic duties. </p>
<p>As both Rose and Finn settle into their new accommodation, we meet the eclectic residents of the home and two dedicated care staff. Gloria (Christina O'Neill) has “accidentally” worked at Pine Grove for eight years. Ruby (Vidya Makan) gave up her communications degree at uni for a job that allowed her to do something more meaningful. </p>
<p>Fault lines soon appear. The frugal and punitive manager of Pine Grove, Mrs MacIntyre (Anne Edmonds), puts profit before people. She refuses requests for outings, fresh food and psychosocial programs designed to improve the residents’ (or as Rose puts it, inmates) lives so she can meet a tight fiscal bottom line. </p>
<p>Each character wrestles with the poignant and relatable idea that there is a gap between who they were and who they have become. </p>
<p>This gap occurs across the spectrum of ageing. Ruby asks herself in song if “maybe it’s time”, contemplating leaving Pine Grove and commencing a masters degree in aged care. Resident Sal (Eddie Muliaumaseali’i) silently looks through old photos to connect with his past and the remnants of his past self. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Production image: a nursing home, and a teenager." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540922/original/file-20230803-20-6uye02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University student Finn moves in as part of a scheme offering students board in exchange for domestic duties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dismissing the rights of older Australians</h2>
<p>This question of aged care homes as for-profit entities was brought into <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrison-government-needs-to-improve-rather-than-defend-its-poor-covid-aged-care-performance-144447">sharp focus</a> during the pandemic. The final report of a Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety exposed the deep chasms in the sector. It <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-key-takeaways-from-the-aged-care-royal-commissions-final-report-156109">tabled 148 recommendations</a> to parliament in 2021 and has led to <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthony-albanese-offers-2-5-billion-plan-to-fix-crisis-in-aged-care-180419">significant legislative reform</a>. </p>
<p>The idea suggested at the core of Bloom – that student boarders in aged care homes may lead to significant innovation, intergenerational and reciprocal learning and subsequently improve the quality of life for our elders – is treated glibly and without much substance in the formulaic model of musical theatre. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-key-takeaways-from-the-aged-care-royal-commissions-final-report-156109">4 key takeaways from the aged care royal commission's final report</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The story references ideas of the human rights of our elders to have agency to voice complaints, to be treated with respect, to have liberty of movement and the right to social participation. </p>
<p>Specifically, Rose tries to lead an insurrection of residents during an inspection of the facility and refuses pills that make her feel groggy. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in orange sings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540923/original/file-20230803-26-p10zec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Instead of being heard and respected, the residents are treated as a problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead of being heard and respected, she is treated as a problem. The suggestion by Mrs MacIntyre is that she is “having a little turn” during her complaints: a moment of insight into how easily we have dismissed the rights of older Australians to exercise choice and be heard on matters that impact them. </p>
<p>Here, Bloom provides an insight into the cruelty inherent in some aspects of the system, and the difference quality care and a good carer can make to someone’s life. </p>
<h2>Stark realities and missed opportunities</h2>
<p>Toward the end of the play, there is a scene where we watch Rose take her last few breaths in her small hospital bed, in a stark and all-too-familiar room. She is surrounded by Gloria, Ruby and Finn, who provide comfort in her final hours. </p>
<p>In the scene, Finn reflects that Ruby seems very comfortable with death. She responds that both her grandparents lived at her home and she was present when they died. </p>
<p>Ruby’s experience of multi-generational living arrangements that allow for care at home for the elderly is <a href="http://universaldesignaustralia.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/009_Ch2_Dufty_Jones-3.pdf">more common</a> in Australian families that include first- or second-generation migrants. </p>
<p>Finn reveals that when his mother died, he was considered too young to be at the hospital. </p>
<p>This scene at Rose’s bedside is a good representation of the missed opportunity in Bloom to starkly represent the realities of our aged care system and our dominant cultural approach to end-of-life care in this country. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chorus line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540924/original/file-20230803-20-1ma7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a missed opportunity to starkly represent the realities of our aged care system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Due to the intense staffing shortfall so sharply reflected in the royal commission, unless family were present, it is very possible Rose would have died alone. </p>
<p>I can’t help but imagine how seeing that uncomfortable reality on stage may have been a transformative theatrical moment, seared into the memories of the audience as they make choices about end-of-life and aged care for themselves and those they love. </p>
<p>Instead of tackling the systemic issues around aged care and end of life, Bloom wraps things neatly up in a bow, ending the musical by suggesting the death of Rose led to change at Pine Grove. An unqualified student will now work as a musical therapist and a nice manager has been found to lead the home into a new era. </p>
<p>There is a great track record of musical theatre successfully tackling overtly political material and revealing the gaps in our social fabric and problematising history and power (think of shows like Hamilton, Urinetown and Bran Nue Dae). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Bloom seems too afraid of its own subject material to truly tackle these issues and reflect their realities back to us. </p>
<p><em>Bloom is at the Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse for the Melbourne Theatre Company until August 26.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-all-hope-for-a-good-death-but-many-aged-care-residents-are-denied-proper-end-of-life-care-156105">We all hope for a 'good death'. But many aged-care residents are denied proper end-of-life care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There is a great track record of musical theatre tackling political material. Bloom seems too afraid of its own subject material to truly tackle the issues.
Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210398
2023-07-26T15:04:23Z
2023-07-26T15:04:23Z
Grenfell: in the words of survivors – new play is an angry demand for accountability
<p>The National Theatre’s new play, <a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/grenfell-in-the-words-of-survivors/">Grenfell: in the words of survivors</a>, written by Gillian Slovo and directed by Phyllida Lloyd and Anthony Simpson-Pike, aims to offer a voice to survivors of the fire. </p>
<p>This is a “verbatim play”. Often focused on communities that are marginalised or excluded, verbatim theatre emerged in the 1970s. It uses the words of real people as the basis for theatrical performance. The inclusion of “word for word” elements from conversations in these communities allows verbatim to explore a range of social and political issues and offer a voice to unheard perspectives.</p>
<p>On June 14 2017, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey residential housing block in North Kensington, west London. The tragedy claimed the lives of 72 residents of the tower. Over the six years since the fire, Slovo has conducted in-depth interviews with survivors and the bereaved, alongside members of the wider community living and working in the shadow of the still-standing shell of the building.</p>
<p>Grenfell expertly combines verbatim performances drawn from first-hand accounts with a film made by the survivors in their ongoing campaign for justice. The play recounts the events leading up to the tragedy and the night of the fire itself as well as the ongoing activities of the communities decimated by its impact.</p>
<p>Also threaded through the play are staged excerpts from the transcripts of the <a href="https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/">Grenfell Tower Enquiry</a> (2017-22). These integrate the tribunal theatre approach which is often traced to Nicholas Kent and Richard Norton-Taylor’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/17/race.world">The Colour of Justice</a> (1999) at the Tricycle (now Kiln) theatre about the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.</p>
<p>Grenfell is not the first time the National Theatre has created a performance designed to platform and interrogate urgent issues and tragic events. Its staging of David Hare’s <a href="https://www.ijicc.net/images/vol11iss7/11714_Amer_2020_E_R.pdf">Stuff Happens</a> (2004) used material from the public inquiry to examine the Iraq War. Verbatim commentary taken from interviews with former British Rail employees in Hare’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/jan/14/theatre.politicaltheatre">The Permanent Way</a>(2003) chronicled the disastrous repercussions following the privatisation of the railways.</p>
<h2>The challenges facing verbatim theatre</h2>
<p>Even with its ideals and dedication to foregrounding truth through the voices of those involved, verbatim methods do raise ethical quandaries.</p>
<p>Creating theatre from the words of “ordinary people” can run the risk of speaking for the marginalised people theatre makers aspire to “give voice” to. Done without sufficient care, verbatim might appropriate their stories, or paint those it apparently “speaks for” only as victims. </p>
<p>Verbatim theatre may lack nuance in its depictions, suspending its subjects in a traumatic moment, or a position of grievance or helplessness. Its necessarily selective approach will also cut some voices out altogether.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RgMmdukdtwI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Grenfell aspires to navigate these and other challenges by offering the “story weaving” approach described in theatre academic and playwright Amanda Stuart-Fisher’s book <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv14t47dd">Performing the Testimonial</a> (2022): </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Personal and communal narratives become layered upon each other, working together in an interconnected process in order to enact a collective story.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The script’s various threads are skilfully sliced and spliced by the creative team, creating an enthralling and deeply affective three-hour piece of theatre that invites the audience into the narrative, emphasising the collective values of <a href="https://grenfellunited.org.uk/">Grenfell’s community</a> and seemingly extending them to us.</p>
<p>Among the play’s many strengths are the company’s respectful approach and connection to the survivors they depict, and its care for the audience. Actors introduce both themselves and the characters they are playing. “My words are taken from interviews with Natasha, and with her consent,” actor Pearl Mackie explains. We are warned of what to expect – “there will be no depictions of fire” – and invited to seek help if what is shared is overwhelming.</p>
<h2>Never Forget</h2>
<p>In this production the tragedy of Grenfell remains understated, leaving room for the audience to fill in the gaps. </p>
<p>The survivors’ remembrances culminate in a sensitive yet truly harrowing account of the catastrophic fire. Movable archive boxes marked with the number of each flat, act as building blocks of various locations in the minimalist set and also contain the sombre relics of the fire. A vacated seating bank, illuminated from above, honours those that were lost.</p>
<p>The skilfully directed ensemble cast demonstrates a love and connection that emulates the mutual care of the Grenfell community, helping each other with on-stage costume changes, and so tight they almost seem to finish each other’s sentences. Each lighting change, each sound effect, is achieved with nuance and meticulous attention to detail that was woefully lacking in the dereliction of duty shown by the authorities to the residents.</p>
<p>In the end, a terrible truth emerges of a shockingly remiss and cost-cutting culture of decision-making, where racism and poverty determined the degree of care and attention residents received.</p>
<p>Our own work on <a href="https://theverbatimformula.org.uk/">The Verbatim Formula</a> research uses elements of verbatim with communities of young people who have experienced social care. We found that verbatim performance not only provide a platform for voices to be heard, but can also be a powerful form of accountability and a provocation to action.</p>
<p>Grenfell continues the tradition of verbatim theatre as an acute critical and political form that enables the National Theatre to fulfil its unofficial remit for staging “<a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-us/our-history/">state of the nation</a>” drama. </p>
<p>The audiences remains in the light for much of the play. At the end, they are asked to participate in an act of communal theatre-making that positions each person as an active part of the survivors’ ongoing fight for justice. We too, the survivors tell us, must remember.</p>
<p><em>Grenfell: in the words of survivors is on at the National Theatre until August 26 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvan Baker , Royal Central School of Speech and Drama</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Inchley receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her work on The Verbatim Formula. </span></em></p>
A powerful play that puts the voices of the people first.
Sylvan Baker, Senior lecturer, Royal Central School of Speech & Drama
Maggie Inchley, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209120
2023-07-05T05:25:46Z
2023-07-05T05:25:46Z
Intake to the National Institute of Circus Arts has been ‘paused’. Where to next for Australia’s performing arts training?
<p>The 2024 intake into the Bachelors-level degree at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/cirque-du-so-long-australia-s-only-tertiary-circus-school-in-limbo-20230630-p5dkrv.html">has been “paused”</a>, reportedly on the grounds of financial viability and “strategic alignment” with Swinburne University, which has auspiced NICA since 1995.</p>
<p>In the same week across the Tasman, Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/26-06-2023/killing-the-human-in-humanities-what-victoria-universitys-cuts-will-do-to-theatre">announced savage cuts</a> to its theatre and music programs. </p>
<p>These are just the latest blows to <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/october/julian-meyrick/drama-hell#mtr">a sector in crisis</a>. They arise from a decades-long suspicion of the place of arts training in the academy, which can be traced back as far as the 1950s. </p>
<p>Then, arts training was seen as insufficiently rigorous and incompatible with university structures. Now, those same concerns are framed in terms of strategic value and return on investment. </p>
<p>Whatever the rationale, they speak to a lack of imagination and creativity in the administration of the contemporary university.</p>
<h2>An independent institution</h2>
<p>At a meeting of its Professorial Board in December 1956, the University of Melbourne refused a proposal to establish a degree-level actor training program. The board declared the aims of the proposal could not “be fulfilled by a course which conformed to indispensable university standards”. </p>
<p>After this rejection, <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-214611315/listen/0-1557%7E0-1775">a similar proposal progressed</a> at the University of New South Wales, with one critical difference. </p>
<p>While this actor training program would operate out of university facilities and be collocated with the School of English, it would remain separate. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535697/original/file-20230705-25-uqgch7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Old Tote Theatre, pictured here in 1968, was used by NIDA and the Old Tote Theatre Company from 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Pashuk © NIDA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) was born in 1958. From its start, NIDA was physically integrated with but academically apart from its institutional sponsor. </p>
<p>Throughout its history and to today, <a href="https://www.currency.com.au/books/theatre/an-eye-for-talent/">to paraphrase long-time director John Clark</a>, NIDA has revelled in its close association with the university – but closely guarded its independence.</p>
<h2>Intellectual rigour</h2>
<p>The suggestion in the late 1950s that the business of performer training was antithetical to the mission of the university was grounded in two related factors: matriculation standards, and the availability of suitably qualified staff. </p>
<p>Universities were sceptical of the intellectual rigour of artistic practice in the institution, both in prospective students and in staff. </p>
<p>Universities were also concerned about the lack of funding or teaching space for the higher intensity and longer hours demanded over more traditional tertiary subjects. </p>
<p>One exception stands out: the long-running actor training offered at Flinders University began in 1971, just five years after the university opened in 1966.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five students clap while two bow towards each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535696/original/file-20230705-27-x2win1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drama students at Flinders rehearsing Abraxas, 1973.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flinders University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Otherwise, performers trained outside of university level institutions. Some joined the profession directly and trained on the job. Others were apprenticed through youth companies or student theatre, and graduated onto the professional stage. </p>
<h2>Merging with the universities</h2>
<p>In the intervening years, between 1967 to the early 1990s, much Australian arts training was housed within Colleges of Advanced Education (CAE). These colleges sat between TAFE institutions and universities, focusing on more vocational disciplines and awarding certificates, diplomas, and eventually degrees. </p>
<p>In the early 1990s, <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2518053881/view?partId=nla.obj-2520354289">the Dawkins Reforms</a> merged some technical and vocational providers with universities, and granted university status to others. This brought more arts training programs into universities.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A maid and a man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535689/original/file-20230705-1050-21kvjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hugh Jackman performing in Thank in his final year at WAAPA in 1994.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">WAAPA/ECU</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), which had been housed within the Western Australian CAE <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Actor-Training-in-Anglophone-Countries-Past-Present-and-Future/Zazzali/p/book/9781032050607">since 1980</a>, became part of Edith Cowan University. </p>
<p>The Kelvin Grove Campus of the Brisbane CAE, which had provided actor training <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63083/">since the late 1970s</a>, was merged with the new Queensland University of Technology. </p>
<p>These new universities were beginning to articulate an academic identity. Their historical association with more vocational forms of training made them more open to maintaining the provision of arts training.</p>
<p>As part of this commitment, some institutions even founded new training programs. Swinburne established the National Institute of Circus Arts <a href="https://www.nica.com.au/about">in 1995</a>. The Griffith Film School <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.018784591043141">followed in 2004</a>. </p>
<p>By far the most contentious integration took place at the University of Melbourne in 2006, when the Victorian College of the Arts was first affiliated with and then fully integrated into the university.</p>
<p>Almost exactly 50 years after it was first rejected, actor training was now part of the business of that university – though not without a great deal of consternation and protest. </p>
<p>Various painful reorganisations followed, <a href="https://www.currency.com.au/books/platform-papers/platform-papers-28-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-vca/">elegantly documented by Richard Murphet</a>, as the university and the training institution worked through their differences – many the same as those identified by the Professorial Board in the 1950s.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-training-a-new-generation-of-performers-about-intimacy-safety-and-creativity-132516">Friday essay: training a new generation of performers about intimacy, safety and creativity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The value of arts training</h2>
<p>At its root, the uneasiness of the alliance between universities and performer training is a product of a perceived opposition between the intellectual and the manual. </p>
<p>This false binary discounts the ways in which knowledge is made by and held in the body, and the rigorous research-informed training cultures that have developed in university performing arts programs since the 1990s. </p>
<p>Too often, the universities themselves aren’t able to take on the very acts of imagination that characterise the training offered to students. Administrators instead see bloated programs that refuse to conform to increasingly rigid curriculum architectures.</p>
<p>Institutions that proclaim themselves to be innovative, agile and creative are increasingly unwilling to sustain the very programs that exemplify those qualities. </p>
<p>Budget bottom lines trump the values of the institution. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1675740724019736577"}"></div></p>
<p>Far from being expensive follies incompatible with the institution, arts training programs act as the shopfront for the university. These programs intervene in civic life and showcase the university publicly. Their students activate campus spaces and bring community audiences to the university. </p>
<p>To maintain them does not require a commitment to the arts as an intrinsic good – though that would not go astray. It merely needs administrators to think differently, to make new models instead of insisting we fit the old, to imagine a better future. </p>
<p>Funnily enough, an arts training program could teach them precisely that.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-world-of-pain-australian-theatre-in-crisis-168663">Friday essay: a world of pain – Australian theatre in crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Hay receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).</span></em></p>
The relationship between universities and performing arts training in Australia has often been uneasy or contentious.
Chris Hay, Professor of Drama, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207719
2023-06-22T01:55:18Z
2023-06-22T01:55:18Z
Rising has yet to establish its voice – but this year’s festival gave us significant and thrilling work by First Nations artists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533077/original/file-20230621-17-y2w73m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C22%2C7426%2C4969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tracker, from Australian Dance Theatre and Ilbijerri Theatre.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pedro Greig/Rising</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rising has just completed its second run across Melbourne. The newest addition to the city’s festival scene, Rising replaced the much-loved White Night festival and the much-celebrated Melbourne International Arts Festival.</p>
<p>As a new major arts event for a city that has a year-long calendar of significant festival activity, Rising has yet to establish what kind of intervention it is making in our cultural conversation – although its slick marketing line, “Music, Food, Art and Culture under Moonlight”, speaks to the notion of Melbourne as a wintry ethereal nighttime stage. </p>
<p>Led by artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, Rising 2023 was an eclectic mix of local and international work. Some offered spectacle and thrill (Tanz and Euphoria) and some offered participation and community (The Rink and 1000 Kazoos). </p>
<p>But I found the highlight of Rising to be the significant and thrilling work created by First Nations artists across dance, visual art, theatre and music. </p>
<p>A key part of the journey of seeing work at Rising was the act of embodied witnessing. </p>
<p>My top three works situated witnessing as a political act. Witnessing is an act of deep listening, designed to change and shift your perspective. These works invite you to revisit what you thought you knew. </p>
<p>Each functioned to rethink questions of history and philosophy, to reshape notions of culture and memory, and troubled legacies of colonial violence.</p>
<h2>Jacky</h2>
<p>Jacky, a new play by Arrernte playwright Declan Furber Gillick, is a beautifully nuanced and performed investigation of the weight of white expectation and capitalism and its potentially dangerous impact on First Nations people. </p>
<p>Jacky (Guy Simon) is a young man who has moved from his community to the city with aspirations of securing a white-collar permanent job and owning an apartment. Jacky’s younger brother, Keith (Ngali Shaw), is sent by family to join him and soon upturns the ordered trajectory of Jacky’s life. </p>
<p>What quickly emerges is a profoundly uncomfortable look at what constitutes palatable Aboriginal behaviour by white people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533091/original/file-20230621-27-2b41j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jacky is a profoundly uncomfortable look at what constitutes palatable Aboriginal behaviour by white people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacky’s well-intentioned white boss (Alison Whyte) engages in culturally incompetent behaviour when she requests Jacky pretend he is from a local family group. Jacky’s sex work client, Glen (Greg Stone), requests that Jacky participate in an act of racist role-play. </p>
<p>Keith challenges the social expectations of “good Aboriginal” Jacky has been relying on. He plays witness to the bind Jacky finds himself in: whether he succumbs to the demands of white expectation, or forfeits the social and material gains that are part of playing the role of “sexy Black poster boy”. </p>
<p>Jacky is part of the Melbourne Theatre Company’s season, playing at Arts Centre Melbourne. For me as a white audience member, the performance lays bare an act of political witnessing as Furber Gillick’s writing demands you pay attention and not look away. </p>
<p>Titled in reference to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackey_Jackey">Jacky Jacky</a>, an Aboriginal guide who was awarded medals for his service to NSW, the play troubles ideas of subservience and collaboration within white and First Nations relationships. </p>
<p>It reveals the racist and white supremacist underpinnings of ideas of Aboriginal inclusion premised upon white understandings of success in a capitalist system. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/joyous-comic-and-grim-the-best-new-indigenous-playwrights-72369">Joyous, comic and grim: the best new Indigenous playwrights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Shadow Spirit</h2>
<p>The exhibition Shadow Spirit brings together 30 contemporary First Peoples artists and collectives from across the country into an immersive exhibition, including 14 specially commissioned works. </p>
<p>Curated by Kimberley Moulton, Shadow Spirit weaves throughout the decaying and compelling site of the rooms above Flinders Street Station. Works incorporate a range of forms including light, sound, sculpture, screen and projection. </p>
<p>Ambitious and stunning, as you wander through the exhibition works pay tribute to AC/DC; speak to contemporary hero narratives; and feature First Nations Jedi Knight figures blinking back at you on full-size screens under expansive celestial skies. </p>
<p>There is a giant sculptural bandicoot spirit animal; works that map the spirits and energies of Country, waterways and skies and speak to how ancient knowledges protect land and children; and works that directly address the space between what is known and tangible, and what is felt and intuited. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sculpture with a doll's head and petrol pump." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533068/original/file-20230621-8426-7fd8m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deeply Rooted is a monstrous and confronting homage to colonial violence and destruction. Deeply Rooted, 2023, Karla Dickens – Wiradjuri.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eugene Hyland/Rising</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One stand-out moment is Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens’ sculptural works Deeply Rooted. </p>
<p>These spiky works fuse together native hardwood from the artist’s Country with found objects like witches hats, steel caps, broken pieces of rabbit trap, petrol nozzles with the sculptural doll-like head of an Aboriginal child. </p>
<p>Together, these objects create a monstrous and confronting homage to colonial violence and destruction, and a comment on the failure of successive governments to implement meaningful policy change. </p>
<p>Another stunning moment is Rarrirarri in the large ballroom. </p>
<p>Artistic collective The Mulka Project and Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (Yolŋu) have collaborated on an installation. A stone monolith (part Uluru and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_Tjuta">Kata Tjutu</a> and part termite mound) rises from the centre of the room. Across this screens stunning graphic projections of floral and animal landscapes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sculpture with projected flowers in a dark ballroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533070/original/file-20230621-20-h7xwhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rarrirarri requires you to sit and watch it for some time. Rarrirarri, 2023, The Mulka Project and Mulkuṉ Wirrpanda (NT) – Yolŋu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eugene Hyland/Rising</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Rarrirarri speaks clearly to desert landscapes and ceremonial and spiritual Country. It requires you to sit and watch it for some time, as the experience of passing time and a landscape of seasonal change reveals itself in the stunning moving graphics of the art work.</p>
<p>The exhibition’s location at the Flinders Street ballroom brings these stories of creation, ancestral knowledge, spirituality and the legacies of colonial violence into conversation with the city’s civic centre. This site is full of cultural memory as a meeting place for railway workers for over 100 years, and its deeper history as a Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung gathering place across thousands of generations. </p>
<p>Shadow Spirit invites you to linger, to witness and absorb the breadth and depth of knowledge and culture and story threaded through each room in the space.</p>
<p>You are asked to consider your own position and history in relation to these stories, and how you connect and belong within the ancient and contemporary narratives running through the exhibition. </p>
<p>It is a gift to Naarm: a physical and spiritual centre for reflection and communion and gathering, a showcase of the excellence of our First Nations artists and a demonstration of art itself as a political witness. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bark-ladies-how-womens-yolnu-bark-paintings-break-with-convention-and-embrace-artists-strong-personalities-174340">Bark Ladies: how women's Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists' strong personalities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Tracker</h2>
<p>A co-production between Australian Dance Theatre and Ilbijerri Theatre, Tracker is a remarkable piece of storytelling about Wiradjuri elder <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-31/aboriginal-police-sergeant-tracker-alec-riley-life-on-stage/101899924">Alec “Tracker” Riley</a>.</p>
<p>Riley worked with the NSW police for over 40 years solving crimes to great acclaim. He was the great, great uncle of director-choreographer Daniel Riley.</p>
<p>Blending contemporary dance, text, live music and a simple but effective 270-degree rotating set design of scenic painted curtains and greenery rigged around a circular ring, Tracker takes us deep into ancestral Country in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>Our protagonist (Ella Ferris) has travelled to reconnect with the spirit of her great great uncle prior to giving birth to her own child. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two dancers in blue light and denim clothes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533067/original/file-20230621-5458-i8boip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tracker takes us deep into ancestral Country in the middle of the night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pedro Greig/Rising</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>She seeks to understand and uncover this piece of her past in order to keep her son safe. In doing so, she reveals how our access to the truths of these stories of cultural resilience are obscured and hidden by layers of history and colonialism. </p>
<p>As the remarkable stories of Tracker Riley’s success in finding missing children and bringing criminals to justice are revealed, three spirit guides appear (Tyrel Dulvarie, Rika Hamaguchi and Kaine Sultan-Babij). Their poetic and synergistic movements echo, enhance and articulate the searching nature of the story. </p>
<p>As the audience, we bear witness to this uncovering of a piece of our nation’s past. Throughout the work, we seek to understand how this extraordinary man successfully forged a path between ancient wisdom and colonial structures – yet received no pension at the time of his retirement. </p>
<p>This is a powerful and ambitious story, asking us to look more closely at history and what the past can reveal about today. </p>
<p><em>Jacky is at Arts Centre Melbourne until June 24. Shadow Spirit is at Flinders Street Station until July 30.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/60-years-of-the-australian-ballet-and-90-years-of-australian-ballet-identity-asks-us-to-reflect-on-australian-dance-today-203931">60 years of The Australian Ballet and 90 years of 'Australian' ballet: Identity asks us to reflect on Australian dance today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
My top three works situated witnessing as a political act. These works invite you to revisit what you thought you knew.
Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207059
2023-06-05T15:08:54Z
2023-06-05T15:08:54Z
I, Daniel Blake on stage is a powerful representation of real people struggling in the cost of living crisis
<p>Ken Loach’s 2016 film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWgxw9E_h4&ab_channel=eOneUK">I, Daniel Blake</a> is a scathing indictment of the British benefits system. The film follows 59-year-old widower Daniel Blake who suffers a heart attack and becomes unable to work. Despite medical evidence and GP support, Blake is told that he is not eligible to receive state benefits. </p>
<p>The film powerfully shows how the knotty bureaucracy of the benefits system robs claimants of their humanity and reduces them to a number. The story has been powerfully adapted and updated for the stage by the film’s star Dave Johns to show how the cost of living crisis has worsened what was already bad in 2016. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/nov/17/i-daniel-blake-to-be-adapted-for-stage-and-updated-for-cost-of-living-crisis">Johns says</a>: “The story is still as relevant as it was in 2016; maybe even more so now … [Daniel’s] story could be anyone’s.”</p>
<p>The character of Daniel Blake is fictional. However, the stage production features <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/with-20-of-british-people-in-poverty-what-can-theatre-do">real speeches, factual interviews, and social media posts</a>. This moulding of fact and fiction humanises a group of people who are so often robbed of their dignity in the headlines and in politics. </p>
<h2>Staging reality</h2>
<p>When serving as secretary of state for work and pensions in 2016, Damian Green MP branded the film version of I, Daniel Blake “<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/damian-green-never-seen-i-9166462">a work of fiction</a>”. The play responds powerfully to this dismissal by projecting the words “THIS IS NOT FICTION” across the stage. The production forcefully shows that people really have to live like this. </p>
<p>As Daniel Blake puts it in a spray-painted message on the wall of his Jobcentre, “I, Daniel Blake, demand my appeal date before I starve.” The poverty rate for families on universal credit <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022">stands at 54%</a>. This explodes the myth that benefits claimants are “scroungers,” with a breezy lifestyle <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/11/benefits-claimants-other-research">funded by the working UK taxpayer</a>. </p>
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<p>The use of real political snippets demonstrates the gap between the UK government’s policy objectives to boost wages and get more people back in work and their detrimental effect on real lives. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022">2022 report</a> from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 14.5 million people in the UK live in poverty. The <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/uk_poverty_2023_-_the_essential_guide_to_understanding_poverty_in_the_uk_0_0.pdf">2023 report</a> warns that because benefit payments have failed to sufficiently increase in alignment with rising inflation, the UK’s poorest households have become even more vulnerable.</p>
<p>Crucially, the play destabilises the notion that the UK welfare system can act as a “safety net” should any of us fall on hard times.</p>
<p>Blake (David Nellist) has never sought state support before and his failure to be awarded sufficient points at his work capability assessment comes as a shock. As well as depicting the pinballing nature of the benefits system (at both the claiming and appeal stages) as Blake is sent from one interview to another, the production implicitly satirises an approach that reduces the complexity of human lives to a <a href="https://www.mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org/en/welfare-benefits/will-i-need-a-work-capability-assessment-to-claim-benefits/how-do-i-fill-in-the-capability-for-work-health-questionnaire/">set of points-based descriptors</a>. </p>
<p>Audiences see how anyone completing a work capability assessment must explain how their illness or disability affects their completion of a list of set activities. The more difficult you find that activity, the more points you might get. </p>
<h2>Political theatre</h2>
<p>Alongside the fictional Daniel Blake’s story are the words and stories of real individuals, which is a technique central to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/may/08/michael-billington-verbatim-theatre">documentary or “verbatim theatre”</a>. These are projected behind the actors to make it clear that this story is grounded in the lived experiences of many. </p>
<p>Documentary theatre often tells real stories. Here, however, they have decided to tell the story of the benefits system through a fictional character. </p>
<p>The phenomenon of “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22353014/">infrahumanisation</a>,” Coined by the psychologist <a href="http://leyens.socialpsychology.org/research">Jacques-Philippe Leyens</a>, occurs when certain groups in society (such as benefit claimants) can be seen as less than, or “below” human. </p>
<p>The American philosopher <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Poetic_Justice.html?id=sxuPEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">Martha Nussbaum</a> argues that fictional representations can cut through the biases people hold in public discourse. These stories become vital to ensuring we live in a just and democratic society. </p>
<p>By weaving the fabric of non-fiction through a personable, ordinary character, I, Daniel Blake, draws visceral attention to the human cost of such precarious living.</p>
<p>This production humanises the people behind the headlines. It spotlights the hurdles that the most vulnerable citizens face in realising their basic <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights#:%7E:text=All%20human%20beings%20are%20born,in%20a%20spirit%20of%20brotherhood.">right to human dignity</a> in the UK’s benefits system. </p>
<p>In this way, I, Daniel Blake demonstrates how <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu2qkf3f6bE">theatre can campaign for social justice</a> and hold the government to account. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65726153">Johns</a> hopes that it will make people angry, generate discussion, and keep the cost of living crisis on the news agenda. </p>
<p>The play will complete its initial Newcastle run before embarking on a nine-venue UK tour. Wherever it travels, I, Daniel Blake’s unique combination of black humour and sobering facts will seek to reclaim the personal narratives of those on the breadline. Crucially, it is only by doing so that it can pave the way for reform.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah-Jane Coyle receives funding from the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership, administered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).</span></em></p>
As more people find themselves in poverty, the play’s mix of fictional story with real-life testimony powerfully tells the story of what it’s like to navigate the benefits system in the UK.
Sarah-Jane Coyle, PhD Candidate, School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206036
2023-05-30T15:16:51Z
2023-05-30T15:16:51Z
A Little Life: the problem with adapting Hanya Yanagihara novel for the stage
<p>The stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel A Little Life is well into its London run and has proved to be one of the most polarising theatre events of the year. </p>
<p>Reviewers have said the performance is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65199805">“distressing”</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/a-little-life-review-james-norton-b2313820.html">“harrowing”</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/05/a-little-life-review-james-norton-sexually-abused-harold-pinter-theatre-london-hanya-yanagihara">“torture porn”</a>. However, they have also said that the central performances are <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/a-little-life-review-harold-pinter-theatre-james-norton">“a theatrical miracle”</a> and <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/a-little-life-review">“brilliant”</a>. Such extreme contrasts, in my opinion, seem only to be expected for a novel that also garnered similar divided opinions.</p>
<p>Reviewers criticised its representation of trauma, its realism and its treatment of its gay characters. One particularly, scathing review by the critic Andrea Long Chu criticised what she saw as Yanagihara’s proclivity to <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/hanya-yanagihara-review.html">“torture” her gay male characters</a>.</p>
<p>However, there was also a lot of praise with the writer Garth Greenwell dubbing it
“<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/a-little-life-definitive-gay-novel/394436/">the great gay novel</a>”.</p>
<p>Adapted for the stage by Ivo van Hove and Yanagihara herself, it was expected to be a very faithful adaptation of the beloved novel. Considering the difficulties and limitations of adapting a 700-page novel for the stage, it is fairly faithful. And therein lies the problem. </p>
<p>It’s not often that people complain about an adaptation being too faithful to its source material, but the play’s attempt to recreate characters’ written inner turmoil in a visual medium ultimately worsened the issues its most vehement critics had with it – those of authenticity and realism.</p>
<h2>Representing the mind on stage</h2>
<p>The novel’s expansively detailed creation of a mind unable to recover from extensive childhood trauma is what made it so affecting and disturbing to many readers. This detail relies heavily on Yanagihara’s incorporation of extended digressions into Jude’s psyche, excavating the harrowing memories and distressing thought patterns that plague him. </p>
<p>The play’s mode of introducing interiority into the performance hinged on character monologues, mostly from Jude, and the presence of Ana (Jude’s childhood social worker who tragically passed away early in his abuse recovery). Ana is rewritten as a kind of embodied memory or ghost figure who returns frequently to voice Jude’s thoughts or sometimes narrate his actions.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to try and show a character’s thoughts on stage without falling into extensive and potentially cheesy exposition, this choice felt somewhat condescending. </p>
<p>Similarly, a lot of the play’s sound design was immensely successful, but some choices felt odd. One such was the use of Arcade Fire’s My Body Is A Cage played at recurring intervals in moments where Jude’s physical and mental suffering was at its greatest. </p>
<p>While this worked at times, at others it felt like the audience was being spoon-fed Jude’s thoughts and anxieties, hammering home that his body limits him through song, rather than trusting the actors to portray this or the audience to pick it up from their stellar performances.</p>
<h2>Trust your audience and trust your actors</h2>
<p>The show should have trusted the acting because its quality is one of the few things reviewers <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/a-little-life-review">agree</a> on.</p>
<p>James Norton especially gives an astounding performance as Jude. His embodiment of adult and child Jude, sometimes side by side in the same scene and costume, is particularly astonishing. This collapsing of past and present in his performance was also one of the most successful aspects of the adaptation and was a powerful theatrical representation of trauma’s ability to endure across time. </p>
<p>In an New Yorker article <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/the-case-against-the-trauma-plot">criticising trauma storylines</a>, Parul Sehgal makes an exception for A Little Life. She describes the book as an “exemplary novelistic incarnation” of “trauma theory”, so adapting the novel’s representation of the enduring nature of trauma was an important aspect to get right.</p>
<p>The trauma theory Sehgal speaks of is theorist <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11364/unclaimed-experience">Cathy Caruth’s</a> notion of traumatic events as “unclaimed experience” that causes a “breach” in the mind’s experience of time, self and the world. Trauma, according to Caruth, is not a simple, healable wound and the book and play represent that agonisingly well. </p>
<p>There are, however, other aspects of the character’s psychology that the play just doesn’t get right. Although already long at three and a half hours, there is a lot of character history and mindset that the adaptation has chosen to represent with gimmicks.</p>
<p>Perhaps van Hove hoped to create a disorienting experience, a way of rendering the emotional onslaught of the novel by incorporating flashing lights, loud music, jarring tonal shifts and lots of fake blood. This does have its own undeniable effect, but it’s markedly different from the slow and extensive building of a life and psyche irreparably changed by trauma. </p>
<p>Instead, the audience watches a life in fast forward as the story jumps back and forth the timeline at breakneck speed. It’s whiplash-inducing to see all these things, many of which are heartbreaking and horrible, happening to a person without understanding or seeing how they process or comprehend them. We see little of why Jude behaves and thinks in certain ways outside of the simplified and linear conclusion of “childhood trauma equals haunted adult”.</p>
<p>The novel is more than the reductive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/11/torture-porn-or-serious-literature-the-love-hate-phenomenon-of-cult-novel-a-little-life">“trauma porn”</a> label it is often given. A Little Life illustrates how the traditional markers of success and happiness in contemporary neoliberal America – family, wealth, prestigious careers – are unable to help people heal from complex trauma, despite what we are sold. </p>
<p>Instead of this more nuanced take on contemporary culture, the play flattens and simplifies this message into the oft-repeated adage: be kind to everyone because you don’t know what they are going through. It’s a nice sentiment but ultimately lacks the critical heft of Yanagihara’s novel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Wall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The book is a hard read and some say the play is an even harder watch - is it just trauma porn?
Natalie Wall, PhD in English Literature, University of Liverpool
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205330
2023-05-15T11:47:07Z
2023-05-15T11:47:07Z
Schmigadoon!: darker musical influences make season two a more complex, but satisfying watch
<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Schmigadoon! series one and two.</em></p>
<p>Apple TV’s musical comedy <a href="https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/schmigadoon/umc.cmc.1tqmf2znhr4oui4vo69ircyui">Schmigadoon!</a> has just aired its second series. It follows couple Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) in their adventures in the magical town of Schmigadoon, which they stumble across while backpacking.</p>
<p>The musical town of the show’s first season is an amalgamation of the golden age musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Think <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6uD9-aLCps">Oklahoma!</a> (1943), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqgTaNqolXo">Carousel</a> (1945) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI">The Music Man</a> (1957) – simple romantic storylines and a happy cast of characters who frequently burst into song for no reason.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for season two of Schmigadoon!</span></figcaption>
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<p>Melissa loves these musicals and can predict the course of events based on their familiar formula. Following the plot of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpk9JNUDr9k">Brigadoon</a> (1954), the couple can only leave the town when they find love – that is, when they fix their rocky relationship. Happily, it works: the corny musical tropes become deeply meaningful and a vital therapeutic resource for the couple.</p>
<p>When we meet them at the start of season two, Josh and Melissa are enjoying the doping effects of the musical and its required suspension of disbelief. They marry and decide to start a family. </p>
<p>However, when their fertility journey proves difficult, reality hits hard. Compared with the dopamine-fest of season one, their situation feels bleak.</p>
<p>German playwright and theorist Bertolt Brecht found <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-brecht/2D0C869D864DA0636AECA03E3E77414F">“autonomous” dramatic music</a> (music for music’s sake) suspicious. He believed that theatre should be used to challenge audiences and promote social ideas and self-reflection. This is threatened by pleasure-focused operas and musicals.</p>
<p>Brecht believed that dramatic music’s seductive charms could dupe audiences into submission, so the musical comprised a dangerous smokescreen. In Josh and Melissa’s case, the musical has distorted their sense of reality and they are about to enter a world of danger.</p>
<h2>The musical darkens</h2>
<p>As Schmigadoon did a great job of solving their problems last time, the couple decide to return, hoping it will once again work its magic. When they find the town, however, it has transitioned into Schmicago: the dark, sensual era of the 1960s and 1970s musicals such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfL1J4QVhSM">Cabaret</a> (1966), Chicago (1975) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acHBq_oZm-8">Sweeney Todd</a> (1979).</p>
<p>This era is more concerned with terror, excitement, shock and disgust – themes familiar in gothic fiction. These musicals resemble the formulaic gothic dramas of <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01809-7.html">excess, hyperbole and fantasy</a>, which garnered a similar mass appeal from the late 18th century.</p>
<p>This era was also associated with concept musicals, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-the-musical/65AF6EFD39A6DDCFF13AB3CDBD5C749E">which rejected</a> traditional storylines and linear narratives in favour of abstract ideas. </p>
<p>As concept musicals experimented with traditional structural boundaries, lines between reality and fantasy became unstable, providing a maze-like structure for eccentric stories to be told.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ariana DeBose performs Over and Done in Schmigadoon! season two.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The characters in Schmicago musicals reflect those in English gothic <a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/themes/fin-de-siecle">fin-de-siècle</a> novels. </p>
<p>Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray loses his identity in his picture, the identity of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll becomes entangled with Mr Hyde and the victims of Bram Stoker’s Dracula lose theirs in vampirism. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bram-stokers-dracula-bats-garlic-disturbing-sexualities-and-a-declining-empire-186392">Bram Stoker's Dracula: bats, garlic, disturbing sexualities and a declining empire</a>
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<p>Meanwhile, Sweeney Todd is overwhelmed with revenge, Cabaret’s Sally Bowles sports an impenetrably vivacious facade and the world of law in Chicago is hopelessly subsumed in the world of show business.</p>
<p>The unconventional forms of these musicals represent their characters’ damaged boundaries: their inability to maintain a clear sense of morality, or to keep their delusions from infecting reality.</p>
<h2>How season two deviates</h2>
<p>Season one followed the structure of a golden age musical. Josh and Melissa inevitably realised their love for each other and escaped. Season two’s outcome, however, is less predictable. The musicals of this era have no clear moral and the couple have no idea what lesson they must learn in order to escape.</p>
<p>What’s more, the Narrator (Titus Burgess) is highly unreliable. While Melissa is an expert in old-timey musicals, she is less familiar with the Schmicago era. Her lack of foresight allows the narrative to take a chaotic shape.</p>
<p>The couple are trapped in a place that is apparently trying to destroy them. As this era is more about survival than happiness, they are forced to confront the fact that – as in many gothic tales – the only solution might be to kill the villain. The moral of the story becomes harder to untangle.</p>
<p>The Narrator is based on the narrator of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U2Ji5-MebA">Pippin</a> (1972), the Leading Player who, in the show’s climax, tries to convince Pippin to set himself on fire for the “thrilling finale”. When Josh and Melissa are about to leave Schmicago, the townspeople try to persuade them to stay and avoid the misery of reality. </p>
<p>The Narrator’s plea for them to stay in the world of “magic” echoes the Leading Player’s plea for Pippin to give up his life to perform one glorious feat of spectacle. Like Pippin, however, Josh and Melissa refuse: all they want is something real.</p>
<p>As it turns out, this was the lesson all along. The magic of a musical is only effective when contrasted with reality. Indeed, that is the appeal of a Schmicago musical, which integrates misery with joy to create a stronger emotional impact.</p>
<p>Schmicago teaches that musical logic is not meant to be applied directly to reality, or necessarily untangled, but used in configuration with reality to draw personal conclusions. The musical’s effect becomes enlightening rather than doping, providing catharsis and self-knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jodie Passey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Compared to the dopamine-fest of season one, Josh and Melissa’s situation in season two feels bleak.
Jodie Passey, PhD Candidate, Lancaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205149
2023-05-11T11:36:26Z
2023-05-11T11:36:26Z
Eurovision 2023: why the stage itself is the silent star of the contest
<p>This week, Liverpool stages one of the <a href="https://eurovision.tv/mediacentre/release/183-million-viewers">world’s largest live televised events</a>, the Eurovision Song Contest. I grew up watching it as an annual family get-together. </p>
<p>Now, as a lecturer in theatre and scenography – the study and practice of how set, sound, light and costume work together in an event – I have come to appreciate the immense logistical effort this entertainment behemoth requires. </p>
<p>More fascinatingly though, it is an extraordinary example of media and performance history, providing a yearly snapshot of pan-European <a href="https://theconversation.com/eurovision-even-before-the-singing-starts-the-contest-is-a-fascinating-reflection-of-international-rules-and-politics-204934">national identities and politics</a>.</p>
<p>While the contest’s rules state that <a href="https://eurovision.tv/about/rules">it is a non-political event</a>, it undeniably puts international relations on display. But while looking at different countries’ acts and voting patterns offers interesting insights, there is a silent star of the event that often goes unnoticed – the stage.</p>
<h2>Staging a nation</h2>
<p>Since the contest’s inception in 1956, there has been no serious discussion about the way Eurovision is an exercise in staging nation, nationality and nationalism in the literal sense – namely how these ideas inform the scenography.</p>
<p>2023 marks the first time Eurovision will be hosted in the runner-up’s country due to war, with the UK hosting on behalf of Ukraine. </p>
<p>The host’s stage set-up must be everything and nothing at the same time. It needs to provide a flexible, adaptable canvas for the wide-ranging individual acts of up to 44 countries. At the same time, it must offer a memorable and distinct experience to measure up to previous iterations of the competition. </p>
<p>The stage also needs to embody that year’s chosen theme, while meeting the extensive requirements of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the event, in order to allow the competition to run efficiently.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Inside Liverpool Arena as the Eurovision 2023 build got underway.</span></figcaption>
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<p>2023’s theme is “united by music”. After the UK’s difficult departure from the EU, it now faces the challenge of staging itself as part of a united European community. Meanwhile, it also needs to give space to Ukraine to do the same. </p>
<p>The Liverpool stage’s designer, Julio Himede, has repeatedly offered the <a href="https://recessed.space/00097-Julio-Himede-Eurovision">image of a hug</a> – of open arms welcoming Ukraine and the world – as central to the stage’s spatial configuration.</p>
<p>The early days of Eurovision were a much smaller affair than nowadays. When the UK first hosted in 1960 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, it seated just 2,500 people. That’s less than a quarter of this year’s 11,000 at the Liverpool arena.</p>
<p>And if you have been watching the semi-finals, you’ll already have a good sense of the sheer scale of this year’s stage. At 450m², it is almost as big as a basketball court. With an integrated lighting design through video-capable floor and ceiling tiling and huge LED screens, the only apt descriptor is “spectacular”.</p>
<p>For Eurovision, the concepts, symbols and metaphors underpinning the design have to work in tandem with the creative vision of each delegation, as well as the 45 second turnover between acts in the live show.</p>
<p>The design concept also has to be one that acknowledges the particular situation of this year’s contest and simultaneously unites the identities of Ukraine and the UK. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the image of the hug that underpins the sweeping curve of the main stage space aims to offer a more universal theme, rather than one which is culturally specific. Viewers will notice the “open arms” of the stage are echoed in the arrangement of the “green room”, where the national delegations are located during the show.</p>
<p>In this sense, Eurovision is a prime example of a “soft power” approach to international relations, which works by persuasion or influence, rather than the “hard power” of economic sanctions or military intervention. </p>
<h2>The UK after Brexit</h2>
<p>This year, it will be fascinating to see how much space the UK will give to Ukraine, not only last year’s winner but a nation in need of international recognition and support. And to what extent the UK will use this event, post-Brexit, to stage itself as a welcoming part of Europe.</p>
<p>The UK does have a history of highly successful <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/jul/31/olympic-opening-ceremony-agitprop-theatre">agit-prop</a> events, which have engaged audiences emotionally to shape public opinion. Think back to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/jul/31/olympic-opening-ceremony-agitprop-theatre">2012 London Olympics opening ceremony</a>, which strove to inspire <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642529.2014.909674">a sense of national identity</a>. </p>
<p>In 2023, the UK sees itself in the middle of global instability and national tension over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/16/hostile-authoritarian-uk-downgraded-in-civic-freedoms-index">mounting authoritarianism</a> and <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2023/02/07/yougov-cost-living-segmentation">widening social divisions</a>. Once again, it has the chance to use an international stage to put forward an idealised narrative.</p>
<p>In any such example, the stage underpins the entire event. It is essential to the atmosphere for the live audience and fundamental to its appearance on television. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that Eurovision 2023 is a staging extravaganza and will test the UK’s capability to shake off its <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-is-the-sick-man-of-europe-again/">“sick man of Europe”</a> image. It is a stage which offers the UK the opportunity to adjust its global image in line with the contest’s welcoming theme. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether the image of open arms for the world is sincere or cynical.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205149/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Maleen Kipp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
2023 sees the UK host the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine. But what role does the stage itself have to play in the musical spectacle?
Lara Maleen Kipp, Lecturer in Theatre and Scenography, Aberystwyth University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.