ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT
culture cul re
MASKING IT
THE LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS
Clem Halpin is the director of Ocean Shores’ newest and perhaps first ever theatre company – Halpin Productions Inc. They are currently presenting The Last of The Red Hot Lovers. Clem told us a little more about how it came to be. Why did you decide to relocate to Ocean Shores? Back in 2000 my wife Shelly and I decided we would like to live closer to the beach. We drove from the Gold Coast and investigated every little beachside town until we discovered and fell in love with South Golden Beach. For quite a while we commuted to and from the Gold Coast directing or performing in shows. We joined the Ballina theatre group, and had some great experiences, but driving there didn’t exactly eliminate the travel. One day I was driving out of the Ocean Shores Shopping Centre and noticed the ‘Hall for Hire’ sign outside the Community Centre across the road. And that’s basically how and where the new theatre group Halpin Productions Inc began. Why did you chooseLast of the Red Hot Lovers? It was more the writer than the show itself. I’ve always admired Neil Simon’s writing. His scripts are so relatable and usually extremely funny. I have previously directed his other shows The Goodbye Girl, California Suite, and performed in Chapter Two. Are you using any local talent in the show? Who? As it turned out, not from Ocean Shores itself. The actors starring in the show are: Gray Wilson: An extremely good actor who has played many roles for the Lismore Theatre Company. Kasadevi Curtis: Also from the Lismore Theatre Company and the Drill Hall Theatre Company, I have always admired her talent. Veronica Lovejoy: From Alstonville but has just finished her role as May Poppins, for Ballina Players Theatre. This is a very different role and Veronica is adapting to the character wonderfully. Lisa Walmsley: A talented writer and actor from Lismore; Lisa has taken ownership of her role extremely well. She has completed a number of theatre units at UNE as part of a BA and her experience shows. This show is also a fundraiser for some of friends of yours? A family close to ours has recently been rocked with the news that their (only) two sons have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The boys, Oliver (8) and Isaac (5), are going to need much assistance and equipment in the future and we hope that our small contribution can go a little way to helping ease some financial burden. What is your vision for Halpin Productions? We would love for Halpin Productions Inc to be warmly accepted and supported within the community. If Last of the Red Hot Lovers goes well, we’d love to explore other productions that would suit or that we could adapt for the stage at Ocean Shores Community Centre, and continue injecting a little theatre into our beautiful little seaside community. Playing at the Ocean Shores Community Centre this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8pm. Tickets$25 on eventbrite.
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
Over the next three Monday evenings (6.30–8.30pm) 14, 21, 28 May, The Drill Hall will be running a series of Commedia D’el Arte and Mask workshops for members. Annual membership is only $15 so if you’re keen to extend your skills you can sign up at the workshops. The workshops will be under the guidance of Brin Pritchard, a very experienced and skilled teacher and performer of mask-based work. If you are interested just turn up on Monday evening by 6.30.
OILS AND PIGS Midnight Oil 1984 is the story of the sweat-soaked, hardworking rock’n’roll band whose music galvanised a generation of young Australians and inspired them to believe in the power of music to change the world. Featuring the biggest hits from some of their most legendary shows, the movie gives you an Access All Areas pass to see the band behind the scenes and where the action is. Feel the electric energy onstage and witness the personal struggles of the band members as they try to balance the equally compelling demands of both music and politics when lead singer Peter Garrett decides to join the race for an Australian Government Senate seat. Friday at Pighouse Flicks.
CHEEKY CABARET Two years in, people continue to talk about the Cheeky Cabaret. The Brunswick Picture house continues to present some of the most incredible international artists from around the world. Bold and brash, sexy and dangerous, with tongue placed firmly in cheek, this is one party you will not want to miss! Smashing together circus, vaudeville, comedy and everything between, the Cheeky Cabaret has rightfully become the talk of the town. The cabaret features a different cast of troubadours, miscreants, delectable divas and cabaret queens every month, so no two shows are ever the same! You’ll leave spellbound, titillated and amazed. As always bring Grandma, but leave the little ones at home! Friday & Saturday at Brunswick Picture House at 7pm.
WHEN BEING WRONG IS SO RIGHT
BLEND NOAM CHOMSKY, LENNY BRUCE AND TERRENCE MCKENNA AND YOU HAVE ALAN CLEMENTS. MANDY NOLAN SPOKE WITH THE SPIRITUALLY ASTUTE HUMOURIST AHEAD OF HIS BYRON SHOW ABOUT SPIRITUALITY, MINDFULNESS AND OPIUM-LACED CIGARS. What does it mean to be spiritually incorrect? To me, spiritual incorrectness is not a dogma – a thing. It’s a radical way of being, free – a courageous act of conscience, a liberated personal choice of shameless authenticity. It’s also having the bravery to resist servitude, conformity, and collusion – and all other ways of numbing down. Who sets the standards? I take it there’s no regulatory body? The New Testament of spiritual correctness today is pretty much determined by what sells. The commercialisation of consciousness is big business. Mindfulness has become the performance-enhancing drug of choice for Google, American Express, Goldman Sachs and almost every other company on the Fortune 500. Even compassion has become a cash cow. Who sets the standards? CEOs, publishers, agents, publicists, and even ghostwriters for wanna-be spiritual authorities hoping to translate their India experiences into bestsellers. Corporations and their cogs determine who gets known and who doesn’t, what gets published and what doesn’t, what’s authentic spirituality and what isn’t, what’s true and worthy of notice and what isn’t. And the regulatory body is determined by profits driven by mind share, essentially how many followers you have on social media that like, love, share, tag and tweet you. It’s about the analytics of attention. It’s about commerce. Imagine Tony Robbins, Oprah, or Eckhart doing their gigs on a contribution basis? It’s about capitalism. It’s about money (and power too). What is the most spiritually incorrect thing you have ever done? Ironically, after years of not smoking anything, from the day I entered the monastery in Burma and ordained as a Buddhist monk, I started smoking opium-laced Burmese cigars. Why? It was all I could do to survive – going cold turkey after a two-year cocaine, alcohol and pharmaceutical drug addiction in LA, where I had been living. I did my last line of coke five minutes before I ordained. The list goes on. I’ll save the best – most spiritually incorrect stories for my show. Sexuality has turned into a three-day non-orgasming marathon of spiritual engagement. Are we making sex too complicated? Yes, way too complicated for my taste. And who among us can tell us the ‘right way’ or the ‘spiritually correct’ way to Be. No two of us will hold hands in the same way, or kiss or make love in the same way. Who can tell us that an orgasm or a sustained non-orgasm is better. Should it be transpersonal or personal? Should it be Buddhist or Jewish? Should it be self-involved or should it be absent of self? Should I worry about mine, or my lack of one, or should I see myself as natural? Should I be thinking or should a real one take me beyond thought? Am I being spiritual when I restrain having an orgasm or am I avoiding my higher self? The ways in which we discriminate between this or that are endless. Seeking perfection is a full-time job, and a thankless one. You will always be graded by a lie: your own unwillingness to be you — human. Perfect has to be reinvented every moment. Catch Alan Clement Uncensored in Spiritually Incorrect | Friday 25 May | Byron Theatre
Paul Grabowsky & Lior P R E S E N T E D BY
Re-inventing some of Lior’s most cherished songs as well as bringing their own individual voices to this special show.
N O R T H E R N R I V E R S C O N S E R VATO R I U M
Thursday 31 May, 7:30pm - Lismore City Hall T I C K E T S - A D U LT $ 3 8
CONCESSION $ 34
UNDER 25 $25
For information & tickets lismorecityhall.com.au
The Byron Shire Echo May 16, 2018 35