Presented by Vitalstatistix
It’s personal. It’s political. It’s punk.
Vitalstatistix is very proud to premiere Take Up Thy Bed & Walk, a groundbreaking work by visionary artist Gaelle Mellis and her fantastic creative team. We selected Take Up Thy Bed & Walk for our Incubator residency program in 2011 and have worked with Gaelle over the past two years to realise the work. When I first selected this project for Incubator, I was excited by Gaelle’s desire to pioneer and challenge, in an incredibly elegant way; her desire to see herself on stage; her desire to make a work that refused to educate people about disability but rather presented disability in a cultural and political framework. Over the last two years, we have had long chats about the bolshy Ian Dury and our childhood books and everything in between. It certainly has been an honour to join Gaelle for what has been an inspiring, eye-opening, whirlwind of a journey. Take Up Thy Bed & Walk has been a large and collaborative undertaking. Our congratulations to Gaelle’s collaborators Ingrid Voorendt and Hilary Bell, all of the creative and production team and of course the performers – it’s been wonderful to have you all here at Waterside over the past few months! Big thanks from Vitals to all of you for the imagination and commitment you have brought to Take Up Thy Bed & Walk. Through investigating disability through the prism of culture, literature, music, her own lived experiences rformance that is a beautiful revelation. She has steadfastly stuck to her vision for Take Up Thy Bed & Walk, including the incorporation of accessibility into the central dramaturgy and form of the work. What results is a beautiful, thought-provoking, at times darkly funny performance.
Emma Webb Creative Producer, Vitalstatistix
The Team Take Up Thy Bed & Walk is the culmination of my journey as a disabled artist so far. Until I visited the UK in 2005 on a Churchill Fellowship to observe disability arts practice, I had never seen myself represented on stage, and I had never witnessed disabled artists (my peers) collaborating together in professional contexts. Most importantly, I connected with Jenny Sealey, a pioneer in the field of the aesthetics of access, who continues to be an inspiration, a champion and a friend. The experience was transformative and I returned to Australia on a mission to change things. I wanted to tackle the issue of access for disabled people, disabled artists and audiences in Australia and, ultimately, to make a work that represented me as a disabled woman. I wanted to see performers with physical and sensory impairments who were encouraged to be more than just stereotypes.
Creative
In 2007 I read Lois Keith’s book Take Up Thy Bed And Walk and was inspired to investigate the way that Victorian ideas around disability, death and cure are still prevalent today. I began to explore these ideas in collaboration with artists including Hilary Bell and Ingrid Voorendt. Hilary’s contribution to the project has been pivotal in that she continually asked pertinent and often difficult questions of me. Her input has impacted the work enormously. Ingrid and I have a shared understanding and approach, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do this without her. I want to thank all my collaborators, and the many invaluable people who have supported me and made this project possible, in particular Maggie Armstrong. Thanks to the Vitals team Emma Webb, Lara Torr, Helen Sheldon and Emma O’Neill. Most of all I want to thank the perfectly imperfect performers Emma, Gerry, Jo, Kyra, and Michelle who have brought such generosity, openness and honesty to this work.
Performers: Jo Dunbar, Emma J Hawkins, Kyra Kimpton, Michelle Ryan and Gerry Shearim
Gaelle Mellis Conceiver and Creator
Lighting design: Geoff Cobham
Spasticus Autisticus video anthem contributors: Kirsty Martinsen, Ellen Fraser Barbour, Kath Duncan, Nadia Baradi, Lynn Gordon, Nadia Baradi, Roz Sommariva, Joanne Chua, Franca Lombardi, Robyn Iommazzo, Julie McNamara, Emma Benninson, Amanda Tink, Daryl Beeton, Jo Dunbar, Emma J Hawkins, Kyra Kimpton, Michelle Ryan and Women with Disabilities WA Inc., including: Sam J, Rayna Lamb, Barbara MacKay, Zel, Eleanor and Sam C.
Composition, musical arrangement and sound design: Zoë Barry and Jed Palmer
Take Up Thy Bed & Walk includes excerpts of poetry by Sheila Black.
Conceived and led by theatre designer and disability advocate Gaelle Mellis, Take Up Thy Bed & Walk has been created collaboratively over three years with Ingrid Voorendt and Hilary Bell, who have worked on the work’s direction, content, design and dramaturgy. Direction: Gaelle Mellis and Ingrid Voorendt Text: Hilary Bell
Video production: Heath Britton and Jennifer Greer Holmes Creative Producer: Emma Webb
Design assistance: Wendy Todd Voice, narration and audio description: Lucia Van Sebille, Helen Sheldon, Lara Torr and Emma O’Neill Choreographic contribution: Larissa McGowan Musicians: Belinda Gehlert, Hilary Kleinig and Emily Tulloch (Zephyr Quartet) Embroidery and textile work: Silvana Angelakis, Laura Haigh, Meghann Wilson
Production and Marketing Production Manager: Emma O’Neill Stage Manager: Stephanie Fisher Technician: Chris Petridis Seamstress: Danielle Gibbs Graphic design and website development: Amy Milhinch, Nick Crowther and Freerange Future Publicist: Neil Ward
Vitalstatistix Creative Producer: Emma Webb General Manager: Helen Sheldon Production Manager: Emma O’Neill Program Coordinator: Lara Torr
Gaelle Mellis
Jo Dunbar
Conceiver and Creator
Performer
Gaelle has been working as a theatre designer and collaborator in Australia and internationally for over twenty-five years. She was a co-founder of acclaimed South Australian performance company Ladykillers. Gaelle has designed for companies including Restless Dance Theatre, Australian Dance Theatre, Brink Productions, Adelaide Film Festival, Vitalstatistix, Rambert (UK), Graeae (UK), and Tanja Liedtke. Her designs have toured to the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and the United States. Individual awards received throughout her career, include 2002 Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award; a 2004 Churchill Fellowship, a 2009 South Australian Screen Award for her production design Necessary Games and most recently, in 2012, she was awarded an inaugural Australia Council Creative Australia Fellowship.
Jo is an accomplished dance theatre artist who was born profoundly deaf. She was first introduced to dance training in 1999 by Company Chaos in Australia. In 2001 Jo returned to the UK where she was awarded a scholarship for the Professional Diploma in Community Dance Studies at Laban. Here, she continued her studies, gaining a distinction Masters in European Dance Theatre Practice. She started work with Green Candle on placement in 2002, assisted with the annual Deaf Dance Summer School at Sadler’s Wells in 2003 and 2005 and performed in the touring show Listening Eyes in 2005. Jo was one of five emerging choreographers selected for East London Dance’s Cultural Shift initiative. In 2006 she played the part of ‘Jak’ a leading role in the ground breaking BBC2 drama Soundproof.
Gaelle proudly defines herself as an artist with disability committed to cultural accessibility and diversity. She works to increase access and inclusion for Deaf and disabled people’s participation in arts and culture. She was access consultant for the 2012 Adelaide Festival, is Vice Chair of Arts Access Australia’s board, and most recently was invited to attend An International Convening of Thought Leaders in Theater, Dance, Disability, Education and Inclusion by the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. Gaelle has developed Take Up Thy Bed & Walk over the past three years, initially inspired by an extended visit to Graeae Theatre Company in the UK, her desire to see access incorporated into the aesthetic of performance in Australia and her commitment to seeing professional, disabled artists on stage.
Since arriving back in Australia in 2009, she has performed with Restless Dance Theatre in Bedroom Dancing and with Strange Fruit at the Australian Deaf Games. She is currently based in Victoria, choreographing and creating The Delta Project, a new dance theatre company for Deaf and hearing dancers. Jo has been part of the Take Up Thy Bed & Walk creative team since its first development.
Emma J Hawkins
Kyra Kimpton
Performer
Performer
Emma is a short statured, triple threat performer. She performs regularly as her alter ego The Divine Miss Em, and has held a range of roles in different projects from feature roles in King Lear and Sideshow Alley to touring with the Crusty Demons. Emma created and toured her own show, One More Than One, winning Best of Fringe (Brisbane 2006) and Best Movement/Dance Piece (Melbourne Fringe 2007). As a performer she has also appeared in Eat Your Young (Arena Theatre Company), Volpone (STC), The Fire Raisers, The Maids and Spots (Finalist – Short & Sweet Fest), PlazaReal, 7 Sparks and The League of Sideshow Superstars. She has been the poster girl for The Other Film Festival (Vic). Most recently she spent a year with Circus Oz and has been performing in the musical Love Never Dies, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award for the role of Fleck, in 2011.
Kyra is a South Australian-based dance and interdisciplinary artist with a vision impairment. Since 2006 Kyra has been performing with Restless Dance Theatre and has appeared in many of the company’s award-winning works, including Beauty, Bedroom Dancing, Rebel Rebel, The Heart of Another is a Dark Forest, and the nationally and internationally acclaimed short film Necessary Games. She has been involved in a number of independent projects, spanning dance, film, installation and theatre. Kyra has choreographed and performed for Ausdance SA’s Choreolab and the award-winning short film The Forest. In 2009 Kyra received funding to work internationally with UK based director Jemima Hoadley, developing work that incorporates creative access. This work was well received in both London (Independent dance) and Sydney (Arts Activated National Conference). In 2011 she was part of pvi collective’s residency with Vitalstatistix, developing and presenting Deviator.
Based in Victoria, Emma is currently part of the creative development of The Curtain, a new theatre work with four circus women directed by Emil Wolk. Emma runs Atypical Theatre Company, a company that focuses on fair representation of disability in the performing arts, and she has been part of the Take Up Thy Bed & Walk creative team since its first development.
Kyra has recently completed a BA in Drama and Sociology at Flinders University and was shortlisted for the British Council’s Realise Your Dreams program. Currently Kyra is developing a dance theatre solo work called Prelude and she is a member of the SA Minister’s Disability Advisory Council. Kyra has been part of the Take Up Thy Bed & Walk creative team since its first development.
Michelle Ryan
Gerry Shearim
Performer
Performer
Michelle is a filmmaker, choreographer and dancer. She spent a decade working with Meryl Tankard at Australian Dance Theatre and then in Europe.
Gerry is a professional Auslan (Australian Sign Language)/ English interpreter with 20 years experience in the field of deafness. She joined the creative team of Take Up Thy Bed & Walk this year.
In 2002, Michelle returned to Australia after receiving a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. She was a founding member of the acclaimed Splintergroup, working on shows that include lawn, roadkill and underneath. From 2005 - 2010 Michelle worked at Dancenorth, receiving national acclaim through the Australian Dance Awards, Green Room Awards, Townsville Arts Awards and the Australian Critics Choice. Michelle has made two dance films in recent years, Nerve Ending (2009) has been screened nationally and internationally and won the WOW Film Festival Indie Flix competition, and Four Short Films About Juanita (2010). Michelle returned to the stage in 2011 after a 10-year absence, due to the challenges of her disability, at the invitation of Alain Platal of Les Ballet C de la B. for the Brisbane Festival season of Out of Context for Pina. Michelle currently works in the disability sector for National Disability Service and continues to be a performing arts practitioner. She joined the creative team of Take Up Thy Bed & Walk this year.
Throughout her career, Gerry has jumped at opportunities to work in the arts. She has performed as an interpreter/ actor with the Australian Theatre of the Deaf in productions including Interpretation (2003), There and Back (2005) and The Cat Lady of Bexley (2006). Gerry has also interpreted shows for the Sydney Theatre Company including Self-Esteem (2007) and Optimism (2010), a Sydney production of Wicked (2010) and the Sammy J and Randy show The Inheritance at the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Vitalstatistix Vitalstatistix (Vitals) is a boutique producer-presenter of contemporary theatre and interdisciplinary arts projects. We seek to produce new Australian performance and live art that is provocative, distinctive and informed.
Vitalstatistix and Gaelle Mellis gratefully thank
Vitals values creative processes that encompass collaboration and cultural research. We develop partnerships with independent creative teams who desire to work with us over several years in a stimulating and supportive producing environment.
Our peers, colleagues and supporters, without which this project would not have happened: Jenny Sealey MBE, Larissa McGowan, Willie Elliot, Caroline Conlon, Lynn Gordon, Becky Llewellyn and Disability Consultancy Services Pty Ltd, Dr Lorna Hallahan, Arts Access Victoria, Ross Onley-Zerkel, Deaf Arts Network, Martin Sawtell, Katharine Annear, Gus MacDonald, Carclew Youth Arts, Naida Chinner, Jayne Boase, DATT, Access 2 Arts, Kat Worth, Gabrielle Griffin, Alex and David Beesley, Nick Skibinski, Bonnie Williams, Kelly Vincent, Sue Williams, Kate Larsen, Emma Bennison, Jo Hemmant, Amy Milhinch, Sandra Hoopman, Sophia Borick, Amanda Cullen, Clare Tizard, Restless Dance Theatre, Leon Koomen, Edith Koomen, Sally Chance, Astrid Pill, Daisy Brown, Roz Hervey, Joanna Johnston, Heidi Angove, Tania-Rose & Lily Mellis, Yvette Deerness, Tony, Roman & Bina Mellis, Barney and Betty Mellis, Carol Wellman Kelly, Trish and Ross Lang, Kathryn Sproul, Frank Moylan, Fiona Cook, Morwenna Collett, the Adelaide Festival, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Windmill Theatre, Barry Shuttleworth and HOTS AV, Mixmasters and Mick Wordley, and the Vitalstatistix Board.
Vitals is based at the heritage-listed Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide, a place with strong cultural history that informs our production of highly diverse and often political work. Each year the Vitals program includes development and presentation of new work, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, residencies, communitybased projects and industry initiatives.
www.vitalstatistix.com.au
Maggie Armstrong, who managed the project in 2010/2011 and Justin Pennington, Production Manager at Vitals until August 2012, for their long-term contribution to Take Up Thy Bed & Walk.
A huge thank you to all our fantastic volunteers throughout the season. Take Up Thy Bed & Walk was developed with the generous support of the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts SA and the Richard Llewellyn Arts & Disability program.
coming soon
CUTAWAY A PORTRAIT
CUTAWAY – A PORTRAIT is a remarkable theatre & audio exploration of the spirit of mischief that inhabits Port Adelaide’s Waterside Workers Hall. Acclaimed headphone-verbatim theatre maker Roslyn Oades has worked with interviews collected by community members to make a fascinating portrait of the cheekiness, loyalty and independent spirit of Port locals. Weaving together eight real-life stories from some of the Port’s best yarn spinners, we invite you to sit close and listen. Headphone-verbatim theatre is a unique performance experience, where actors wear earpieces and literally adopt the words, breaths and speech mannerism of another human being. What results is incredibly intimate and evocative storytelling. The central performance will be topped and tailed by beautiful audio art works, making a three-part experience that takes you up close and personal with Waterside and the people who inhabit it. Don’t miss this site-specific audio adventure. Cutaway is a three-year arts project, now in its second year, celebrating Vitalstatistix’s heritage-listed home by asking artists and community members to respond to Waterside’s history, spirit and place in the Port’s future.
8pm Thursday 13 December 8pm Friday 14 December 5pm & 8pm Saturday 15 December 8pm Sunday 16 December Waterside Workers Hall 11 Nile Street, Port Adelaide Free car parking next door at Port TAFE $20 waged/$15 concession Book at www.trybooking.com For more info phone: 8447 6211
5
shows only
www.vitalstatistix.com.au
“Astonishingly authentic... Oades has an extraordinary ability to take us into different worlds.” The Australian, I’m Your Man,
Sydney Festival, 2012
Creator & director Roslyn Oades. performers Katia Molino, Stephen Sheehan, Sasha Zahra. collaborating artists Sasha Grbich, Jason Sweeney, Wendy Todd, Lara Torr & Emma Webb.
www.vitalstatistix.com.au www.roslynoades.com
takeupthybed.org
vitalstatistix.com.au