Theatre Republic in-theatre program | Act 3

BRISBANE FESTIVAL AND QUT PRESENT

ACT 3 | 25 – 29 September 2018

CONTENTS A Coupla Dogs

2

Betty Grumble: Love and Anger

4 6

I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You

10

Our Carnal Hearts

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY In keeping with the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Brisbane, the Turrubul and Jagara Yuggera Peoples, and recognise that this has always been a place of creative

W i t h a M u lt i -T i x discount*

expression. We wish to pay respect to their Elders – past, present and emerging – and acknowledge the important role Aboriginal

*Tickets are subject to availability and must be purchased in one transaction online at brisbanefestival.com.au or call Qtix on 136 246.

and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within our creative community.

ACT 3 AT THEATRE REPUBLIC ACT 3 24 - 29 Sept

Mon 24

*Brisbane Times Festival Conversations

TUE 25

WED 26

THU 27

FRI 21

Sat 29

A Coupla Dogs

7:15pm

7:15pm

7:15pm

7:15pm

4:30pm

Betty Grumble: Love and Anger

9pm

9pm

9pm

9pm

7pm

I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You

7:30pm

7:30pm

7:30pm

1pm, 5pm

Our Carnal Hearts

7pm*

7pm

7pm, 9pm

4:15pm

FROM ENVY TO EMPATHY Act 3 of Theatre Republic – the third week of wonder – takes us to the heart of things.

The Good Room is a Brisbane theatre collective that seeks a world of empathy and connectedness. Their works draws on the contributing voice of the public. This is the third collaboration with Brisbane Festival, following I Want To Know What Love Is in 2014 and I Just Came To Say Goodbye in 2017.

Their new work, I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You, is a piece for adults though lens of young people. What a joy to be part of their ongoing journey.

Our Carnal Hearts is a singing work from UK artist Rachel Mars dealing with the opposite of empathy: envy. It’s an act of exorcism, and a kind of pagan church service, that seeks to celebrate our capacity to covert. It’s the bit of our psyche we don’t like to admit.

From carnal hearts to canine clowns. Dog Spoon is another Brisbane performance company, formed only last year. We presented their first work, Two Guys in a Box, a year ago, and they’re back. This time it’s two dogs in a kennel dealing with a world that dishes up cruelty and kindness at random. Through the clown, this show, too, claws at the recesses of our psyche.

Betty Grumble, the world’s greatest sex clown, is continuing from Act 2. Through love and anger, and gloriously healing obscenity, she pulls apart our prejudices.

If envy is to find resolution in empathy, then the clown might provide a clue.

Welcome to the final, fulsome act.

Image by Dylan Evans

David Berthold, Artistic Director

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DOG SPOON (AUS) THE BLOCK, THEATRE REPUBLIC | 25 – 29 September

2

Image by Stefan Cooper-Fox

BRISBANE FESTIVAL AND QUT PRESENT

ANDREW CORY

SuE RIDER

Co-Writer/Director

Co-Writer

Over the last twenty years, Andrew Cory

Sue is a director, writer and producer with

has worked in Australia and Asia as an actor,

more than 150 stage productions to her credit

a movement director and clown. He has worked

in theatre, music theatre and opera. She has a

with The Queensland Ballet, Queensland

distinguished track record for the development

Theatre Company, La Boite Theatre Company,

of new work and aims to make theatre which

The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Opera

challenges through ideas and style. She is the

Queensland, Queensland Music Festival and

recipient of 19 industry awards for writing and

The South Australia State Theatre Company.

direction and she was Artistic Director of

Andrew studied at Ecole Philip Gaulier

La Boite Theatre Company from 1993 to 2000.

(London), Centre Selavy Mask School (France), Todo Performance Academy (Denmark), the School for Mime Theatre (USA) and Bont’s

R O N K E L LY Performer

International Clown School (Spain).

Ron’s theatre credits include Their Name Liveth

Andrew was the Artistic Director of Backbone

Forever (Backbone) American Buffalo (Troop),

Youth Arts from 2009 to 2013. He is currently one of the organisers for The Angry Mime.

In 2017 he created a new theatre company, Dog Spoon, to focus on clown, movement, image and text.

CREATIVE TEAM Co-Writer/Director Andrew Cory Co-Writer Sue Rider Movement Director/Assistant Director Matthew Dear Old Dog Ron Kelly Young Dog Tom Oliver Beryl (voiceover) Barbara Lowing Other voiceovers Andrew Cory, Noah Cory, Sue Rider, Peter Crees Production Design Josh McIntosh Lighting Design Jason Glenwright Sound Design Peter Crees Sound Design Intern Isabella Hall Stage Manager Cameron Clark Assistant Stage Manager Calum Johnston Producer Alison Burnley

Road to the She Devils Salon, The Works (QTC), Sunnytown (Independents), Kitchen Diva, Drama in the Gasfields (La Boite), River (Metro Arts).

He also toured nationally and internationally with Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience. Film credits include Suicide Theory, The Horseman, Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Swimming Upstream and Waste.

TOM OLIVER Performer Tom Oliver is one of Australia’s brightest rising talents with a broad portfolio across music, theatre, film, television and cabaret. In 2017 he spent 10 months touring as the lead male vocalist in global disco phenomenon VELVET opposite Queen of Pop – Marcia Hines.

Tom’s theatre credits include Rent: The Musical, Romeo & Juliet, Rumour Has It: 60 Minutes Inside Adele (vocalist) and Pirates Of Penzance.

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E M M A M AY E G I B S O N ( A U S ) The BLOCk, THEATRE REPUBLIC | 18 – 22 September

4

Image by Dean Tirkot

BRISBANE FESTIVAL AND QUT PRESENT

E M M A M AY E G I B S O N

BETTY GRUMBLE

Creator/Performer

Surreal showgurl

With a BA in Media Communications (UNSW.

Surreal showgurl. Obscene beauty queen.

Hons, 2011) and MFA in Performance/Sculpture

Wild womanhood. Sex clown. A maniacal

(UNSWAD, 2015) Emma Maye Gibson is a

feminist contagion and ecosexual, her

Sydney-based performance artist engaging

award-winning work has been critically

with an eco-feminist, corporeal push towards

lauded across the board – from the polished

ecosexuality and world saving. Emma Maye

stages of Belvoir St Theatre, Griffin Theatre,

was a recipient of a Performance Space

and Sydney Opera House, to the swampy

Stephen Cummins Bequest (2013) and through

dens of Sydney’s queer underground and

the development of avatar Betty Grumble

international fringes and festivals. Her

has gained critical and underground acclaim

practice bounces from stage to street, screen

across international and national stages.

to shawomanic ceremony. A totem critter

Her most recent work with award-winning

and mantric wish towards Love Energy.

Betty Grumble: Sex Clown Saves The World

Are you Betty to Grumble?

(Helpmann Award Nominee 2017, Green Room Award Innovation in Form 2017, Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award 2017, Fringe World Best Cabaret 2017) has seen her penetrate more traditional theatre spaces with her special brand of sex positive and wild performance art. Emma Maye’s performative landscape straddles both nightclub/cabaret and theatre/gallery spaces.

CREATIVE TEAM Creator/Performer Emma Maye Gibson Music Design Emma Maye Gibson with featured music from Stereogamous Set & Costume Design Emma Maye Gibson (and her unknowing Mother) With special thanks to: Annie Sprinkle Glitta Supernova Karmyn Gibson Ash Bee Aaron Manhattan Thomas Gundry Greenfield The Bearded Tit Stereogamous Candy Royalle The Gang of She Iggy Pop Valerie Solanas and all spirits dance, danced and dancing.

Betty Grumble would also like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, whose land she lives, works and plays on.

5

BRISBANE FESTIVAL, QUT AND LA BOITE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENT

THE GOOD ROOM (AUS) ROUNDHOUSE THEATRE, THEATRE REPUBLIC | 26 – 29 September

6

THE GOOD ROOM

CREATIVE TEAM

The Good Room is a Queensland-based

Director Daniel Evans Key Creative Amy Ingram Key Creative Nathan Sibthorpe Creative Producer Tara Hobbs Young People Producer Annette Box Lighting Designer Jason Glenwright Composer/Sound Designer Dane Alexander Video Designer Craig Wilkinson (Optikal Bloc) Production Designer Jonathan Hindmarsh Costume Madeline Taylor Rigging Consultant Brennan Smith Stage Manager Jeremy Gordon Assistant Stage Manager Sarah Robertson Bust-Out Choreographer Nerrida Matthaei Choreographic Assistant Bek Groves Dramaturg Saffron Benner

performance collective who use the experiences of ordinary people to create extraordinary theatre works.

We ask you – and people just like you – to anonymously share with us fragments and memories, confessions and admissions from your lives, as part of a process that blurs the line between ‘audience’ and ‘maker’ to play with the idea of theatrical collective authorship.

We’ve created work about regret (I Should’ve Drunk More Champagne, 2013), love (I Want To Know What Love Is, 2014) and forgiveness (I Just Came To Say Goodbye, 2017).

Ours is an investigation of empathy, connectedness, stakes and sacrifice. This expresses itself in an aesthetic world that is both dark and light matter; a dichotomy of spectacle and depth. Mirrorballs, rose petals, panda suits and party dresses stud our theatrical universe but totems of party, play and celebration are often subverted;

CAST Emily Bartlett, Ishan Bose, Stella Charrington, Cielle Martin-Falco, Enid Foulger, Alexander Graves, Cecilia Hill, Lucinda Isbel, Aidan Lee, Ruby MacDonald, Phoenix Macrokanis, Declan Mount, Mandile Mpofu, Harrison Newman, Keira Peirce, Michael Power, Jack Sinclair, Marton Temesvari and Angus Tweed.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance season will not feature Marton Temesvari. We thank him for his effort and generosity in the development and rehearsal of this work.

this is richly affirmative, highly contemporary, and widely accessible theatre – underpinned by rigour, ethics, and deep consideration.

The Good Room is comprised of an ensemble of diverse makers with practices that span film through visual art. We are Lauren Clelland, Daniel Evans, Amy Ingram and Kieran Swann.

The Good Room would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this work has been devised and performed – the Turrubul and Jagara Yuggera Peoples. We pay our respect to their Elders – past, present and emerging – and extend our respect to all Aboriginal people attending the work.

The Good Room acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Government through the Australia Council its arts funding and advisory body, and the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. This work was developed in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Australian Performing Arts Market 2018.

7

CREATOR’s NOTE Tonight The Good Room gets some new residents.

I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You puts power in the hands and voices of a group of 9 - 13 year olds drawn from across greater Brisbane.

These young people have set this evening’s agenda via a series of questions that they wanted answers to; questions that they’ve been dying to ask.

Which is where you came in.

You logged on to a specially-built website to share over 3000 candid responses with unfiltered honesty.

Inside the rehearsal room, we poured through your pearls of wisdom, your life stories and wondered aloud at your battle wounds, and sensitive spots.

What has been revealed is a show about age, experience and the dark matter that swirls between.

This work platforms young people as contributors to culture, whose experience and way(s) of seeing the world is (are) important. Their opinions aren’t fixed, their world view isn’t locked down and so, in some ways, this is a theatrical time capsule of sorts, a sort-of performative snapshot that captures a group of young people on a precipice testing who they are and figuring it all out; one truth, one myth, one omission at a time.

It has been our privilege to work with this group for the last six weeks. And we thank them for their openness, their vulnerability and their willingness to try new things amidst a midnight ocean of confetti and unknowns.

Welcome.

The Good Room

8

SPECIAL THANKS The Good Room would like to crack out the champagne and raise a toast to the following people‌ David, Stefan, Damien, Cameron, Steph, Katie, Tim and the team at Brisbane Festival Zohar and Dave from the 2018 Australian Performing Arts Market Canada and Millsy from LaBoite Theatre Company The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts (with particular shout-out to Jason and Helen) Toni from Queensland Theatre Jenny from QPAC Adam from Camerata Chris and Mel from Critical Stages Sean from Sean Dowling for his Sean-ness Adam and Natalie from Aruga Naomi from The Little Red Company Charlie from Sketch Evolution Warren from The Coolum Beach Men’s Shed Lil, Steve and Shaun from Griffith University Stephen and Dan from Optikal Bloc Katherine and Stephen from Backbone Queensland Music Festival Sidney Myer Foundation Tom and Kimberley Leah Shelton Josh Macintosh Tanya Neilsen John Felmingham Samantha and Cory Evans-Johnson Our creative development cast: Adele, Cielle, Emily, Enid, Lachlan, Marton, Minaya, Matthew, Phoenix and Sebastian.

Our voiceover artists: Andrea, Barb, BBA, Bridget, Bronte, Christen, Grady, Jackson, Jezz, Kath, Kaye, Margi, Matilda, Natalie, Ngoc, Nikhil, Penny, Sanja, Shane, Stephen, Wei and Will.

And, finally, the biggest pour of all to the parents, guardians and caregivers of our young ensemble.

Thank you.

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RACHEL MARS (UK) T H E L O F T, T H E AT R E R E P U B L I C | 2 6 – 2 9 S e p t e m b e r

10

Image by Christopher Shea

BRISBANE FESTIVAL AND QUT PRESENT

RACHEL MARS

LOUISE MOTHERSOLE

Writer/Performer

Composer

Rachel Mars is a performance maker with

Louise Mothersole is a performance artist and

a background in theatre, live art and comedy.

one half of award-winning duo Sh!t Theatre.

She explores the idiosyncratic cultural and

Their last two shows Letters to Windsor House

political constructs that inform the way we

and DollyWould were published by Oberon

are together, as people, just trying to figure

Books. Louise is also a lighting designer,

it all out. She’s recently interrogated humour,

theatre technician and freelance composer.

the language of 80’s pop and politics and the

She has written songs and music for Stacy

science of rage. She’s created work alongside

Makishi, Lois Weaver, Duckie at the Barbican

The Royal Court and the Tate Modern, been

and for a project with the RSC.

commissioned by Cambridge Junction, CPT, Fuel Theatre and been in residency at The Orchard Project (NY) and Cove Park (UK). Her

Sorcha Mae Stott-Strzala Production and Stage Manager

performances have been shown around the

Sorcha Mae Stott-Strzala is a lighting designer,

UK, including at The Barbican, South Bank

theatre technician and curator based in

Centre and Royal Exchange Manchester and

London. Sorcha likes experimental, queer work

at festivals internationally including Fusebox,

that challenges audience’s perception and

Austin and Wildside, Montreal. Rachel also

crosses the boundaries between visual arts

leads workshops for students and artists of all

and live arts. Having worked in the tech box

backgrounds. Her work is often supported by

designing lights whilst completing her MFA

grants from Arts Council, England. rachelmars.org

Curating at Goldsmiths, these two aspects of her professional career intersect, inform

CREATIVE TEAM Written and performed by Rachel Mars Arrangements and compositions by Louise Mothersole Directed by Wendy Hubbard and Rachel Mars Sung by Christina Mairs, Sarah Cranfield and Sophie Banister Lighting design by Anna Barrett Production and Stage Management by Sorcha Mae Stott-Strzala Produced by Lucy Jackson (US & International) and Rebecca Atkinson-Lord (UK & Europe)

and influence each other. The liveness and care for each other that is prevalent in theatre is brought out in her performance curating, whilst in turn, a curatorial mindset is applied when working on lighting designs. She has worked with – amongst others – Malik Nashad Sharpe, Lucy McCormick, Sink The Pink, Chris Goode, Rosanna Cade, Figs in Wigs, Rachel Mars, Jonny Woo and Rachael Clerke.

Developed with the support of Arts Council England. Co-commissioned by Cambridge Junctionand CPT with further support from American Repertory Theatre, Ovalhouse, Shoreditch Town Hall, South East Dance in partnership with Jerwood Charitable Trust.

Developed in partnership with The Orchard Project (NY), The Royal Court Theatre and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal.

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D O N ’ t m i s s t h i s a lt o g e t h e r D A R I N G s h o w !

“Legs On The Wall blasts physical theatre into a new and triumphant dimension.”

The sun-herald

LEGS ON THE WALL (AUS)

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26 – 29 September | BRISBANE POWERHOUSE

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