Page 40 - Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Melbourne Arts Melb. Symphony Orchestra Ghostbusters Live in Concert Bring your proton pack and join the original paranormal investigation and elimination team as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performs the score to the timeless 1984 supernatural comedy and cult hit Ghostbusters live to film. April 26 and 27. Venue: Hamer Hall. - Peter Kemp
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Panic Hits The Ministry
Mildura Arts Centre Nourish Contemporary Ceramics - Jennifer Gadsden and Renae Pennicuik Nourish is an exploration of our local food culture, our region and our environment. The land that yields, the growers that produce, our human connections through rituals of food preparation and the opportunity to connect with others. Nourishment is necessary for growth of mind, body and soul to maintain good health. However, to be well nourished is more than just the food we eat, it is also the sustenance we receive through our connections to community, place and each other. Exhibition : April 4 - May 26. ★ The Lost Photographs of Socrates Smith: A set of photographs created in the summer of 1971 and 1972, is the starting point for Sam Lloyd's reflection on what it meant to be a rebel in Australia in the 1970s - and the complexity of a time whose unresolved tensions echo down to the Australia of today. Rediscovered in 2013, these enigmatic images were created by 18-year-old aspiring artist, Solomon 'Socrates’ Smith (born Sydney 1953, died Cyprus 2014). The exhibition includes archival material and new works by Sam Lloyd that explore Socrates' singular and radical vision. The exhibition will also launch Sam's biography of Socrates Smith. The Parrot (coauthored with Ross Bradley) Exhibition: Thursday April 4 - Sunday June 9. ★ Reimagining Culture: Contemporary Connections to Country. This is an acutely relevant major hew creative initiative between Graft and Mildura Arts Centre. This exclusive exhibition will bring together a selection of existing works by Mutti Mutti, Boonwurrung Yorta woman and multi-disciplinary artist Maree Clarke, and new works made in collaboration with Maree and her nieces and nephews. Exhibition opened March 9 and closes Sunday May 12. ★ Paintings of Life: Shegofa Rahmimi (Almas) Shegofa Rahmimi's paintings explore the experience of daily life, responding to those she sees who are in need or in trouble, or taking inspiration from nature. Rendered in a style that is highly expressive, Shegofa's works are imbued with multiple emotions. Exhibition opened March 21 and closes Sunday May 5. Mildura Arts Centre 199 Coreton Rd, Mildura - Peter Kemp
City of Casey Beautiful People and Nature: Bernadette Coquet Nature at its /Best: Rogis Coquet Bernadette Coquet and Rogis Coquet present two exhibitions. Bernadette paints the people she has met expressing a dream like feeling. Rogis paints about his experiences of travel and connecting with nature. Exhibition closes May 6. Endeavour Hills Library 10 Raymond McMahon Blvd Endeavour - Peter Kemp
Observations 50/50
● Richard Ryan (Louis Tesson, Minister of National Education), Alexis Renou (Éric Garcia, the Ministry’s jack of all trades), Anouk Bidot (Sara Bellecour, Gabrielle’s daughter), Léonore David (Michelle Tesson, Louis’ future ex-wife), Sophie Armstrong (Gabrielle Bellecour, chief of staff of the Ministry of National Education) and Dominique Croset (Cécile Bouquigny, Gabrielle’s mother) rehearse Panic Hits the Ministry (Panique Au Ministere ) for Melbourne French Theatre. Photo: Michael Bula ■ Melbourne French Theatre Armed with 3D ‘safety presents Panic Hits the Minis- goggles’, the audience gets to try (Panique Au Ministere) join in the fun ducking flying from May 1 – 4 at Library on ping pong balls in this mysterithe Dock, 104 Victoria Harbour ous sci-fi spoof. Promenade, Docklands. A cavalcade of ingenious Rosslynd Piggott: I sense you but I cannot see you Written by Jean Franco and kooky creatures appears on the This exhibition charts conGuillaume Mélanie and di- two screens, accompanied by rected by Donald McManus, equally wacky real-life char- temporary Australian artist the political comedy tells of acters, as one-by-one the char- Rosslynd Piggott's remarkable oeuvre created over almost panic at the Ministry of Edu- acters are possessed. cation. Frenetic pacing, absurdist four decades, including new The Education Minister theatrics and comedic wit are works never before seen in wants to enforce mandatory on show in this performance of Australia. The major survey exhibischool uniforms and the stu- shadow puppetry on steroids. dents are revolting. There’s an old-school tion is presented 21 years after Meanwhile, the Minister’s charm about Stark and Dormy; her first survey, Rosslynd trusted chief of staff Gabrielle, the puppets come to life from Piggott: Suspended Beach, also a dynamic career woman, is what seems like bits of junk held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1998. contending with a troublesome strewn across the stage. More than 100 artworks are daughter who wants her indeAnd when things go wrong pendence but has no means of occasionally, as they are wont presented in the exhibition, income, and an impossible to do in such a fast-paced, live- linked by ideas that have sushippy mother who sets Gaby action medium, the improv is tained Piggott from the beginning of her career, including up with dates. as funny as the gags. Gaby concentrates all her Directed by Jeff Achtem, dream states and Surrealism, energy on her job and to save and displaying incredible synesthesia and sensory perher boss from every sticky po- synchronicity, master puppe- ception, the beauty of the natulitical and scandal-plagued situ- teers and comics' Christian ral world and the poetics of ation. Bagin and James Pratt, en- time and space. Works span a diverse range Performance Season: May trance the crowd as they play 1-4 at 8pm; May 3 and 4 at 2pm. off each other and make it all of mediums including paintDuration: Approximately seem not only effortless but also ings, drawings, sculptures and 90 minutes with no interval as if they are enjoying them- installations and the survey reVenue: Library at the Dock, selves as much as the audi- veals the ease which Piggott moves effortlessly across diSecond Floor Performance ence. Space, 104 Victoria Harbour Performance Details: Until verse materials to evoke multisensorial phenomena. Promenade, Docklands. April 21 Exhibition opens April 12 Bookings: http:// Venue: The Coopers, and closes August 18. melbournefrenchtheatre.org.au/ Malthouse NGVAustralia current-production-may/ Bookings: https:// - Cheryl Threadgold www.comedyfestival.com.au/ Level 3, Federation Square Swanston St, Melbourne 2019/shows/stark-and-dormy - Peter Kemp - Review by Kathryn Keeble
NGV Australia
Stark and Dormy
■ In the small town of Mystery Beach, trouble is brewing. So, begins the weird and wonderful tale that is Bunk Puppets’ new show Stark and Dormy. Something strange is happening at Fox’s Family Fun Park, things are not what they seem. The animals keep disappearing. Theme park owner Marty Fox is being pursued by the Russian mafia. His daughter Jessica has just discovered a strange and interesting sea creature. And, after a disastrous rollercoaster test ride, Fox’s prize ostrich Lady Gaga has suffered a fatal mishap on the loop-de-loop.
● James Pratt and Christian Bagin in Stark and Dormy. Photo: Andrew Wuttke
● Michael Shafar in 50/50. ■ Michael Shafar is delivering a TET talk – a very funny talk about Testicular Cancer, a diagnosis accompanied by an alarming 50 per cent survival rate given to Shafar at 26. Cancer is a topic that has occupied Shafar’s every waking moment for the past year. Happily, after four rounds of surgery and 24 weeks of exhausting chemo, he is thankfully free of the cancer that put his life on hold and back to doing the thing he’s exceptionally good at – making people laugh. A former lawyer and a comedy writer for The Project, Shafar debunks some truly terrible advice so often mindlessly given to people going through life-altering situations. Live each day as if it’s your last. Well, technically it could very well be. Laughter is the best medicine. Ditto, alternative therapies and that chicken soup will work its magic. Well, again, the dreaded chemo is probably more effective. Shafar narrates a surreal journey through the cancer nightmare including a hilarious trip to the sperm bank to make a precautionary deposit accompanied by his girlfriend and his Jewish mother. After all, Shafar’s mother reminds him as he’s attempting to get in the mood: “If you don’t have children, Hitler wins!” Darkly funny, Shafar delivers jokes in spades but with an honesty and pathos of someone who knows that the only way to combat that thing that has brought you down is to go to the place where you are stripped bare. This show then, for Shafar, is a type of self-medication. Shafar and his audience laugh their way through it. And who knew that cancer could be so funny? Performance Dates: UntilApril 21 Venue: Victoria Hotel, 215 Lt. Collins St., Melbourne Tickets: $22-$27 Bookings: comedyfestival.com.au/2019/ - Review by Kathryn Keeble
Dracula
■ You name it, Dracula has been done to death and David S. lnnes and Rob Lloyd freely admit that. From an 1897, Gothic horror novel by Irish novelist Bram Stoker, Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres and endless theatrical, film and television interpretations. However we were promised a unique interpretation in that in the original text Dracula has presented female characters in a rather unflattering light, in that they were there just to be lusted after or eaten. Based on Stokers novel, adapted and acted out by Innes and Lloyd in multiple roles with Jennifer Speirs in the leading role of Doctor Mina Harker (nee Seward) a brave, calculating and fiercely intelligent woman in the oppressive Victorian era. We followed the story on flip charts of Count Dracula and the many characters around him through the ages and in particular reminisced on the many actors that have played role in film over the last hundred years. Rob Lloyd played Count Dracula in an expressive performance emoting evil and all the gestures and characteristics that we recognise with Dracula. David S. Innes showed his dexterity in playing five roles from Jonathon Harker, Lady Westernra and her daughter Lucy Westenra amongst others all with superb delivery and timing. Both Lloyd and Innes were made to perform together giving a consummate performance at The Butterfly Club and sadly it only ran for a week. Watch out for it should it return somewhere perhaps on a night of full moon. - Review by Graeme McCoubrie