The Neighbourhood | La Boite & Multicultural Australia
Directed by La Boite’s Artistic Director Todd MacDonald, The Neighbourhood is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful forms of storytelling that I’ve witnessed both on and off the stage. Featuring seven storytellers (Amer Thabet, Naavi Karan, Matt Hsu, Aurora Liddle-Christie, Anisa Nandaula, Cieavash Arean, Nima Doostkhah), it is a devised work in which each actor shares their own stories, through music, dance, rap or song and by using the space and the set as their own creative playground.
Mothlight | Skye Gellman & Naomi Francis
Bound and constrained by sawthes of plastic wrap, the show is never explicit. The performers explore relationship - between each other, between the physical possibilities of the room and the set, between their own internal and external selves, between their ambition and the physical limitations of the body.
Leotard | Boyle & Waters
Leotard by Bridget Boyle and Neridah Waters and directed by Lucas Stibbard is an ode to the glory of these stretchy fabric costumes and the costumes we put on ourselves, and those forced upon us, by two of Australia's powerhouse physical comedians. Through a mix of vignettes, interviews with Brisbanites, interpretative dance and even theatre exercises, it's explores the messy beautiy of the lives of those who have donned the armour of lycra and dared to perform for the masses. And best of all, it's side-splittingly funny.
Kurios | Cirque du Soleil
Amidst all the spectacle, the highlights for me were a perfectly performed cat in a moment of exquisitely awkward audience interaction, and a wonderful world made from dancing hands. The simplest pieces perhaps, but the ones with most warmth, and wonder, and otherworldly charm.
Pollinator, December 2019
Be warned: this is no ordinary arts event. Without an audience, a ticketing system or a public Facebook event, Pollinator takes a gorgeous leap away from commercialisation and product-based creative work. Instead, this is a space created by artists, for artists, with the express purpose to experiment, play and explore their own craft.
Nonstop | Dots + Loops
Is music still music if one rejects a central tone or key? A melody or chorus? The usual instruments in their usual styles? Dots+Loops provides excellent answers to all these questions, bundled together into one odd, eclectic, at times mesmerising evening.
Under My Eye | Bianca Mackail
This work stands out in a mass of sexual-sequinned glamour pusses and full-frontal theatrical wonders. It is raw and fresh and utterly unique and when there is a second season don't miss the opportunity to check out an artist in full flight.
Tower of Babel | Baran Theatre
Tower of Babel is the latest work created by Baran Theatre, an independent Australian-Iranian theatre company based in Brisbane whose works aim “to create social change transformational experiences for audiences”. Co-written by Nasim Khosravi and Greg Manning and directed by Nasim, Tower of Babel is a dense and ambitious piece that tells the stories of migrants and refugees who have come to Australia, what they bring with them and how this benefits our country, and what they risk to lose as they settle here.
Statum | Flipside Circus and Counterpilot
Statum is a smashing show, a dynamic collaboration between Flipside Circus and Nathan Sibthorpe (Counterpilot). Setting the standard for high-quality productions from youth ensembles, Flipside have created a fun hour of high-energy stunts, fusing technology and circus tricks in a range of visually interesting scenes.
Awesome Ocean Party | Giema Contini & Brisbane Powerhouse
Giema Contini is arguably one of the best and most reliable theatrical performers in Brisbane City’s creative community. Regardless of the stipulations of a role or production, she brings a profound generosity and openness to her work that lends everything around her a strange and gentle veracity – a heavy and playful sense of emotional honesty.
Regis Anima | Timothy McGowan and Metro Arts
Directed and written by Timothy McGowan, Regis Anima is a one-woman starring Tenielle Plunkett that explores five women unexpectedly connected, ranging from 9th Century Iceland to today.
Feedback | Dots+Loops
Feedback offered a sublime balance of artistic innovation and inviting, engaging audience experiences. If one were ever pressed to showcase the unique charm and potential of Brisbane’s creative community in one event, Feedback would do nicely.
Explain Normal | Daniele Constance
Created by Daniele Constance in collaboration with Aha Ensemble and Phluxus2 Dance Collective, Explain Normal is a post-dramatic physical theatre work which explores the notion of what makes us normal and whether or not ‘normal’ truly exists.
Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring | Peacock Contemporary Dance Company
Surely, it’s one of the most illustrious and unpredictable experiences any audience-member will have in a theatre. It lurches from the patient, meditative opening to moments of almost pure anarchy. Golden light gives way to pure darkness. Dancers attack and exhaust themselves – euphoric and terrified. It’s a lot.
But, throughout, I kept returning to the ideas of Rite of Spring. That question.
What’s the impact?
Bighouse Dreaming | Declan Furber Gillick
Bighouse Dreaming is the type of work that reminds one of the simple, devastating power of a well-crafted drama … a work that leaves you gasping for breath through sheer storytelling and performance craft.
Giantess | Cassie Workman
[Giantess] is neither scandalous nor tragic, although it offers poignant memories as punctuation to the tale of a little girl, kidnapped by a troll, who will not be released until she finds all the answers, and faces up to her fears. And the answer is revealed through a beautiful show presented as a comedy, but actually a more nuanced performance with storytelling, spoken word, and a fluctuating line of parable.
Daddy | Joel Bray
Joel is a master of charming and working a crowd, but we are never allowed to get comfortable in Daddy. Presented promenade style, Joel weaves and dances around and through us and speaks to us directly throughout … He invites us to get involved and it’s always clear that we can opt out, but this may not be the show for you if you prefer to enjoy live theatre separated from the performer in the comfort of your seat.
You & I | Casus Circus
You & I is a gorgeous piece of new circus from Casus. It’s not just about the breathtaking circus we expect from this Brisbane-based troupe, but a joyous celebration of the love, partnership and commitment between two men. It’s something my teenage self would have craved, and something that made my heart sing.
The Bluebird Mechanicals | Too Close To The Sun
The Bluebird Mechanicals may be one of the tightest, most considered and deliberate works I’ve ever seen. There isn’t an inch of the show that doesn’t feel like it’s been refined and distilled to its purest, most impactful essence. It knows exactly what it wants to say and exactly how to say it. But, the work’s choice of vocabulary and materials in articulating its ideas are so removed from the norm that, again, it can only easily be described as weird.
Tyrone and Lesley in a Spot | David Megarrity & Nathan Sibthorpe
A co-production with Metro Arts and Brisbane Festival, David Megarrity and Nathan Sibthorpe’s Tyrone and Lesley In A Spot is a ukulele-led dance of screen and song that transports you on a whimsical journey of small discoveries through laughter.