Another parliamentary inquiry into the arts, or, who gives a f*ck about your opinion?
Public opinion is a significant force in the political realm. And whilst public opinion may not always markedly influence the nitty gritty details of public policy, it certainly shapes the boundaries that limit it. Like an artist whose prior experience and choice of tools influence the sculpting of a block of clay into something more meaningful, in Australia, a democratic nation, public opinion shapes government action to fashion public policy.
The Type | Pink Matter
I love seeing young women who are free. It makes my heart sing. I don’t think you ever regret making art like this - fun, determined and with all your mates and for the pure joy of it and cause it’s important and just because you want to move like this.
For my sins I live in Brisbane
Many a time a stranger to our sundrenched plains has cried, ‘but nothing ever happens in Brisbane!’ And I say woe unto you, for you are not getting invited to the right parties.
That's What She Said | The Good Room
At multiple points during its runtime, The Good Room’s That’s What She Said leverages my literal words and memories to emphasise a certain theme or evoke a particular emotion for its audience. Sitting in that audience, such moments feel particularly surreal and surprising.
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.
That's What She Said | The Good Room
Once again in ‘That’s What She Said’, The Good Room asks their audience to bare witness to the often unheard storiesof Australians. This time, they seek to tell the stories of the women in ourlives, created as a salute to the grand old broad, Metro Arts before it closed for good on 15 February 2020.
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.