Past Programs
Theatre - 2008
Back to Back Theatre: Food Court
05/10/2008
Back to Back Theatre has just won a New York Dance and Perfomance Award, known as the Bessies, for their show Small Metal Objects, an on-location performance they did in New York at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
Back to Back is a long running regional theatre company based in Geelong in Victoria. It's an ensemble of actors with intellectual disabilities and right now they're rehearsing a new show that they'll be performing with the band The Necks. During rehearsals, Amanda Smith spoke to two of the actors, Sarah Mainwaring and Scott Price, and the artistic director of Back To Back, Bruce Gladwin.
Food Court, performed by Back To Back Theatre and The Necks, Melbourne International Arts Festival: 9-12 October, Malthouse Theatre - sold out! Also 29-31 January 2009, Geelong Performing Arts Centre: Bookings 03 5225 1200
Portraits of Modern Evil
31/08/2008
Why do ordinary people do horrific things? This is the underlying question posed in a new surreal play called Portraits of Modern Evil, by Robert Reid.
It's based on the true story of Melbourne's brown-out strangler. And in case you don't know, a brown-out is this: during the second world war, rather than a full blackout, Australian cities like Melbourne were subjected to brown-out conditions, where the lights were dimmed and car headlight covers had slits in them. This was both to conserve energy and to hide the city from night-time bombing raids. But because we weren't a major target, a full blackout wasn't considered necessary.
This play also features one of the great names of Australian painting, Albert Tucker. Indeed he's a major protagonist in the drama, and descriptions of his paintings become a recurring motif.
The Black Swan theatre company along with the HotBed Ensemble has taken on the challenge of this production. It's playing at PICA from 5 to 20 September.
