Melbourne Street Art 2
Mary Street, North Carlton
Second in a series of documentations of deliberate and accidental street art.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Monday, January 8, 2007
The Golem of Rucker's Hill
reviews here and here
Curses, evil spells, magical weapons...
Something sinister is coming after the families of Northcote!
What can protect us?
And what is the cost?
Platform Youth Theatre presents an incredible fantasy set on the streets of Northcote.
Action-packed with live music, circus, fire, puppets, comedy and, well, action …
Performed by the members of Platform Youth Theatre, and a bevy of singers and puppeteers
Directed by Michael Camilleri
Written by Michael Camilleri with Bernard Caleo & Daniel Schlusser
Musical Director - Karen Berger
Head Puppetmaker - Emma Pryse
Fight Choreographer - Felicity Steel
Fire Choreographer - Margie Mackay (pictured with Golem legs)
Tickets ONLY $10
Bookings – Phone: 9482 9278 or Email: bookings@pyt.org.au
Friday, January 5, 2007
be noice
Both Theatrenotes and Supernaut have picked up on John McCallum's blazingly good essay. I only wish that all those colossal wastes of tax-payer's money from Nugent on, had concluded the same.
Apparently, this is to be the first in a series of essays in The Australian. Can't wait. Meanwhile in The Age, resident Grand Poo-Bah of Everything Michael Shmith has strayed from his usual arts beat into political territory...now, I've made a few New Year's Resolutions one of which I can't bear to break so early in the year, so I will not comment, but read it for yourself.
And a little congratulation to acting graduate Beth Cleary who was a deserving recipient of the women@minterellison Rising Star Award. Her body of work in 2006 included my gore-fest, Touch Me, I'm Sick. Pictured above is a (live-videofeed) photo of Beth singing a rousing version of "Johnny Appleseed" to a soon-to-be-mutilated Japanese exchange student.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Happy New Happy Old
tis the season for season wraps. Mine is very selective. Lot's of travelling and surprisingly little theatre-going. For Melbourne, my picks can be expressed by a "Fantasy Theatre" wish: to see Anita Hegh (The Yellow Wallpaper) playing Lady Macbeth opposite Peter Houghton (For Samuel Beckett) as Macbeth. That idea is now public property, somebody grab it! My other Oz highlight was Minmi and Me, a work for children at the Melbourne Museum:
This show really got me thinking about good theatre and the relationship between good theatre and working for children: the way that an audience of 10 year olds really clarifies some of the basics. Minmi and Me packed in the sophistication of some beautiful shadow theatre and puppeteering, with equally stunning low-tech effects thanks to Michael Camilleri's "live-drawing". Bernard Caleo, who is known around town for his raconteuring gifts, pared back some of his florid excesses and kept his audience (young and old) educated, amused and on tenterhooks (while operating his own sound) for the whole show. Simply brilliant.
My "Blimey he's good" award would go to Brett Adam for his exquisite handling of Ross Mueller's Construction of the Human Heart and my "who the **** is that?" discovery award goes to Tom Wright for his hypnotic performance in Osama The Hero at The Old Fitz.
My London highlight was a production of Joyce's Exiles directed by James Macdonald at The National. For only the second time in my life, I was enraptured by Naturalism (the first was Zadek's Cherry Orchard in '96) When executed with care, it really is a magical form.
Finish Tango by Nina Wehnert and Eva Burghardt (pictured top), was an exceptional dance-theatre piece that premiered in Berlin and will be seen often this year.
Other features of 2006:
favourite inter-cultural moment: being screamed at by a triumphant Italian, after I had barracked for the French in the World Cup final, in a pub in Bermondsey.
favourite musical discovery: Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum
favourite "books never prepared me for the heart-stopping grandeur of it all" moment: Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
favourite 2nd-hand bookshop find: 1st Edition copy of The Root Letters.
favourite gift received: Arrested Development, Season 1
favourite footy-speak: "...there's no doubt that I'll be trying to exit him out rather than exit him in". (G. Thomas, about R. Harvey)
and to end, my favourite lyric of 2006:
what do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?
and how does a man like me remain in the light?
and if life is really as short as they say, why are the nights so long?
(thanks M.Ward) and Merry New year to you all.
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