Werbeloff Ya Arts

I've been inspired by an article in Crikey today to get some interesting Werbeloff takes on our local theatre industry.

According to Crikey;

There are two ways to werbeloff:

Classic werbeloff: Convey a current news story, literary or popular classic using the elements of polar opposites plus a racial epithet (e.g. fat/thin, tall/short, wog skip dago poofter etc) with a brief contrary exchange, followed by onomatopoeic gunfire or mimicry thereof.

Freestyle werbeloff: The same, using a limited palette of racial slurs, "sick" "chick" "totes" "mate" and a few other terms, in such a disdainful way that not even the desperate "politically incorrect" right would want to own it.


For instance, there were a few theatre examples in today's edition.

(Romeo and Juliet). There were these two wogs fighting and the fatter wog said to the skinnier wog, "Oi bro, your brother Romeo slepsht with my cousin Juliet" and the other one said "Nah man, he didn’t for sh-t, eh" and so Romeo took some fully sick poison and Juliet pulled out a gun and went Chk Chk Boom.

(Medea). This full bitch wog chick gets back at her bloke Jase cos he got off with some rich chick when he was on a footy trip by fully shooting her own kids, Chick Chick Boom!

(On The Merchant of Venice). The big nosed wog said to the skinny wog "Oi bro, you ripped me off eh, I'm going to get my fully sick boys to cut a pound of flesh from you", the skinny wog said "no you wont for sh-t eh cos you cant take a drop of blood" then he looked at the big nosed wog and said Rip Rip Jew.


So tonight, like, I'll be going to Ruben Guthrie where this ad guy, who's the total bomb, decides to like give up the booze and shit. But then his skip boss starts to get sick on his arse. But then, like, the ad guy says, "no way, you can stick that shit, I'm goin wiv ma fully sick boyz to AA Bro."

Any more?

ArtStart (kind of) Gets the Nod‏

As published today in Crikey.


Arts Minister Peter Garrett has finally delivered on his promise to give ArtStart, infamously described by Peter Costello in the lead up to the last election as ‘welfare’ for artists, the green light.

At the time of its proposal in 2007 the Member for Higgins tore into the Member for Kingsford-Smith saying:

The member for Kingsford-Smith said that I would never have thought of something like this. Well, blow me down! I never have thought of something like this: that somebody on welfare needs more time to produce art! What are the responsibilities of someone who is on welfare? Do they have to turn up at the office at 8am and take them away from their easel?

First proposed as a way to develop a "Social Security and the Arts" policy that bridged current Australia Council for the Arts, Centrelink and the Australian Tax Office rules, it aimed to determine “the most equitable way to treat earnings and royalty payments for artists currently receiving welfare.”

Sensibly, Garrett has removed the words "Centrelink" and "Australian Tax Office" from the funding measure and it has now re-emerged as a grant which will be administered by the Australia Council.

It’s a major commitment in this year’s Budget with the Rudd Labor Government to spend $9.6 million over four years which will provide two hundred $10,000 grants to "individual graduate artists to enable them to create a major work or event to build their portfolio and increase their self‑sufficiency".

Aimed at visual artists, musicians, designers and performing arts practitioners, it will provide a much needed leg up particularly for those in capital cities who face rapidly rising rental costs and little support from state based arts bodies -- particularly NSW.

However, the real coup for Garrett is how he has managed to maintain all funding for the arts portfolio, even after the massive injections his predecessor George Brandis delivered under the Coalition government. It was a tall order in the face of a downturn in the economy and in fact, the Arts Minister has even delivered a little bit more.

The Indigenous Arts is another big winner in the Budget. A recommendation of last year’s Senate enquiry into Indigenous Arts and part of the "Closing the Gap" initiative will see an additional $10 million provided over four years to “increase the support for art centre operations, ensuring appropriate staffing, training and salaries for art centre employees, and addressing poor recruitment and retention rates in remote areas”.

Other highlights include $8 million over four years to the Books Alive program and $5 million for NIDA, the Australian Ballet School and Australian Youth Orchestra to get out to regional and out metropolitan areas to teach young kids.

Screen Australia, the newly formed national peak body which merged the Australian Film Commission, Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia into one, continues with funding maintained. It’s just a shame that the new organisation hasn’t done terribly much in the last twelve months (although they have got a nice new logo). Hopefully an additional $750,000 in this year’s budget to help administer the new 40 per cent producer off-set rebate will get them going a bit.

Garrett has also tried to address the lack of touring arts programmes to regional areas with a number of grants to get art exhibitions touring. But Regional Australia’s continuing request left over from last year for $24 million in touring funding is still left out.

There is also no sign that the Rudd Labor Government plans to re-install any aspect of Alexander Downer’s policy of using the arts as a means of second-tier diplomacy. The removal of the previous Downer’s On the World Stage program has been a blow to many of our top arts organisations -- most particularly in their attempts to engage with Asia.

But in a time of recession the arts should be happy with the renewed commitment of the Federal Government and their new Arts Minister. Now they just have to find a way to stop corporate sponsors from leaving the fold.

Who's Who in Creative Sydney?

For your interest...

Creative Sydney is a new festival of ideas that gives creative people the platform to discuss how we can make Sydney the best place in the world to create new film, art, design, music, technology, events and more.

It is part of Vivid Sydney, a unique new public festival featuring Luminous music festival at Sydney Opera House, Smart Light Sydney and Fire Water. Vivid Sydney is one of five anchor events in the first ever NSW Master Events Calendar created by Events NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.

And there will be a festival celebrating the wealth and diversity of the city’s creative talents from May 27- June 13.

As part of that Creative Sydney will be recognising the outstanding talent we have in Sydney; artists, performers and producers, and the people working behind the scenes to build the culture of our city.

They’re applauding the work of 100 Creative Catalysts, individuals who have developed original projects, products or services within their creative field, and who inspire and support other creative people.

And they want your input. Who inspires you? Creative Sydney is open to suggestions as they compile the Creative Catalysts list. They could be friends or peers, people you admire or icons you want to emulate.

Post your nominations on Facebook by April 3.

Register for the newsletter for updates and full launch details at http://creativesydney.com.au/

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/creativesydney


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For the purposes of Creative Sydney the creative industries include: advertising, architecture, visual art, computer software & web development, design (interior, graphic, object), fashion, photography, film, video, animation, performing arts, music, literature and publishing, radio and television, crafts and video games.

Break New Ground

Preview as published in the Sun-Herald.

It’s not just the footy field where passions run high between rival states. In the world of Hip Hop the antagonism is just as in-yer-face as any testosterone fuelled game of Rugby League.

“I feel like I’m invading when I go to other states,” says Leah Tilney (aka B*Girl Flix) a Brisbane based breakdancer who will battle with groups from around the country during Platform 2, a two day Hip Hop festival hosted by CarriageWorks.

“Off stage we are all friends, but when we’re battling…” Tilney trails off, clearly looking forward to competing against the very best breakdancing crews for the second year in a row.

“Queenslanders are super friendly compared to the other states. We’re also known for big power moves and big acrobatic head spins,” she explains. “Sydney people are more about style.”

Break dancing is only one part of the hip-hop culture which first emerged in New York during the 1970s.

The term refers to the four key elements of MC-ing, DJ-ing, graffiti art and breaking (or b-boying or b-girling) - each to be showcased during the festival.

“Hip Hop has really found its own voice in Australia,” says the director and organiser of the festival Nick Power (aka B*boy Rely). “We’ve got a lot of talent and artistic ability.”

Exported here in the 80s, its popularity has skyrocketed in recent times particularly within western Sydney and among young indigenous communities. Big names synonymous with the local movement such as Good Buddha, Morganics, Killer Queenz and The Last Kinection will descend on the old railway yards site in Eveleigh (near Redfern) for the weekend.

“Turntables now outsell guitars,” Power says. “The hip hop scene has been rolling along for over 20 years but what’s great now is that a place like CarriageWorks and even the Opera House are opening their doors and saying: ‘We want to be a part of this.'”

For Power, who will be joined by over 70 artists over the weekend, hip-hop is a legitimate art form that young people identify with more than other mainstream activities.

“For young men, it’s a great thing,” Power explains. “For instance, in dance, high school teachers will ring me up and say ‘I can’t get any boys to dance’ and I come out and say 'I’m a b-boy' and they’ll have thirty boys line up straight away.”

“It’s got to the point that if you’re the best b-boy in the school you’re now on par with the football captain. It’s become a stature thing,” he says.

It seems the days when parents just dropped their kids off to footy or ballet training are disappearing. Tilney, who earns most of her living from teaching breakdancing at centres and schools throughout Brisbane, has classes with a starting age of just 6.

“I’m amazed at how quickly the art form has taken off in the last five years,” she says. “Parents and schools are ringing up all the time now trying to get their kids in. It’s better than footy.”


The Platform 2 Hip-Hop festival takes places at CarriageWorks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, on March 27, from 7.30pm and March 28, from 2pm. Phone 1300 723 038 or see carriageworks.com.au.

Count it. One Billion Dollars.

In today's paper;

"THE State Government has agreed to fund a $1 billion project to finally bring the Sydney Opera House in line with its designer's vision.

"Although a deal has yet to be signed with the Opera House board, Treasury officials indicated two weeks ago that the Government was willing to provide the money needed for the restoration."

One billion dollars. That's one expensive photo opportunity.

The saddest part of this is that only two months ago the State Government through their funding agency, Arts NSW, signed off on the death of four major regional music festivals - the Bellingen Jazz Festival, the Tyalgum Festival, the Bangalow Festival and the Camden Haven Music Festival.

To give this some perspective, the Bellingen Jazz Festival last year received $11,000. Similar amounts were cut from these other festivals.

At the time, director of the Camden Haven Music Festival Alvena Ferguson said, "while the Sydney Festival, which engages mainly overseas performers, received in excess of $4 million, many regional events such as ours, which contribute so much to the economic and cultural life of country communities, have not been supported".

No doubt Mrs Ferguson will be breathless at today's announcement.

Just imagine for a second what you would do with $1 Billion. We all know there are major problems at the Opera House which need to be rectified. We all know of the importance of this cultural icon which is recognisable around the world. But at a time when household income is dropping and a recession is about to take hold, wouldn't this money be better spent on community, regional and grass roots arts and music programmes?

$1 Billion could go to Carriageworks to assist them in properly paying young artists for their festivals.

$1 Billion could go to every independent theatre production in the state to assist them in staging costs thereby increasing the share of box office revenue for co-operatives.

$1 Billion could reinstate the role of regional performing arts organisations such as the Northern Rivers Performing Arts to create and tell local stories.

$1 Billion could assist Councils across the state to implement programmes of creative renewal such as the one now happening with Renew Newcastle.

$1 Billion could be filtered to local community theatres like ShopFront to expand their youth contemporary arts programmes.

$1 Billion could finance the renovations and rebuilding of theatres such as Marian Street and the New Theatre.

$1 Billion could see visual and performing arts programmes implemented in every youth centre in the state.

$1 Billion could see more community access to major arts events and productions off-setting the ticket price for those on lower incomes.

$1 Billion could see the purchase and up keep of the diminishing amount of arts spaces and studios in the inner city.

$1 Billion could finance a state-wide Don Dunstan style of public art programme throughout the state.

$1 Billion could provide musical instruments for every kid in every primary school.

$1 Billion would totally revolutionise the way the arts and music are created and consumed within our state.

Where would you like the $1 Billion to go?

Review: Holiday

Holiday by Raimondo Cortese
Ranters Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company
SBW Stables Theatre



I've now had the fortune of seeing Holiday by Raimondo Cortese both at its Melbourne premiere last year and once again in a remount now playing at the Stables Theatre.

From a staging sense, it's always interesting to see a show in a different space and what the current production proves is how diverse and beautifully intricate this play is.

In a white space, a babies wading pool sits centre stage with two toy life rings and a beach ball. There are also two stools and a chaise lounge to the side. 

Two men enter the space - two men who are relaxing by a wading pool.

The silence of their presence is broken by the singing of a baroque song as they share the harmony and the verse. With warm eyes they look out into the audience, inviting us to listen and share in their presence on the stage. It's a beautiful opening which quietly slips into another silence.

The slightly older and greyer Arno (Patrick Moffatt) then begins his conversation with the taller and more lanky Paul (Paul Lum).

Arno: My mum sent me this parcel the other day.
Paul: What's that?
Arno: My mum sent me this parcel the other day.
Paul: In the mail?
Arno: Yeah.
Paul: She spot something... out shopping?
Arno: You know those plastic thingummies?
Paul: No.
Arno: The ones you used to find in the cereal.
Paul: The funny creatures?
Arno: She sent me a whole bag of them.
Paul: Why she send you those?
Arno: I don't know.

And so it begins.


From here a conversation takes us through ninety minutes of simple reflections, simple anecdotes all with the desire to fill a void of silence and be civil to one another. For the most part its amicable between the two men but as they start to get to know each other over the course of the play the tension slowly rises until it is broken by catholic guilt driven Arno who questions a statement made by the exaggerator Paul.

What made the evening even more interesting for me, was to see how the two shows evoked such different reactions from the Melbourne and Sydney audiences.

Spatially, the two shows are quite different. In Melbourne the play was performed under a white tarpaulin type shelter within the larger space of the North Melbourne Town Hall. The audience was seated in a proscenium formation and looked on through a fourth wall at the interaction.

In the unique and intimate space of the Stables, a fourth wall is not possible and instead, the audience is included within the space with designer painting the entire theatre white.

The change of space has had quite a profound affect on the play. The audience in Sydney found themselves more included in the action with the thrust stage and responded to the humour far more than the Melbourne audience. Add this to the fact that the black clad Melburniuns saw the play on a windy, cold and wet winter's evening and the happier Sydney audience were at the premiere on a balmy sub-tropical evening and the difference was palpable.

The loss of the fourth wall also meant directorial changes to the staging. Those long dramatic pauses between the bits of dialogue have been shortened substantially and the beach ball being hit into the audience to break the wall is also gone.

This is all replaced by a familiarity and constant interaction with the audience which didn't occur in the Melbourne version. Certainly this means the heights of tension are diminished, but what you receive instead is a closer look at the bare bones of each character as they expose themselves not only to each other but to fifty pairs of eyes looking on from two sides.

Holiday is one of those rare pieces of theatre writing rarely seen on Sydney's small stages. It is a play you just wouldn't see come out of our independent theatres for a number of financial, marketing and cultural reasons. It delicately flicks off the cloak of the overly dominant Anglo-culture and embraces the theatrically experimental writing of Eastern and Central Europe, housing it within the strong history of the universally-themed writing coming out of Melbourne's fringe sector.

In a recent interview with Currency Press, playwright Cortese explains in one sentence why he loves the theatre replying it is because "in theatre there’s nowhere to hide".

Every emerging playwright and director in Sydney should see this play if only to see how simplicity can fascinate. There's certainly nowhere to hide which means there's endless possibilities.

Dust off those tutus

This blog is now in its third year which also means we are turning another fresh page of performance as each of the companies launch into their programmes for 2009.

As our economy readies itself to take a huge punch in the guts, '09 has a different flavour to it than previous years. You won't have seen to much evidence of it just yet but you can be assured cultural organisations across the country will really start to feel the heat by the end of year. (Maybe Kookaburra was our canary in the mines with their collapse a few months ago.)


As Government support shrinks and corporate sponsors dry up, programs will inevitably alter, staffing will become limited and projects will be smaller. On a social level, this is going to be a devastating couple of years. Creatively, it's a god send.

In a recent post, Marcus Westbury makes an excellent case for the creative benefit of a recession as he reflects on what the 90s meant for Melbourne's artists and musicians.

Looking at a post boom Melbourne it is easy to forget how much of what i love about this city is the product of the last great recession of the early 90s. Its laneway bars, its smart graffiti, its living CBD, its distinctive inner suburbs of eclectic shops and retail strips, its creative community are not the product of arts agencies or central planning but of the fertile ground, cheap space, and hard working initiative of a decade ago. The city is a rich ecology not created through central planning but grown in economic detritus and forged in the harsh and searing furnace of hard times.

He is absolutely right. NSW has been in recession for around twelve months and already artists are answering the call by setting up cheap initiatives, breaking into illegal spaces and creating new forms of arts creativity. It has only just began and it's burgeoning - but thank the Lord - it has started after a drought of ten years.

This newest financial crisis will no doubt spur things on a bit more.

As the learned Mr Westbury points out;

Yet recessions can be great times for low budget cultural initiatives. Space - the almost impossible to find holy grail of artists in the boom times - becomes relatively cheap and available. Higher levels of unemployment means that talent has more time to experiment and innovate and less temptation (or opportunity) to chase big bucks elsewhere. Large scale cultural production - with it’s expensive overheads and high costs - becomes relatively more difficult. Small scale production - which works best when there is a very high ratio of initiative and labour to expenses and overheads - benefits immensely from the rapidly falling costs.

Just look at what is happening post-Lanfranchi's; warehouses around Surry Hills, Redfern and Newtown are opening up, the brilliant Imperial Panda Festival is growing and the POPE license is finally dead. Space and talent are opening up.

Hopefully Federal and State Governments will follow the lead and stop constantly throwing money at photo opportunity funding initiatives and start supporting local artists and projects to give the industry more sustainability and a creative ecology.

For those of you with a taste for the larger budget productions, enjoy 09 because it will be the last for a while.

Which brings me to the whip-round of the performance calendar across Sydney...

By the way...

Most of you probably thought I had disappeared off the face of the planet with the complete lack of blog updates over the last couple of months. 

Quietly, I have been preparing for the live Sydney Festival blog which I am writing for the Daily Telegraph and launched on Saturday.

There's been some technical problems which are slowly being ironed out with me re-uploading a whole heap of entries and images.

But we are getting there - so if you get the chance, check it out by CLICKING HERE. 

I am now even experimenting by using video in some of the posts to try and capture the mood of the festival - especially when I am surrounded by your average punter - such as last night ...

For what it's worth my picks for the festival are No Dice, Lipsynch, The Pianist, The Nargun and the Stars, the Cinematic Orchestra, Ivanov, The Swell Season and the FBi Night with Four Tet.

As a few of my Melbourne friends have acknowledged, our little summer festival in Sydney is a breath of fresh air to the Melbourne version which is all indoorsy. Hence the great music, outdoor events and general popular revelry. It's a delicious time of year to be here.

The Sydney Theatre Critics Awards are also on Monday night. It should be another lovely night to catch up, share notes and get ready for another year of theatre shenanigans. I'll be there of course, but will be heading off early to catch some Kosky madness with The Tell-Tale Heart at Carriageworks. 

Until then, I'll see you on the other side of the festival when we all come back down to earth.

NSW gov plastic cup initiative putting women at risk of drink spiking?

As first published in Crikey.


The NSW State Government just this week issued a release warning party goers of increased drink spiking incidents despite allegedly having industry advice that an introduction of plastic glasses would increase the number of spiking incidents, particularly against young women.

“The run-up to Christmas is peak party season, and it is very easy for a pill or powder to be slipped into your drink,” the Minister of Police Tony Kelly said in the release. “The results can be horrendous, with victims vulnerable to date rape, violence or theft without having any ability to defend themselves."

But Crikey understands that the alcohol industry warned the government during recent consultations that banning RTD (alcopop) bottles after midnight would increase the risk of spiking further. The industry advised them that open plastic cups with wide tops would be easier to spike than narrow topped bottles.

The joint Department of Health and Department of Police release referred to data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research which revealed a “150 per cent rise in spiking incidents between January and June this year”.

“The State Government has gone against advice and implemented the plastic glass policy, fully aware that spiking is already on the increase,” an alcohol industry source has told Crikey.

In a release sent by the Premier’s Department on 30 October, regulations only required venues to use plastic or polycarbonate glasses for "beer service after midnight". But between the distribution of the release and the implementation of the new licensing regulation all glass containers were to be banned and bar staff would be required to pour all drinks including wine, champagne and alcopops into open plastic cups.

The end of the release issued this week warning of drink spiking provides advice to party goers;

When preparing a night out, to protect yourself it is important to:

• Plan your night and tell people where you are going.

• Never accept a drink from a stranger or leave drinks unattended.

• Tell bar staff if you see someone spiking drinks.

Yesterday, Crikey also reported on the growing problem of violence caused by party drugs GHB and ICE within pubs and clubs in Sydney.

Crikey has since found out that police have no power to test whether a violent "drinker" is actually on drugs such as GHB or ICE. If a suspected person denies they have taken drugs only the venue receives a mark against their record and it is treated as an alcohol related incident.

Crikey tried to contact both the Minister of Police and the Minister of Health who issued the release, but were referred to the Minister for Gaming and Racing, Kevin Greene who overseas the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing with advisors telling us that 'they are fielding all of the enquiries'.

The Minister's office didn't get back to Crikey in time for our deadline, but questions must be asked of the State Government about why they allegedly ignored specific advice and are now potentially placing many young women at risk from further increases in spiking.

Sydney nightlife: plastic cups and no shots after midnight

As first published in Crikey.


As the nation twinkles its way into the final weekend of Christmas celebrations spare a thought for those of us living in the international city of Sydney -- a world of plastic cups, lockouts and bar service stoppages.

The plastic cup rules, introduced on December 1, are part of a new wave of nanny state regulations around drinking recently introduced by embattled new Premier Nathan Rees. They include:

* Mandatory 2am lock-outs (with the exception of existing members wishing to enter registered clubs);
* Cessation of alcohol service 30 minutes before closing time;
* Plastic or polycarbonate glasses for beer service after midnight;
* No shots and drink purchase limits after midnight; and
* Ten minute alcohol sale time-outs every hour after midnight.

They certainly make good front page news stories, allowing the new premier to wag his finger at those in the community who get a kick out of glassing someone during a night out in the city -- but for the rest of us, the measures are nothing but patronising and credulous.

Police can now be seen regularly entering premises from Bondi to the city, equipped with little video cameras to catch any unsuspecting patron who dares drink out of a glass container after the witching hour of midnight.

Before they turn into pumpkins, fearful publicans and bar staff rush around like Christmas elves transferring schooners and wine glasses into plastic vessels for the ‘safety’ of their patrons.

Crikey went out during the week to witness this world class city with its night-time economy and plastic cups to see how the new regulations were being swallowed by patrons and staff in the heart of Oxford Street.

"At least it makes the work of the bar staff easier," one bouncer told Crikey late one evening in Taylor Square.

"They can just go around and pick up all the cups in one swoop," he said.

It isn’t just plastic cups you have to put up with if you happen to be a night owl. On the hour, every hour for ten minutes bars have to close down their service as perplexed punters queue and wait for the service to resume.

"It is certainly bringing out the Christmas joy,” one patron at another Oxford Street hotel told Crikey. “Everyone has their eyes on the clock and as soon as it nears the hour you get countless offers from your mates willing to buy you a drink because they’re racing to get to the bar.”

The band-aid solutions now enforced on a majority of the population who are peaceful in their night-time activities there is pure resentment towards the decision makers.

For John Wardle, the lobbyist behind the Raise the Bar campaign which is working to get a small bar culture back into the Sydney scene, the problems are far more deep-rooted.

"When you’ve got rows and rows of beer taps, violent sports on plasma screens, blaring music and people are losing money with pokies on the side, maybe the problem is about the design of these bars. It shouldn’t be surprising these venues are a recipe for a bun-fight," he told Crikey.

Wardle is advocating for more alternatives in places where people can go at night in an effort to get a culture that encourages live music, performance and comedy. So far he has been successful in lobbying successive state planning ministers in removing what Wardle refers to as the "notorious Place of Public Entertainment (PoPE) approval process" which he believes discouraged alternative venues and encouraged "aberrant behaviour".

The absurdity of the previous laws was that a publican could install countless plasma screens and sound speakers without any regulations. If the publican wished to have some live music with a guitarist or jazz band in the corner they would have to get a development consent as well as upgrade their fire safety and construction which may cost up to $300,000.

On the ground change is gradual but slow and the enormous barnyard drinking holes with their televised violence, sports and pokies are still the norm for punters in Sydney.

"We are trying to change a drinking culture decades old with liquor laws designed by people who didn’t think things through properly," Wardle says.

But the great impetus for politicians such as Rees to introduce these harried regulations is the sudden proliferation over the last twelve months of people glassing each other. In Sydney there was 506 non-domestic glassing attacks in 2007.

Those who work on the ground in the inner city of Sydney all know that a majority of the violence is not caused by the people drinking alcohol, smoking joints or popping a few e’s. This new trend of glassing someone is directly related to the recent proliferation of the real party drugs -- ICE and GHB. Put these two drugs into the mix with the barnyard approach to pub design and the results are clear to be seen.

In the meantime, law makers will continue to punish the greater general public and regulate everyone into the ground. So spare a thought and raise your plastic cups for those living in Sydney now that glassing someone is du rigeur all of a sudden. Merry Christmas.

Interview with Daniel Brine - new Artistic Director of Performance Space

It's a journalist's worst nightmare. After organising a time, date and venue, reading background information, preparing questions and conducting an interview with a subject, you suddenly lose the recording due to some technological malfunction or misadventure.

The fact that I had flown all the way from Sydney to London to catch Daniel Brine, the newly appointed Artistic Director of Performance Space before his arrival in Australia made it that little bit more painful. The fact that I lost the recording on my MP3 player on the last leg of my journey after twenty-one days of keeping it safe made it just pure frustration.

Kindly, Daniel afforded me some extra time while he was in Sydney for a quick catch up during a handover week with the outgoing AD Fiona Winning who has left after nine years.

The changing of the guard at Performance Space and Brine's appointment to the role of Artistic Director is one of the biggest changes to occur in the contemporary arts scene internationally this year as he fills what he describes as 'Fiona's very, very large shoes'.

It's extraordinary that not one major newspaper in this country has reported on the change. But we've seen this laziness before and know that they are able to editorialise similar appointments. Performance Space is no small-to-medium organisation out the back of hickville. It is, quite simply, a company that is at the forefront of contemporary art experimentation and presentation with an international reputation in excellence. And not a single column inch was spared by any news outlet.

My first meeting with Brine found us at the headquarters of the Live Arts Development Agency UK where he is finishing up his role as Associate Director. Based in a converted old girls school, the headquarters couldn't be more English with a beautiful old lawn courtyard with a walled garden nestled behind one of those typical London squares with a canopy of leaves. It's quite an oasis in the Shoreditch area of London just ten minutes walk from the hustle and bustle of the Liverpool Street financial district.

The day I arrive the stock markets worldwide had lurched downwards, Halifax Bank of Scotland had collapsed and suits were loitering in office buildings reconsidering their career choices. Maybe it is a good time for Brine to get out of the UK.

An Australian, Brine has been based in the UK for over eleven years after working for Live Arts, the Arts Council England and the NOW Festival. His biography reads like a degustation menu of contemporary performance, curating Live Culture at the Tate Modern, You Are Here for the Liverpool Biennial, Performing Rights for Performance Studies International Tanzquartier and China Live at the Chinese Arts Centre. He has even worked with Forced Entertainment, La Ribot, Blast Theory and Janine Antoni.

A quiet and considered man, Brine has acquired that slight English accent despite his heritage. "My move back to Australia is not about returning home, it is about going to work at Performance Space," he explains.

The industries in Australia and the UK could not be more different. In a forward to one of the many books that Brine gives me he co-writes with Lois Keidan (of Live Arts as well) and David Micklem from the UK Arts Council;

"Over the last decade or so there has been a growing sense that artistic directors and programmers across the UK are expressing greater interest in work that pushes at the edges of our expectations of what theatre could be. Some venues are actively programming experimental works. Others are expressing a keenness to explorethe opportunities for taking their audiences on new journeys. Whilst it is acknowledged that this work is challenging, sometimes difficult, often compelling and engaging, it is also work that can attract new audiences, offer new experiences, and add bold new strands to a venue's programme. Whether it is the National Theatre collaborating with Shunt, Duckie's events at the Barbican, Noble & Silver at Soho Theatre, or Gob Squad working on the main stage of Nottingham Playhouse it is increasingly evident that theatres in the UK are excited about a new set of relationships with experimental artists and companies."

Maybe that is where he sees the future role of the company he is about to take over. His respect for Performance Space is immediately obvious. "The role of the company internationally places it as one of the top three organisations presenting inter-disciplinary practices. It's part of the international infrastructure of contemporary performance," he says.

What's most interesting about Brine's experience is his role in developing unique and tangible avenues for artists and the arts industry to have a dialogue. Whether it be through publications, conferences, events or library resources, it is clear that his greatest strength is the way he inspires conversations.

If he brings his experiences in creating dialogue to Australia's shores it will be a much needed element to an extremely fragmented and fractured industry. Do we have a situation where it is increasingly evident that theatres in Australia are excited about a new set of relationships with experimental artists and companies?

As he takes me on a tour of the agency's premises he explains that the three pillars of Live Arts work is based around offering resources, professional development services and projects. "As you can see, we are not a performance space and we do not present works. Live Arts is more a resource, an organisation that brings together artists and venues to expand the cultural sector," he says.

He escorts me to an astonishing library where from floor to ceiling, tapes, DVDs and books document years of performance and contemporary arts writing. It's the sort of place you could spend months in, pulling out one DVD and then another until your eye catches something else you have always wanted to watch.

"Working at Performance Space gives me a chance to build more resources and focus on professional development through consultation and strategic thinking. It will also allow me to bring together art form practices particularly in film and dance," he says emphasising that until he takes up his position and has time to listen to the staff at Performance Space, speak with artists and the industry, the future direction of the company could involve anything.

The role of Performance Space after their move two years ago from their home of twenty years on Cleveland Street in Redfern to Carriageworks is one of the greatest challenges Brine will face. Winning oversaw the transition but it is now Brine's role to consolidate. Performance Space no longer enjoy the privilege of being a stand alone performance and artist space, now sharing the converted train yards with a family of other similar minded arts organisations under the umbrella of the financially restricted Carriageworks management.

Seeing him a month later in the cavernous Carriageworks building and a world away from the well manicured lawns of the old girls school he is realistic about the challenges facing him.

"It's clear there is a challenge of making big things and there are big issues in the industry that need to be addressed," he says.

But it's not just the issues facing the fragmented industry, it is also the mere size of the Carriageworks space. "A lot of people told me that Carriageworks was big, but I had no idea it was this big," he says. "It is an enormous space to fill."

But you can see the excitement in his face ... and the adrenalin. Asking him about our conversation four weeks earlier in London and how he feels now that he is in Sydney he is comforted with the fact that the organisation feels 'familiar' to him.

Hopefully, before long, all of us engaged with the arts will also become familiar with Daniel Brine and the future path he will carve in inspiring creative dialogue between all the spheres of performance in the country. An enormous space to fill indeed.

The demise of the ABC

I'm a bit slow off the mark, but yesterday Stephen Crittenden began his Religion Report programme with a devastating revelation. Of course it hasn't been reproduced on the ABC's website. But you can read it below or listen here;

This week a new line-up of Radio National programmes for 2009 was announced. The Religion Report is being decommissioned along with the Media Report, the Sports Factor, the Ark, Perspective, In Conversation, Street Stories and Radio Eye. These programmes are all going in order to make room for, to quote "more inter-disciplinary work" on the network. The 8.30 time slot is being remodelled to give it, quote "a more consumer focus".

The decision to axe one of this network's distinctive and important programmes has been approved by the director of ABC Radio, Sue Howard and it will condemn Radio National to even greater irrelevance. The ABC's specialist units have been under attack for years but the decapitation of the flagship programme of the Religion Department effectively spells the death of religion at the ABC.

That such a decision has been taken in an era when religion vies with economics as a determinate of everything that's going on in the world almost beggars belief. But you have to remember that just a couple of years ago, they axed the Environment Programme.

The ABC Religion Report has always been fearless and I don't have to tell you that it has put many powerful noses out of joint. This is a signal to the churches that the ABC has decided to vacate the field.

If you care about this programme and what it represents may I suggest that you might consider writing to the ABC or the Managing Director, Mark Scott.


So who exactly is Radio National now planning to service? It isn't anyone with an interest in religion, sport, media or the arts. It must be our friends that listen to commercial talk-back radio who not only have a consumer focus, but also manage to blend news, opinion and consuming so that you don't even know the difference.

What a disgrace.

Berkoff and a slight bit of rudeness

It was getting towards the end of Steven Berkoff's rough and ready speech on Monday night at the Seymour Centre, when a figure appeared from the back row, making his way down to one of the Q&A microphones.

Berkoff was thrown upon seeing the man. With matted hair, large black clothes and a touch of grime, it looked as though he had walked in off the street.

"Awwrriiigghhht, mate?!" Berkoff barked to the figure as another more cleanly kept audience member asked a stumbling, mumbling blah blah blah question from the other side of the auditorium.

As the figure situated himself firmly in front of the microphone and patiently waited for his turn, Berkoff turned to the compare and asked, "Who is this geezer?!"

It was an amazing scene, particularly for a man who had proclaimed at the very beginning of his speech that part of the joys of the arts is we want to see, hear and experience the 'madmen, the lunatics, the deviants and the fringes of society'.

For finally it was the geezer's turn and sure enough, the man opened his mouth delivering a most eloquent question to the rattled thespian, despite his less than clean attire.

Berkoff was undone. He had been shown up in his own game - for theatre is about illusion, is it not?

It was characteristic of his speech as a whole. Gaping big holes of inconsistencies and contradictions but the man is still as passionate, as out-spoken and as inspiring as he ever was.

Upon seeing him he appears a lot larger and a lot rounder than you generally see in promotional shots of him but those trademark ears and small round head are unmistakeable. And so to is his voice which traverses that wiry bridge often found in British actors between educated RP and the working class familial.

The topic of conversation was risk, limitations and boundaries of the arts. Central to his rough thesis was that there should be absolutely no limitations on the arts or on artists.

Using Bill Henson as a starting point, he railed against those that impose censorship due to what he called 'merely a matter of taste'.

He argued that the same people who call for limitations on the arts are one and the same with those that call for limitations on science and scientists - the fundamentalists, the religious right - they are, to him, more similar to "fascists" than anything else.

Exasperated, he asked the very simple question - why would you put limitations on science and why would you put limitations on the imagination.

It is clear that the man despairs for the world and is totally outraged at what is going on in the United States ('something like 3000 schools teach creationism! It's unbelievable') and he despairs for those within society who put limitations on what we can and can't see. They are, to his mind, the 'limited' ones.

Despite this, it was interesting to note his total intolerance to violence being shown on stage and screen. Targeting Quentin Tarantino he yearns for theatre and film to rediscover its unique ability to escape realist interpretation and to find more creative ways to use symbols. He particularly dislikes realist violence on the stage and draws inspiration from the ancient Greeks who would keep the violence off-stage (ob-scene).

The most interesting part of the evening was when he was asked a question from the audience about the state of Australian theatre. To his mind he doesn't understand why we don't put on the classics with more of our flavour, style and unique outlook on the world.

This particularly struck a chord with many in the audience.

All this constant effort, particularly from the Independent sector in Sydney to ALWAYS put on new work probably needs to be re-thought and more effort placed on re-discovering the classics and opening up the channels of our unique culture.

At the moment, the best theatre in Sydney is from the ones that are delivering productions with simplicity. The ones that honour the words, the ones that listen to the tone and the ones that tell the story. But above all, by those that are passionate about the play and who disregard the critics and the bondage of marketing.

There are four types of theatre productions prevalent in Sydney that are like a blanket of Beijing smog making us all choke and splutter; productions put on because theatres believe that is what 'we want to see', plays put on by actors (aka 'audition theatre'), productions with a design budget that outnumbers the amount of words in the script, and productions putting on new Australian work just for the sake of it.

The amount of times I see directors forgetting the simple process of directing actors and directing the action is too often to be healthy. So wrapped up in a new Aussie theatre piece or bogged down by the design, they forget the beautiful theatrical simplicity of actors in space telling a romping good tale.

If only we had a passion to really get our hands dirty and pull out the stops on a bit more Shakespeare, a bit more Moliere, a bit more Beckett, a bit more Shaw, a bit more Ionesco et al and it might give us the time to discover that simplicity again, worry less about creating a 'good script' and get the story telling out there.

Recently Barrie Kosky had one of his rants in The Australian that also touched on some of these issues;

"I think one of the hardest things for a young director to develop is the skill to be able to create with your own voice," he says. "To be able to take the idea and create mise en scene that is truthful for you and is in your voice." He believes this cannot be taught or given. "You either can or you can't, but you can only find this voice through risk, through experience and through intellectual rigour and brutal self-criticism." All of which is lacking, he believes, in Australia's theatre scene.

I can already hear the moans and groans of the local industry. "More cringe, more Kosky rants, leave us alone".

But the man is right. For Sydney at least.

"The problem is director drought. Ask any of the good actors or designers in the country," he says soulfully. "(Most) directors have no idea about space; no idea about the actor's body; no idea of rhythm; no idea of the contrapuntal movement of body, sound, light and image; and no idea about why the f..k they want people to buy a ticket and sit through an evening of their work."

A lot of directors in Sydney behave like wanna-be designers, or worse, film directors. All that realism placed on the stage with scant regard to what is actually happening with the actors. They spend most of their time worrying about the effect rather than the process. It drives me to despair.

Which is part of the beauty of Berkoff's work. It's simple and it explores the magic that can be delivered with the human and people in space. It draws its theatricality from the physical, not the mechanical and quite frankly, we want a bit more of that don't we?

Review: Paradise City

Review: Paradise City
Branch Nebula and Performing Lines

If you ever walk down Oxford Street towards the city at night you eventually get to the Downing Centre diagonally opposite Hyde Park and just near the corner of Elizabeth Street.

During the day, this building is a hive of activity with crims, wigs and cameras but once the sun retreats from the city, creatures of another sort take over the grand stairways and foyer of the judicial precinct.

The defendants with their ciggies and mullets give way to a hooded collective of rappers, break dancers, beat boxes and skaters, as they create a stage set against the Victorian architecture of old Mark Foy's department stores.

No one seems to mind that they take over the building. There isn't the token bored security guard to come up and pester them away and the kids are left to their own devices, entertaining themselves.

I always catch them in the corner of my eye whenever I wander down the street - usually with a flash of shadows, spinning torsos and silver Adidas jackets. And if they aren't there of an evening I feel like something is missing, that something has been lost.

It was these kids that came to mind while I was watching Branch Nebula's brilliant Paradise City over the weekend.

Paradise City is like a journey through an urban landscape where you catch snippets of the young using cement as a playground. It's a world where gravity is defied and physics turned upside down.

Directed by Lee Wilson and designed by Mirabelle Wouters, the performance brings together an urban collective of everything you might see from Bankstown to the centre of town. With a break-dancer (Anthony “Lamaroc” Lawang), BMX rider (Simon O’Brien), skateboarder (Petera Hone), acrobat (Alexandra Harrison) and dancer (Kathryn Puie) they take over what could be a skate ramp behind any building or in any back street alley.

The bodies emerge from the space like flowers sprouting through a crack in the wall and the game playing begins. There are moments of solitude where the players just do their own thing. There are other times when they taunt, play or physically heckle one another.

Striking through the middle of them all is what is described as the 'fallen diva' (Inga Liljeström) who drapes the scenes with her ephemeral vocals while prancing through the space.

It is one of the most exciting pieces of theatre on at the moment in Sydney and not just because of the energy of the piece or the unquestionable skills of the performers, but because of the unique way it captures life on the street with such verve.

Such is the excellence of the performers you often find yourself agog at their agility and skill and there isn't a weak link among them. Flying in between each other and swirling in the space, they seem at one with their urban construction just like those rappers I come across outside the court buildings.

Having already been on an extensive tour throughout Australia including a premiere season at the Sydney Opera House and an international tour to Brazil, Paradise City is testament to the strength of our physical theatre industry. And by god there needs to be more of it.




Until 7 June at Performance Space, CarriageWorks
and then 10 and 11 June at Casula Powerhouse
www.performinglines.org.au

Independent Theatre - where to now?

I just received an email regarding a forum that B Sharp is hosting on 18 June at Belvoir Street Theatre. Of course, being on a weekday, I won't be able to attend but I encourage those of you not constrained by full time employment to check it out.

This is definitely a discussion that needs to start happening before independent theatre really starts to sacrifice creativity and innovation for commercial gain;


WHERE TO NOW?
TEN URGENT QUESTIONS FOR INDEPENDENT THEATRE

It’s time to ask what’s next for independent work and artists.

Artists, arts workers, policy makers, critics, audiences are all invited to a day of open conversation on Wednesday 18 June, to be hosted by B Sharp at Belvoir St Theatre.

B Sharp is committed to providing a platform for independent voices to be heard both on and off the stage. Anyone interested in independent work please come along. It’s not a forum or a panel discussion – it’s you and your ideas.

To get things started we’ve come up with ten urgent questions for independent theatre:

1. Why do we put on shows?
2. What stories are we/should we be telling?
3. Why does independent theatre matter?
4. What is a successful independent work?
5. ‘Innovation’, ‘contemporary’, ‘pushing boundaries’, ‘new forms’… what does it mean and why does it matter?
6. How do you grow as an artist?
7. How do we keep going?
8. Why do producers matter?
9. Where’s the money?
10. What are our training institutions for?

It’s a beginning, an opportunity to start the conversation, so that collectively we can continue to invigorate artists and audiences with terrific non-mainstage work.

All welcome but RSVP essential to rsvp.bsharp@belvoir.com.au

Please feel free to distribute through your networks to others who might be interested.

When: Wednesday 18 June, 10 - 4pm (lunch provided)
Where: Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills

Arts funding sticks to status quo

As first published in Crikey.

For the arts, this year’s budget is less about a "Creative Australia" and more like steady-as-she-goes, as Arts Minister Peter Garrett follows on closely from predecessor George Brandis. However, it's what happens over the coming years that could be of most concern to the arts community.

So far, very little has changed from the previous financial year, with the previous government delivering one of the largest injections of federal money to the arts just twelve months ago. Garrett has pretty much maintained the funding for the coming twelve months, adding a few small flourishes of his own that give a little push to arts institutions to foster new talent and new creativity.

The biggest change we will see this year is the creation of Screen Australia, a Howard Government initiative to merge the Australian Film Commission, Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia into one national peak body. It has been kept by Garrett and provided with $103 million for the coming financial year.

A closer look at the finances reveals that this is a funding cut to the film industry when you look at the overall provision of the three organisations from previous years. But a Garrett spokesman has told Crikey that the new 40% producer rebate for qualifying production expenditure will hopefully make more of the film industry "rely less on direct funding".

ArtStart, the controversial programme that will provide artists with improved access to social security has been ignored this year but Crikey has been told that it's "still an election commitment and has not dropped off the radar".

Regional Australia has also been left off the map after a continuing request for $24 million in touring and presentation funding was ignored. The Arts Minister has tried to offset that cut with the creation of a $10 million Creative Communities initiative that takes the arts to outer metropolitan and regional areas.

As well, the Australia Council for the Arts, already hit with an "efficiency dividend" of 2% earlier this year, gets a slight increase in total government funding to $173.2 million. This will no doubt please the major performing arts companies, the small to medium performing arts sector and the visual arts and crafts industry, who profited most from Howard’s previous budget.

But after the slight increase this year, future budget estimates show that Federal Government funding plateaus despite inflation rising by 4%. As well as these increasing costs and the efficiency dividend, the Australia Council will also have to find $6.6 million to fund Garrett’s Young and Emerging Artists program, which aims to increase the exposure of performing arts companies to schools and young people.

Kathy Keele, Australia Council CEO has guaranteed that grants to artists, despite the rising costs, will not be affected. “We are putting in place measures to maintain our funding for artists and arts organisations by streamlining the organisation and making $2 million in administrative savings,” she said.

Another organisation hit by the efficiency dividend has been the National Library of Australia which sees funding drop $600,000 to around $57.6 million for the coming financial year. Already running off the smell of an oily rag, the cut to the NLA has angered many, not only within literary circles but also those who understand the importance of storing digital information – a costly and complicated exercise that will keep the nation's public records for years to come.

One of the positives from this year’s budget is the creation of a resale royalty rights scheme for visual artists that will cost $1.5 million over the next three years. The funding will assist in creating an independent collecting body that will ensure that artists continue to get paid for works when on-sold to other buyers.

“This scheme will bring Australia into line with similar resale royalty arrangements operating in the United Kingdom and Europe and will embody the recognition that visual artists’ rights extend beyond the first sale of an artwork,” Mr Garrett said in a statement on Budget night.

The creation of a new National Film and Sound Archive as an independent statutory authority is another big step and will receive an allocation of $105.2 million over four years.

“As well as continuing its important activities in relation to the national audiovisual collection, the government believes it is important that the National Film and Sound Archive has a strong role in public outreach,” Mr Garrett said.

It’s a solid first budget for Mr Garrett, setting him only slightly apart from his predecessor. He is slowly showing his stripes in favouring additional funding for young and emerging artists. It’s a small step, but it could be the tip of an iceberg as he slowly forces the institutions that previously found favour with the Howard Government to increase their involvement with young people and start investing in the future creativity of the country.

Darlinghurst Theatre does an about turn

It is just a proposal, but it looks as though the Darlinghurst Theatre Company are reversing the way they programme and manage their theatre productions.

In an email to the local industry today, Company Director Glenn Terry has asked for feedback on a number of proposals that they are presently considering.

The email declares that Darlinghurst Theatre Company is "moving more and more towards becoming a Production House producing the work of Independent Artists".

Terry goes on to explain that "over the next three to five years, we will evolve into a Production House that will provide budgets for productions, fully production manage shows and pay artists at industry rates".

The proposals could be a sign of things to come for the thriving independent sector in Sydney. At present, the four main indie theatres (Darlinghurst, Stablemates, Downstairs Belvoir and the Old Fitzroy) do very complicated, time wasting and expensive submission and production processes.

They all usually involve a written submission that grandly states the intention of the production, the marketability and the usual explanation of the magnificent attributes of each of the creative team.

Once selected, companies usually pay through the nose for stage space (often over $2000 per week), plus additional costs in booking fees, credit card fees, technical fees, front of house fees, printing fees, advertising fees, mailing fees... fees, fees, fees.

As a consequence, most people involved in theatre productions in Sydney never get paid. It's great for experience, but is as good as sweatshop labour when questions of industrial relations are concerned.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company look like they are trying to reverse the trend;

In 2009:

Artists will still submit projects that will include a team of creatives, but their producing role will be to focus on the creative side of the production: directing, design, performance and artistic outcome.

Darlinghurst Theatre Co. will undertake all practical production matters including production management, publicity, all marketing, sales, graphic design, tech support, rehearsal space, stage management, bump in and out, and all production practical matters.

Artists will no longer need to put up cash for their production.

Production cost budget: Darlinghurst Theatre Co. will allocate each production a budget of roughly $20,000: which will cover royalties, a budget for the set, a budget for costumes, printing costs posters, flyers, programmes and graphic design, designer fees for lighting designer, sound designer, set and costume designer.

Artists split: the producing team of artists will be given 20 to 25% of box office which must only go to, and be split amongst the performers and director. Darlinghurst Theatre Company will guarantee that this percentage is a minimum of $9000.

Our show runs will be longer and be five and half weeks.

Financially, it is a much sounder plan that will allow production teams to concentrate on creating the work. It would also put tight reigns on over-enthusiastic and naive designers and producers from spending too much money.

Creatively, however, I think that it could be a bit of a black hole. Darlinghurst has already found a niche with its audiences and programming that concentrates on crowd pleasing comedy and drama. The proposal to put up the money will mean that Darlinghurst will want even more stringent guarantees on the commercial viability of the productions. Which, of course, isn't always a bad thing. But sometimes it's nice to take a journey into the dark.

Nevertheless, it's a brave and long over-due move which rewards independent theatre groups and individual artists that have been working their butts off in creating theatre and attracting continuous audiences. Above all, it raises the bar for indie venues to re-examine the way they manage the flow of their finances. And that's a breath of fresh air.

Review: Salome

Salome in Cogito Volume III
The Rabble

It has been so long since a show has divided audiences as vehemently as this one did on opening night. And with all the soap opera type of theatre going on at the moment it is a big and beautiful breath of fresh air.

Many audience members were ready to walk out they were so disgusted with this production. In fact one member was ready to put a call through to DOCS.

For this reviewer it is when you see this happening that you know that theatre still has a power to move and to shock. A power that many think is long lost.

But The Rabble have done it again. Bigger, better and more brilliant than their previous outing at CarriageWorks.

This time they take on the story of Salome, the step-daughter of Herod. The story goes that she danced (the dance of the Seven Veils) for Herod who was so taken by it that he promised her whatever she wanted.

“And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you. And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom. And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist. And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her. And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison, And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.”
Mark 6: 21-28

For centuries, Salome was a figure of sinful lust – a femme fatal which then lead to 19th Century French novelist Flaubert using her as inspiration for a short story. Famously, Oscar Wilde then wrote a play about her and Richard Strauss an opera.

This is the second production that The Rabble have presented in the enormous and cavernous space at CarriageWorks. Bringing together all the literary influences of this mysterious female character, The Rabble have shown that this character can still divide audiences in a brutal way.

But it is not so much the literary history of the character that shocks, but rather the dark and adventurous playfulness they use to portray her. The staging, the grotesque characters, the props, the madness. It is all so wrong but at the same time it is deliciously just right.

With barely any words spoken, five actors play out the tragic story with absolutely stunning theatrical images, a soaring sound track and a creativity that is desperately needed in our oh-so dry theatrical landscape of kitchen sink drama and tame theatre adventures in Sydney.

By using the enormous depth and breadth of the space they create an atmosphere that wouldn’t be too removed from a freakish goth museum. In its presentation it has the smell of Castellucci, but The Rabble have enough talent, originality and delightful humour to easily get away with it.

This play is certainly not for everyone, but if you like your stories and your humour dark and strong, then Salome is the thing to see.

Until 17 May
$20-30
CarriageWorks
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015.
http://www.carriageworks.com.au/
http://www.therabble.com.au/

Photo credit: Brett Boardman

Are independent artists left out... again?

Independent, non-mainstream and youth theatres look to have again been bypassed with the announcement today that the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG or read union for the establishment) are launching a 'Performing Arts Industry Advocacy Campaign'.

AMPAG in association with the Federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett, as well as Live Performance Australia, MEAA, Australian Children's Music Foundation, Australian Performing Arts Centres Association and the Australian Network for Art and Technology are launching the campaign at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday.

Independent performance artists and venues, again, have been left out in the cold with no organisation, no unified voice and no representation leaving the major performing arts groups (who get all the government and private funding by the way) to determine the agenda.

It leaves me breathless and oh-so-slightly annoyed that BSharp, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, the Old Fitzroy, Griffin Stablemates, the Storeroom and countless other vulnerable independent organisations around the country, still haven't united under some banner with shared values.

The fact that a campaign is being launched to promote the needs of the performing arts sector and they don't have an organised representation is quite unbelievable.

It just beggar's belief that these organisations haven't come together with some lobbying, fundraising, sponsorship and marketing union to create a powerful voice for what would represent an enormous amount of artists.

So that some media might attend on Wednesday, the launch has a line-up of talent that will be there to endorse the campaign including Brendan Cowell, Don Spencer, Leah Purcell, Tara Morice, John Bell AM, Michael Gow, Richard Evans, William Barton, Craig Pearce and Brett Sheehy.

Not particularly diverse is it.

Three sheets to the wind and full steam ahead

"Scaring the living daylights out of young people about the health impact of binge drinking in terms of brain damage might just do some good," Rudd aged 50, told Bloomberg in Canberra.

The article then follows young Tom Dalfer who is attending a B&S Ball. "With 48 cans of beer in the back and a bumper sticker that says 'Rum - So Much More Than a Breakfast Food,' Tom Dalfer headed to a remote Australian town last month with one purpose: to get as drunk as possible."

"This is my 44th B&S and I'm going to drink as much as I can before I fall over," Dalfer told Bloomberg. "I'm here to have a good time."

The Prime Minister has even threatened to cut funding to sports clubs that abuse alcohol and launch programs to get teenagers to drink more responsibly with a $20 million advertising campaign.

Damn fine idea Mr Rudd, target those sports clubs and let them know that they can't continue to approach their bingey ways with such reckless abandon. All those netballers I see causing havoc on the city streets. Remove the funding I say!

Sports people just don't have a refined way of binging like those involved in the arts. We are a model for responsible drinking. Those opening nights, launches, closing nights, gallery openings, fundraisers, readings, meetings, celebrations and gatherings are all drenched in a responsible glass of fine binge.

For time immemorial, creativity and binge have been connected through our models. Ernest Hemingway, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Edgar Allan Poe, Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis.

Amis even wrote a book about it which was titled simply Kingsley Amis On Drink. The man knew irony indeed.

"Offered the choice of red or white wine at a stand-up party the other day," he writes, "I explained that my stomach objected to the acid produced by wine without food, whereas spirits were all right. 'Sorry to hear that,' said the host. "I’m afraid there’s nothing else in the house.' My stomach took five minutes to change its mind."

Our respectful community even finds the exploits of our artistic forbears hilarious and re-tell the famous stories as we take another sip of binge. One of my favourites is from the kidney-great Peter O’Toole who, from memory, tells a story about him and Richard Harris who were in a production together when they were very young. Playing small parts they had a huge wait in between appearances and would go off to the pub and get on the ‘lash’.

Arriving back on stage towards the end of the play, one of the actors reprimands O’Toole saying to him, “You’re drunk!”

O’Toole, in his loudest and most Shakespearian of voices replies, as his colleague stumbles on stage, “If you think I’m drunk, you should see the Duke of Windsor!”

A David Boon story doesn’t even compare, does it?

In a brilliant review of On Drink by Alexander Waugh in Book Forum, Walker highlights the magical literary pattern Amis could thread even through a hangover:

“Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of the morning. The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he’d somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad.”

Go get those sports club Mr Rudd, while we have a toast to your good health and wish you good luck.

Break a leg, son!

Image: First edition of Kingsley Amis’s On Drink, 1972.