Sunday Arts Magazine

7 Feb 2016

Mendelssohn Marathon, Another Other, Double Blind, Angry Girls

Arts, Music, Performing Arts, Society & Culture, TV & Film, Visual Arts

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David and Brendan are in this week after a break last week due to Pride March. David saw the play/musical Pennsylvania Avenue–written by Joanna Murray-Smith and starring Bernadette Robinson–evoking singers to do with the White House. He describes it as ‘extraordinary’ and encourages people to see it. It’s on till 14 February. Both our hosts saw Ghost, the musical on from 15 February to 13 March in Melbourne. They were impressed by the technology which was what really held it together and Rob Mills and Jemma Rix were good but David found the story a bit weak. Brendan liked it a bit more especially the psychic. Brendan also saw Hitchcock and Herrmann featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing Herrmann’s music alongside a backdrop of the corresponding Hitchcock films. He thought it was ‘fantastic’, despite noisy patrons behind him. Later Brendan talks a bit about the band Chvrches and also his experience at Pride March and then goes on to review the film Room starring Brie Larson as a young woman who has a child from her kidnapper and raises him in one room for 5 years…until things change. Our hosts discuss the film which is getting a lot of accolades and Brendan gives it 4.5 stars. Next reviewed is Spotlight about Boston newspaper journalists in 2001 investigating the abuse of children by priests in the Catholic Church and the system that allowed it to continue. It also highlights the art of investigative journalism—which is disappearing. An excellent ensemble cast do justice to the material.

Special guests today are:

11:44 to 31:10 mins—Robert Gibbs from classical community Radio Station 3MBS and musician Stefan Cassomenos have come in to talk about this year’s 3MBS Marathon Project on Mendelssohn—on 28 February at Hawthorn Arts Centre. In its 4th year, it is a classical music event featuring one artist and involving 6 concerts over 12 hours in one day–showcasing the breadth and depth of the artist’s talent. Tickets are cheap and can be bought for one concert or all of them. Stefan is a concert pianist and composer and will be playing in his 4th marathon. Robert and Stefan talk about– how composers are chosen; Felix AND his sister Fanny Mendelssohn as composers and Queen Victoria’s favourites; ‘Songs without Words’ piano pieces; the perks of VIP tickets and how the marathons have evolved. All the musicians have donated their time for the marathon as they want to give back the support that 3MBS has given them. Proceeds go to the station as, like Joy 94.9, it needs funding to function.

32:11 to 48:20 mins—Erkki Veltheim from Chamber Made Opera has come in to talk about the company and also his production Another Other on from 18 to 21 February at the Meat Market in North Melbourne. Erkki came to Australia with his parents from Finland when 12 years old. He studied music at VCA , travelled overseas and returned to Australia playing a variety of music and also collaborating and composing. Erkki joined Chamber Made Opera 2 years ago. The idea of the company is to provide an alternative to the mainstage ones and to bring new experimental opera and musical theatre to Australia. They commission new works where often people question whether it’s opera or not. Erkki considers opera to be the first multi-disciplinary performance and it is this aspect he is interested in. In Another Other he and his colleagues were mainly inspired by the famous Ingmar Bergman film Persona (1966) with themes such as personality not being fixed and that it is also a kind of performance/mask. Also the role of art in society and how it can represent reality, especially tragic events. The show poses these themes but more as an aesthetic and physical experience rather than a cerebral one. They’ll also be a bonus screening of Persona before the show on 20 February at 5pm.

58:22 to 1:17:29 mins—Choreographer Stephanie Lake talks about her background and then her new show Double Blind on from 15 to 20th February at Northcote Town Hall. Stephanie came to Tasmania from Canada when 8 years old. She always danced but seriously took up contemporary dance when a teenager. This was ‘cool’ in Launceston where they had edgy performances in warehouses and dancers contributing to the choreography which planted a seed for later. She travelled, studied dance at the VCA in Melbourne which included doing short choreographies. Then she worked with choreographer Phillip Adams and famous dance companies Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin. Performing and choreography were always intertwined until choreography became the prime activity about 5 years ago. Her new show Double Blind was inspired by the Milgram Experiment (1963) which tested personal responsibility i.e. how and why people abdicate responsibility just because they’ve been told to by an authoritative person. It is dark subject matter but it also has levity. Stephanie outlines how much time, effort and organisation goes into putting on a show like this and how she does the choreographing and collaboration with her composer husband and others. Having a shared experience with the audience and taking them on a journey is important. She’d like people to question how we treat each other and look at empathy.

:18:01 to 1:31:43 mins—Artist Gemma Flack talks about her background, her way of creating and her exhibition– Angry Girls Club— at the Off The Kerb gallery 4 to 18 February. Gemma always wanted to be an artist. Originally from England she’d tried illustration, came to RMIT in Melbourne to try animation, went back to illustration but wasn’t fond of the commercial side of it i.e. drawing what others wanted rather than what inspired her. Luckily she developed an online presence and is able to sustain herself through selling prints, stickers and even an adult colouring book on her online store. It is hard work, requiring a lot of self-promotion, but worth it to be independent. She’s always wanted to do an exhibition and create a space that felt like a sanctuary so it’s set-up like an installation of a bedroom including a bed that patrons can sit or lie on if they feel like it. She herself is angry about the way femininity is expected of people or portrayed so her artwork tries to represent different bodies, different people, different ways of being and of expressing yourself. It is a personal and cathartic work and she finds it very rewarding when her work can impact or touch others’ lives; where people can identify with it. Gemma likes working on her own but has had an experience of making collaborative art together with other artists and would love to do it again. After the exhibition she’d like to step back from art temporarily and make some zines for a while. She has a website where all her links are.

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