Sunday Arts Magazine

13 Nov 2016

Dusty, Animal, Poppy Seed Theatre Fest, Melb Musical Theatre Fest

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

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Dusty, Animal, Poppy Seed Theatre Fest, Melb Musical Theatre Fest

Daniel reviews only one film–i.e. Nocturnal Animals–made by Tom Ford of “A Single Man’ fame. Despite many accolades and an exceptional cast, Daniel found the film gratuitously and unnecessarily vulgar with many plot holes-3 stars. David saw The Production Company’s Dusty the Musical (about Dusty Springfield) last night and absolutely loved it. The script has some flaws and there are dark moments but the look of it is first class and it has an amazing ensemble cast and great leads. In a rare occurrence, The Production company will take this musical to Adelaide in March 2017–in a co-production with the Adelaide Arts Festival.

Special Guests today are:

16:50 to 28:09 mins–Nicci Wilks and Kate Sherman are from Influx Theatre and are here to discuss their new production called Animal showing at Theatre Works in St Kilda from 17 to 27 November. Nicci has a background in circus and physical theatre but has lately moved to just theatre; except for Animal, which is very physical. Kate studied acting at NIDA but then worked with a physical theatre company for many years and is now doing more of her own work working with collaborators in Sydney and Melbourne. Animal is about violence towards women and, amazingly, it has no spoken text but does have some ‘projected text’ by Angus Cerini . Our guests talk about the origins of their company Influx and how it has evolved. Influx includes Susie Dee as well as our guests. Animal shows how 2 women fight back to leave the violent situation they are born in to. Although the topic is bleak, the production offers hope. It’s called Animal because it’s about bare instinct and the women have to transcend to leave the situation. Interestingly, alongside the production, there are self-defence classes.

29:11 to 1:10:08 mins–Our hosts speak to Emma Hayden who is one of the four Festival Directors from the Poppy Seed Theatre Festival (on from 8 November to 11 December) and also to people from the 4 new works which are showing in the festival. Emma explains that Poppy Seed was the brainchild of Phillip Hayden (who is also a Festival Director) who noticed these great independent theatre companies showing great work but exhausting themselves and leaving because they had no support. To prevent this burnout he proposed an idea for a festival where companies were provided with money, publicity, venue and mentoring and brought together in a ‘defacto ensemble’. It’s now in its second year and has The City of Melbourne as a major backer.

Our next guests are from each of the 4 productions and discuss their plays, theatre companies and Poppyseed:

Fleur Kilpatrick is a playwright from Attic Erratic which is presenting her play Blessed on from 8 to 20 November at the Malthouse Theatre. Blessed is a biblical adaptation and is about escaping Australian intergenerational poverty.

Anna Kennedy is from Riot Stage and is the producer of F. on from 30 November to 11 December at Trades Hall. F. is about teenage sex in a post-internet world. Anna elaborates on this description and gives background info about the play and its style.

Anna Rodway is from Three Birds and is co-creator/performer of LadyCake on from 15 to 27 November at Trades Hall. The play is about ‘the rise and fall of a woman in the public eye through the eyes of Marie Antoinette’s world’. It looks at the events of her life and the myths around these events.

Tom Halls is from Hotel Now and is one of the performers/devisors of What’s Yours Is Mine on from 22 November to 4 December at The Butterfly Club. It’s about 3 youngish Australians chasing their Australian Dream but not knowing what that dream is.

1:10:19 to 1:31:49 mins–Trevor Alexander is the Artistic Director of the inaugural Melbourne Musical Theatre Festival (MMTF) which opens in 2017. It’s on from 06 to 28 January at the Athenaeum Theatre. Trevor started off his career as an opera singer but soon moved into directing and producing. The idea for an MMTF came in the 1980s but circumstances changed and were not right again until later. He travelled and worked in England and the US and was inspired by Chris Stewart’s New York Music Festival which created a vehicle for the development and promotion of new musicals, which is essential. He decided to return to Melbourne to develop the MMTF as the city has many wonderful venues and plenty of on and off-stage talent–but not enough shows. He explains the obstacles facing shows in development in Australia and the cultural change needed to fix this. Also the big shows can be very pricey and Trevor explains how shows can be made more affordable and attract a wider audience, especially for families and kids. Trevor then details some of the musicals that will show next January including Some Enchanted Evening, Chriss Crossed (a new Aussie musical comedy set in London that will also show at Midsumma), Peter Pan-The Croc Rock Panto, and Hansel & Gretel-A Fractured Fairytale. Also on New Years Eve there is a Viva Verdi concert.