Sunday Arts Magazine

4 Dec 2016

Fox Galleries, Kirsty Webeck, Ladies In Black, RMP-Messiah&Carols

Arts, Comedy, Music, Performing Arts, TV & Film, Visual Arts

David is back this week and joins Brendan and Neil. Brendan reviews his first Ken Loach film– I, Daniel Blake–about a man in conflict with the Welfare system in the UK. Brendan reacted emotionally to it as described it as ‘a beautiful film in its ugliness’–4.5 stars!

Special Guests this week are:

09:00 to 28:28 mins–Michael Fox is from from Fox Galleries at 79 Langridge St,Collingwood. His mother is a painter and Michael painted a lot when young and also got into art history. His father had other ideas and Michael became an accountant/tax agent who now looks after artists/musicians/entertainers.  He set up his first gallery in Brisbane in 1998, which ran for 8 years.  He exhibited all sorts of mediums and also did art publications for schools. Michael talks about his ongoing battle with the government restrictions concerning art as an investment and how artists need exposure to the public and ‘valued opinions’ from people such as curators. Michael is putting together a ‘template’ for other professionals who want to open galleries. If professionals or artists want to contact Michael just go to his websites.  At the Collingwood gallery, there are a few exhibitions a year. The current exhibition is Jim Ulrich-Mekong Lights.  Jim is a Canadian artist and is always interested in natural phenomena.  In this case it’s the Mekong Lights in Thailand.  Michael details the very interesting process and techniques Jim uses when painting.

28:57 to 51:45 mins–Kirsty Webeck is a comedian and is here to discuss her show Kirsty Webeck’s Comedy Crushes at the Butterfly Club from 7 to 11 December.  Brendan knows  and admires Kirsty and considers her comedy to be a ‘good clean laugh’ with no pointed barbs or suchlike.  Kirsty was the class clown as a child and also did acting but was told she lacked discipline! She always wanted to be a comedian but didn’t get into it until 4 years ago when she signed up for a comedy workshop, did a successful one hour stand-up stint in front of about 100 friends & family and hasn’t looked back since.  Kirsty is a storytelling comedian and has learned, over time, to make the stories tighter and funnier.  She talks about the intriguing nuances of comedy and learning what works and doesn’t through lots of experience. Kirsty is making a living as a full-time comedian which is great but it is also a lot of hard work.  She doesn’t have an agent and usually has many different projects going on at the same time.  E.g. She’s collaborating with 2 other queer comedians in a show called The Dyke Side. Kirsty Webeck’s Comedy Crushes is a show she does on a regular basis where she hosts a show with 3 other comedians.  There are 3 different comedians each night. They all have different styles but, like Kirsty, are relatively inoffensive.

52:23 to 1:13:35 mins–Jason Marriner is the CEO of Marriner Group, the family company responsible for four of Melbourne’s heritage theatres–The Regent, The Princess, Comedy and Forum. The journey for the family started in the country (Colac) with Jason’s father, David, having a successful furniture shop.  As an aside, in the early 80s, he restored the old Colac Courthouse and turned it into a restaurant. It was opened by none other than Don Dunstan. When the Arts Centre was built in Melbourne the old theatres fell into a state of disrepair. David Marriner famously bought the Princess for a $1, but it was a liability. After $27Million, it re-opened on the hugely successful —Les Miserables and then Phantom of the Opera. Jason also details the story of The Regent.  There is also a ‘surprise’ with the Forum which is re-opening properly in about 6 months.  It will be ‘quite something’!!  Jason is also producer of the Australian musical Ladies in Black on from 25 February for 3 weeks at The Regent Theatre. Tickets can be bought now at Ticketmaster.   It has music by Tim Finn and is the story of women (all wearing black) working in a fashionable department store in 1959. One young woman gets work there and meets other women from all parts of Australia and many new immigrants too. There’s a to-and-fro of different stories.

1:13:52 to 1:29:09 mins–Andrew Wailes is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra and is here to talk about concerts coming up.  Andrew also has many other caps including conducting other choirs, guest conducting of orchestras, and a background in uni lecturing. He is very busy at this time of year! He talks about funding cuts that made it necessary for the Philharmonic to work very hard to just survive; but not only have they been surviving, they’ve also raised artistic standards. They’ve also done more commercial work, including football finals and an album with John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John. This is fun but distracts somewhat from them doing their core, high-quality, major symphonic works. At this time of year, the Philharmonic always does Handel’s The Messiah.  This year it’s on Sunday 11 December at  5pm at the Melbourne Town Hall. They’ve done it every year since 1853!  A world record! Each year that Andrew does it he looks for something that will be ‘fresh’. This year he is absolutely thrilled with the four soloists who are– Sara Macliver (soprano), Bronwyn Douglass ( mezzo soprano), Andrew Goodwin (tenor) and Teddy Tahu Rhodes ( bass baritone). After The Messiah is Carols in the Cathedral (St Paul’s Cathedral) on 16 and 17 December again with great soloists and 3 choirs. The easiest way to book tickets is through the RMP website.

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