Sunday Arts Magazine

3 Jul 2016

Gaijin, Degas:A New Vision, Abigail/1702, Melb Cinematheque

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

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Gaijin, Degas:A New Vision, Abigail/1702, Melb Cinematheque

Today there is an extended interview with NGV’s Ted Gott along with 2 other interviews involving theatre. Brendan contemplated seeing The BFG–Steven Spielberg’s film based on Roald Dahl’s 1982 book–but explains why he wasn’t keen. He DID see Green Room which had been out for a while but only at the Nova Cinema. It’s a horror/thriller movie involving a punk band and neo-Nazis. Patrick Stewart plays a small but prominent role and one of the young up and coming actors in it, Anton Yelchin, tragically died only last month. Another death that happened only yesterday (2 July) was Michael Cimino– writer & director of the classic film The Deer Hunter (1978). Brendan and David also talk about a band called The Avalanches who are finally back with an album after their last album release in 2001. Brendan also talks about Melbourne Cinémathèque at the start and, in detail, at the end of the show. MC screens rarely seen films at ACMI every Wednesday night and you can buy single & 3 session tickets but it’s better to buy a monthly or yearly membership.

Special guests today are:

10:50 to 32:12 mins–Theatre-maker and teacher Martin Rice is here to talk about his background and his new show Gaijin on from 6 to 9 & 13 to 16 July at the Metanoia Theatre at the Mechanics Institute in Brunswick. He loved doing drama at school, went to Latrobe Uni, worked for a bit which included acting and then went to Japan to teach English to adults–and met his wife there. He saw some theatre at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo which he discusses with our hosts. He returned to Melbourne and has been teaching drama at a high school and got inspired to make theatre after putting on a production of Jesus Christ Superstar with the senior students. He began writing again and developed a story of a young man going to Tokyo to complete his martial arts training and while there, he gets ‘sucked in to a Japanese spirit world’ and questions its reality. Essentially it’s about being in a foreign land and being disoriented. Gaijin means foreigner but has a wider meaning of people that don’t fit in to their society. Therefore there are Japanese characters who are outsiders too. Martin had had audience feedback in an earlier production at Kingston Arts and got talented friends from his dojo to do lighting and compose/perform the music, using Japanese instruments. He got some actors via his previous production, from auditioning and also one of his students. He talks more about the Japanese influences on the construction, and theatrical style, of the story. Many actors wear traditional kimonos beautifully designed by his costume designer.

33:17 to 1:14:45 mins– Senior Curator of International Art at the NGV Ted Gott has been on Sunday Arts 3-4 times and is here to talk about the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces Exhibition–Degas:A New Vision already on at NGV International from 24 June to 18 September. Ted and our hosts initially discuss his involvement in The Horse exhibition last year. Then they start discussing the Degas exhibition which includes his works from age 21 to 83 and were drawn from 65 different collections around the world . Therefore many other works are there along with his famous ballet pieces. Ted is assisting the curator who is pre-eminent Degas expert Henri Loyrette who had also been director of 2 famous Parisian Museums. Ted goes into his own background including a PhD in Art History, post- doctoral research on a French artist, has worked in many places around the world and has been Senior Curator of European painting & sculpture at NGV for 15 years. He talks about Art History and how at any time-period it spills over into social history. Ted learns something new every day and working with Loyrette has radically changed his opinion of Degas. He goes into Degas’ biography in great detail, mentioning prominent artworks along the way. Degas was born in 1834 and it was his father who got him interested in art and supported him with a stipend up until his death when Degas was 40. Degas didn’t want to go to art school and educated himself on art, especially when travelling in Italy, so was always outside the system. He needs to support himself and pay off family debts so joins with other artists to set up an independent exhibition from the conservative salon system where the term Impressionist is born–via a critic criticising a Monet painting. Degas didn’t like the term considering himself a realist but still exhibited his paintings with the group. His ballet works start in 1871 when he gets access to back-of-house at the Paris opera. Here he becomes obsessed with drawing and painting the ballerinas working, very interested in kinetic movement and the moment before the motion. Despite the beauty of the paintings, many depict the hard slog and appalling conditions the ballerinas endured. Degas sold many paintings between 1874 to late 1880s, particularly the ballet works and commissioned paintings he knew patrons would like. Once he paid off his family debts he painted only for himself and became more radical. This he did for the remaining 27 years of his life. He never married or had a relationship which was the talk of the town and frowned upon. Degas also was a collector and had 5000 works by other artists. Degas was supportive of younger artists such as Gauguin and Cézanne. Degas also did sculptures later in life (mostly in wax), indoor photography, and abstract and highly coloured works.

David highly recommends getting the audio when seeing the show as the history and background is very interesting. Ted also talks about a fundraising drive at NGV to acquire a beautiful marble sculpture by François Marie Poncet.

1:15:23 to 1:28:57 mins– Elizabeth Millington is a director and Emma Caldwell is an actor and also co-founder of Boutique Theatre. They’re here to talk about their new production called Abigail/1702 on at the Old Council Chambers at Victorian Trades Hall from 15 to 30 July. Emma founded Boutique Theatre in 2012 with Tegan Jones because they both felt that as female actors there was a lack of opportunities & kinds of shows that they really wanted to be in. They ultimately decided to do new works from Australia and overseas as well as classics with a twist. They also brought in more ‘core creatives’. Elizabeth started out as an actor, originally in Russia (where she’s from) and then did a lot of directing since she came to Melbourne. Abigail/1702 has been on the pipeline for a while. It is written by American Roberto Aquirre-Sacasa and is a sequel to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible–about the Salem Witch trials. It involves the teenage character Abigail Williams who is the main accuser of women as witches in The Crucible. Emma has always had a fascination with her because she is such a villain and then just disappears. Abigail/1702 is set 10 years after The Crucible and shows some redeeming qualities but always mindful of her very flawed & chequered past. Elizabeth talks about the production being immersive for the audience with the look of the time, the sounds and the smells. Also, they use cinematic techniques for time shifts when Abigail remembers the past. They also play with what’s real and what isn’t–is the devil real, is Abigail telling the truth?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:55 — 42.5MB)

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