Life’s A…

1. a female dog.
2. a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person; a lewd person – Disparaging and Offensive.
3. a person who is submissive or subservient to someone (usually in a humiliating way).
4. a person who willingly or unwillingly submits to the will and control of a dominant partner in a (sexual) relationship.
5. a complaint.
6. anything difficult or unpleasant.
7. anything memorable, especially something exceptionally good: “You threw one BITCH of a party last night.”

Writer, Director, Actor, Producer Wayne Tunks and I discuss life, art, family, and his latest production, Bitch:

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The real, the surreal, and the imagined, meet, mash and clash in Darlinghurst Theatre’s current production of Hysteria.

In London, in 1938, psychoanalyst Dr Sigmund Freud and surrealist artist Salvador Dali – both masters of their mediums and crafts, both slaves to their minds and addictions – came face to face. Based on this outrageously combustible true-to-life meeting between the father of psychoanalysis, and the brainchild of surrealism, Hysteria brushes its abstract theatrical strokes over landscapes of the human mind in order to greater examine the landscapes of human relationships. All the while, this production boldly paints a portrait of hilarity, depravity, absurdity and sincerity in an ultimate search to present for us ‘the essence of The Real’.

I may or not have sat down with actor Jo Turner who is playing Dr Sigmund Freud in Hysteria. We may or may not have psychoanalysed him:

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Monkey Baa are bringing to life (and bringing the particularly eccentric lifestyle of foodie) wombat, Mothball, from the acclaimed children’s picture book, Diary of a Wombat, to the stage. Director Eva Di Cesare and I discussed the unique adaptation process for this fun little foraging gem of a story. From concept to execution – from paw to mouth – we’ve scrounged around together, and we’ve vigorously digested Eva’s all-consuming thoughts. All presented here for you now in the form of her own reflective diary:

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Written by many, performed by many, bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company’s The Laden Table is soon to be served up (politically) hot and fresh, March 10 at the Kings Cross Theatre. On offer on this divisive menu, well-seasoned for debate, will be full-bodied ingredients the likes of: family, religion, ritual, generations, secrets, and lies… Out of the eclectic line-up on display for the Laden feast, to feed our own appetites, we’ve picked on and picked out Suz Mawer to chat with us about her artistic role/s:

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” The script is always the starting point.” -Kim Hardwick.

White Box Theatre are championing the theatre writer via their signature emotionally-engulfing productions. They have so far steadily enacted a vision to support Australian writers, emerging and otherwise, and an aim to produce stories about the communities in which we live – depicted on both local and global scales of context. The current target right now is the award-winning classic Australian play by Nick Enright, Blackrock – soon to assault the heart, the mind and the senses this March at The Seymour Centre.

Director, Kim Harwdwick unpacks for us the story and process behind bringing this powerful and enduring production to the stage, based around the events of a real 1989 murder:

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The second half of Peter Maple’s interviews for Superhal.

One might think taking on the lead role of a Shakespearean character is a large enough task in itself; or assuming the mantle of a superhero figure would be a responsibility of just as sizeable proportions. But, try combining the two together as one – and you may just find yourself floating in the realms of a universe jam-packed with commitments of Herculean magnitudes…!

Armed to the teeth with Shakespearean verbal ammunition, and decked out in full superhero garb, actor Richard Hilliar is leading the charge on the Puzzle Collective’s upcoming production, Superhal. A vast undertaking that seeks to present Shakespeare’s Henriad (Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; and and Henry V) cross-bred with resplendent superhero lore.

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“You can get lost in a good book you see. Though it’s worse to get lost in a BAD one…” -The Bookbinder.

Mystery, magic, and mayhem are leaping from the pages to attack the senses and the imagination via a fairy-tale spectacle encompassing shadow play, paper art, puppetry, music, and good old-fashioned storytelling. New Zealand’s Trick of the Light Theatre are coming to play – and play hard – at Riverside Theatres this March with their award-winning mish mash of the fantastical, the gothic, and the absurd. This is the one-man bazaar, The Bookbinder.

The spotlight sharply focuses in here for us today on Writer and Performer, Ralph McCubbin Howell:

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“Short+Sweet Theatre is the biggest short play festival in the world. Short+Sweet Sydney will produce 160 brand new 10 minute plays January-March, never before seen in Sydney. With over 300 writers and directors and close to 500 actors involved.”

As the S+S Festival suits up for Week 7, screen director Spike Hogan is himself gearing up to tackle his first time helming a production for the stage.

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Peter Maple’s first of two articles on the up coming Mega-production Superhal.

Plotting, scheming, and generally planning to take over the world, director John Galea and I chat about his upcoming production, Superhal, which is enthusiastically in the process of mixing Shakespeare with superheroes.

This reimagining of Shakespeare’s Henriad (Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; and Henry V) as a superhero origin story will be unleashed upon the world for the very first time by The Puzzle Collective at the NIDA Parade Theatre this coming March.

It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s Superhal…!

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Up close and personal with Craig Bary re FORM Dance Projects’ In Difference for Riverside Theatres, Parramatta.

This dance movement narrative is tackling the personal and the political via a mix of the intimate, the interpretive, and the lived experience. What does all this mean you may ask.

Craig Bary and his team, made up of Josh Thomson, Tim Ohl, and Kristina Chan, wanted to look at creating a dance piece to examine all modes of romantic relationships – relationships of all walks of life – and the inequalities bestowed upon them. For numerous relationships perception, prejudice, and politics are external forces which can impose and impact upon the personal, i.e. the same sex marriage debate.

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