Author: Kate Foy

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First quarterly report: jobs onstage

Here it is. Further to an earlier post Jobs for the girls: logging the stats and as promised, herewith the first of 4 planned reports of cast numbers in programmed productions for both subsidised companies in Brisbane in 2011.

Plays include: Julius Caesar; Boy Girl Wall (La Boite) and Sacré Bleu; Man=Man & The Elephant Calf; Water Falling Down – opens this week (Queensland Theatre Company)

 

 

As at 4.4.11

 

Any errors or omissions, please let us know.

Not included in the stats is employment in play-readings, workshops and other creative development activities for both companies which, to be fair, include job opportunities for actors.

A much better and fuller picture would include figures for independent productions. Whilst this would be problematical as a ‘living-wage’ employment statistic – most indie productions are stipend or fee-based, deferred payment or non-waged – it would give a sense of how many performance opportunities are being made available for female actors, which is where this conversation began.

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Playing with monsters: Benjamin Shostakowski (Interview 17)

PHOTO: Benjamin Shostakowski

Hoorah, hoorah, I’ve found a kindred spirit – someone else who loves the ‘Master of the Vaguely Ominous’ – Edward Gorey (1925-2000), American illustrator and author of some of the oddest and funniest books around. His surname, once you get to know his work, seems wonderfully apt.

My Gorey antennae twitched when I saw that a company called ‘Monsters Appear’ was producing a new play called The Glorious Nosebleed. This is the title of one of Gorey’s more famous books, and the one that brilliantly illustrates what is meant by adverbs (!) … such as, ‘He ran down the hall maniacally,‘ with the accompanying picture of an Edwardian gentleman in night attire brandishing a large axe  – or this one

‘He looked out of the room hopelessly.’

Known for his darkly comic tales and brilliant draughtsmanship Edward St John Gorey was also a true eccentric. He loved cats and wearing fur coats, which made the lanky Yankee look like a huge and rather patrician cat himself. Gorey lived in New England and was also a ballet and theatre devotee. He illustrated posters and programmes for the NY City Ballet as well as for local community theatres. He was nominated for a Tony in 1977 for his costume and set designs for Dracula, and won for Best Costume Design. By the way, you can also buy a Gorey-designed Dracula Toy Theatre on Amazon and yes, I have a small collection of Gorey-ana and anyone who likes Gorey gets my vote.

So it was that I found myself interviewing Benjamin Shostakowski (a Gorey aficionadao) and one of the team of Monsters Appear who, with a name like that, clearly also get a kick out of scary things and the finely-drawn macabre-in-the-ordinary. This is how they see themselves

Monsters Appear is an emerging Brisbane independent theatre collective comprised of Benjamin Schostakowski, Athalia Foo and Nikki Taurau. The collective present new contemporary performance works that aim to provide a unique experience for their audiences. Their work melds together traditional theatrical devices and modern technologies. Monsters Appear employ visual stage images, illusion, projected images and minimal dialogue to play with space and time. With a zealous theatrical sensibility, they aim for the unexpected. (Media Release) Continue reading “Playing with monsters: Benjamin Shostakowski (Interview 17)”

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Kat Henry (Interview 16)

Photo: Kat Henry

Much of the talk in town and on the interwebs right now concerns gender equity in the theatre. Women playwrights and directors and actors continue to battle what many are calling, perhaps intemperately – but who can blame them – ‘the boys’ club.’ It’s not just here either; American and British women have their dander up as well.

When a woman succeeds in securing a paid job as a director or actor, or when she wins an award for playwrighting, then it’s cause for celebration. So it was last week when expatriate Brisbane writer (she now lives in Melbourne) Shannon Murdoch won the prestigious Yale Drama Series award for her play New Light Shine. As they used to say before digital technologies arrived to spread news in a flash, ‘the wires hummed’ with the news. Shannon was congratulated, contacted, and readings were being set up just-like-that. Hoorah! I’m told New Light Shine was one of the ‘must see’ works at this year’s National Play Festival. I wonder if it has been secured for an Australian production yet and, if so, who will direct? Whatever the answers, it’s a thrill to see Shannon Murdoch’s work being recognised in this way.

There are two women directors currently at work in Brisbane on productions: Andrea Moor on Water Falling Down for Queensland Theatre Company, and Kat Henry on The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg for the independent company 23rd Productions.  Greenroom interviewed Andrea last year when she was working on Tender – you can read the review here. I was delighted to meet Kat Henry a week or so ago at the theatre and to get her to agree to an interview. Continue reading “Kat Henry (Interview 16)”

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World Theatre Day 2011 … going, going …

As the world turns World Theatre Day 2011 has come and gone from Australia for another year, but it’s still going strong elsewhere as March 27th comes in round the globe.

Someone wrote on the Twitter stream that ‘every day is world theatre day’ and, of course, he’s right for those of us who live and work in and for the theatre. It can be all-consuming at times, a source of frustration too, but mostly of love. It’s why we keep going, making and advocating for theatre as a daily engagement. Still, as one of my theatre friends in Canada (Simon Ogden) put it so well, it’s a day worth stopping and marking in a special way, because

It is a day designed to let theatre makers raise their heads from the local communities they work in and revel in the collective consciousness of their global community. It is a celebration of the health, vivacity and reach of our particular form of art. It is not a day for asking for help, or for audience building. It’s a massive, collective high-five.

WTD11 fell on a Sunday and, for many it was a day of rest and reflection. Others were rehearsing or performing, writing, watching and listening from the audience …

Here’s the Theatre Communications Group (based in the US) WTD Message for this year. It echoes the theme of social justice through theatre which is this year’s ‘call to action’ or reflection.

It’s very moving and talks about something that theatre makes us do so well: ‘listen.’

And World Theatre Day continues round the globe. You can catch the latest postings on the blog and on the WTD Facebook page. I loved the live stream from Berlin some hours ago. If you didn’t catch it, you can read Brisbane’s 23rd Productions posting for World Theatre Day on the blog as well, along with the Dead Cargo company and Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble‘s shout out to the world.

And, if you didn’t get to celebrate WTD11, watch out for WTD12 next year on March 27th.

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The Glorious Nosebleed: Monsters Appear at !Metro Arts (Allies)

MEDIA RELEASE:

Absurdity, time travel and mystery are set to drench the Sue Benner Theatre this April, when Monsters Appear present THE GLORIOUS NOSEBLEED.

‘THE GLORIOUS NOSEBLEED is an original theatre work which tells the tale of two adult? children and the extraordinary things that happen to them when they face grim circumstances’, says Benjamin Schostakowski, performer and co-deviser of the work.

Schostakowski and fellow co-devisor/performer Athalia Foo play strangers, a young boy and girl who find themselves trapped in a mysterious underground room. Their subterranean night is relayed through a fractured series of interconnected images and scenes. The audience pieces the production together to build their own understanding of the night’s occurrences ? one of course being the glorious nosebleed. This seemingly sinister duologue reveals the magical inside world of children’s creative minds, exploring time, entrapment, intrigue and escapism.

Monsters Appear is an emerging Brisbane independent theatre collective comprised of Benjamin Schostakowski, Athalia Foo and Nikki Taurau. The collective present new contemporary performance works that aim to provide a unique experience for their audiences. Their work melds together traditional theatrical devices and modern technologies. Monsters Appear employ visual stage images, illusion, projected images and minimal dialogue to play with space and time. With a zealous theatrical sensibility, they aim for the unexpected.

‘This production marks our opportunity as a collective to present our theatre work in a professional context. It’s devastatingly exciting for us as emerging Brisbane artists’ says Athalia Foo.

Tickets now on sale.

SEASON: 30 March ? 9 April 2011, Preview 29 March WHEN: Tuesdays – Saturdays, 7.30pm WHERE: Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts 109 Edward Street, Brisbane.

TICKETS: Adults $20/ Conc. $16/ Preview $12/ Group (10+) $12 Cheap Tuesdays: $12 (door sales only)

BOOKINGS: (07) 3002 7100 or http://www.metroarts.com.au