Category: Asides

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Greenroom’s Second Year – a birthday message

Today marks Greenroom’s second birthday. It’s been quite a year for the fledgling theatre blog and bloggers!

In our second year of operation we reviewed and interviewed and commented and spruiked on behalf of Queensland subsidised and independent theatre, and the stories just keep coming, and so do the invitations. Thank you for them. We wish we could get to everything but that proved to be impossible. You do what you can!

Greenroom introduced the Groundling Awards – peoples’ awards for excellence in theatre in the state. The response was fantastic, so good that we are going to do it all again. Watch for news in December. The elves are already girding their tiny loins – we’ve heard a few sighs – for the adventure.

In the past year we have published 140 posts which included a ‘dark period’ when the Editor headed off on a busman’s holiday in September-October. My thanks to guest bloggers Nick Backstrom (our man in exile in Melbourne), playwright Dave Burton, the multi-talented Amelia Dowd, Zane Trow and Paul Osuch for their smart, incisive and invaluable contributions during the year.

We also capitulated to the inevitable and created a Greenroom Facebook page a few months ago. It has proved an invaluable way of reaching a wider audience and also of providing another platform for discussion and dissemination of Queensland – and wider – theatre happenings and ideas. As I write our Facebook page has 203 ‘Likes.’ The more the merrier. Click that big, blue button on the home page if you haven’t already! We’re also on Twitter – you know it!

Wider observations: there has been a development in online writing and conversation about Queensland theatre in this time. The fearless and knowledgable Xanthe Coward became the revived Briztix site’s resident reviewer, whilst other blogs like Critical Mass, supported by Arts Queensland, emerged into the blogosphere. Briztix introduced their own award for excellence joining the Matildas and Groundlings, and the wider growth of social media has seen it become almost the de facto way of getting information out especially within the indie sector. Visibility is good out there! The downside has been the loss of the excellent reviews from Katherine Lyall-Watson with the demise of OurBrisbane.com. A short-sighted move this by the Brisbane City Council.

And so, dear reader, we start our third year of activities. What was to be a small retirement project for me has proven to be something more. It remains a labour of love.

Thank you for your support. I wish I could share the chocolate mudcake baked especially for the occasion with you! I can share the memory of the thrill I felt when I saw my name on a ‘Reserved Media’ seat for the first time at La Boite Theatre earlier this year. What’s that about little things meaning a lot?

Yours,

Kate 

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Sound Bite #1: The View from the Sixth Row

Ta-daa! Greenroom’s first sound-bite via the delightfully simple app Audioboo, which I use a lot on my Posterous blog when travelling. You can record from your desktop or, as I usually do, via the free Audioboo iPhone app. You can record up to 5 minutes with a free account and add photos, tags and so on and on-post to Facebook, Twitter or, as I’ve done here, embed the code in a blog post.

I thought it might be appropriate from time to time here on Greenroom when there’s something to say that benefits from a sense of the environment. It’s a powerful tool – no slushy sybillants, and Audioboo also captures ambient sounds as you speak. Click on the link below to listen.

Background:
I was killing some time yesterday afternoon on South Bank and caught the theatre photography exhibition by Reiner Irmer at the Tony Gould Gallery. Reina has captured performance ‘on the fly’ from the sixth row of the stalls – hence the exhibition’s name. It’s black and white, and captures many of the productions that played QPAC during the 90s.

I would have enjoyed more large-format shots, but it’s well worth the visit. Ah, memories!

If you have half an hour to spare do see it. It closes in October.

 

A View From the Sixth Row (mp3)

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A note from the front lines or Is Winter Brisbane’s theatre ‘season’

Greenroom’s interviews and reviews have been on hold for a bit – as you may have noticed if you are a regular reader here. I’ve been in the trenches known as ‘production week’ for Umber’s production of Water Wars by Elaine Acworth, which played up here on the Darling Downs at Oakey on Wednesday and Thursday. Oh, by the by, there’s nothing quite like an out-of-town opening on a cold winter’s night to bring out theatre’s true believers and supporters – just saying!

The entire company appreciated enormously the effort our stalwart first audiences made to complete the theatre-making circle for us before we head to Brisbane to be part of La Boite’s Indie season next month. Anyway, this post is not about Water Wars but, If you do want to read up on what’s going on, you could check out Umber’s blog or their Facebook page where you will find videos and pictures, and interviews as well as comments on the tech side of things for Water Wars – which are just plain amazing, by the way – definitely more on that to come.

So, the tyranny of distance being what it is, I’ve missed some of the plethora of good things happening on Brisbane’s main stages and in indie theatre this month: Dead Puppet Society’s The Harbinger – sold out much to the glee of La Boite Theatre’s marketing department (good on ’em); some of the Queensland Music Festival‘s offerings including Drag Queensland (where I would have paid anything for a ticket to see a glittery Lucas Stibbard don falsies); the new-in-town-Antix company’s Speaking In Tongues by Andrew Bovell – a chance to see this next week, maybe; Secret Bridesmaids’ Business at the Brisbane Powerhouse; and the 40th anniversary celebration performance of The Removalists at QTC (though I will get to a day-time showing next week). Aside: I got married in the week my husband directed QTC’s first production of this in 1975 – talk about theatre getting in the way of more important life matters – but that’s another post.

Next month rolls out more and more theatre so I’m wondering whether Winter really is Brisbane’s theatre ‘season’. I guess it is.

Oh, and don’t be misled by my use of the word ‘trenches’ above. The experience of working on a new play with everyone involved in the Water Wars production company has been thrilling – hard work, yes – but also a huge buzz. And I got to meet and get to know that lighting genius David Walters. Aside: David is another USQ Theatre graduate from the first year – 1975 – the year QTC first produced The Removalists and my life changed. Loving being back …

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