Briefs: Circa at JWCoCA
YouthVSPhysics: New Wave Festival 2010 and Restaged Histories Project at the Powerhouse
Details from Powerhouse Website
THE RESTAGED HISTORIES PROJECT (AUS)
GUEST COLLABORATORS MARCEL DORNEY AND STEVE TOULMIN
Icarus, Superman and the Soviet cosmonaut Omon Ra … the Restaged Histories project explores these three young men and their thwarted attempts to fly.
This large-scale yet intimate work involves three performers, live video and 1970s bluescreen, to perform a series of “experiments” that attempt to disprove heroism.
YOUTHvsPHYSICS examines these three “test subjects” who form a triptych of young men whose attempts to fly have all been affected by science or age and examines each character’s position, in a world uneasy with the term ‘hero’, in a funny, moving and thought-provoking way.
Part-science class, part-stunt show and part-rock concert YOUTHvsPHYSICS comes direct from a premiere season at Next Wave Festival, Melbourne.
“Dorward and Swann are a new generation of fabulous liars in a mundane world” Real Time
the Restaged Histories project are artists-in-residence at Brisbane Powerhouse and supported by MAPS for Artists.
Warning: Contains smoke effects and strong language. Recommended to people aged 14 years and older.
Duration 65-75 mins, no interval
This Week in Queensland Theatre: 24-30 May
- Image of Circa Presents
Check Company websites for show times and further details
It’s gone a little quieter this week. Some of the big shows have closed or moved on from Brisbane. There’s a chance to see Circa in action later in the week – always a treat. It’s a busy week for Circa who are also in Germany this week at Ruhrfestspiele – Recklinghausen (28 – 30 May). And for those looking for a good workout, Ozfrank’s annual intensive training is back for three days.
Opening:
Dani Girl: Harvest Rain Theatre at Mina Parade Warehouse, Alderley (26-29 May)
Briefs: Circa at Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts (26-29 May)
Circa Zoo: Circa at Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts (29 May)
Other:
Oz Frank: Intensive Training Workshops (28-30 May) Register: info@ozfrank.com
Songs for a New World (Review): Harvest Rain
With a few quibbles, I really enjoyed my first Harvest Rain-produced musical, Songs for a New World (1995) by Tony award winning composer Jason Robert Brown, directed by Tim O’Connor. Four principal singers (Angela Harding, Luke Kennedy, Naomi Price and Luke Venables) are backed by a five piece band (Daniel Gibney, Daniel Grindrod, Marcus Parente, Jack Kelly and Matlohn Drew) and an acting ensemble of twelve – Harvest Rain’s interns getting some valuable on the job training. The JWCoCA studio is a perfect space for small, ‘chamber musicals,’ and I fantasised as I drove home about how great it would be if Brisbane had a permanent small space dedicated to this kind of work, perhaps linked or associated in some way to music theatre training institutions around the state. Anyway …
Songs for a New World is a play about relationships, and one of the more fragile of human emotions: hope. It’s in the ‘small’ show musical class; the revue-style format is more of a mood piece, an essay as opposed to the full-blooded narrative book of most musicals, at least the blockbusters that many have come to associate with the American musical theatre. Like others before and since, this musical work doesn’t rely for its success on big production values, but on the integrity and quality of the ideas, its music, and on the ability of a production to engage with the piece. The play focusses on individual stories drawn from a cross-section of American society, people at decisive moments in their lives. As a song-cycle, the work is also very much a musical-theatre actors’ piece, a meditation that explores a life’s realities set against its aspirations. Continue reading “Songs for a New World (Review): Harvest Rain”