Current projects
Paul Dwyer The Bougainville Photoplay Project A slideshow with fireside chat
In the Rex Cramphorn Studio from 26 September to 14 October we are proud to host
The Bougainville Photoplay Project
A slideshow with fireside chat
Old Fitzroy Theatre, 13-31 October
Presented by version 1.0 in association with Tamarama Rock Surfers
1. An eminent Australian orthopedic surgeon makes a series of trips to Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) during the 1960s, just as the era of Australia’s colonial mandate is drawing to a close. The doctor is presented with dozens of crippled children and lepers; his operations allow many of these people to walk for the first time.
2. The giant Panguna copper mine is established against the wishes of Bougainville’s traditional landowners. Environmental destruction is caused by the mine, and the struggle for Bougainville to become independent of PNG leads to a brutal civil war during which roughly one in ten of the island’s inhabitants die.
3. An Australian academic begins fieldwork study of reconciliation ceremonies on Bougainville in the current period of post-war reconstruction. He carries with him a book of photographs.
Three narrative threads are delicately interwoven in an intimate, moving, and constantly surprising monologue performance from acclaimed performance group version 1.0. Combining field notes, oral history, slides, Super-8 film, video installation and the display of various artifacts, The Bougainville Photoplay Project grapples with the ethical, epistemological and practical dilemmas of making art and conducting research in post-colonial, post-conflict settings, particularly when the artist/researcher is a citizen of the former colonial power. This is politics and performance at its most personal.
Production Credits
Devised and performed by Paul Dwyer
Directed by David Williams
Video artist: Sean Bacon
Technical production: Russell Emerson
Reviews
In Live Art parlance, The Bougainville Photoplay Project falls into the genre of lecture/performance […] Paul Dwyer is an engaging storyteller (direction David Williams, version 1.0). His performance is part-memorised, part-improvised and interspersed with a careful selection of images in multiple formats (black and white newspaper photographs, Super 8 film, 1960s colour slides, x rays, contemporary colour snaps) skilfully integrated by video artist Sean Bacon. Accompanied onstage by nothing more than a couple of screens, a vintage slide projector and a human spine, Dwyer weaves personal stories, historical documentary and ethnographic academic research into a performance that is never predictable, unfolding intimate reflections that quietly impart their deeper connections.
Virginia Baxter, RealTime #88 Dec-Jan 2008
This peculiar mixture of theatricality and real stories works. As with other version 1.0 shows, the result is not only a more informed audience but also a more feeling one […] A first-class choice.
Alanna Maclean, The Canberra Times, 12/2/08
Lizzie Thomson: The Sacrifice
In the AV Room on weekends during August and September.
Dancer Lizzie Thomson will spend her time here in research and creative development for a short solo piece The Sacrifice which is part of a two year project called The Adventure. This work will be performed at the Campbelltown Arts Centre in mid-September in a season of short dance solos responding to folk dance, curated by Jane McKernan.
Lizzie says that The Adventure project is “an ongoing investigation into choreographic scores relating to spontaneity and tradition in dance. I am interested in negotiating a relationship with the conventions of dance; ‘What interests me about the traditions of ballet and what aspects do I want to take into my own work?’”
In considering spontaneity, which she refers to as 'No History', Thomson will draw inspiration from Paul Virilo, who argues that we are “accelerating” rather than “progressing”, with time to respond and reflect upon the past becoming shorter. So Thomson applies this to dance by asking how can this fast thinking confuse herself out of habitual movement pathways.
Dance history and its lineage is explored in what she terms History. Here Thomson explores changes in movement vocabulary, compositional trends and various ways dance has been presented. Of particular interest is the work of Ballet Russes.
This particular residency period will see Thomson drawing on archival material, "The Rite of Spring" of the Joffrey Ballet’s reproduction and Stravinsky’s score. In response to the Ballet Russe design and costumes, Thomson will make her own set from plywood. She has been researching Russian folk art for this purpose.
Generally about Lizzie Thomson, she says her main influences have been the dance practice of Rosalind Crisp, and cross-art form practices of contemporary performance.
version 1.0 This Kind of Ruckus
In the Rex Studio July 20-26, and again August 4-28
This kind of ruckus is a new performance work about gender, power, control and violence.
version 1.0 turn their trademark subversive style of theatre-making and sharp satirical wit to investigating the underside of domestic-bliss. Relationship counselling, dysfunctional gendered roles and cute cuddly toys offered as inadequate apologies are blended with commentary on the recent high profile sexual assault scandals involving rugby league players to create a confronting, unsettling and deeply compelling performance.
“In Ruckus we’re exploring power, control and violence in a very personal way. We’re using media commentary on recent scandals involving rugby league behaviour to reflect on violence within ourselves and our own relationships” explains David Williams
Collaborating Artists: Danielle Antaki, Sean Bacon, Paul Dwyer, Jane Phegan, Deborah Pollard, Gail Priest, Christopher Ryan, Neil Simpson, Yana Taylor, Kym Vercoe
Martin del Amo It's a Jungle Out There
MARTIN DEL AMO, originally from Germany, is a Sydney-based dance artist. His last four solo works, Never Been This Far Away From Home (2007), Can’t Hardly Breathe (2006), Under Attack (2005) and Unsealed (2004), were all presented at Performance Space to significant critical acclaim. The latter two works were chosen for the Breathing Space touring program, touring nationally (Unsealed Perth, 2004) and internationally (Under Attack UK, 2006). In 2005, Martin was nominated for an Australian Dance Award as Best Male Dancer for his work in Under Attack. He also received nominations as Most Outstanding Dancer in Dance Australia’s annual Critics’ Survey three years running (2004-06). Martin’s continued interest is in the interplay between dance and spoken text and the use of improvisation within predetermined structures.
During his time in the Rex Cramphorn Studio, Martin del Amo continues the development of his new solo show, It's a Jungle Out There, exploring the city as an ever-changing organism and will distil the urban experience into a multi-layered performative fabric of dance, storytelling and electronic sound design. Key collaborators on this project are Gail Priest (live sound composition), Travis Hodgson (lighting) and Paul Matthews (design).
Photography: Heidrun Lohr
This show opens at Campbelltown Arts Centre at the end of June.
25-27 JUNE THUR-SAT 8PM $20/$15
Campbelltown Arts Centre
Cnr Camden and Appins Rds
Campbelltown
Bookings: 4645 4100 or
www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au
de Quincey Co. Ghost Quarters
During April and into May, Tess de Quincey, one of Performance Studies’ honorary associates, and her company de Quincey Co. will be rehearsing in the Rex Cramphorn Studio.
Ghost Quarters. First dream of the Opium Confessions is a new work exploring the writings of of Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859): poet, opium addict, wandering adventurer, genius of the imagination. His literary reputation is based primarily on two works, The Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821) and "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts", an essay written in 1827. These will form the backbone for a performance work exploring the traumas of a life lived on the edge of destitution but infused with episodes of euphoria and hallucination.
This project was initiated by writer Jane Goodall, the first phase of this work was a 3-week Performance Space Residency at The Drill 13-17 August, 24-30 September and 26-30 November involving writer Jane Goodall and dancer Tess de Quincey (descendent of Thomas De Quincey). Other artists involved are sound designer Ian Stevenson and video artist Sam James.
This project moves from rehearsal to production
9-16 May @ 8pm, CarriageWorks, Track 12.
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh
Bookings: 0420 293 139 or
Entry by voluntary donation.
After every rehearsal there will be a forum with different Guest Speakers.
Victoria Hunt: 100 Cloaks: Gone Before Dawn
During April, the Department of Performance Studies will host artist Victoria Hunt in the Audio-Visual Studio.
te aho tapu; weaving the first row; binding the tangible with the intangible; in the constant flux between night, earth, sky and whakapapa (lineage).
A cloak carries within it the mana (ancestral prestige) of our ancestors and celebrates the interconnections that give life to material forms. This residency will explore the idea of dancing 100 Cloaks, tapping into the ever-shifting relationship between Victoria’s Maori heritage and her Australian-born experience.
The transformative body is the guiding principle emerging from Body Weather and Butoh sensibilities. Being danced by the space.
The Living Room Theatre Company: A Little Room
17th February to 1st March 2009
This will be the company's fourth residency in the Rex Cramphorn Studio for the development of A Little Room. They finished making of the work in November and this residency will be about the documentation of the work. A Little Room will be filmed to make a 50 minute film. There will also be an audio recording which will be edited to make a radio play.
The company comprises of Katherine Anderson, Carol Divjak, Jo Elliott, Sophie Kelly, Paolo Morrison, Jared Lewis and Michelle St.Anne.
Team MESS: Killing Don: evolution of a memory
February 2-16 2009
Team MESS are a young collective who came together as a performance ensemble during their studies at The University of Wollongong's Faculty of Creative Arts. As a group they are interested in fusing performance and visual arts into a contemporary theatre form, to explore the 'human condition' in experience and concept.
Killing Don: evolution of a memory was born out of an interest in exploring how and why we remember what we do and what effect a fixation on the past has on the present and the future.
The work is an investigation into private and public notions of memory and the interplay between personal and collective memories and histories. In particular they are interested in exploring the way nostalgia of memory permeates into the present.
Killing Don: evolution of a memory will also explore the significance of remembering a time, an event or moment (whether you were there or not) and the ongoing ramifications of what, where and how that time, event, moment took place. They want to examine the nostalgia caused by our cultural rose coloured glasses.
“a celebration and dissection of remembrance”–Team Mess.
You can see this work Wed-Sat 25-28 March, Performance Space at Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street Everleigh.
The Fondue Set: No Success Like Failure
7th February-February 15 2009, Audio Visual Room
The Fondue Set have become regular residents in the Rex Cramphorn Studio since their first time here in 2005, 2007 and 2008. In 2005, they were rehearsing The Set (Up), which was performed at Performance Space through One Extra. In 2007, they spent three weeks experimenting with new processes for improvisation and choreography. In 2008, they rehearsed No Success Like Failure to production at The Studio, Sydney Opera House.
In February they are returning to undertake the rehearsing/remount of No Success Like Failure, which was developed over a Rex Residency in May 2008, for a season in Melbourne as part of the Dance Massive Festival in early March 2009. This time they intend to spend the residency reinvestigating the performance of the material for the show, with particular reference to feedback provided by collaborating director Wendy Houstoun, following its premiere in Sydney. The residency will afford The Fondue Set with an opportunity to openly revisit the work, to allow a different emphasis of focus on the performance of the material in order to reveal new insights and interests.
The project is funded through the Dance Massive Festival, through Artshouse, Melbourne.
Check out their website.