What Did She Think?

What: Game Boys Cinematic Universe When: 28 March - 7 April 2019 Where: Games Room, ACMI Created and performed by: Eden Porter and Josh Porter Eden Porter and Josh Porter The Melbourne Comedy Festival is always jam packed with the good, the bad, and the ugly and I am so excited to tell you that Game Boys Cinematic Universe , playing at ACMI, is good. It's bloody good! We've all been through the hype about 3D movies. Well, brothers Eden and Josh take us to the next level and bring us a 4D interactive Hollywood experience with all the bells and whistles...and controversies! The Porter brothers have been creating comedy shows together since 2016 and in 2017 won the Golden Gibbo. Avid gamers, in the past their work has revolved around gaming and inviting their audiences to help them level up. This year the brothers step out of the virtual worlds of gaming and into the imaginary worlds of Hollywood. In Game Boys Cinematic Universe , the pair take us on a backlot to

What: Moments When: 28 - 30 March 2019 Where: Studio Theatre, Gasworks Choreographed by: Madeline Pratt Musical direction by: Antoinette Davis Performed by: Joanna Bakker, Rachel Beard, Morgan Dooley-Axup, Logan Hodgetts, Olivia Lucas, Michaela Pace, Annie Parish, Nicola Pohl, Sam Rash, Cynthia Sacco Lighting by: Jack Wilkinson Michaela Page Melbourne is a city obsessed with experimental and avant-garde dance so it is a delightful surprise to come across a full scale dance production in the more pop dance mode of lyrical contemporary and for it to be strong rather than twee. If you head to Gasworks tonight (because it is only on for one more night) for Moments you too will have the chance to see this suprising - if still a little rough - gem. Pratt  (choreographer) is a classically trained dancer and teacher as well as having completed the Federation University musical theatre course which means she is also well versed in jazz, tap, etc. With such a broad spectrum of trad

What: Like To Play Pretend? When: 27 March - 7 April 2019 Where: The Tickle Pot, Rozzi's Written and performed by: Willem Richards Willem Richards Yes, the Melbourne Comedy Festival has started for 2019 so it is time to strap yourself in for some riotous acts and some not so funny moments. For me the Festival began with a revisit to Willem Richards at the Tickle Pot in Like To Play Pretend? I first came across Richards in last year's Fringe Festival in Willem Richards IRL . He is incredibly likeable and had some very funny sketch ideas but I thought the show was under rehearsed. This year I was excited to have the opportunity to see him full flight. I was disappointed. Richard's style of sketch humour hasn't changed, and his hallmark use of props is the same. He even revisited two of my favourite sketches from the Fringe show - the thai massage sketch and the douche bag hat sketch. This year he has some fantastically strong ideas as well which is exciti

What: Nightdance When: 21 - 24 March 2019 Where: Cobblestone Pavilion, Meat Market Choreographed by: Melanie Lane Composition by: Chris Clark Performed by: Benjamin Hancock, Melanie Lane, Gregory Lorenzutti, Ryan Ritchie, Sidney Saayman, and Lilian Steiner Lighting by: Bosco Shaw Lilian Steiner Melanie Lane, Ryan Ritchie and Gregory Lorenzutti - photo by Bryony Jackson Taking us down a surreal wormhole into the sensual and sexy atmosphere of underground European nightclubs, Nightdance is a visceral journey into another realm. First presented by Arts House in 2017, we have been given the opportunity to re-indulge in this year's Dance Massive festival and it is a gift which keeps on giving. The brainchild of choreographer Lane , she has gathered together some of the most intriguing and adventurous masters of their art to create a dream scape of bodies, light and sound/music which celebrates, blurs and denies the lines between watcher and watched, entertainer and the en

What: You Animal, You When: 19 - 24 March 2019 Where: Main Hall, Arts House Written by: Danielle Micich and Heather Mitchell Directed by: Danielle Micich Composed by: Kelly Ryall Performed by: Ghenoa Gela, Raghav Handa, Lauren Langlois, Hayley McElhinney, and Jack Riley Lighting by: Damien Cooper Stage Managed by: Brooke Kiss Lauren Langlois, Jack Riley, Raghav Handa and Hayley McElhinney - photo by Pia Johnson Sometimes the advertising for a product is not the thing you end up getting. This is far too often true in the Australian performaning arts industry because concept pitches which have to be formed for funding and presenter applications often have to be done before the work is ever crystalised. You Animal, You which is being presented at Arts House this week for Dance Massive is one of those shows. Based on the publicity blurb I was expecting a feral, visceral Lord Of The Flies style affair but instead a got a very cerebral Waiting For Godot/The Complexity Of Be

What: Biladurang When: 19 - 24 March 2019 Where: Sofitel Melbourne Created and performed by: Joel Bray Composed by: Kate Carr Joel Bray - photo by Pippa Samaya I love hotel rooms and I love live performance which thinks and feels and makes me do the same. In Biladurang at the Sofitel Melbourne   Bray gave me a hour and a half of what I consider to be the best things in life (plus a touch of the bubbly to get us in the mood...) Let's face it, who hasn't always dreamed of being invited to a hotel room party with all it's potentials for ups, downs, outrages and intimicies? 22 random people (us) have been invited up to Bray's hotel room. The room looks like there has already been a bit of a wild party in motion and it seems as if Bray doesn't want to be alone even though the other guests have left. Eager to be a good host, he has hotel dressing gowns for us all to don, welcomes us all individually in a futile attempt to remember our names, and rearranges th

What: First Dance When: 18 March 2019 Where: The Supper Room, Arts House Stories and performances by:  Adolfo Aranjuez, Ash Flanders, Danny Katz, Brodie Lancaster, wāni Le Frère, S.J Norman, Raina Peterson, Niharika Senapati Raina Peterson One of the important things Arts House has been doing for a long time now is acknowledging and acting on the importance of conversation around and about art as well as being a vehicle for the creation thereof. The leadership has changed and so it is reasonable to assume focuses and emphases for the organisation will change. With the incoming of Emily Sexton , the ideas and conversations surrounding art creation remain a priority and with this, her first Dance Massive festival,  Sexton has partnered with The Wheeler Centre to bring us First Dance . First Dance sees 8 artists of various disciplines gather to respond to the provocation of the title. Each have 10 minutes to tell their story their way. An incredible and excitingly diverse gr

What: Same But Different When: 13 - 23 March 2019 Where: The Stables, Meat Market Choreographed and performed by: Henrietta Baird, Ngioka Bunda-Heath, Mariaa Randall, and Carly Sheppard Lighting by: Siobhan Geaney Sound by: Airileke and Deline Briscoe AV by: Jody Haines Photo by Bryony Jackson Following on from Divercity in 2017, DubailKungkaMiyalk once again brings four First Nation dancers together to examine the synergies and the differences between the dance/stories of varied language groups of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Same But Different showcases four woman from across Australia to tell their stories through dance in a powerful travelling across space, across time, and across experiences in The Stables at Arts House for Dance Massive . The journey begins with Randall's solo composition called 'Painting The Dance'. With paint dripping down her naked torso she dances her tale. Writhing against the back wall, the paint smears and m

What: The Belly Dancer When: 15 - 18 March 2019 Where: The Engine Room Written by: Jacob Honeychurch Megan J Riedl Directed by: Alise Amarant Performed by: Saari Frochot-Chauhan, Elliott Gale, and Marjan Maleki Choreography by: Saari Frochot-Chauhan Set by: Alise Amarant and Megan Reidl Elliott Gale, Saari Frochot-Chauhan, and Marjan Maleki Ten years after the Cronulla riots erupted in Sydney, Bendigo was rocked by their own alt-right crisis over plans to build a mosque for the Islam community. Three more years have passed and whilst the wounds are healing, the Central Victorian community still lives in the pain and aftermath of the ideological violence of those encounters. The Belly Dancer is an attempt by members of the community to make sense of what has happened, and is being performed in The Engine Room this weekend. The play itself is a great beginning for what could eventually be a work of importance although right now I don't think it is quite the instrument o

What: Le Dernier Appel/The Last Cry When: 14 - 17 March 2019 Where: Cobblestone Pavillion, Meat Market Directed by: Serge Aime Coulibaly Choreographed by: Serge Aime Coulibaly and Dalis Pigram Composed by: Ngaiire, Bree Van Reyk and Nick Wales Performed by: Amrita Hepi, Stanley Nalo, Krilin Nguyen, Yoan Ouchot, Dalisa Pigram and Miranda Wheen Set by: Nicolas Mole Costumes by: Mirabelle Wouters Lighting by: Matt Marshall Kilin Nguyen, Dalisa Pigram, Stanley Nalo, Yoan Ouchot, Amrita Hepi and Miranda Wheen - photo by Prudence Upton Le Dernier Appel/The Last Cry is a blockbuster. It is a battle. It is a battle cry. This last battle cry is ringing across the cobblestones and into the hearts of the world at the Meat Market this week as part of Dance Massive . Watch, listen and then act! Marrugeku is an Australian indigenous dance company based in the Western top end of Australia. Formed in 1994 to create Mimi , the company has gone from strength to strength wowing audience

What: The Difficult Comedown When: 12 - 16 March 2019 Where: Meat Market Created and Performed by: Alexandra Harrison and Paea Leach Design by: Anna Tregloan Lighting by: Bosco Shaw Sound by: Marco Cher-Gibard Paea Leach and Alexandra Harrison - photo by Pippa Samaya Dance is such a broad concept, and this is what makes it such a flexible and innovative art form - particularly in Australia. Leach and Harrison stretch the concept to breaking point in The Difficult Comedown playing at the Meat Market this week. I say this pair of creators stretch the dance form because they are working with very slow dramaturgies and Leach, in particular (and as a result of some serious injuries in the past), explores regenerative work and exploring the kinetic energies underlying movement more so than the movement itself. As such, The Difficult Comedown is focused on balance and counterpoint, the two dancers supporting and encouraging and leaning and lifting each other as they meander

What: The Perception Experiment When: 12 - 16 March 2019 Where: Rehearsal Room, Arts House Choreographed by: Madeleine Krenek and Frankie Snowdon Performed by:  Kelly Beneforti, Madeleine Krenek, Tara Samaya, and Frankie Snowdon, Costumes by: Frankie Snowdon and Liz Verstappen Lighting by: Jenny Hector Sound by: Darcy Davis Kelly Beneforti, Madeleine Krenek, Tara Samaya, and Frankie Snowden - photo by Pippa Samaya Dance is the movement of the body in space and time, usually rhythmically (or deliberately arhythmically) and mostly accompanied by sound of some sort. It bypasses oral language to work directly as sensorial stimulus on the brain. This is what GUTS dance bring us in the unspeakably entrancing The Perception Experiment playing at Arts House this week as part of Dance Massive . In creating The Perception Experiment Krenek and Snowdon ask us to put aside the ego and engage fully with our id. They want us to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste their journey into the

What: The Yellow Wallpaper When: 6 - 17 March 2019 Where: La Mama Courthouse Adapted,devised and designed by: Laurence Strangio and Annie Thorold Performed by: Annie Thorold Lighting by: Jason Crick Stage Managed by: Laura Barnes Annie Thorold - photo by Jack Dixon-Gunn The Yellow Wallpaper is a gothic horror classic tale written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A favourite of stage tellings, Strangio and Thorold have chosen to remediate it for the stage once more to coincide with the story being included on the VCE reading list. This time it is a physical theatre presentation taking place at La Mama Courthouse. The Yellow Wallpaper was a novella written in response to Gilman being ordered to 'perfect' bed rest experiencing what would now be considered post-natal depression. The prescription was complete inactivity including no writing and no walking around. In effect, she was imprisoned in solitary confinement for 3 months. At the end of that time Gilman had

What: Underground When: 7 - 9 March 2019 Where: Gasworks Theatre Written by: Christine Croyden Directed by: Sara Grenfell Performed by: Emma Annand, Ezra Bix, Margot Knight, Tori McCann, and Billy Sloane Designed by: Christina Logan Bell Lighting by: Shane Grant Sound by: Ryan Smedley Stage Managed by: Rachel Nagy Billy Sloane and Emma Annand Coinciding with International Women's Day, Gasworks is presenting a 3 day season of a new play which focuses on one of the most infamous - and amazing - people of World War II, Nancy Wake , aka The White Mouse. Underground is a 'hallucinatory review' of Wake's life which leads to some very intriguing commentary on Australian gender politics, although in an indirect way. Nancy Wake was a resistance fighter in World War II. Nancy Wake was The White Mouse. Nancy Wake was number 1 on the Gestapo's most wanted list. Nancy Wake was the most highly decorated woman internationally after World War II. Nancy Wake was ne

What: Fast Fashun - DIY or Die When: 2 - 9 March 2019 Where: Testing Grounds, Arts Centre Melbourne Created and presented by: Sebastian Berto and Tenfingerz Tenfingerz and Sebastian Berto Tenfingerz is the doyenne of fashion flavoured live art events in Melbourne and this year she and collaborator Sebastian Berto , in conjunction with Helping Hands , bring a fun and fabulous live art event beyond compare - with a strong social commentary as well, which is what she is all about! Head on down to Testing Grounds this Saturday for Fast Fashun and bring your imagination, best runway walk (and perhaps a travel sewing kit...) and show the world your skills in making trash treasure. Tenfingerz has been making fashion live art events for years now. I first came across her work in the astonishing Perfect Runway Series events in 2015. The ambition of those two runway events was mind blowing. Whilst Fast Fashun appears to be smaller in scope and scale it is not. There are less ligh