“We can’t stop making art" - NDRNCE present a new work as part of the Young Artist Forum
NDRNCE applied to the development and found out, shortly after, that they were successful. They had one week in the space to put the show together.
“It was really good to have that time constraint, of ‘oh you’ve been thinking about it for a year, now do it”.
Vibrations | Dots+Loops
I am greeted by the delightfully odd, creatively fruity and ASMR-inspired sounds of Provocative Vibrations. Clearly extremely well thought and articulated and AT THE SAME TIME an unnerving chaotic mash-up of sound, action, noise and voice, this is a cool weird experience. There is something so delightful to think that right now, in Brisbane, there are people making such a fabulously strange mash-up of noises, and rehearsing them perfectly, and there are eager audiences out there braying to get a hold of it. It’s heart-warming, it really is.
Coterie Cabaret
The show is cheeky without being immature. Sexual acts and fetishes are truly celebrated, rather than used for a cheap joke. You may find this one a bit challenging if you’re adverse to exploration, liberation, diversity, and... packets of condoms being thrown into the audience. And honestly, if that’s you, I dare you to go.
Bigger & Blacker | Steven Oliver
Accompanied by Helpmann-Award winner Michael Griffiths on piano, the duo titillated the audience with their ‘naughty’, fun, original score. The spicy banter between Michael and Steven was nothing short of sensational, making them a formidable duo on stage.
Add a disco ball to the mix and you have a flawless match made in heaven!
Conviction | The Hive Collective
Beginning in darkness, four figures barely visible on stage, the tension is palpable. Together they deliver the one punchy monologue, setting the scene inside the wandering and turbulent creative mind of our protagonist, a self-critical independent writer. When the lights switch on, the characters launch into action in the writer’s latest play and we watch the action unfold seemingly as it is being written, edited, unwritten, and changed.
"It’s the weird house party of your dreams." - Dots+Loops bring forth their latest art mash-up
It’s the weird house party of your dreams! Picture a big party at your best mate’s Queenslander, add three awesome adventurous musical duos, and make it about 10% weirder than you currently have in mind. We have bulk drums, we have synths galore, we have a clothesline, it’s all there!
The Revolutionists | The Curators
The play is a comedy set in Paris during the late-1700s “reign of terror” … At first glance this all seems historical and far-away, but we are brought to the here and now through a comedic exploration of real and present themes: colonial oppression, women’s rights, and the intersectional beneficiaries (and lack thereof) of revolutionary movements.
The Revolutionists | The Curators
The Revolutionists is a hefty two-acter, coming in at over two hours, and Gunderson’s text is dense and full of witty one-liners and dialogue that hit you in the feels. To do the script justice, it requires a cast that can balance an impeccable comic timing with pathos and poignancy, and who are able to build the tension of the looming threat of Madame La Guillotine. All four members of the class meet the high bar set by Gunderson with ease, to the point that I don’t think the smile left my face for most of the first act.
Glass Child | The Farm
This is hands down the best piece of storytelling I’ve seen this year. This is a genuine challenge to any other productions to top it for sheer vibrating power. From the first scene, where Maitreyah’s voice cracks just ever so slightly, I know I am witness to something extraordinary. What follows is a whirlwind of emotions, for each of them, and most definitely for me.
Elektra/Orestes | The Hive Collective
To me, Elektra/Orestes highlighted complex family relations, and in particular fraught mother-daughter relations. After all, Sophocles’ Electra inspired Carl Jung’s Electra complex, a psychoanalytical term to describe a girl’s attachment to the mother marked by a sense of competition over the father’s love and attention. The play also made me reflect on the dangers of self-righteousness and the malaise caused by the inability to put oneself in the shoes of others.
"We are here to say yes to your ideas and to help bring them to life" - Katherine Quigley on a new era for Backbone Arts
“It takes a village to raise a child - and Backbone is just one part of that village for many children of all ages, we are here to say yes to your ideas and to help bring them to life. We are here to inspire creation. We are here to make sure that no matter what’s going on in your life, you have a place to call home, where you are loved and accepted for the complex and wonderful person you are."
Five Places to Get Your ‘Acting On’ In Brisbane
When I tell people that I work as an actor, they often go ‘I’ve always wanted to try acting’ or ‘that sounds so fun, I wish I could do it too’. If you are one of those people who have always wanted to get into acting, then guess what? There is a plethora of acting schools in Brisbane that offer weekly/monthly/term based acting classes for adults at both beginning, emerging and established levels of performance. Here’s five amazing independent training spaces.
"We want our patrons to value live art." - DARKWORLD Festival set to tantalise this weekend
“We want to erase the blurred lines between these individual industries that often operate, and are mostly considered as separate. What’s exciting is the opportunity for demographics to collide under one roof, and new potential friendships to develop across the line-up.”
Cattle | Kate Coates and Cale Bain
As per many improv shows, Kate and Cale set up their scenarios with prompts from an audience member. What sets them apart is that some of the best laughs of the set came from in depth discussions with an audience member that followed the prompt. The duo’s natural responses to people’s (over) sharing that came from a place genuine surprise, curiosity and the right amount of gentle teasing was a joy to watch. When they received a response too sincere and moving even for them, they could only respond with, “We can’t mock that!”
Handle With Care | Virag Dombay, Gabby Fitzgerald, Zac Lawrence & Lachlan Driscoll
The play moves around the relationships of the two men in our protagonist Abbie’s life, but at its core the bigger story is that of female friendship, and the damage done when that falls apart. It’s only been in the last few years that the value of female friendship is beginning to be recognised and written about, the true unconditional nature of the love that is shared, that pushes one or the other to step far outside their comfort zone, or to see a little burning kernel of a wildheart hidden in a studious and forlorn wallflower.
Wer ya from? | Big Fork Theatre Improv In Colour
I didn’t know what was gonna happen, I haven’t been to anything like this before, it was fun, it was loose, it was cool. I didn’t feel weird once all night cause some bro made some sexist twat comedy shit comment. I laughed a lot and I felt right at home. Good vibes would recommend.
This Wide Night by Chloe Moss | A Moveable Theatre
With the play only having two characters, and little in set design, This Wide Night relies heavily on the dialogue and body language of the performers. Luckily, the play is in good hands, as Sharde Anne and Julia Johnson are tremendous with their performances and their wide acting range, going from humour to sadness to anger and everything in between. The dialogue sounded natural and the portrayal of Marie and Lorraine are very raw and brutally honest.
Untitled Relationship Experiment | Big Fork Theatre
One part that stuck with me in particular was Samantha’s character’s strained relationship with her mother who refused to see her daughter’s committed lesbian relationship as anything more than a close friendship, even after marriage. It brought to light the combination of humour and pain found in the common queer experience of dealing with family members who are for the most part loving and yet wilfully ignorant or unaccepting of who they are
The Secret Super Hero Galaxy-Travelling Family Band Show & Jam | Big Fork Theatre
I interpreted this scene as a powerful statement about what art at its core is really about; not striving for an illusive ideal of perfection but rather, supporting each other through the process of making something together, going with the flow, embracing imperfection, and having plenty of fun along the way.
Cool Story Bro, Culprits & Interstate Mates | Brisbane Improv Festival
Scenes developed at a rapid pace and build and strange, weird and wonderful directions. They go forward and back in time, explore the most obscure ideas. The improvisers jumped in whenever they got an idea and everyone was given a chance to play and lead. Jasmine’s love of peanut butter and disappointment in how small the containers are at the supermarket, unfolds as a scene of a couple’s illegal obsession with tiny anthropomorphic foods and Aarons tale of travelling in a tiny sleeper train in winter develops into a son taking his parents to school for a career day, who just happen to be stuck living in a fridge.
Those meagre descripions are in no way doing justice to the chaotic hilarity that unfurled before us.