14 – 24 MARCH 2018 - Metro Arts

14 – 24 MARCH 2018

AUSTRALIA'S HOTTEST MULTI-AWARD-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT

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FROM THE DIRECTORAfter the accidental death of their parents when they were young, the now adult children, Abalone and Gerture, spend their days in child-like games, acting out memories of their parents and other relationships. They remove themselves from the outside world and live among rising decay in a suburban room. The orphaned pair live out their days on the blurred edge of fantasy and reality.

The Eisteddfod is their story. They explore past trauma through role playing in a bid to understand and release it. The playwright herself, appears in the play and interacts with her characters - a comment on the act of creation and its role in helping the writer explore her own sufferings.

This tale is otherworldly, dreamlike, driven by the subconscious. It depicts both the absurd lure of cruelty and the need for protection from our own delusions. There are questions of love and loss, yearning and ambition - logic and a linear narrative fall short of expressing these experiences. In The Eisteddfod, the imagination, metaphors of agoraphobia and magical realism express a truth that our everyday communication simply cannot.

Our communication in the digital age has indeed taken an absurd turn. We are inundated by hyper-sexualisation, curated images, the meme, the troll, stalking and the inward gaze as we curl into our smartphones. One of the results of this is an increased anxiety about interacting with the real world. This is the experience of the orphans in The Eisteddfod. Playing out their adult longings and anxieties through curated roles enables them to both avoid the real world and understand the strange world which they have come to inhabit.

These characters are stuck in space and time, struggling to free themselves. Does the digital world create a similar sense of agoraphobia? Our need to feel connected and liked remains the same, however our methods of doing so are perhaps increasing our sense of isolation. Art and imagination are a way to make sense of this bizarre world. If digital communication is our most efficient and prevalent mode of communication then art, especially unorthodox in presentation, can present an alternative to this. A moment to reflect, feel and converse with real people in real time. Perhaps that is why we have congregated around fires, churches, arenas, theatres for millennia.

As absurd as this tale is, it is a critical observation of tomorrow’s world. It’s a contemporary tale and yet the oldest yarn in the world.

Heidi Manché, director.

ABOUT THE WORKThe Eisteddfod was Lally Katz’ first produced play in 2003, winning a Green Room Award for Best New Independent Work. It went on to be produced internationally to critical acclaim in New York and London. Lally Katz has since become one of Australia’s foremost writers. Her work over the last 15 years has covered stage and screen, in notable TV series such as Wonderland and Wentworth, as well as Opera Australia’s hugely successful The Rabbits, winner of four Helpmann awards including Best New Australian Work.

BIOGRAPHIES LALLY KATZ is one of Australia’s most original and in-demand writers. Lally wrote the libretto for Opera Australia’s operatic adaptation of The Rabbits by Shaun Tan which won the Australian Writers Guild Award in 2016 for Best Music Theatre. Lally’s work has been described “as if The Simpsons was written by Tennessee Williams” (Sydney Morning Herald 2016).

Lally has recently had new, world-premiere plays open at Malthouse, Belvoir and at Melbourne Theatre Company. Her plays have been staged in London, New York City, Mexico City, Dublin and Delhi. Her one-woman show, Stories I Want To Tell You, toured extensively and Lally adapted it for ABC TV and Matchbox Picutres in 2015. Lally wrote, produced and starred in the one-hour television production.

Lally’s play, Neighbourhood Watch, was written for Australian actress Robyn Nevin and enjoyed a subsequent season starring Miriam Margolyes. Lally is currently adapting it for the screen with director Gillian Armstrong.

A Golem Story and Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd both won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. A significant number of Lally’s plays are published by Currency Press, PlayLab and Australian Scripts Online. Lally regularly writes articles for magazines and newspapers and is a panellist on television shows including Q and A, Agony of Modern Manners and Dirty Laundry.

HEIDI MANCHÉ studied theatre at Macquarie University in Sydney and was granted a scholarship to study at La Sapienza Rome University in Italy, with a project to work alongside Nobel laureate Dario Fo. Heidi translated many of Dario Fo’s texts into English whilst enrolled in the performing arts department. She was a core ensemble member of the theatre troupe, Stalker, touring throughout Italy. On her return to Australia, Heidi joined a Commedia troupe in Sydney, founded an independent theatre venue, The Crypt Theatre, and continued to direct plays whilst enrolled in the Sydney Film School with a focus on directing. Here she won the award for most popular documentary, Charmayne.

LALLY KATZPlaywright

HEIDI MANCHÉ Director

KATE FESTER Production Manager

DESLEY MARTIN Dramaturg / Stage Manager

CHELSEA JEWELL Production Designer

DAVID WALTERS Lighting Designer

AMY HOLLEY Sound Designer

NERIDAH WATERS Choreographer

MATTHEW JAMES FRENCH Abalone

MADISON KENNEDY-TUCKER Gerture

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CREATIVES

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Music Motif

MATTHEW JAMES FRENCH Sad Song Composition

TCIVS Trailer Music

MUSIC

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Heidi founded Brisbane Youth Theatre and the independent theatre company Room to Play, with a determination to create quality, evocative theatre and harness local Brisbane talent. Shows include Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna, Dario Fo’s, The Virtuous Burglar and One Was Nude and One Wore Tails, Brian Friel’s Afterplay and Tom Holloway’s Red Sky Morning. Heidi collaborated as co-director on Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo, which was presented at Billie Brown Theatre in 2017 as part of the Queensland Theatre Independent program.

KATE FESTER is passionate about independent theatre with an interest in queer, feminist and Jewish theatre. She is a Brisbane-based producer, director and stage manager and is studying Drama and Public Relations at the University of Queensland. Her credits include Playground Festival (Curator - Underground Productions), Attempts on her Life (Assistant Director & Stage Manager - UQ Drama), Midsummer (Co-producer, co-director and co-writer - Anywhere Theatre Festival & Underground Productions), Love and Information (Co-director - Underground Productions) and Marat/Sade (Assistant Director & Stage Manager - UQ Drama). She is currently a Front of House manager for Underground Productions and is a co-founder of Undone Theatre Collective.

DESLEY MARTIN shares a passion for theatre and enjoys bringing great works of writing to life and presenting them to Brisbane audiences through her work in local independent theatre. She has been Dramaturg on Room to Play’s productions of The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, Afterplay by Brian Friel, The Virtuous Burglar, and One Was Nude and One Wore Tails by Dario Fo, and Red Sky Morning by Tom Holloway. The Bald Soprano and Afterplay were presented at the Melbourne and Sydney’s Fringe Festivals in 2014 and 2015. She has worked with Room to Play since 2014. She has a degree in fine arts and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts, Drama major at UQ in Brisbane.

CHELSEA JEWELL is a Brisbane based Architect and designer. After graduating in 2007 from The School of Design at QUT and registering as an Architect in 2008 Chelsea, worked in a commercial office setting whilst returning to QUT as a sessional academic and expanding her design practice into fashion design at TAFE. Chelsea is now the director of her own design practice, JewellCreative, which delivers architectural projects as well as producing graphic design, fashion design and millinery. Recent commissions have seen Chelsea supporting designers in fashion and theatrical realms, including Ladies in Black at Queensland Theatre.

DAVID WALTERS has worked as a professional Lighting Designer in Iceland and Australia for the past 40 years. From 1978 to 1986 David worked as a freelance lighting designer in Iceland where he is recognised as one of the pioneers in this field. In 1986 David returned to Australia to take up a position as Resident Lighting Designer with the Queensland Theatre Company. Since 1990, as a freelance designer, he has worked extensively throughout Australia and designed for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, La Boite, Queensland Ballet, Australian Ballet, Opera Queensland, The Powerhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Zen Zen Zo and Bell Shakespeare Company. His work has toured extensively both in Australia and overseas. He has lectured in lighting design at several universities and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. Throughout his professional career David has maintained close ties with Iceland where he has worked for the National Theatre, the National Opera and the Reykjavik City Theatre.

AMY HOLLEY is no stranger to amateur theatre in Brisbane at this point in her career. After completing a Bachelor of Audio Engineering in 2015, she has spent her time in a variety of theatres creating a range of sound. After discovering the world of sound design for live theatre, Amy left the idea of working in post production for film behind her. Her most recent work includes Ryškus Productions original show Nobody Likes the Winter and Underground Productions NSFW.

NERIDAH WATERS is a choreographer, performer and theatre maker. She has toured here and across Europe and North America with: Lala Parlour’s Tarnished, Common People Dance Project and The Escapists’ boy girl wall. Her acting work includes: The Dance of Jeremiah, The Year Nick McGowan Came To Stay, Attack of the Attacking Attackers! and Johnno (La Boite), Sacre Bleu (Queensland Theatre), Tashi (Imaginary Theatre) and Railway Wonderland (NORPA). Her choreography work includes: The Venetian Twins, Away and The Glass Menagerie (Queensland Theatre), Blue Bones (Playlab), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (La Boite) and Boomtown, Under This Sky and The Power Within (Queensland Music Festival).

MADISON KENNEDY-TUCKER’s passion for the performing arts began at a young age and was first nurtured in speech and drama classes from the age of six. She continues to study her craft and hopes to cultivate a long, successful career through hard work and dedication. Theatre credits include: Julius Caesar (4MBS), Red Sky Morning (Room to Play Independent Theatre), Player 2 (Backyard Theatre Collective) Lunchbreak (Short + Sweet Festival), Sshhh (Short + Sweet Festival), The Train Tea Society (Flowers Theatre Company & Anywhere Theatre Festival), Innersense (DIY Festival), Protostar (QUT The Loft), Romeo and Juliet (Shake and Stir Theatre Company & Brisbane Powerhouse), Slammed (Brisbane Powerhouse) and A Hard Act (QUT The Woodward Theatre). Short Film Credits include: Holt; Jake Heinemann, Black Sands; Eileen Busher, Down the Pub; Jake Doak (Griffith Graduate Films). Madison is currently studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Additionally, she was one of five selected to attend the Nida Advanced Actors Residency in Sydney, 2017.

MATTHEW JAMES FRENCH is an Actor, Writer, and Musician from Brisbane, Australia. Between 2014 and 2016, Matthew trained with Lisa O’Neill and Norman Price; graduating with a Bachelor of Acting and Performance and received the Academic Excellence award from Canberra University/TAFE QLD in 2016. He has worked in theatre and film since 2012, also proudly supporting and frequenting local and independent work. Matthew is a member of two committees with Equity QLD (MEAA) and is a fierce supporter of actor’s rights at work.Matthew won best actor for The Neolite in 2017.

SPECIAL THANKSHuge thank yous to Dynamic Business IT Solutions, La Boite Theatre Company, and McNab Construction. Special thanks also goes to Daniel Endicott (Head Technician), Tia-Hanee Cleary (Lighting Operator), Samara Jamel (Photographer), Claudia Piggot (Graphic Designer), Tommi Civili (Videographer), Clare Mitchell (Marketing Advisor), as well as Joshua Braithwaite, Jenny Ferguson, Chree Gledhill and Mel Watson.

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Metro Arts acknowledge the Jagera and Turrabal peoples, as the custodians of this land, recognising their connection to land, waters and community. We honour the story-telling and art-making at the heart of First Nation’s cultures, and the enrichment it gives to the lives of all Australians. Always was, Always will be.

Front cover: Image by Chelsea Jewell and graphic design by Claudia Piggott.

Metro Arts is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Metro Arts is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of

the Premier and Cabinet. Metro Arts is proudly supported by Brisbane City Council. The Eisteddfod was originally developed and produced by Stuck Pigs Squealing Theatre Company in Australia.

Jo ThomasCEO + Creative Director

Jess Murphy Business + Operations Manager

Verity Woodford Senior Producer

Penny Challen Communications Manager

Shani Gould Programming and Marketing Coordinator