I really can’t think of anything I’d rather not do, besides sit in the dark for many many many hours whilst listening to yet another Shakespearean play get a good “going over” by a company primarily focused on the design in order to create a heavy “universality” statement about the human condition. Thank goodness The Shadow King IS NOT THAT! Read more

There is something very satisfying or attractive about the notion of simplicity. Ockham’s Razor is a theory which privileges simplicity with the notion that “among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be selected.” Read more

Sometimes when I’m responding to a work – or if I’m reviewing, I trawl through responses by others to see how they articulated their experience. I always learn something from writers and from writing. In this instance at the Saturday show I was sitting next to my blog-sister Jane Howard who wrote a review for the Guardian (AUS) which you can read HERE. I must say I think Jane’s background in dance keeps her critical pencil well sharpened.

Interestingly – the review I raised both my eyebrows at was by Martin Portus for Stage Whispers. Which you can read HERE. Interesting he should engage with this show from a gendered point of view. Going back to my review, long after the fact, I realised the stark difference my review doesn’t mention or indicate the gender of performers at all.

I didn’t purposely not mention they are female performers.

I wonder in the world of acrobatics, dance, circus if being a woman performer IS to be noted. I wonder if it was poor form of me not to mention they are women? I do wonder if it mattered. To the story. Or to the physicality of the piece – or to the dramaturgy of the show. I suspect it doesn’t. After all I don’t say “Look at the excellent job that female actor playing the part of a parent” in my reviews and responses… I don’t note the tone or pitch of someone’s voice with gendered consideration. Should I?

Interesting what we notice, what we privilege, what we consider worth noticing and recording, isn’t it? Read more

Swathes of heavy cloth, canvas, or calico – the thick sails of a ship or the drop sheets in a house mid-renovation. Scuffed grey floor. Some chairs. Functional, nearly sculptural. A neutral zone for the scenes to smear and blend, I’ll know where I am because I’ll be shown or told through light or line or a hum of sound. Read more

A response by Augusta Supple after Aristotle, Benedict Andrews, Elissa Blake, Jason Blake, Lloyd Bradford Syke, Wesley Enoch, John McCallum, Ralph Myers, PACT, The Performance Space, Martin Del Amo, Julie-Anne Long, Chris Ryan, The Sydney Front, Cristabel Sved, Natalie Rose, Mish Gregor, Zoe Coombs Marr, Post, Sydney Theatre Company, Wesley Enoch, Diana Simmonds, James Waites.*

Unless you have been asleep (or dead, or not attending shows at Belvoir) for the past five years, you’d noticed a scholarly obsession with the ancient Greek classics – you know the ones – of gore and punishment, foretold prophecies lived and the horror of one’s true nature being one’s undoing. Read more

Within the wooden and glass rotunda of the Spiegeltent, small wooden chairs are unfolded and lined up like obedient disciples of punk cabaret goddess Amanda Palmer.

Dedicated fans armed with iPhones and Palmers lyrics ready to recite anthems of confessional realisations, lists of wishes and carefully caught regrets, desire, defiance, passion wait in the dim light of the Spiegeltent.

The stage is set with a keyboard and a chair. Eyes forward we’re caught by a sound from behind us – a voice supported by a steady beam of white light. A long silhouette offering a trembling voice… Read more

It seems Sydney loves circus.

Circus Oz is at the Big Top in Darling Harbour.

The Sydney Festival is full of it!
La Cucina dell’Arte (Belgium) , LIMBO (Australia), Ockham’s Razor (UK), Scotch and Soda (Australia), Kaput (Australia)

We love it like we love an outdoor, pop-up beer beer garden with mulit-coloured bunting.

We also love America (especially New York) with it’s fast-paced fast talking… its ambition and glamour and demands…

We love fishnet stockings and romantic acrobatic routines. We love strong women and silent men… Read more

Summer is the season of circus. Spiegeltents and big tops spring up around the city. At the start of the year, when still rubbing the exhaustion and excess of the festive season from our eyes, we flock in droves to the canvas interiors and the makeshift homes of the entertainment gypsies – circus folk and musicians to find the timeless relief of persistence or iconic tricks and trickery.

Circus Oz, now in it’s 35 year (alongside several of Australia’s arts companies– Griffin Theatre Company for example) demonstrates a defiance of any rumour Australians might have of its artistic/cultural pessimism/cringe. After all longevity is in and of itself a remarkable feat inspiring awe and respect. Read more

Some things are worth unearthing and digitizing…

Thought I’d share with you some of my very early writings – this is a book I wrote and illustrated when I was four or five (my sister who is four years younger is illustrated as a baby). It’s called “Being Happy and Knowing Things” by Augusta Supple. It’s full of enduring wisdom and hilarity – which I hope I still possess today. Read more