It’s well after the fact but I thought I would write a little note about MINTO: LIVE – not really as a means of review – but to raise awareness about performance which happens where you least expect it. It’s not a press-sexy topic really is it? I think the daily telegraph did a pre-show feature: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/specials/sydney-festival-2011/streets-ahead-in-minto-for-sydney-festival-for-minto-live/story-fn7fmlou-1225988944747 But largely this style of work is often left out of critical debate, or even discussion… but then again, arts commentary in Sydney, if not Australia is relegated to a very minute slice of the print press pie (is it 350 words for the Blake’s reviews) and unless it features the glossy stars of film, TV or theatre of yore – you won’t find a huge amount of coverage or commentary on community theatre, or performance made by and for and about specific communities. Read more

At the end of each year, the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle announce their award nominations for the year. I am not in the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle, but I think it is valuable to look back in order to look forward.

I don’t offer awards – or “winners.” I find it nearly impossible to claim that something is “the best.” How can one assert who is better – Whitely or Turner or Van Gough or Monet or Koons or Kippenberger? How can one possibly rank Ravel, Puccini, Liszt, Bach, Satie? I can’t, I would be lying and so I simply refuse.

For those keen to find out what was included in the STA nominations you can check them out here: http://www.sydneytheatreawards.com/2010.php
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As offices empty and sunscreen sales soar – the festive summer season has arrived with a seemingly endless carousel of parties and social engagements. Now the theatre’s have closed – there are a few of the industry who have a list of 2011 projects lined up… and the rest of us face family Christmas lunch/dinner gently quizzed by family “so how is your drama stuff going?” and “have you thought about an apprenticeship?” and other such brutal questions asked by well-meaning members of your gene pool.

Normal folk – the ones with contented lives filled with relaxing weekends, 9-5 work hours, paid holidays, a structured career path and regular pay cheques – look forward to the end of the year as a time of snooze and booze and lavish materialistic rewards for their year of hard work. For theatre folk it’s a little different. Read more

In February 2011, Queen Street Studio will bring acclaimed New York-based artists Barney O’Hanlon (SITI Company) and Laura Sheedy (The PIT) to Sydney to present TOOLKIT Performance Lab 2011; a two week physical training intensive for performance based artists, theatre directors and dance makers. Read more

It’s summer. Oh. But you hate the outdoors. With it’s stinging sun and it’s short shorts and it’s heatstroke. Prefer to stay indoors? Looking around for something to do? Restless? Feeling like you have missed the boat on everything programmed 12 months in advance? Want to do nothing but eat biscuits until that feeling goes away?
Why not just check out these opportunities that have flown into my inbox? I can’t use ’em, I’m too old. But you might want to check it out… Read more

2010 been a huge year for Australian playwrights.

Has it only been a year since Caleb Lewis’ well publicized side-step of the 2009 Philip Parson’s Award? Was it only 6 months ago that playwrights were protesting the decision of the NSW Premier not to award a literary prize? 2010 was a great year to see the Australian playwriting community band together. Collectives that have popped up all over Australia have been very vocal, very active and extremely productive in 2010… 7-On Playwrights, The emerging Writers Studio, Write Club, pockets of playwrights who dine and drink together, those who keep in touch via facebook quips and cross promotion – It’s been a great year! It is no surprise that the 2010 Philip Parson’s Lecture should be given by the sage of Australian playwriting – John McCallum. Read more

At the opening of Brand Spanking New (Week 2), Ned Manning (one of the writers for Week 1 of Spankers and 7 On-er) mentioned a group in Melbourne he thought I should check out once Spankers was put to rest…and that group is MKA Richmond. www.wix.com/mkamkamka/mkarichmond

A week earlier Ari Lander had told me that he couldn’t come to week 2 of Spankers as he was heading to Melbourne for MKA Richmond and he quizzed me on what I knew about it – and did I know Tobias Manderson-Galvin. “Sort of, i replied – “We are facebook friends… I’ve read his work and have chatted over email – but not really, not in the “invite him-over-for-dinner” kind of know”).

And then a couple of hours ago I received an email from Van Badham (as per below) alerting me to what was happening in Melbourne. Read more

I’ve been very occasional with my posts haven’t I? Tardy to say the least… you see I have wrapped up in Brand Spanking New – my major project which is at the end of every year and now we are two performances away from finishing Brand Spanking New 2010. Week 2 of the 2 week season is in full swing and has been enjoying healthy houses at the new theatre – full of punters and writers curious to see what’s on, who’s in, what’s hot!

It’s always interesting for me to hear the response from plays I programme – last week a rather rambuncious satire by Phil Spencer conjured audible gasps from audience members who found it offensive (indeed that is the point of that play – to expose our sensitivity to language and our desire for self-sensorship). This week we have another opportunity for people to be outraged by ideas with a bit of social commentary by the one and only Alana Valentine starting the show. Read more

Spruiking a bright and sassy brand of re-invented classics- Cry Havoc returns to Wharf 1 for the second time in the last 12 months. Anton Chekov’s Three Sisters, the third installment of Cry Havoc’s developing body of work. You’ll know Cry Havoc by their flag, by their exquisite website, their tendency to have actors drenched, bruised or covered in dairy products on their marketing materials… You’ll know Cry Havoc by their brutal, unrelenting enthusiasm – and a slogan that declares revolution is afoot. So it is hardly surprising that Artistic Director Kate Revz has taken her team to the home of revolution and the home of Chekov- Russia. Read more

Don’t get me wrong- I’m not just about short plays. I believe in (as Timothy Daly once said to me) in being “a miniaturist”- but I also believ in the juicyness of a full length play. I love watching the intertwined stories within a full length play… and Australia does fabulous stories, for example… Bang, When the Rain Stops Falling, Cloudstreet, Blackrock, The Man From Mukinupin, Bran Nue Dae etc, etc.

In Australia, and in particular in Sydney, the opportunities to have a full length play developed or workshopped can be relegated to the lucky, the few at larger high profile conferences – or on the other end of the spectrum – people’s lounge rooms. Rarely do emerging writers have the benefit of focussing in on their play, with a director of their choice. And THAT’s what Off the Shelf is about. Read more