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I see a lot of plays, when I say a lot I mean on average two to three a month. Generally, I walk away happy, excited at the talent of the local industry. Rarely I am disgusted and walk away and write a filthy review.
Last night I saw Holding the Man at Belvoir Theatre in Surry Hills and now it's all I can think about. This has never happened to me before. I woke up during the night and all I could think of was the love story.
I laughed and I actually cried. I never cry in plays. Only occasionally squeeze a tear out in movies. I was devastated when it finished. Gobsmacked.
This is the third time that the play has been staged in Sydney in eighteen months. It keeps selling out and audiences want to see it again. David Berthold, the play's director, says in the program, that he has never received so many letters or responses to a play in his career. Maybe my own letter is in the pipeline.

Holding the Man is at Belvoir Theatre from 22 September to 4 November, 2007. For more info click here.

         

Ten minutes - that's all you have got to shock, thrill, entice and entertain an audience. Short & Sweet is the biggest little play festival in the world. Every year audiences in Sydney are treated to over a week of 200 short new plays. If you fancy yourself a bit of a budding playwright or find yourself regularly  accused of being dictatorial or attention seeking then taking part in Short & Sweet may be the answer for you.

Organisers are currently calling for submissions of plays and expressions of interest by directors and actors interested in taking part in the festival in early 2008. You don't have to be an experienced writer, anyone is welcome and you can write about just about anything - as long as it's ten minutes or under.

Submissions are due by 5pm October 14th. To enter or register your interest and for further information click here.

So I saw a play this week… Yep, theatre. Very hard for this certified film geek to reconcile given that most of my waking life has been spent in the dark watching images on a screen and hearing sound thundering through 5.1... Yes, real live people in the round give me the certified creeps – always seems so fake, so removed, hard to relate to… Blame it on panto when I was in kindy.
BUT. Saw a play this week that changed everything. Sydney production of Crestfall at Tap Gallery by Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe (his movie Intermission didn’t leave much of an impression on me but this – well).
From my humble seat, it’s nigh on impossible not to be engaged by this play. The material is such that you get it in an instant; profane, tough, survivalist, female, abuse, brutal and poetic and decidedly moving – in execution too. Actors and crew to be well applauded.. Translates particularly into an Australian context – the performances and staging made it so. it really needs to be seen to be felt. And not a G. Rush, a C. Blanchett nor a chardy in sight…

If us Melbournites don't watch our manners around this fair city during the next couple of weeks, we're going to get a wee tap on the shoulder and a polite but firm, public dressing down from the Perth-based moral vigilante group, the Loyal Citizens Underground. The LCU, part of the visiting performance art group PVI collective (Performance and Video Installations) - uniformed in fluoro shirts, radio headsets and an authoritarian air - are in
town to officiously persuade the public to curb their littering, help nana's across the road, stop swearing and generally just be better citizens. They do have an ulterior motive...they¹ll also be airing their show Reform, a rollicking, discussion engendering, police state night out. Buck up your ideas people!

I was apprehensive about my first 9/11 memorial service in NYC. I work two blocks from the World Trade Centre site, so thought it would be ignorant not to acknowledge the memorial service. The comissioned Koenig Sphere that originally sat between the two towers was crushed by their collapse, and removed and repositioned in it's damaged state to Battery park in 2002. Today, flags from around the world surrounded the eerie monument, as well Star Spangled banners with every victims name on it. At Ground Zero, the names of the 2973 people who lost their lives was read out over a sombre four hours. Despite the seriousness and sadness of the event, it was noted the huge crowds that had flocked in previous years were absent, chosing to pay their respects privately elsewhere. It had been spitting all morning, and as the event came to a close, it poured down, with everyone running to Century 21 for cover. For those who have yet to experience the heaven/hell of the discount label haven - it is floors and floors of coveted designer goods with price tags slashed. To be fair, a reasonable percentage of those clutching the Memorial Service program in one hand and a half-priced Marc Jacobs dress in the other weren't American (the familiar Aussie twang was an overriding note), but it still stood as a symbol that six years on, the people of NYC are well-dressed and moving on.

Artists? Check. Bands? Check. DJs? Check. Inspiring surroundings? Check. Skate bowl? Check. Live art? Check.
What do all of these ingredients have in common? They are all essential components of the Gold Coast Wonderland Festival! The team at Bandwagon headquarters are putting their creative noggins together once again to transform the lush Currumbin Bird Gardens into a wonderland.
Last year's festival featured the works of more than 50 artists, from painting to performing arts, with bands and DJs that rocked into the wee hours.
This year plans to be bigger and better with a hot line-up including Rogerthat, Santiago, Winnie Coopers, Marshall & The Fro, The Fumes, Goons of Doom, Ground Components, Fait Accompli, Beau Monde and Nancy Vice, O, My Left Boot, The Gingers, Weather Underground and much more.
A pre-Wonderland teaser at the Shark Bar on October 28 with Roger That and My Left Boot will get us geared.
They are also still on the hunt for talented artists to exhibit, so if you are interested in being a part of this fantastic celebration of expression, register your talents with the crew online here or here.

Miranda July, director of my favourite film of 2006, You Me and Everyone We Know, has written a wonderful book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. Like her film, July injects seemingly insignificant moments with a subtle potency. A benign encounter, a misunderstanding, a shy revelation, can reconfigure the world. Reading from the book recently in London, she casually spouts brilliant one liners like "Inelegantly and without my consent, time passed."
On her filmmaking process, she revealed an idiosyncratic nature, where procrastination takes the form of various projects- writing, performance art, film, or websites- including one of the coolest book websites you’re ever likely to see. "Making things is how I love myself."
Another July inititaive is the on/off line project, as always mushily yet endearingly titled, Learning To Love You More. Here the people can respond to art-based assignments given by July and fellow artist Harrell Fletcher, which are then posted on-line. "Like a recipe, meditation, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience."
No One Belongs Here More Than You is released in Australia on September 3rd by Text.