When the future or even the present feel so pressing it can be difficult to see the relevance of old stories and traditions. But in this collaborative performance between Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company, the past is shown to be ongoing with powerful lessons that ancestors can teach about resilience and care.
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The first new full-length work from Bangarra in three years tells the stories and knowledge of the Wangkatjungka and Walmajarri people from the Kimberley and Great Sandy Desert regions. The combination of traditional dances, interpretations of true stories, and exploration of colonisation in SandSong are performed in honour of cultural collaborator and Wangkatjungka woman Ningali Josie Lawford-Wolf.
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It has been six years since the cherry orchard witnessed the deaths of a father and son and now the matriarch has finally returned. But Ranevskaya brings back with her the family debts and denial. One of Anton Chekhov’s most beloved plays, the Cherry Orchard is charged with reconciliation, regret, and the unstoppable waves of change.
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There’s a phenomenon often discussed amongst women where you reach a certain age and suddenly become invisible. Because you’ve passed through the three layers of societally recognised womanhood, (ie virgin, desirable, mother), you’re no longer relevant or worthy of attention. In this new show, creators Jonny Hawkins and Nell Ranney turn all the attention to older women and pay tribute to their stories in a conglomerate homage character named Maureen the Harbinger of Death.
Continue reading →Constructed as verbatim theatre out of interviews Catherine McGregor has given over her lifetime, Still Point Turning: the Catherine McGregor Story is less a narrative, or the ever popular trans narrative, and more a staged biopic, simply explaining what happened and what it felt like for McGregor to live through it. I had a lot of misgivings about this production when it was first announced; thinking that with her politics and position, McGregor didn’t have anything new to say to me. After reading assistant director Charles O’Grady’s Audrey Journal article about his experience within the production and considering McGregor’s impact on Australian discourse throughout her transition, I realised I was approaching this story all wrong.
Night Writes 