Firstly, anyone who happens to be in the London area next weekend should check out the SPILL Festival, especially the world premiere of The Last to See Them Alive: Sex, Slaughter and the City by Australian performance group Unreasonable Adults at the SOHO Theatre. The piece is devised from texts by Fiona Sprott (and if I sound biased in this plug, I should make it clear that Fiona was my partner), and features sound and performance from regular v1.0 guest artist Jason Sweeney as well as Julie Vulcan and Caroline Daish. Highly recommended for those who enjoy performance that is dark, dangerous, and walks the fine line between ultra-black comedy and serious psycho-sexual disorders. Definitely not for the faint at heart or the easily offended.
While you're there, you might also want to check out Forced Entertainment's Exquisite Pain, based on texts by Sophie Calle. And there's a wealth of other performance and live art works be savored at SPILL. I confess to being very jealous and want time off to go there too. Oh well, there's always next time.
Secondly, those hungry for a tiny bite of version 1.0 goodness might be interested in checking out Paul Dwyer's The Bougainville Photoplay Project in a one-off performance at UTS Gallery, Sydney on Friday 27th April at 6:30pm. The performance is running in conjunction with the photographic exhibition by Jon Lewis Bougainville Portraits: Facing the Place, which exhibits from 10th April to 11th May. The address is Level 4, 702 Harris St, Ultimo. The performance will be free, but donations to Bougainville charities will be welcomed on the night. Seating is limited, so booking is recommended on utsgallery@uts.edu.au.
The Bougainville Photoplay Project is described by Paul as being a "slideshow with fireside chat", and interweaves an attempt to reclaim family history through photographs with the history of the civil unrest and armed conflict in Bougainville that followed the opening of the Panguna Copper Mine by CRA Rio Tinto, a conflict in which Australia under Bob Hawke's leadership provided arms and training to the PNG Defence Force, arms which were used in committing a number of atrocities. Far more stripped back and intimate than version 1.0's main stage pieces, it’s a gentle, intelligent, and powerfully moving monologue piece, deftly cross-examining personal and political stories. If you can't make this performance, don't worry, there will be other chances, as we're trying to negotiate a short season later in the year.
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