Posted by Hazel J Taylor on November 28, 2010
Photo by Jeff Busby
Edge of Night, the Australian Ballet’s most recent Sydney Opera House triple bill, shows off the divinely gorgeous choreography of Stephen Barnes and Tim Harbour through the bodies and souls of some of the world’s hottest dancers.
Choreographed in 2003, Stephen Barnes’ At the Edge of Night (first on the bill) is a delicate, intriguing and sultry piece set to a selection of seven of Rachmaninov’s Op.23 and 32 preludes. Barnes began with the preludes as the foundation from which he built the ballet. Sitting with his set and costume designer Michael Pearce, the decision was collectively made that the ballet should take an ephemeral quality, with broad themes which inspired more questions than answers.
As a result, the ballet does not commit itself to a definite time or place in history, although the dramatic deep maroon coloured dresses made of thick Chinese dressing-gown fabric, and professional business attire of the ballet gents emanates a post war vibe, particularly when coupled with the nationalistic Rachmaninov score. Barnes and Pearce note that the fragments of the story emerged from their analysis of the score. Evoking themes of the past, of memories and of dreams, the dancers appear throughout the piece as if floating through an old house like ghosts in the night, calling on memories and conjuring images of forgotten times.More...
edge of night, australian ballet, sydney opera house, stephen barnes, tim harbour
Posted by Hazel J Taylor on October 1, 2010
First presented at Federation Square Melbourne in 2007, The Ballad of Backbone Joe has been doing the rounds locally and internationally, landing recently at our very own Sydney Theatre Company.
The Ballad… is the combined original musical and theatre work of the clever boys of the Suitcase Royale – three musician buddies from Melbourne: Miles O'Neil, Glen Walton and Joseph O'Farrell. The team apparently planned on being rockers before discovering their particular niche in theatre, and they’ve cornered it well. Called a ‘rag ‘n bone’ band by some (a reference to the group’s penchant for setting up collected junk and inventing their own fabulous on stage environments), the Suitcase Royale are devoted to their wildly entertaining cause of fitting performances of original musical work into hilarious and unwieldy theatre performance.
The Ballad’s intriguing storyline revolves around the murder of a woman in a red dress, which sounds a lot more serious than it actually is. The trio are so comfortable with their on-stage selves, that this Kluster writer wouldn’t be surprised if entire slabs of the performance turned out to be ad lib, conjured up on the fly.
Sydney Theatre Company is presenting their two week season of The Ballad of Backbone Joe until 2 October 2010. This means you need to get in pretty fast, and be prepared to laugh. The Suitcase Royale also performed September’s free post-show STC Wharf sessions, which, if you don’t already know, happen every month. You can go along and watch and hear live music played by seriously talented people for free. Yes, for free.
ballad of backbone joe, sydney theatre company, suitcase royale
Posted by Hazel J Taylor on September 4, 2009
At the launch of Sydney band, The Scare’s second album Oozevoodo (Tuesday night, Hellen Rose, Surry Hills, Sydney) the band was introduced, after a big wrap, as - ultimately - ‘a bunch of old school dirty fucking rockers’. They sure are. For a group of Qld school friends (handy), this collection of manic, intense performers is actually made up of 5 incredibly polished and exceptionally talented musicians.
As well as demonstrating this obvious talent, Oozevoodo should also serve to further display the already public, very enviable talent of Silverchair/Dissociatives Daniel Johns (Oozevoodo marks Johns’ production debut). The big differences between the songs played on Tuesday night from one track to the next is really compelling, and how the band manage to pull off the way they sound with what appears to be minimum effort - while being crazy energetic and entertaining at the same time - is beyond me.More...
the scare, oozevoodo