Our Top Picks from the Melbourne Festival
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Belle is seeing Sun
I am going to see Sun, a contemporary dance production from UK-based choreographer Hofesh Shechter. Melbourne Festival brought Shechter’s super acclaimed Political Mother to us two year ago; Sun is said to be a departure from the darkness and anger of his earlier productions, towards a work with ‘brightness and vitality’.
Shechter founded his own dance company in 2008, and he’s recognised as one of the most exciting contemporary artists in the UK. There will be 14 dancers in this production, a world premiere, and I anticipate the performance to be really raw and powerful, perhaps overwhelming – I hope so. The trailer for Sun is quite eerie, but beautiful, and the work looks cinematic and futuristic. The dancers here remind me of characters from a Margaret Atwood book.
I’ve not been disappointed by the top-billed dance productions that Melbourne Festival has presented previously (I’m thinking of the Michael Clark Company’s Come, Been and Gone, as just one) so I’m really looking forward to this.
Sean is seeing The Beast
I’ll be seeing The Beast, by Eddie Perfect, because I’ll see just about anything he does in the theatre. He got me back in 2005 when I saw him in The Big Con, making a nice bourgeois audience sing along to his satirical anthem, ‘Gay People Shouldn’t Get Married’. It was too good: those who thought it was true didn’t want to sing it, those who thought it wasn’t true didn’t want to sing it either. What you heard was the sound of 500 people having trouble with their throat. It was a perfect storm (no pun, please) of middle-class embarrassment.
Since then Perfect has performed Drink Pepsi, Bitch!, and the excellent Shane Warne: The Musical – in which Perfect managed to show Shane Warne as both innocent and very, very guilty. I’ve only seen him act in one episode of the TV show Offspring, but it seemed to me he was playing a much-reduced version of himself. See what he makes in the theatre and you’ll see what he really thinks an entertainment should be – and that it should have some attack.
He won’t be on stage in The Beast; it is, I think, the first show he’s written but not performed in, and that gives this production an added interest. How good is Eddie – and what more can he do – when all he’s got are the words?
Emily is seeing Eclipse: Amadou and Mariam
One of my best friends introduced me to this Malian husband-and-wife duo’s Afro-pop/soul music several years back and little did I know then that the duo would become one of the most successful bands to come out of Africa this century. With eight albums and millions of record sales to their name, their performances have been a massive hit on the world’s festival circuit.
The two musicians have been blind since childhood and in Eclipse (performed outside of Europe for the first time) their fans are offered a chance to experience music how they do themselves – in complete darkness. Amadou and Mariam will tell their life stories in their inimitable way, featuring songs from throughout their career and accompanied by a seven-piece band to create a multi-sensory performance.
I’m so excited to experience all this in the dark…
Bronte is seeing 6000 miles away
I’ve written in the past about my love of dance movies and it seems only natural that this love would spill over into live performances featuring dancers. I’m invariably blown away watching these athletes move across a stage – by their sheer talent and their ability to manipulate their bodies in subtle, powerful ways. And perhaps due to my mum’s influence I particularly love to watch ballet.
So, I’m pretty psyched that Sylvie Guillem will perform at this year’s festival. A world-famous ballerina, her show, 6000 miles away, has been created by Guillem in conjunction with three of the most celebrated contemporary choreographers working today: William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián and Mats Ek. The show has received rave reviews from other parts of the world and I think it’s going to be incredible to see live.
While it’s likely I inherited my interest in dance from my mum, it’s equally likely I’ve inherited my taste for John Landis films from my dad who introduced me to Animal House and Coming to America with an unnecessarily ghoulish glee. (My remembered enthusiasm over ‘toga parties’ at the time can not be over-stated.) It’s lucky then that the festival is also running a Landis tribute series as part of their film program…
Nina is seeing The Cinematic Orchestra
I’m seeing The Cinematic Orchestra at this year’s Melbourne Festival – a British jazz and electronic group that I imagine (and hope!) will be utterly amazing live. The band will be performing on the Hamer Hall stage and backed by Philharmonia Australia.
People who know me are aware that I’m not the most knowledgeable source when it comes to music – while I’m the first to know that Jennifer Lawrence is rumoured to be cast in the lead for the film adaptation of Hannah Kent’s best-selling Burial Rites, I’m the last to know about Elvis Costello’s new album with The Roots – so they may be surprised to learn I’ve picked an event from the festival’s music program. But hunting through clips from The Cinematic Orchestra’s live performances, I immediately fell in love. Their song ‘To Build A Home’ is beautiful and I can’t wait to see them in action.