A new year, let alone a new decade, is a time when one cannot help but look back. Simultaneously, as the clock ticks over, it is time for forward thinking and the contemplation of possible futures.
This summer has been a horrific time in Australia and in many other parts of the world as fires, droughts, flood and more wreak havoc and destruction. It has been a time of frustration as we watch those who have previously dragged their feet in the quest for a better future remain asleep to change; but also one of pride in humanity as so many step forward with generosity, ingenuity and care. I feel truly privileged to be starting this new decade not only with my family and friends intact and around me but with so, so many extraordinarily talented, inventive and always evolving collaborators at my sides.
Amongst those glorious artists are the fab cohort I have joined as part of the Powerhouse Museum and Create NSW's creative industries initiative and the extraordinary design minds I join as a freshly stamped Accredited Australian Production Design Guild Member.
And then there are the artists, singers, actors, dancers, producers and directors from Melbourne, Sydney, Timor, Papua, Jakarta, Delhi and elsewhere that I, already in this nascent decade, have had the supreme pleasure of working with.
The next decade will be a new challenge, but ingenuity, creativity and generosity can be our tools. And together we will try for a better world.
Looking forward to 2020:-
THE PLANET – A LAMENT will be at the Playhouse at the Arts Centre Melbourne on February 21 and 22.
Rehearsing the Witness. Is in development with Delhi based Zuleikha Alana and will have a showing as part of AsiaTOPA on the 20th of March.
I am also developing a new work with Martin del Amo that will explore patterns, figures and space.
HAMLET with Bell Shakespeare is in rehearsals and will open at the Sydney Opera House in early March before touring.
And thrilled to be commencing a collaboration with curator Jessica Bram for Melbourne's Jewish Museum.
Moving on (touring) in 2020:-
CERITA ANAK at The Lincoln Centre in New York.
WONDERLAND , touring. Currently at TePapa, New Zealand.
THE PLANET: A LAMENT Heading to Dusseldorf’s Theater der Welt in May and the Holland Festival, in June.
Del Kathryn Barton : The Nightingale and The Rose made in collaboration with ACMI in 2017 and from February at New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale.
HAMLET will be in Canberra and Melbourne in April 2020.
Looking back : 2019
It was a busy and satisfying year working with many generous and talented individuals on a sprawling variety of projects, including ......
The AUSTRALIAN EXHIBIT at The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design. Visit PQAU.COM.AU for more information.
WONDERLAND touring to the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
THE MISER with Bell Shakespeare. Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
CERITA ANAK in Bejing and Hangzhou, China and The Esplanade, Singapore.
THE EMPATHY CLINIC as part of the The Big Anxiety Festival
THE DIFFICULT COMEDOWN with Paea Leech and Alexandra Harrison at DanceMassive.
The Long Pigs touring to the Adelaide and Edinburg Fringe Festivals
Fully Committed and Baby Doll for Ensemble Theatre
As part of PQAU we also began the first stage roll out of Impossible project, It is a growing collection of works that were dreamt up but never made. Collected from a variety of amazing artists, designers, writers, performance makers and activists. The project celebrates the creative process; how failed projects often spawn highly successful ones and questions what makes something impossible ..... or not. theimpossibleproject.com.au
Cover image:- The Jakarta team of THE PLANET : A LAMENT secure the final pieces of clothing to our backdrop for the Jakarta Previews. The backdrop consists of 1000 pieces of secondhand clothing from Kupang, Timor.
Image below:- Work in progress. Projection tests and installation for the Jakarta previews of THE PLANET : A LAMENT.
