The naked truth E-dition. Revealed this week, Performance Space’s 2016 Festival of Experimental Art features a stellar line-up of Asian and Australian innovators, including Mish Grigor [above] whose The Talk, about the family and sex, is one of the featured works. In Off the Record, Force Majeure’s performers expose themselves to uncomfortable truths. In Tribunal, Powerhouse Youth Theatre’s stark revelations about our oppression of Aboriginal Australians and refugees render us naked. In Down Under, writer-director Abe Forsythe strips bare the perpetrators of the Cronulla Riots, would-be emperors of the Australian beach. As concerns for refugees and Aboriginal Australians escalate in the face of undeniable facts, the naked truth must displace the lies, denialism and “truthiness” (thanks Stephen Colbert) at which governments excel.
Keith and Virginia
TANGLING WITH THE TRUTH Impeded by isolation, difficult bodies, fraught minds and communication failure, the mixed-ability performers in Force Majeure’s Off the Record face the challenges of truth-telling with verve.
THEATRE JUSTICEIn Powerhouse Youth Theatre’s Tribunal, an actual Aboriginal elder presides over a hearing in which real refugees and a refugee support worker resiliently challenge traumatising codes imposed by the Government.
LIVEWORKS FESTIVAL 2016 Exuberant Performance Space Artistic Director Jeff Khan gives advance notice of an immersive two-week program rich in Asian and Australian experimental art and taking over the Carriageworks complex.
THE STOMPIN VISION Launceston’s Stompin, a dance-based company for young people, commits to creating innovative performance and engaging with communities. Former artistic directors Jerril Rechter and Emma Porteus reflect on Stompin’s achievements.
CRONULLA COMEDY
Our horror film specialist Katerina Sakkas finds Abe Forsthye’s testosterone-loaded Down Under, about the perpetrators of the Cronulla Riots, to be well-crafted and acted, less than funny and truly scary.
AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS IN FREE FALL
Jana Perkovic applauds Ben Eltham’s Platform Paper, When the Goal Posts Move, a record of how unprecedented, long-term damage has been inflicted on the Australia arts community and cultural policy abandoned.
OZASIA 2016: BUNNY
Cleo Mees discovered “a new sense of my own desire” on seeing the Australian premiere of Luke George and Daniel Kok’s BUNNY. Since seen in New York, BUNNY will now play in Adelaide’s OzAsia, inviting audiences into a world of colourful bondage.
GIVEAWAY: WHEN THE GOAL POSTS MOVE
In the latest Platform Paper, described by Jana Perkovic as “an excellent work of political journalism,” Ben Eltham guides you through the history of the LNP Government’s assault on artists and the Australia Council.
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