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Metro Arts acknowledges the assistance of the
Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
FreeRange 2009 is a unique opportunity for artists to pause, unpack the
contents of their creativity and investigate what they’re doing and why they’re doing
it. It’s also a unique opportunity for audiences to see what is so often hidden — the
creative process. We invite you to watch FreeRangers experiment with their practice;
respond to new and sometimes challenging ideas; and celebrate the freedom to fail and
start again. This year FreeRange is filled with readings, workshops, a masterclass by
Donna Jackson, and showings from some of Brisbane’s most interesting, exciting, and
entertaining Independent theatre-makers. Sit back, imagine, and enjoy.
Saffron Benner, Guest Artistic Director Free Range 2009
The Creative Development Festival holds a very special place in Metro Arts’ heart and
this year, renamed as FreeRange, it’s incubating an epic 23 projects! While we all
recognise creative development is central to an artist’s practice and the creation of new
work, too little time is afforded to this critical stage that can ultimately make or break
a project. During June the building will buzz with artists — at all stages of their career
and all exploring diverse ideas and forms. The seedlings you witness here could be set
for big things, possibly here or elsewhere. Who knows just what will flower? I extend a
hearty thank you to all the artists taking on the challenge of developing new work, to
our peers who generously give their time to contribute valuable feedback, and to
Saffron Benner and Dan Evans who have definitely made their mark on FreeRange.
Liz Burcham, CEO
DATE
TIME
EVENT
LOCATION
Tuesday
June 2
6:00pm
Opening Night Battle:
Classical vs. Contemporary Smackdown!
Sue Benner Theatre
Friday
June 12
7:00pm
Wine Time
with Bernard Houston & Daynan Brazil
Basement
7:30pm
Whole Hog: The Voyage of Prester John
Bernard Houston & Daynan Brasil
Sue Benner Theatre
Saturday
June 13
4:30pm –
6:30pm
Donna Jackson Masterclass Showing
Backyard &
Warehouse
Friday
June 19
7:00pm
Wine Time with Linda Hassall
Basement
7:30pm
Whole Hog: Dawn’s Faded Rose
Dogs in the Roof
Sue Benner Theatre
Wednesday
June 24
7:00pm
Wine Time with Compost Heap’s The Bus
Basement
7:30pm
Sneaky Peek 1
Sue Benner Theatre
Thursday
June 25
7:00pm
Wine Time with Compost Heap’s
Responsible Thinking Room
Basement
7:30pm
Sneaky Peek 2
Sue Benner Theatre
6:30pm
Wine Time with deBASE
The Studio
6:45pm
deBASE’s Workshop Presentation
The Studio
7:30pm
Sneaky Peek 3
Sue Benner Theatre
Friday
June 26
www.metroarts.com.au
Metro Arts 109 Edward Street Brisbane
JUNE 1 – 27
TIVAL
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CREATIVE DEV
Established practitioners experiment with their craft to bring you these brand new workshops never held before …
A Theory About Tectonics with Daniel Santangeli
A Theory About Tectonics is a hands-on five-day intensive workshop where artists
and architects will experiment together to create brave new work, culminating in the
creation of semi-permanent structures that will appear around Brisbane with a life of
24 hours each, before their destruction.
Dates: Part-time: June 1 – 5
Price: $80 Capped at: 10 people
Primal Dance with Kitsiri DeSilva
Spontaneous, creative and full-bodied expressive movement combine in this wild
workshop where foot stomping, body percussion, animal instincts and warrior paint
combine to forge self-empowerment through self-expression. Get out of your head, into
your body and dance how you feel! Visit www.primaldance.org.
Date: Monday June 15, 6 – 9 pm Price: $20 Capped at: 15 people
Prerequisite: Persons who have suffered or sustained injury are advised not to participate
Drama For Life: Reimagining life experiences through performance
with Sarah Woodland
This workshop invites participants to explore the stories of everyday life through an
experiential drama-based process drawing on Theatre of the Oppressed, Rainbow of
Desire, Playback Theatre, Drama Therapy and Narrative Therapy.
Flourishing Collaborative Practice: An experiential approach to
collaboration with Margi Brown-Ash
Margi’s experiential workshop will help artists understand the importance of ritual,
group training, multiplicity and language within the framework of collaboration. She
will focus on the importance of a reflective practice and demonstrate her self-devised
Impulse Training process, to help develop, school and sustain a powerful creative team.
Date: Monday June 22, 9 am – 1 pm Price: Full $70 Concession $60
Capped at: 15 people
Creating Something from Nothing with Liz Skitch and Special Guest Directors
Scott Witt and Bridget Boyle
Journey through different clown terrain — from the naïve, to the pathetic, through to
the dark. Train, devise and rehearse up a mini-show from scratch. This is for anyone
and everyone but particularly for those who are keen to create clown routines, comic
theatre or experiment with blurring the line between comedy and tragedy.
Dates: Full-time: June 14, 21 & 26 (culminating in a public performance)
Price: Full $300 Concession $250 Capped at: 20 people
Prerequsite: Some experience in performance is required,
no experience in clown is necessary.
with Donna Jackson
She collaborates, with artists, creating art with semi-trailers, umbrellas, fruit, electric
fences and live sheep ... painted blue. She directed and implemented art works in
rivers, on oceans, atop sports ovals and farms, spanning areas as small as 20m x
30m and as large as 2km x 1km. These works have told tall tales of whimsy and secret
stories of the landscape and have been exhibited across 18 sites throughout Victoria
and Tasmania. As part of this year’s FreeRange, we embrace the inspirational practice
of consummate landscape artist Donna Jackson.
Over seven days participants will find their practice revolutionised as they’re taught to
think big (and we mean BIG) and start small. Scavenge materials, exchange ideas and
learn about the development, management and production of large-scale landscape
installations. Culminating in a showcase event of smaller works (4MX3M!) with big ideas
on Saturday June 17. Prepare to be creatively challenged and changed in this hands-on
Masterclass that has been subsidised by Metro Arts for your immediate engagement.
Dates: Full-time: June 9 – 15 Price: $275 (incl. GST)
Capped at: 6 people
Prerequsite: Participants must be actively involved in an arts practice.
No landscape installation experience required.
Date: Saturday June 20, 10 am – 6 pm Price: Full $30 Concession FREE
Capped at: 20 people
Just what it sounds like! Whole Hog(gers) have performanceready works that will receive a full-reading or showing as
part of FreeRange. These evenings can run for up to 90
minutes and are followed by a post-performance Q&A
designed for critical feedback.
Audiences are given a glimpse into the juicy ideas and concepts driving the
artist’s project. Artists can choose to perform, present or discuss their ideas in
tight 20 minute slots where there’s no room for concentrate.
Showing: June 12 & 19 Admission: $5 at the door
SNEAKY PEEK 1
Dawn’s Faded Rose Dogs In The Roof: Linda Hassall, Shaun Charles & Steve Rowan
Often I find that I am Naked Jo Thomas
“Ya cop ya flogging and get on with it. Out here. Rules are different.”
In Playwright Linda Hassall’s latest searing work, the Outback is not a place for
pale women descended from the fucking English criminal classes.
“The point, I said, to being naked is that you don’t have any clothes on. Not a
stitch. Just a thatch of hair here and there, unless of course you wax it all off …”
Voyage To Prester John Bernard Houston & Daynan Brasil
It is the twelfth century. Pope Alexander sends his friend and counsel, Master
Phillip, to find the mythical kingdom of Prester John. This symphonic theatre
piece combines music and drama to narrate his story.
Watch as an unexplored Metro Arts space is transformed
into a performance location over FreeRange’s four
weeks. Here, ideas will grow and you can see
their full flowering in the final week.
Showing: June 24–26 Admission: $5 at the door
Something Sharpened Axe Production House: Dash Kruck
They’d escape, if they could only swim. Two men stranded on a traffic island.
All they can do is wait … for Something.
My Night With Harold
23rd Productions: Kathryn Fray & Christopher Sommers
Written by a collective of Australia’s most talented young playwrights
(Marcel Dorney, Elise Hearst, Richard Jordan, Maxine Mellor) My Night With Harold
invites you to spend the evening embracing the master: Harold Pinter.
SNEAKY PEEK 2
Jammin’ On The One Sexy Knickers: Courtney Stewart & Genevieve Butler
Showing: June 24 & 25 Admission: Free
Do you like REAL music, SWEET music, SOUL music? Jammin’ On The One is a
funky explosion of sound, movement, and story. Come and JAM.
Responsible Thinking Room Lauren Carr & Paul Harper-Green
Clearwater MAGUS: Michael Beh
It’s lock down in the Responsible Thinking Room. Amy, a Pre-Service teacher, is
trapped and alone with the RTR regulars. Can she assert her authority?
The Bus ANTiX: Anthea Patrick
Sound design and live performance interact to conjure the experience of
passengers in a confined public space. On The Bus the sense of isolation is a
shared experience, and Daydream is a common destination.
Clearwater is Shakespeare’s 12th Nite on HEAT. Magus turns up the temperature
in a performance work that explores gender, sexuality and grief.
The Super Domestic of Wonder Dan Eady
Superman and Wonderwoman in the kitchen. Things have turned ugly. Batman
visits. Depravity sets in. Watch it televised, watch it live. Come one, come all.
SNEAKY PEEK 3
Single Admissions Tammy Weller
The Battle Tuesday June 2, 6:00 pm Sue Benner Theatre
‘Exposition’ or ‘Existential’? ‘Beckett’ or ‘Butoh’? ‘Lines on a page’ or
‘Bodies in a space’? Classical artists go head-to-head with Contemporary
practitioners in this take-no-prisoners opening night smackdown where ‘the old’
battles ‘the new’ and only one will emerge triumphant. To book your seat phone
3002 7100 or email info@metroarts.com.au
Masterclass Showcase Saturday June 17, 4:30 – 6:30pm
(Artist Talk 5:30pm) The Backyard + The Warehouse
The participants of Donna Jackson’s intensive Masterclass throw open the doors
in a multi-site exhibition of landscape installation. The fruits of this labour are
not to be missed! No booking required.
Wine Time (see Program at a glance for details)
Charge your glasses and lend us your ears. The intimate Wine Time is a chance
for you to go off the record with a selection of FreeRange artists to find out what
makes their work tick and what makes their process go pop! No booking required.
For everyone who’s texted under the influence, danced on their lonesome or been
asked the question — repeatedly — “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”
Scoop She Said Productions: Penny Harpham & Seanna van Helten
What does it mean to live in truth? In a world of soundbites and exposés,
an act of defiance entangles 5 people’s lives and nothing is off the
record. One man’s secret is another woman’s scoop.
An exercise in auto-autonomy
(or, A Reflected Crowd In Peripheral Vision)
The exercises: Kieran Swann
Alone in a room full of people, a man makes a mess.
Charlton Heston — alpha male or omega man?
Behind closed doors artists present their projects to a select audience. These
showings are invite only.
boy girl wall The Escapists: Jonathon Oxlade, Matthew Ryan, Lucas Stibbard,
Neridah Waters
A one-person show about a) a boy, b) a girl and c) an apartment block. (C) has
decided that (a) and (b) belong together. Appearing as part of the Metro Arts
Independents Program 2009 from August 13 – 29.
Lazarus Won’t Get Out Of Bed AS Theatre: Andrew Barclay & Sam Clark
Award-winning young playwright David Burton serves up a pop-culture fuelled
ride through one man’s battle with depression. This development will lead to a
full production by AS Theatre at Metro Arts in October.
Life’s Brutality Yvette Walker
Lies, abuse, love & murder… Several strangers drawn together discover the
wrath of life’s brutality.
McGuire’s Punt Hayley Milner
Bad things happen here. Seven sisters are rendered orphans overnight. A buried
torso reveals a grisly crime scene. A girl hides horror in a grocery bag. And as
time passes the strange landscape waits for its next prey.
Red Sanctuary Tamara Whyte
New work. Black Theatre. Two young Aboriginal women leave Australia for Japan
and Europe. Through their friendship Red Sanctuary examines love, politics, men,
social norms and sex from the outside in and the inside out. Appearing as part of
the Metro Arts Independents Program 2009 from November 4 - 21
The Kerensky Project
ThreeSisters Productions: Kathryn Marquet, Rebecca Roberts & Hannah Levien
This new work teams ThreeSisters with playwright Katherine Lyall-Watson to
produce a historical story of love and allegiance in the face of banishment and
death, which begins in Brisbane and journeys across war-torn Europe.
The Never Ending Markwell Presents: Steven Maxwell & Brad Jennings
A cinematic contemporary fantasy feast that explores that painful memory of a
moment that never leaves you, that effects you every day of your life, that in some
cases cripples your emotions.
TipToe Pentimento Productions: Sven Swenson
Hot on the heels of The Truth About Kookaburras, Sven Swenson continues his
collaboration with fellow artist Brian Lucas in this mystery-thriller set at the
outbreak of the Swine Flu in 1919.
Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal Genevieve Trace & Kieran Law
129 133 x-rays, 8 cat scans, 17 broken bones and 73 months of rehabilitation: 2
bodies explored. Appearing as part of the Metro Arts Independents Program 2009
from July 8 – 25.
Up Slide Down Nick Cilento & Allen Laverty
What if youth didn’t take the downhill slide? Meet two
eternal schoolboys: one’s cool ‘n confident, the other
eats raw cabbage for lunch … and likes it.
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