Art Smitten

Art Smitten

By SYN MediaTV & FilmSociety & CultureArtsBooksPerforming ArtsVisual ArtsDesign
Download on the App Store

Art Smitten episodes

  • Interview: Gavin Ross

    Hamish and Christian chat with Gavin Ross from the cast of the truly immersive theatre show Trainspotting Live, now on at fortyfivedownstairs until April 13.

    Click here to listen to Hamish's review of the show

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    14 min
  • Review: Deep Sea Dances
    Deep Sea Dances was a new contemporary dance work by Rebecca Jensen. The performance space is in The Stables are Arts Houses’ Meat Market, we entered into a large space with beautiful projections on the walls, we were asked to remove our shoes and socks and entered into another large space in the building, the floor was covered with squishy plastic and there were chairs and pillows either side of the long room to sit on. Deep Sea Dances was performed by a large ensemble of trans femme and trans women, and female identifying people, it was presented in what I felt like several ‘parts’. The performance began with a dance choreographed by Dorris Humpfry in 1928, she is often forgotten and her experimental choreography is often credited to men who created work in the 1950’s. After the dance was finished Rebecca came out and told us what we had just seen, acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land which we were viewing the work and announced Deep Sea Dances would now begin. A big roller door then opened at one end of the space and the performers came in one by one, kinda like a cat walk in a fashion show, they were wearing this strange shimmery dark pants, dresses and shirts, and they were drenched in water, this was accompanied by a smoke machine and loud intense music. Several more ‘parts’ followed this, that had a similar vibe to each other, they started off quite gentle and fluid then build into a climax of bodies erratically dancing and seemingly merging together then dissolving into the floor. Deep Sea Dances is beautiful, quirky and wholesome, it felt very special to witness, and is probably one of my favorite shows I’ve seen, my only problem was I didn’t get a very good seat and often had to strain to see what was happening at the other side of the room, but apart from that I had a great time, I felt lots of different emotions and thoughts, it was a very internal experience that often bubbled up to the surface in different ways like giggling or gasping The lighting design by Matt Adey was, like all of Matt Adeys’ work was amazing and the sound by Marco Cher-Gibbard and Rebbeca Jensen, again like all of their work was fantastic. Deep Sea Dances is part of Dance Massive a bi-annual dance festival, there are multiple work showing in multiple venues across Melbourne, the festival is on now and goes until March 26th, as does Deep Sea Dances. Deep Sea Dances in on now at Meat Market in North Melbourne. Written by Finley Fletcher Image by Gregory Lorenzutti

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    4 min
  • Interview: Tara Jade Samaya

    Daniel, Adalya and Jim chat to Tara Jade Samaya, the “Dance Captain” of Chunky Move’s ANTI GRAVITY, on at the Malthouse Theatre from March 17-26 as part of the Dance Massive Festival.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 min
  • Interview: Sammy J

    Gill and Daniel chat to Sammy J about this new solo show Hero Complex, playing in the 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Victoria Hotel.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    10 min
  • Review: Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster

    Piece for person and Ghetto Blaster is an experimental dance work by Nicola Gunn. This work has had seasons all across Australia and overseas. It is a story of a man and woman and a duck.

    Piece for person and Ghetto Blaster goes for about and hour and a half and Nicola is on stage the entire time, constantly dancing and telling the story. Nicola is an absolutely phenomenal performer, just like nothing you would ever see anywhere else, her brilliant performance was complimented well by the wacky choreography of Jo Llyod.

    The story seems rather mundane and retelling it to someone, and it feels obvious what should happen. The story is: You’ve gone for a run in a foreign country and you see a man, with his children, throwing stones at a duck, and the question is: What do you do?

    The answer seems simple enough, you would go up to him and say stop doing that right?

    But that’s obviously not only what happens in Nicolas story because it goes for an hour and a half.

    There are many long tangents talking about old films and such, which was very tender and sweet at times. This show was very funny and Nicola was a delight to watch. At times I felt a bit annoyed because I didn’t understand a lot of the references to films and artists Nicola was talking about, which made me feel a bit left out, while most of the audience was laughing, at times it felt a bit art-intellectual elite, which made a me a bit uncomfortable, because I really want to see art that is accessible as possible.

    All elements of design within the show was, minimal and sharp, each design discipline by each of the designers merged together to create a lovely aesthetic display, that was easy to watch and very pleasing and gentle.

    I must make special mention of the costume Nicola changes into at the end of the show, it’s a beautiful long, multicolored silky jacket with a beautiful flowery-grassy head piece. The costume design and construction was by Shio Otani, I’ve seen a few shows she’s designed for and she always is brilliant. I cant wait to see what Shio will do next.

    Piece for person and Ghetto Blaster is showing as part of Dance Massive a bi-annual dance festival, with multiple works showing at different venues around Melbounre. The festival is on from March 15th to March 26, as is Piece for person and Ghetto Blaster and it is showing at The Malthouse Theatre in Southbank.

     

    Written by Finley Fletcher

    Image by Gregory Lorenzutti

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    4 min
  • Review: Windows
    Waiting in dark anticipation in La Mama theatre with foreboding music in the background, you could sense the experience of the director, Lloyd Jones, in non-text based performance theatre. Windows, written by Ayse Bayra-moglu, is a new work which has undertaken some swift development from play-reading to fully mounted performance in the last year. It still retains the casual essence of play-reading with the stage manager, Lisa Edman, announcing the scene and stage directions at the beginning of each scene. I thought this was a clever way to add to the audience's experience of rawness, and believe they could have taken it even further by having the two actors, Anna Ellis, who plays Esme, and Zac Kazepis who plays Huso, preparing in between scenes on the stage rather than hiding next to the seating banks where they could awkwardly be seen and heard quite clearly. Not having the luxury of wings could be used quite powerfully rather than ignored.   It's sometimes really difficult watching adults play children, they often have to navigate a complicated text and story, while remaining childlike. I feel that the disbelief is only suspended when the actors let go and stop trying so hard to show the audience that they’re much younger than their years. I was wary as Ellis and Kazepis entered the stage, but as they warmed into the performance and shared true moments of connection and innocence I stopped seeing them as adult actors.   The most compelling part of Windows is the beautiful, rich and poignant script which follows the broken lives of two young children as they look through a window and see into an imaginary world, and dream of a life they will never have. The writer, Bayramoglu, was born in Istanbul, where I imagine the play is set, although it's quite ambiguous. It is filled with rich cultural themes, beginning with a heavily accented prayer interwoven with Arabic, stories around arranged marriage, dowries, poverty, and more sinister female subjugation. The translation of the script had that comforting lull of english being spoken as a second language, with formal syntax, reminiscent of some of my favourite books like “God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy. At times the characters used Australian slang which was quite jolting and took the audience out of the poetic flow of the piece, as did the continual ringing and beeping of audience members phones, and a special mention to the actors who powered through.   It must also be mentioned that Ellis joined the cast with only 8 days of rehearsal before opening night, due to her predecessor pulling out. Although i was a little disappointing in the lack of ethnicity in the casting, Ellis did an astounding job of memorizing the monster script, and storytelling with such depth. The timing between the two actors was noticeably off in some parts of the play, but given the time they had to adjust to each other as scene partners, it was a commendable performance.   If you enjoy independant theatre and books like The Kite Runner, and are game for some confrontational themes, check out Windows which enjoys it’s last show at La Mama on Sunday the 19th of March at 4pm.   Written by Scarlett Koehne

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 min
  • Interview: Rachel Beesley
    Rebi, Jim and Molly interview Rachael Beesley a solo violinist and musical director, performing in Italian Romance, an upcoming concert from the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, taking place at the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall of the Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC) on Friday March 24 and the City Recital Hall, Angel Place in Sydney on Saturday 25 March (both at 7.30pm) featuring Beethoven and Mendelssoh, and directing the Revolutionary Romance chamber concerts, featuring Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, in Sydney on Sunday 17 September at 2.30pm and in Melbourne on Friday 22 September at 7.30pm.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    15 min
  • Interview: Jessica Wilson

    Adalya and Daniel chat to Jessica Wilson about her new theatre show Passenger, which takes place on us a bus tour, departing from Footscray Community Arts Centre Thursday-Saturday and from the Arts Centre on Sunday. The show runs from March 23-26 as part of the Women of the World Festival Melbourne.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 min
  • Interview: Miranda Picton-Warlow and Sia Smyth

    Adalya and Daniel chat to Miranda Picton-Warlow, manager of the VCE Season of Excellence and Sia Smyth, the curator of Top Designs 2017, which will be on display at Melbourne Museum from 18 March – 16 July 2017.

    Click here to listen to our interview with Cameron Moorhouse, one of the artists from Top Arts 2017.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 min

About Art Smitten

From the publisher's feed

With a focus on the contemporary art scene in Naarm / Melbourne, we’re here to showcase art and culture. Contributors and presenters interview, review, and cover current and upcoming exhibitions,…