I
managed to see 154 shows this year! Not exactly sure how I managed that with life and everything but there you go. That's an average of one show every 2.3 days!
Yet again, I count the fact that I live in Melbourne to be a strong reason as to having seen so much this year. The performing art scene here is some type of wonderful and just so lucky to be able to experience so much variety on stage.
There has been a huge number of theatre, dance, performance, cabaret, burlesque, circus
and so much more to go see and experience this year. Interestingly enough there are quite a lot of circus and dance shows in my top ten this year.
Like I said last year, even if your work ranks at 154, big thanks to you for making that work and creating shows for people to see and experience. However, this is my list of ten ten show of 2015, so without further ado...
(If I reviewed the show, there is a link to the original review too)
1. FAG/STAGThe Last Great Hunt - review
There have only been four shows I have seen more than twice in my life. FAG/STAG is one of them. Playing during the Melbourne Fringe Festival, it was a beautiful exploration of life, friendship and everything else in between.
The story follows two best friends, Jimmy and Corgan (Jeffrey Jay Fowler and Chris Isaacs - who also wrote this) and the lead up to the wedding of Corgan's ex-girlfriend. Their friendship, thoughts and feelings on life and love were explored through the small insignificant moments right up the big stuff.
Fowler and Isaacs brought much honesty and vulnerability to their characters and as writers, they knew when to go further with something and when to draw back and allow the audience come to their own conclusions.
Like I've stated previously, not only is FAG/STAG the kind of theatre that I wish was made more often but FAG/STAG is the kind of theatre people need to go and see.
2. DeNovo
Sydney Dance Company
Sydney Dance Company
So, full disclosure, I may have performed in this but it was literally a 20 second cameo in one of the three pieces and I just mimed some dialogue from the audience.
With that out of the way, I was blown away by the variety and talent this dance company had on display. Having seen them two other times in Melbourne this year (Frame of Mind and Illuminated), all their performances have been amazing. However DeNovo took just took it to the next level. The triple bill included a new work by SDC's Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela as well as works by Larissa McGowan and Alexander Ekman.
Bonachela's piece, Emergence, would have to be one of the best he's created. Using all 16 dancers of the company and with music by Sarah Blasko and Nick Wales, their ability to function as one unit and create such flawless performances only began to scratch the surface of what was an unforgettable evening of dance.
3. Beyond
Circa
I saw this circus show performed at Arts Centre Melbourne in the beginning of January and I still remember it quite clearly.
I saw this circus show performed at Arts Centre Melbourne in the beginning of January and I still remember it quite clearly.
There is an abundance of talent with this cast and performing in quite an intimate environment, they were all exposed in their acts with every bead of sweat visible to the audience. There is a reason why Circa won Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production at this year's Helpmann Awards.
One act, which had the performer balance a piece of paper on his hand as he danced and moved to Total Eclipse of the Heart, was perfectly executed and had everyone in the audience speechless.
It was also refreshing to see gender norms being questioned with the female performers of the group doing just as much heavy lifting, if not more so, than their male counterparts.
5. Depth of Field
Performed as part of Dance Massive, a dance festival held in Melbourne, Chunky Move's Depth of Field was one of those performances you wish you could revisit for the first time again to experience the thoughts and emotions not only shared by the dancers but within yourself.
Provided
with a set of headphones, we took our seat at the Malthouse Theatre forecourt and as the hauntingly meditative music began to come
through, you realised the performance had already started. Choreographed by the company's Artistic Director, Anouk van Dijk, we watched as the three dancers (James Vu Anh Pham, Tara Jade Samaya and Niharika Senapati) hurled themselves along the cold concrete and moved in ways you rarely see the body move or think it can move. Vu Anh Pham is just phenomenal to watch and I could easily sit and watch him dance for hours on end.
Depth of Field was an extremely thought provoking and meditative piece about the fleeting nature of life and life's moments.
6. Fool For Love
Q44 Theatre & Red Theatricals - review
Sam Shepard's well know play is the tumultuous story of two former lovers and the events of one fateful night that will have ever lasting effects on them both. Mark Davis and Rebecca
Fortuna as Eddie and May were highly captivating to watch with both delivering strong and powerful performances. They truly captured
their characters and the chemistry between them was electric.
Despite the claustrophobic confines of a small, seedy hotel room, director Gabriella
Rose-Carter created much tension and action on stage that slowly but suddenly drew the audience in.
32 years after it was written, Fool For Love still packs a punch with its themes of love, family and patriarchal society that are still relevant today and it's a production that Q44 should be extremely proud of.
7. Limbo
Limbo - review7. Limbo
Sitting in the front row of a spiegeltent for this circus show on a scorching hot day with literal flames covering the stage, I thought I was going to start to melt. Luckily I didn't, because missing out on this show would have been terrible.
Presented as part of the Melbourne Festival, Limbo was an exhilarating blend of circus, acrobatics and cabaret from world class performers doing things you could only imagine your body being capable of doing.
Director Scott
Maidment delivered a very tight show with no unnecessary lulls
among the incredible highs of watching these talented people creating
intense and jaw-dropping acts with their bodies. There were
a number of "need to be seen to be believed" acts that left the audience in awe and wonderment of what they had just witnessed.
8. Wet House
In Red Stitch's production of Paddy
Campbell's Wet House, the lives of three
residents and three workers of a wet house (hostel for homeless alcoholics, where they may drink as much as they want with no
expectations of rehabilitation), are explored, with each one struggling with their own
redemption and reason for being.
This was very much a perfect production where not a single scene was
wasted, no dialogue was filler and no movement was pointless. Everything that
happened in Wet House had a purpose, and with six different stories being
told, the pacing was controlled well and the stories were never difficult to follow.
Wet House opened
discussion on alcoholism and how we support those who are seen as beyond help
and how the intention to do good is ultimately never going to be better than
action. It was an emotionally draining show but it was a show that needed to be
seen.
9. Neal Portenza: Catchy Show Title
I remember watching a Neal Portenza show at a Comedy Festival a few years back, and to be honest, I didn't think much of it. With an empty slot in my comedy festival schedule this year, I decdied to give him a second chance and boy am I glad I did.
This is the funniest show I have seen all year. It had me laughing from the very beginning to end and even when I was walking out of the venue.
The show was a mixture of sketch
comedy, character pieces, improvisation (the good kind) and (for some,
the dreaded) audience participation where no one was safe. The show was sharp
and smooth and Ladgrove did not skip a beat. Despite the wackiness of
the show, this was a cleverly put together show where we were drip fed
moments of sheer humour for 60 minutes.
There really was no
reason for this show to exist other than to make us laugh. There wasn't a story to share or a
profound thought about life. Catchy Show Title was there purely for the laughs and nothing but the laughs. And oh how we laughed.
10. Shake
Each story that Becky Lou shared had a purpose. It wasn't for
entertainment value, or to shock us, or to titilate us, but to strengthen the
relationship women have with their body. Women are being constantly told to cover up yet to
"show us ya tits", made to feel imperfect yet subjected to
continuous sexual harassment. What Becky Lou accomplished with Shake was to allow women to reclaim their body, to own their body and be proud of it. In this regard, Shake reminded me of a similarly beautiful and thought provoking show in Maude Davey's My Life In The Nude.
Becky Lou returned with her Fringe Festival show, Seen and Heard, where this time, she was joined on stage by various performers who shared personal moments of their lives that made the audience think about the person behind the costume. Hopefully we get to see more of that in 2016.
And just because rules were made to be broken, here are the shows that were pipped at the post:
11. Frame of Mind - Sydney Dance Company - review
12. Endings - Tamara Saulwick - review
13. SHIT - Dee & Cornelius - review
14. Dracula- Little Ones Theatre - review
15. City of Angels - Life Like Company - review
If you're still reading, have a look at my top ten list for 2014
And here's to a fantastic 2016 of fantastic shows!
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