The Trung Sisters | Big West Festival preview

The Trung Sisters were two Vietnamese warrior princesses who trained an army of 80,000 people and led their country to freedom in the 5th Century. During the Big West Festival, 25 students from Footscray North Primary School will re-tell their story. Staged in Footscray's newly refurbished rotunda at McNab Reserve the evening performance will include martial arts, traditional dancing, opera and large-scale puppetry. 

"The students have built giant puppets, will enact powerful battle scenes and perform a script guided by their writing based on this epic story," explains devisor and director, Jo Trevathan. "The grade 5/6’s have interpreted a real and important cultural story that deals with big themes of love war, sacrifice, bravery and humanity, things we presume children will not understand but I have found they have strong opinions about. In the West where we have over 80 cultures and 140 languages sharing cultural stories such as The Trung Sisters, increases understanding by discovering what we have in common and where we are unique. In the current climate of cultural diversity and political division it is important to understand and appreciate this true story."

Little Wooden Caravan: Shared Table - Big West Festival preview

For something a little more intimate and a little different at this year's Big West Festival, then head over to Little Wooden Caravan: Shared Table; a ten-minute show for two people at a time. The story unfolds as each person follows a unique set of instructions to animate the objects on the table and create a story with unexpected twists and turns.


"It's up to them to create the performance for each other," explains creator, the indirect Object."The experience is a bit like being inside a talking book, where voices narrate a story and give each person different instructions. You are both watching and creating the performance at the same time, but you don't know what the other person will do next. What story you get to experience is all up to chance, it might be a tragedy, a comedy, or something in-between!"  

Mefetehe - Big West Festival preview

Australia prides itself on its multiculturalism and sharing these cultures with other people of our community. With much of the Ethiopia-born population in Victoria residing in the Western suburbs, it seems fitting that one of the performances on show at the Big West Festival, Mefetehe, is by renowned, award-winning Ethiopian writer/director Tesfaye Gebrehana.

In Mefetehe, a group of teenagers face off with the older generations in their family and community as they create a revolutionary plan  to build a new recreational facility. With this narrative, Gebrehana explores the differing opinions within the Ethipoian community regarding change and isolation. "It focuses on the broken connection between the older generations and the younger. It discusses the problems going on in our community and how we can come together to find a 'Mefetehe' (solution)," he says. 

Dumpster to Dinner Plate and End Sexism Now | Big West Festival preview

Presented as part of the Big West Festival, filmmaker and photojournalist, Melissa Davis has two short documentaries screening, Dumpster To Dinner Plate and End Sexism Now. The latter delves into ‘ordinary sexism’ and institutionalised misogyny that is so prevalent in our society. Dumpster to Dinner Plate on other hand, looks at one household’s approach to shared meals and "dumpster diving." While dealing with two different social issues, they are equally passionate issues that Davis has.

"End Sexism Now is from a much larger documentary I intend to make. The grabs you hear from speakers come from quite meaty, longer interviews, which cover a range of subjects from Tony Abbott, to men's rights, to the importance of language, to the right for a woman leader to be just average instead of exceptional," she says. 

Neighbours - Big West Festival preview

It's interesting that it's often the people you live next door to or across the road from that you know the least about. You may see each other in the mornings as you're going to work or pass them when you take your dog out for a walk and exchange pleasantries, but who are they really? Performed as part of the Big West Festival, Neighbours takes you on a guided walking along Nicholson street and into the homes of residents as they perform accounts of their lives.

Melbourne-based performers/performance-makers from This Side of The Tracks, Kerensa Diball and Yuhui Ng-Rodriguez, have spent two years working on getting this project ready. "We've spent many hours inhabiting the street, building relationships, door knocking, loitering, being inquisitive about everything, listening, watching. Through conversations over time, we have gotten to know locals and residents; this has enabled us to work with the skills, personality, quirks and expertise of each resident to create Neighbours," they say.

Share House - Big West Festival preview

If you've never lived in a share house, you've definitely missed out. Whether they’re bad or good experiences, they play a pivotal role in growing up and building relationships with people. Performed as part of the Big West Festival, Share House explores the relationships between ‘strangers’ that co-inhabit the same space.

Performed in a house in Seddon, each room has a housemate with a story and neurotic traits that make them impossible to live with. "The show is about living with strangers and how even though it is almost necessary in growing up in today’s world, its actually pretty risky business,” explains show co-creator, Mia Robinson. “We all take on really different extreme characters and explore the dynamics between three people that live together but don’t like each other and how vulnerable that can make people."

Blood! Death! Show! - Big West Festival preview

Halloween may have come and gone, but there is never a wrong time to experience a haunted house. Created as part of the Big West Festival, Blood! Death! Show! is a haunted house by Joseph O’Farrell (JOF) in collaboration with 11 year old children in which adults and children are free to view and interact with the work. 

O'Farrell, a multi-art performer, creates large-scale installation and theatre works with, and for, the community. With a focus on accessibility and inclusivity, these works aim to celebrate diversity and bring people together in hilarious and unlikely situations.

Wolf Boy and Zombie Dad | Big West Festival interview

Battling Narnia for the best wardrobe in town at Big West Festival will be Wolf Boy and Zombie Dad. With a combination of puppetry, mime, sound and image, father and son team, Anthony and Callum Crowley, will be taking audiences through a unique journey on life and time.

"The show is about how precious time is and how we choose to experience it, as it constantly moves through us and away from us," explains Anthony. "It's about children and how they consume it; the paradox of time. How you can dedicate hours of time to creating nothing and then how a second can reveal the universe if you are in tune to the moment."