Labyrinth review

For their latest offering, Forest Collective takes its audience into the labyrinthian myth of Theseus and Ariadne and their battle with the Minotaur, Ariadne’s half-brother. Set in the large and winding spaces within Abbotsford Convent, this opera / physical theatre performance of Labyrinth leads us into the maze alongside Theseus as he edges his way to the confrontation with the beast that has the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man.

Artistic Director of Forest Collective Evan J. Lawson serves as composer, music director and sound designer for this production and the touches he has put to these define and embolden the vision of this show. Alongside librettist Daniel Szesiong Todd, this is a captivating story that is told at a pace that allows you to be drawn deeper and deeper into this world.

Forest Collective on getting tangled up with new immersive opera Labyrinth (Midsumma Festival)

It's impressive how Forest Collective constantly deliver chamber music performances that are so vastly different from each other. This trend continues with their upcoming immersive production Labyrinth. This opera will fittingly take place in the corridors beneath Abbotsford Convent as we follow the story of Theseus, Ariadne and her half-brother, the Minotaur. Opera singer Daniel Szesiong Todd will not only be taking on the role of Theseus he is also Labyrinth's librettist, with the tenor's interest in this mythological story stemming from the contemporary issues that can still be applied to it.

"The popular myth of the bloodthirsty half-bull, half-man called the Minotaur comes from ancient Greece, where the hero, Theseus, kills the beast with the help of a plucky young princess, Ariadne, who guides him through the labyrinth with her thread. But should we ever take a monster at face value?" Todd asks. "The myth’s strange backstory reveals that the Minotaur is actually Ariadne’s half-brother. Ariadne’s father, King Minos, had refused to sacrifice a bull to the god Poseidon, who became angry and cursed his wife, Queen Pasiphaë, to fall in love with the bull. The Queen then commissioned Daedalus to build a hollow cow puppet that she could crawl inside, so she could have sex with the animal. Eventually, she gave birth to a bull-human-hybrid child, who she named Asterion. Filled with shame and humiliation, King Minos shunned Asterion, hiding him away in the labyrinth and feeding him only human sacrifices from conquered Athens. In this way, innocent Asterion was made into a monster – the Minotaur – literally the bull of Minos."

Top 10 Shows of 2023

It was a much welcomed return for live shows in 2023. The intimacy, connection, and engagement with a variety of works was much needed after the last couple of years. From theatre to dance to live art, from satire to comedy to drama, it was an exciting time once again for the Melbourne independent performing arts scene. This year I managed to attend 141 shows and the below ten are the ones that left an impression on me. If I reviewed the show, a link to the review is provided.

And as I always like to remind people, sometimes the show that you remember for a long time after is not the big splashy extravagant piece with recognisable names and a huge budget, but the one that was on for four nights with ten people in the audience. Support your independent theatre makers and venues - some shows can cost you as little as $20 and can be one of the most original, inspiring and though provoking performances you might see.

As I request of you every year, take a risk, seek something new, unknown and different in the new year.

Here we go:

The Sea review

The Sea is an opera in five parts in an exciting new collaboration between Forest Collective and BK Opera. The two arts companies have put together a riveting production that looks at love and the abuse of love through patriarchy, trauma and the imbalance of power.

Using a poem by Nicole Butcher, The Sea Libretto, we are told the story of an unnamed woman living in an abusive relationship. With music by Evan J. Lawson (Forest Collective's artistic director) and direction by Kate Millett (BK Opera's artistic director), this woman’s plight is linked to the sea, where its negative and positive associations are brought to the surface.

Fountain review (Midsumma Festival)

Returning for its first show in 2023, Forest Collective present Fountain, an orchestral arrangement of pop singer-songwriter Max Lawrence’s music, exploring the fluidity and transient nature in our interactions with our environment and ourselves. Known for bringing together classical chamber music into contemporary settings, Fountain takes us on a strikingly stirring journey on the many forms of love and the emotions that it can elicit.

Lawrence enters the stage wearing a ruched gown-like art piece that as gorgeous as it is to see, feels like a protective barrier for releasing / realising their true self and opening themselves up. This idea is reinforced in the second half, where they wear a two-piece outfit that is more revealing and hugs their body as the music becomes more uplifting and hopeful.

Diapsalmata: P o r t r a i t o f a s e l f review

Founded in 2009, Forest Collective prides itself in presenting contemporary classical music to new audiences through innovative and distinctive performances. I am constantly amazed at how uniquely its productions are conceived and delivered. Its recent concert, Diapsalmata: P o r t r a i t o f a s e l f, is another flawless example of this, with two works highlighting mental health, identity, discovery and growth through the experience of a transgender person.

Kym Dillon has composed the music for both pieces, Sonata for Flute and Piano and Diapsalmata. In the former, Dillon accompanies flutist Brighid Mantelli in a composition of three movements. Linking emotions with nature and the environment, Dillon draws inspiration from three flowers found in the Surfcoast region of Victoria, to not only name the movements - (carpobrotus rossii ("Australian pig face"), eucopogon parviflorus ("coastal beard-heath") and leptospermum laevigatum ("coastal tea-tree") - but using the characteristics of the flowers to guide the music.

Forest Collective Gala Performance review

With a number of performances under its belt this year, including fluttering hearts // thinking machines and Nico: Songs They Never Played on the Radio, Forest Collective have continued with their reinterpretation and reimagining of chamber music and adapting it to suit the various themes and styles of their concerts. For their final show for 2018, Forest Collective's Gala performance consisted of nine pieces with a number of Australian and world premieres. 

Caroline Louise Miller's Reductionism Is A Dirty Word (2016) opens the night with Kim Tan (bass flute), Bec Scully (double bass) and Danae Killian (piano) taking the unique elements of their instrument and seeing how altering the way they play it changes the dynamics between musician and instrument and as a group.

Nico - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

German musician Nico was a lot of things, as we are told by singer Danielle Asciak in Nico: Songs They Never Played on the Radio. But there's also a lot of things she isn't known for, or at the very least, she hasn't received the acknowledgement that she deserves. On the 30th anniversary of Nico's death, Asciak has teamed up with Forest Collective to host a unique interpretation of Nico's music through chamber music arrangements.

Artistic director of Forest Collective and Nico conductor, Evan Lawson, has brought together eight musicians (Vilan Mai, Ali Fyffe, Trea Hindley, Bec Scully, Erica Tucceri, Isabel Hede, Nikki Edgar and William Elm) to accompany Asciak as she takes us on a journey not just through Nico's music, but also her life. Despite much of the room not knowing who Nico was, the brief anecdotal history we are given and the power of the songs selected, allow the audience to garner an understanding of who this woman was and understand the challenges she faced in how she was defined.

Nico - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

If you're looking for a unique evening of sumptuous music during the Melbourne Fringe Festival, you need look no further than Nico: Songs They Never Played on the Radio. Forest Collective have been building a reputation for reinterpreting existing music through traditional instruments and chamber musicians to create new and innovative music, and Nico looks like it too will be living up to those expectations. Devised by Evan Lawson and Danielle Asciak, Nico is a tribute to the German musician of the same name, active from the 1960s up until her death in 1988.

“The show is a journey into Nico's inner vs. outer world through her music," cabaret artist Asciak tells me. "We've taken songs that we feel best represent the story of Nico; from her early artist days, to her time in Velvet Underground and the songs in her final composition days. This will be the world premiere of commissioned arrangements."

Carmilla: A Ghost Story for Theatre review

Carmilla- A Ghost Story for the Theatre is a show that lives up to its name. Written by Adam Yee after the 1872 novella by Sheridan Le Fanu, the story follows a father and his daughter whose lives are interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful stranger, Carmilla. There is an air of mystery surrounding Carmilla as to who – and what – she is, and how her existence threatens everything that this family holds near. 

However, Carmilla is not just a theatre performance but also a musical one with Tom Pugh conducting a live chamber orchestra (Elizabeth Barcan, Pri Victor, Lyndon Chester, Rosanne Hunt, Edit Golder and Yee) to create the score as events unfold. Also composed by Yee, there is a gothic and unnerving atmosphere in the music and in that regard, there is much to engage with.

The Consort of Melbourne: Playing with Fire

In November last year, I attended the National Gallery's Friday Nights event during its Masterpieces from the Hermitage exhibition. As I wandered through the gallery, I came across a choral performance that had me transfixed and extremely eager to hear more. The group was the Consort of Melbourne, a professional vocal ensemble who champion historic and contemporary chamber vocal repertoire. Since that experience, I have eagerly awaited the opportunity to see (and hear) them perform again, and this month they return to the Melbourne Recital Centre with their Local Heroes season.

"We have presented a regular concert series in the Melbourne Recital Centre for many years and we're always excited to return," Artistic Director of the Consort of Melbourne, Steven Hodgson tells me. "Our Local Heroes season has a 'Fire and Water' theme with the first concert, Flames within being a very exciting and dynamic program centred on explosive vocal music by composers Claudio Monteverdi, Carlo Gesualdo and Luca Marenzio."