Rebel review | Monash University

Playwright Fleur Kilpatrick did not set out to write Rebel, but this serendipitous act has resulted in a warm-hearted play that shares the stories of senior climate and environmental activists. From Queensland to Western Australia and to New South Wales, Kilpatrick met and spoke with several "rebels" and discussed how and why they were doing what they were doing to protect the planet while also bringing up the idea of what makes someone a rebel.

Being familiar with Kilpatrick's writing and having met her a few times, you could mot have picked someone better than Ayesha Tansey to portray her - except if Kilpatrick herself had taken to the stage. Tansey convincingly displays Fleur's sensitivity to the world around her and her curiosity about people and community. She brings forth Fleur's caring nature and kindness as she explores the state of the planet and how hope is not completely lost.

Do You Know Me? | Melbourne Fringe Festival interview

Melbourne Fringe Festival is a great opportunity to experience shows that you wouldn't ordinarily get the opportunity to see. Written by Tiffany Barton and Kim Ho, Do You Know Me? is one such example with a site-specific immersive show that shares the stories of Melbourne's homeless people and rough sleepers.

"Do You Know Me? is a collection of stories, scenes, song, animation and puppetry that explore the experience of homelessness," Barton tells me. "It's based on interviews I conducted with 12 homeless and ex-homeless participants and contains a lot of verbatim material. I mainly focused on their resilience and relationships as I didn't want the play to be poverty porn, so there's a certain lightness in the material to counterbalance the heaviness of the topic. We don't shy away with the darker stories however, we just try to temper them with some lightness and hope." 

Barton had never worked with Ho before and their collaboration was borne from a chance assignment during their Master of Performance Writing studies at VCA. "We were sent on a field trip to explore an area in the city and come back with a pitch for a site specific play. We went to Degraves Street and got talking to two homeless men who impressed us with their clarity and likeability," she recalls. "We pitched the idea for a site specific play about homelessness and the idea stuck."