Middle Class White Girl shares Indigenous Culture?
Anne E Stewart, Storyteller, Australian Storytelling Guild
“Shared wisdom has evolved out of a participation with storytelling as a cultural, spiritual and artistic tradition”
– The Passionate Fact: Storytelling in Natural History and Cultural Interpretation, Susan Strauss
For 31 years as a storyteller, my quest has been to uncover stories of shared wisdoms and I have looked to stories from all over the world to participate in this quest. But since Sorry Day, February 13th 2008 I have started to ponder on my 'responsibility' to tell stories of my own country.
My passion for storytelling has seen me travel far and wide in Australia, always questing, always asking, what are the stories that inform this place? I take my art form very seriously, always seeking to uncover the truth of story.
Does this role give me the skills to pass on Indigenous material?
And if I share folk tales from around the world to reflect the migrant backgrounds of many inner Melbourne Schools, why should I not share stories that reflect the cultural background of my Indigenous niece?
Pondering these questions is the purpose of this paper.
Construction
Bernard Caleo, Melbourne Museum and Kate Priddle, National Institute of Circus Arts
In January 2007 and 2008, a family performance of a museum-content themed circus was performed in the Touring Hall of Melbourne Museum. These shows were the result of a partnership and collaboration between Museum Victoria and NICA. They were performed by graduates (in 2007's 'Backyard Bug Circus') and current students (in 2008's 'Bee Circus') of the Bachelor of Circus Arts at NICA. Both years, the shows were a very popular feature of the museum's summer holiday program and attracted many tens of thousands of people to Melbourne Museum.
In this paper, Kate Priddle (Producer, CircaNICA), Matt Wilson (director, 'Bee Circus') and Bernard Caleo (Programs Officer, Melbourne Museum) will consider the evolution of this partnership and the manner in which a collaboration which occurs over consecutive years provides opportunities for the partners to develop and improve both the processes (administrative, creative) and the shows which are the result. It will be particularly interesting as MV and NICA will be in the middle of the development of another circus for January 2009 at the time of giving the paper, so there will be 'live', in-process elements to discuss.
One Rotten Apple
Anne-Louise Rentell, Producer and Theatre Development Manager, Merrigong Theatre Company, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong, NSW
A renowned local historian has been researching the past. During one of her Google searches she stumbles across living anthropological specimen, Tender Buttons, a female convict transported to parts beyond the seas for, by today’s standards, a minor misdemeanour. The performance entails a conversation between the two whereby the historian’s attempted reconstruction of Tender’s story based on existing documentation, artefacts and her own research, does not always tally with Tender’s own recollection of events. And with the events having taken place more than 200 years ago, Tender’s memory too is not completely reliable.
The aim of the piece is to explore in an entertaining and engaging way the methods by which we construct or even deconstruct history and the past generally, both as the interpreters and the subjects of our own stories. This will be a 15-20 minute excerpt from a longer new work written by Anne-Louise Rentell and performed by Anne-Louise and Catherine Woodger.
Mind
Magic
Joanna Clyne, University of Melbourne
Take a tour through Melbourne Museum’s ‘The Mind’ gallery with a magician as your guide. Those who dare enter the labyrinth will encounter a world of illusion, psychology and ancient mythology as the internal mechanisms of the mind are revealed. While you are considering the psychological complexities of the human brain, ask yourself…should you always believe what you see?
Taletours
Jo Henwood, Accredited Storyteller. Vice President, Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)
A walking performance rather than the conventional fact- syringe tour, the TaleTours use the places as backdrop to stories, which focus on the drama rather than the educational content. Combining theatre and tours can attract visitors who have been to the site before, or tourists choosing between a multitude of similar experiences.
TaleTours require preliminary research, writing, storytelling skills and knowledge of the site, but they do not require high expenditure or set up for individual tours. Long after facts have been forgotten, the emotional impact of characters and events will live in people’s memories.
This project was initiated as part of a partnership between the NSW National Trust and the Storytelling Guild, in order to extend interpretation beyond the parameters of the property out to where the hotel tourists want to be.
Edgy Work: performance at the State Library of Queensland
Collette Brennan, Creative Director, The Edge, State Library of Queensland
The opening of the new State Library of Queensland building in November 2006 alongside the launch of the libraries Edge program for children and young people State Library has generated a tremendous growth in audience numbers and breath of programming experiences. A key part of The Edge program’s success has been generated by performance featuring a range of diverse artists, artsworkers as well as children and young people themselves. The edgy factor is that our performance work has meant all traditional notions of how one interacts in a library have been thrown out – as audiences have made noise, laughed, sung, got physical and generally immersed themselves in the special learning that is derived through aesthetic engagement.
THE KEEPER, a gothic tale of light and dark
Chrissie Shaw, Independent performer, writer, producer and Penelope Bartlau
THE KEEPER is a performance, relating a sequence of events on a remote lighthouse island, and their affect on one central character.
The narrative is spun using a number of performance methods: song, storytelling, documentary comment, and table-top theatre using objects as puppets, creating beautiful imagery of sea and islands. THE KEEPER reveals the harshness of conditions for those working on Australian Lighthouse stations in the early years of the 20th Century, and how the life affected families living in such isolation.
The paper outlines the process of researching and creating this piece including a short extract from the show, and a question-and-answer session to follow.
Creating Zoo Exhibits
Scott Killeen, Zoos Victoria
Creating zoo exhibits as performance spaces and the challenges of maintaining a theatrical story as part of a zoo experience. Based in and around the trail of the Elephants Precinct, and showcase the challenges and workshop opportunities that the Zoo could pursue.
Old Melbourne Gaol – Crime and Justice Experience
Simon Dalton, Programs Development Manager, Old Melbourne Gaol - Crime & Justice Experience, National Trust Victoria
Journey to Russell Street and be arrested as you take part in the Watch House Experience in the setting of the former City Watch House – an encounter that ranks as one of Melbourne’s most surprising and confronting, taking place at a location which has not essentially been changed since the last inmates left in late-1994.
After the Watch House Experience (WHE), participants will debrief about their reactions, including whether the experience realistically conveyed what it is like to be arrested and temporarily incarcerated, or if it fell short of this challenge. They will also be asked about what emotions their experience provoked.
Presenters will provide an explanation of the background development of the WHE including concept, explanation of the aim of the WHE including performance development, recruitment of staff, training, workshopping as well as public feedback and evaluation. Questions about any of these aspects will be actively encouraged.
Discussion about whether the multi media (including soundscape components) add to the value of the WHE will be facilitated with particular reference to crossing the line with confronting material that may provoke calls from some sources for censorship. Ultimately, what has been learned in 12 months of having launched Melbourne’s most arresting experience?