The write way....

Matthew Cormack is one of the three Gorge '09 writers commissioned to write a 10 minute script. Matt tells us some of the challenges he has experienced in doing this...

The challenge of writing a short piece is that you can rewrite and rewrite and still run the risk of not knowing the story because it doesn’t take long to write it all again. You can start again and discover something else, and then start again and discover something else, and think you’re making progress. Look at the different things that my mind can come up with! I’m a fucking genius! But you’re not making progress, because at some point the writer has to take hold of these characters and tell their story in the right way. Perhaps that is what everyone calls ‘craft’; or perhaps it’s just coming to the story in a way that’s quicker than writing 50 drafts. Only next week will tell if I’ve managed to find the right way to tell the right story. If I haven’t, so be it, because the beauty of Gorge '09 is it is also no longer my story, it belongs to the companies interpreting it and what they make of it (or make sense of). Can’t wait for next week!

We don't know what's going to happen...

Craig Behenna of Real Time Collaborators stopped by Brink Bits....

We go to the room.

We tend to wear black, we don't know why, it's just a thing, like a uniform.

The room is also black. We're shut in, and we feel at home.

We don't know what's going to happen. We just wait for the instructions in an email. We go into the black room and do the exercises. We record the results and send the disc off to Sydney. Then we wait for more instructions. At the moment we're playing with tape decks but we don't quite know why. We hope she will come soon so we can all be in the same black room together.

Also, there are too many of us to play the characters. We don't quite know what to do about that yet. But we're OK about it - at the moment we're playing everyone at once.

Real Time Collaborators  is a group of SA-trained artists who work worldwide across stage, screen and cross-platform new media projects. Gorge '09 brings them together in Adelaide for the first time. Their presentation is Sat 21 Nov, 7.30pm at Space Theatre.

Moving words....

Aidan Munn, choreographer and dance teacher, talks to Brink  Bits... about the work he is doing with José Gonzalez,  Glen McCurley and Rachel Mendham for Gorge '09:

We started in an empty studio with the dancers' bodies and the script, a daunting task ahead of us. The process has been about discovering movement that enhances the words, adding another layer of emotion and bringing out the rhythm of the script. It was my aim that although the dancers say every word, that if the words were removed the story would still be told. I am almost asking the impossible of the performers, it is as if they are performing two works simultaneously, reciting lines while completing complex movement phrases and partnering. At this moment half way through the creative process it has been a lot of hard work, but we are beginning to get somewhere. Now that the script is almost learnt and the steps created, it’s time to have some fun, to bring out the humour hidden within this play which deals with some serious and complicated topics.

Aidan & the company's work will be featured on Thursday 19 November at Gorge '09

Serve of fruit with Libby O'Donovan

The sassy songbird, Libby O'Donovan, was on Peter Goers' show on ABC 891 last night and plugged Gorge '09 - of which she is Mistress of Ceremonies. Seems it was suggested she'll be wearing PVC and smearing strawberries on herself - though she swears that was more Peter than her.....

Hmmm.  Well, you heard it on the ABC.....

Unreasonable Adults through a different lens...

UNREASONABLE ADULTS presents their Gorge '09 interpretation on Friday 20 November. Unreasonable Adults is a hybrid-art collective who work together to devise, strategise and develop new live and mediated works for stage, film and online projects.

Our first hurdle or consideration is that none of us are actors! So we are looking at this script through a different lens, thinking in terms of creating an audio experience first and foremost, and then  looking at how to frame that visually - so it is a real challenge in some senses, as our script is so clearly written as a series of scenes to be performed. We have been translating stage directions into sounds, and re-imagining the essential story as a radio play, performed live. We're not sure whether to place a body on the stage (a live body, of course!) or just let the audio fill the space. It's been a real up and down wrestling match for us ... but we're happy with what we've shaped. Working outside our comfort zone has given us a lot of food for thought. 
Fiona

A word from Daisy Brown

Daisy Brown says:

GORGE‘09 is a bold interactive mini festival unlike any other, in which writing for performance meets its purpose….it’s performed! It provides insight into both the writing process and the creation of the performance as you get to meet the writers themselves as well as the companies who bring their words to life.

The countdown has begun! The three newly-commissioned scripts have been allocated and now the six companies are feverishly creating their interpretations of the work. Ready for us, the audience, to witness and begin to understand what makes a writer’s words come to life. And don’t forget the writers have had no communication with the companies, they don't even know yet which companies are interpreting their works! So we all get to see the interpretation for the very first time together!

GORGE’09 offers a new experience for Adelaide audiences and artists to directly engage in the creation of new work, an experience where the audience is active throughout the evening, allowing theatre to be a living experience.

3 writers showcased over 3 nights with 6 performance companies interpreting their work in their own unique style. You wouldn’t want to miss it! Come on all three nights… We'll see you there! love Daisy x

The Gorge '09 back story....

Daisy Brown and Chris Drummond are the artistic directors of Gorge '09.  As director-in-residence at the  Adelaide University Theatre Guild. Chris created an event called Brewed, a sort of instant theatre. It was focussed on collaboration in much the same way as Brink works now, with all the creative teams brought together on an equal footing then working together to each create a piece of theatre within 24 hours - concept, script, development, rehearsal and performance. Brewed was exciting, exhilarating and completely exhausting. Only some lived to tell the tale and Daisy Brown was one of them!

Chris moved to Sydney and the Theatre Guild approached Daisy to restage the event. She refused as it had almost killed her! But took the basic concept and improved it. She changed the focus to interpretation, developed the idea of 1 writer's work being interpreted by 2 very different companies, wrote some guidelines and created a spectacularly exciting event called GORGE.

GORGE has had several very successful incarnations over the years and in 2008 Chris asked Daisy [now of 'The Misery Children'] if Brink Productions could present GORGE '09 as part of our FEED program. He saw this as an opportunity for Brink to give back to the community, to provide an opportunity for emerging writers and independent artists and small companies to be spotlighted. Daisy was thrilled that GORGE would get another outing and was excited to develop new aspects to the event with Chris.

Brink committed its team and a substantial amount of resources from its core funding, sought and secured philanthropic support from Sidney Myer Fund toward the event and partnered with Adelaide Festival Centre's inSPACE program. Additional philanthropic support from  the Mabel & Franklyn Barrett Trust Fund will give opportunities for disadvantaged theatre-goers to attend GORGE '09 as well.

Over the next couple of weeks Brink Blogger will post bits n pieces from Daisy and Chris and others involved in GORGE '09.