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| This Is Living
is a new a new and immersive performance piece, building upon the phenomenal
successes of Big hART’s Radio Holiday and Drive
In Holiday. A dark comedy, it weaves together the complexities of life and love through the lens of a life-long secret ménage-a-trois, a fatal car crash, and the front-page tabloid photographs of our many esteemed newspapers. Written and directed by Scott Rankin, This Is Living features 3 of Australia’s veteran actors Anne Grigg, Lex Marinos and Bruce Myles, joined by a chorus of other worldly witnesses who emerge from the woodwork of their towns. It interweaves local histories of intimacy with photographic memorabilia, haunting music from The Dunaways, a layered text and the kinetic art of skateboarding. International yet local, intimate and irreverent - another multi-layered work from Tasmania's most awarded arts export. This is classic Big hART – international yet local, intimate and irreverent – another multi-layered work from Tasmania's most awarded arts export. "There's no company I admire more in Australia...The very best of its kind" - Robyn Archer AO |
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| This Is Living follows in Big hART’s
trademark tradition of bringing career artists together with non career
artists, and experimenting with form to produce large and original works
alongside inspiring communities and individuals. In its premier season, This Is Living grew from creative communities around Tasmania - in Wynyard, Latrobe, Glenorchy & Huon Valley. The performance piece was the pinnacle of a broad and multilayered project, spanning 2 years and involving what became Tasmania’s largest theatre company - over 300 people across generations, professions and geographic locations. |
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Palais Theatre, Franklin Photo: Brett Monaghan |
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| It began as a modest pilot production on Tasmania’s
rugged North West Coast in 2007, and has since undergone a slow build
in momentum. Artists have worked directly with young people on the fringe,
and the oldest people in the community, bringing them together through
interviews, storytelling, photography, performance… kind of like
skateboarding in nursing homes. The final performance work evolves from
this process, differing in each community as local material is woven into
the show around universal themes. The project explores intergenerational participation and at the same time asks, “What is Living?”, raising challenging questions about quality of life and highlighting issues requiring discussion at a time when the ageing of Australia’s population is increasingly on the social and political agenda. |
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Derwent Ent. Centr,
Glenorchy Photo: Brett Monaghan |
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| Ten Days on the Island, 2009 Premier Season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Big hART was established in 1992 by John Bakes
and Scott Rankin in Burnie, Tasmania. Big hART is a group of
people who make art together – creating theatre, film, television, paintings,
photography, dance and radio. Big hART often work in small towns
around the country or in cities where groups of people lack opportunity
because of policy decisions, circumstance, survival issues or personal
choice.
Big hART experiments with the process of making high quality
art over long periods of time, involving large groups of people and
then placing the finished work in national and international arts festivals.
This often creates new opportunities for participants, helps build skills
in communities and contributes to national social policy debate. |
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