The Birds Conference began life in 2014 with a short three night season as part of La Mama Theatre’s Explorations series. Now the show is back at La Mama for a two week season. The production is very different to last year’s show, with the addition of Simon Fisher on visuals, and a quite different tone and flow to the story. Rehearsals have often been jaw-dropping affairs, with powerhouse performances by our Naghal (storyteller), Elnaz Sheshgelani. I am providing music, joined on some nights by Ren Walters. Official blurb follows:
The birds of the world gather to embark upon a perilous journey to find the Simorgh, a mythical Persian Phoenix-like bird.
In the end, only thirty remain and find nothing but their own reflection in the lake. In that moment they come to the non-dualist realisation that we are the “One that has no Other”; there is no separation.
Through her personal reconstruction of a lost, ancient, pre-Islamic form of Persian storytelling, “Naghali”, Elnaz Sheshgelani takes you through the seven levels of self-discovery embodied in this story.
A unique style of puppetry, masks, dance and Persian singing draws the audience to a magical place to experience the timeless nature of our humanity – that which connects us to one another.
Tickets are selling fast (Opening Night already sold out), book yours quick to avoid disappointment.
2-13 September, 2015
Wed 6.30pm
Thu 7.30pm
Fri 7.30pm
Sat 7.30pm
Sun 4pm
Who will be Australia’s first King or Queen of improvised music?
This idea has been kicking around in my head for a while. In some ways, it follows on from my Good Improv/Bad Improvgame piece/structured improvisation that has been played a few times over the past couple of years. It was at a performance of Good Improv/Bad Improv last year that I mentioned the idea of Improv Idol to Carmen Chan (who was performing that day), who said she’d be interested in working with me to make it a reality.
I’ve always been interested in the competitive nature of some improvisers; where one player seemingly plays over the top of the rest of the ensemble, and ends up being hailed a star. I wanted to come up with a format that would push this idea to the fore and see where we end up, and have some fun along the way. I’m also really interested in seeing how performers react to the situation where they are aiming to win the vote of a majority of an audience, and also what kind of performances audiences favour.
And so Improv Idol is born, a ‘talent show’ where the audience votes for their favourite member of an improvising ensemble, who then progresses through to the next round, guided by a panel of expert judges. It will be a lot of fun, and interesting as well.
Applications are open now – get yours in before they close on 4 September. Do you have what it takes to be Australia’s first Improv Idol? I think you do!
Australia chooses its first Improv Idol at the Wesley Anne in Northcote, Thursday 1 October 2015. I will be your humble host. Judges announced soon.
Photo’s from last week’s performance at Conduit by myself and Barnaby Oliver, overlapping occasionally with Ernie Althoff and Carmen Chan. Photos (except of CD covers) by Ernie Althoff.
The launch for our CD Discretions this Friday night will involve Barnaby Oliver and myself performing 30 short, scheduled improvisations over a 3 hour period. This concept grew from the Discretions recording sessions themselves (after a live performance at Quiet Noise III – pictured), where our focus was on recording short, acoustic improvisations. We decided in playing, we would instead of looking for how to continue the improvisation (a common goal of improvisers), we would ‘look for the ending’. That meant that sometimes each improvisation went for only a minute or two, sometimes less than ten seconds.
We recorded many of these short improvisations over two sessions in 2013, and culled them to the thirty that make up the Discretions album. In launching the album, we wanted to do something that was interesting, challenging, and reflected the process for the album itself. The plan is to perform short improvisations, looking for an ending; thirty of them, reflecting the number of CDs in the limited edition, and the thirty tracks on it. We have scheduled the thirty improvisations to happen at precise times as well, some of which will occur simultaneously with the other acts on the night:
8:01 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:03 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:04 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:06 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:09 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:12 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:13 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:14 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:20 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:22 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:25 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:29 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:30 – David Evans & Louise Kellerman
8:55 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:57 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
8:59 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:14 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:15 – Carmen Chan
9:25 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:29 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:38 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:52 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:53 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
9:54 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:00 – Ernie Althoff
10:08 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:15 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:20 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:30 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:40 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:50 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:51 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
10:59 – Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver
When initially coming up with this concept, I was wondering about how the audience would find this, but as we get closer, I think both Barnaby and myself are interested in how this quite demanding schedule will effect our mental states on the night. It’s really a three hour performance with some short breaks, but we basically have to be on our toes from 8pm to 11pm. It’s performance with a big significant durational factor, but not in the usual way of long performances.
We will keep on the schedule by setting alarms on both our phones to inform us of each performance time. We are hoping this will allow us to turn off from performance mode (as much as possible) in between each performance, and then move into each improvisation with little forethought.
As to how this will work in practice, and how our improvisational dialogue develops throughout the night, you are invited to find our with us on Friday night, at Conduit Arts. Doors at 8pm, our first performance is at 8:01pm. Also performing on the night are Ernie Althoff, Carmen Chan, and David Evans/Louise Kellerman.
The thirty, beautifully hand-drawn individual Anna Dusk covers will be displayed and for sale on the night for a mere $5 on top of the cover charge. Each copy has a unique track order as well. Choose your favourite cover: first in, best dressed!
The Birds Conference began life in 2014 with a short three night season as part of La Mama Theatre’s Explorations series. Now the show is back at La Mama for a two week season. The production is very different to last year’s show, with the addition of Simon Fisher on visuals, and a quite different tone and flow to the story. Rehearsals have often been jaw-dropping affairs, with powerhouse performances by our Naghal (storyteller), Elnaz Sheshgelani. I am providing music, joined on some nights by Ren Walters. Official blurb follows:
Clinton Green 