Great video essay on FilmsForAction.org about the “born sexy yesterday” trope. Women will be like “yawn, this is obvious, eyes-rolling”, men like me will be like “oh yeh, now you mention it…” i know, 18 minutes long, but definitely worth it..
Spoiler: around the 15 minute mark, the commentary says things like this: (paraphrasing) “Born Sexy Yesterday” is about unbalanced relationships, it’s very much connected to masculinity. The subtext of the trope is rooted in deep-seated male insecurity around sex and sexuality; its crux is a fixation on male superiority, and a fixation on holding power over an innocent girl.”
“science fiction is employed to put the mind of a girl into an adult female body. It’s a fantasy based on fear of women who are men’s equal in sexual experience and romantic history, as well as fear of losing the intellectual upper hand to women. It’s based on some troubling patriarchal ideas.”
FREDA DU FAUR CA 1895. GEORGE MANNERING PHOTOGRAPH CANTERBURY MUSEUM
One of the best pieces of theatre i’ve seen was in Natimuk Frinj back in November 2015.
I was in town working with Sam Downing and Leonie Van Eyk on the B.A.R.E. Body Appliance Revival Experience, and my friend Tim Ratcliffe was playing in “The Freda Experience“. His play was getting all the buzz around the festival, everyone was talking about it, and one morning at 7am i found out exactly why that was.
When we arrived, we were sorted into groups and given our climbing equipment for the day. We were now in the early 1900’s being trained to undertake a basic climb, clipping ourselves into a chain of climbers. Freda herself came in the room to have a discussion with the trainer, as there was some concern about an unmarried woman being accompanied on the climb by a man, and also about the nature of her attire.
This was an immersive theatrical experience, where one group hiked around to the reading group and another to the lecture; where we all ended up in a giant projection which moved from the walls of the mental institution to the huge tents of a mountain-bound camping party.
They’d developed the play in Castlemaine for the State Festival, but Natimuk was the perfect location for its second outing, given the climbing history of that place.
The production was magical and inspiring, heart-breaking and confounding; Freda was well known in New Zealand where she was the first woman to climb several peaks, and the first human to climb others. In Australia however, it seems possible she was written out of the history books because of her sexuality.
As the show finished, i didn’t want to leave, but i was invigorated to continue my festival day at 9am on a Sunday in this tiny enchanted country town.
Jim Coad’s put up a video about the creative back-story to the play:
http://madeinnatimuk.com/thefredaexperience/
This woman is extraordinary. She’s reclaiming “Freak” as one of her own performer identity words, which is challenging for some because of how sideshows used to deliberately exploit people with disabilities. I love the underground sideshow circus that’s been growing strongly in recent years, and Sarah Houbolt is an engaging performer.
Bed of Nails, High-Flying, all kinds of amazing skills, and all without the benefit of vision.
I’ve never really listened to Martha, and after seeing this performance I’ve realised my terrible mistake. Here she is live in the Q&A studio singing a beautiful song by her mum (Kate McGarrigle), backed by the lovely tones of Virginia and Jaye of Brighter Later.
Soundscapey duo Jaye Kranz and Virginia Bott were selected to perform as Brighter Later with Martha Wainwright on parts of her Australian tour. The Sydney Opera House banned local support acts, but Martha got them up to accompany anyway.. and she also brought them onto QandA when she was invited to join in the discussion there.
(Virginia is also the musical director of the first chorus band of singers, which is why i’m especially enthusiastic about this performance.)
We’ve been watching this one as a household, which is nice. You have to let 3 episodes build up though, to make it a big evening.
Found an interview with Jessica’s actor, from “Young Hollywood“.
..and on season 4: interesting character progression: “Really who is she as a woman”.
Apparently she was asked to pose biting Chevy Chase, who really didn’t know what was going on…
From the punch: an interesting perspective on an awkward tv moment. I didn’t see Q&A last night but I’ll see it on iView now!! Amusing comparisons of greg combet with clark kent, and suggestions that sophie mirabella looked as though she may have poisoned her fellow presenter. Can’t wait to see it.
Here’s the video. Yikes. Mirabella received a pasting from the twitterati because of the way she recoiled in horror, but GetUp and others came to her defense:
Wendy Harmer was quoted as saying,
You know Felicia Day, right? She’s one of the fledgling slayers in Season 7 ( – Buffy! – ) And she’s the laundromat girl in Joss Whedon’s Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog; as well as being a major player in the future dreamworld (?) of the Dollhouse apocalypse/epitaph episodes. Well it turns out she’s also created her own webTV drama known as “The Guild“, all about a set of hard-core gamers who live in their rooms, surgically attached to their gaming equipment. It’s funny. The show went from being a web series to being on DVD. Go Felicia. Anything is possible these days.
Her character is a room-bound nothing-but gamer, just like Marigold in Questionable Content. Interaction between members of this World of Warcraft team is only online. Until something goes horribly wrong (in episode 1).
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i saw Playback down at Gasworks i think a few years back with Zeena, and then we went again last year. Zeena loves their work and persuaded me to come originally. i didn’t need any persuading the second time around. The performers bring audience stories to life in a series of structured improvisational activities, which is a clumsy way to say they act out stories from the audience.
i like the way the MC / conductor draws out the narrative threads, and then quickly throws it to the performers with a kind of code word. “Let’s do this as an escalating singalong” (or something). They always begin with easy things like ‘tell us about your day’.. and gradually move into the more involved stories.
At their April show, there were some good stories including one about an out-of-body experience.
The one that got me was an English woman who had just moved to Australia 6 months ago with her family, was feeling ungrounded and disoriented, not sure what to do next in her life, and was missing her daughter back in the UK. She didn’t give much detail for the players to work with, but they crafted a lovely piece. At the moment where her daughter called on the phone i felt the tears coming, and as i was sitting next to her husband i could hear him choking back the sobs too. (Then the slightly awkward bit after the show when you want to say something to them, but don’t quite manage it.)
So interesting to see the vulnerable bits of people’s lives played out in front of them. Part of the playback approach is to always do it with compassion, and that shows.
Links: Melbourne Playback.
I love the work that Roundangle does. Their multi-sensory adventures are challenging and fun. This one was at the Melbourne museum, and made for the under-five crowd. So i invited Isabella and Lynne to join me and we had a lovely day.
At the beginning of the show, we were invited to crawl past the cardboard city, through the plastic-filled tent into the forest of the senses. Most adults thought this was a children-only affair, but Ilan and i agreed that we were definitely going to join in this adventure.
Plus the stage manager insisted that i “Crawl Through the Tent Michael!!”
(i paid my $2 and i’m not missing a single moment!)
They taught us the Indigenous phrase for ‘welcome to country’ – WoMinJaika – and as each group called out their part of the word, we were called to our part of the journey.
A forest fairy made us all into seeds, growing us with sun and water and love, sharing the treasures of native Quandong and Lemon Myrtle. An old woman of the mountains showed us how to make soup with Mountain pepper leaves and Old Man’s Weed.
A delightful honey bee took us into the flower forest and showed us how to sprinkle our pollen on the flowers. This was really fun.. huge flowers that opened up and produced fruit as we showered our pollen.
And then the spirit of the rocks, who brought his very small puppet mate along to share wattle seeds. (Really yum seeds and great puppet work!)
Afterwards Lynne said one thing she liked was that they weren’t doing that hyper-energetic, super-lively “children’s theatre” thing, but rather playing to a crowd of all ages, and telling warm engaging stories with a sense of kindness and humour. i think by the end of it, most of the adults had learned to join in as well.
i wish it was on again soon: i’d tell you to go and see it. Especially if you can take children along with you. Great work Roundangle people!
Bunjilaka: WhatsOn Display Page.
Ooh Look, Nathan and Shelley made a movie. It’s funny. Do we get to vote in Tropfest? Where are the other entries then?
It’s A Pony from Justin Batchelor- BATCHEDIT on Vimeo.
Shortlisted for TROPFEST 2011
with Nathan Godkin Glen Hancox Lou Endicott Troy Larkin Pier Carthew Bevan Sly Shelley Lang
Five Friends take possession of a 97″ television from a dodgy Russian street side salesman. Hilarity ensues.
It’s A Pony on Vimeo on Vimeo
via Its A Pony on Vimeo.
