This is an international week at fortyfivedownstairs - in the gallery, artists from 15 nations, from Bosnia to Burma, are exhibiting in Heartlands, the 2012 Refugee Fine Art Prize; while in the theatre, The Burlesque Hour: The Glory Box is breaking attendance records as happy audiences flow down the stairs to see guests from the U.K. and Germany, plus Australians returning from New York and Paris.
What's on
Theatre: The Burlesque Hour: The Glory Box
Finucane & Smith
Until 1 July
We welcome the return of The Burlesque Hour, this time with their amazing Glory Box!
June will have been an exhilarating ride with the Finucane & Smith caravan, just returned from a whistle stop tour of Gippsland, and taking off straight after this season for a tour that stretches from the Pilbara to Mackay.
All we can say is come and have fun with the trapeze magic of Anna Lumb, foxy lady Harriet Ritchie, the stunning sensuality of Holly Durant's Salome, perennial favourite Maude Davey who channels Patti Smith in acres of yellow ostrich feathers and the inimitable Moira Finucane who portrays a larrikin Eve, plus the gothic glory of a performance piece written especially for the company by Christos Tsiolkas.
And if that isn't enough, they're joined by UK sensation Ursula Martinez (until 17 June - last week!), Melbourne's own brilliant and sophisticated Meow Meow (who has dug in her claws extending her stay until 24 June) and special guest Miss Behave, a truly amazing sword swallower (world record holder no less!) direct from Hamburg (from 21 June - 1 July).
It's hard to avoid superlatives for this show – even if you've seen it before, there are 10 new acts, and audiences are dancing by the time the show ends.
"Clever, subversive, surprising and bawdy…a world of complex delights...4½ stars" - Stephanie Glickman, Herald Sun.
Read the review in full.
Catwalk tickets are selling out, but don't despair! General admission seats are still available for most performances, and group bookings of 4 or more will have tables reserved automatically.
Win dinner for 4 at the Sofitel! Patrons booking tables of 4 or more are automatically entered into the special prize draw - see our website for details.
dates: Thursday 7 June to Sunday 1 July
times: Thurs 7pm, Fri/Sat 7pm and 9.30pm, Sun 5.30pm
tickets: Catwalk: Full $66, Conc $56; General: Full $56, Conc $46; Peanut Gallery tickets for artists $25
Book online or phone (03) 9662 9966
Both Galleries: Heartlands Refugee Fine Art Prize 2012
Multicultural Arts Victoria and AMES
Until 16 June
This is an exhibition where every picture truly does tell a story - from
17 year old Ayel Arot from Sudan, winner of the Youth Prize for her touching depiction of her family's journey from devastation in Sudan to the sunny façade of Flinders Street Station; and from the other side of the globe, Brimanger Diptych, a work by Vietnamese refugee Minh Phan, based on the identity cards of himself, his father and brother, picked up at sea by the Norwegian vessel Brimanger in 1981. The faces of these two excited small boys, and the exhausted expression of their father, brings home so vividly the reality of the refugee experience.
Judges Elena Taylor, curator of Australian Art at the NGV, and Jane Clark, Research Curator at MONA in Tasmania, praised the quality of entries: "an affirmation of how important art is in everybody's lives."
The main prize was awarded to Minela Krupic, who arrived here from Boznia Herzegovina in 1997. Kolekcija is a series of etchings focusing on her experience of migration from war-torn Bosnia to Australia.
Heartlands is the lead up to Refugee Week (17 - 23 June) and selected works from the exhibition will be shown at Walker Street Gallery in Dandenong from 6 July.
Coming up
Theatre: The McNeil Project
Wattle We Do Next Productions
6 - 29 July
Our next production could hardly be more of a contrast with the all female world of The Burlesque Hour – as we move instead to the all male world of Parramatta gaol.
The story behind the double bill of The McNeil Project is a remarkable one, and gives added poignancy and strength to these plays which came out of Parramatta gaol over thirty years ago.
Malcolm Robertson, well known to fortyfivedownstairs audiences, gave theatre classes at the gaol, and it was from this that The Chocolate Frog and The Old Familiar Juice came to the attention of the Sydney theatre world. The plays were a sensation, and have never lost their power to move audiences, but the author, Jim McNeil, died within a decade of his overnight and overwhelming fame and notoriety.
Featuring Cain Thompson, Luke McKenzie, Will Ewing, and Richard Bligh (most recently seen here as Uncle Vanya) and the production is directed by... Malcolm Robertson!
dates: Friday 6 to Sunday 29 July
previews: Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 July
times: Tues – Sat 8.00pm, Sun 5.00pm
tickets: Full $44, Conc $36, Preview $30
Both Galleries: Victorian Architecture Awards 2012
Australian Institute of Architects
19 June – 14 July
A major exhibition celebrating the 230+ projects entered in the 2012 Victorian Architecture Awards. More entires were submitted this year than ever before.
There will be an extensive program of (free) public floor talks after the announcement of winners on 19 June, so architecture fans should keep an eye on our website and of course there'll be full details in our next newsletter.
Bookings for all fortyfivedownstairs shows: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com phone (03) 9662 9966
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Since 2002 fortyfivedownstairs, an unfunded and not-for-profit organisation, has offered an evocative urban space and a personalised service to an eclectic mix of artists for theatre, visual arts, forum, music and dance .
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ANNA LUMB image courtesy of the artist; URSULA MARTINEZ, image courtesy of the artist; MISS BEHAVE image courtesy Prudence Upton; HEARTLANDS exhibition opening, image courtesy Grace Petrou; HEARTLANDS promotional image; HEARTLANDS exhibition opening, image courtesy Grace Petrou; THE MCNEIL PROJECT promotional image; VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS promotional image. |
