THE BLOODY CHAMBER
2 – 10 AUGUST
Photography: Lachlan Woods
Malthouse Theatre presents
THE BLOODY CHAMBER By Angela Carter Directed by Matthew Lutton Music by David Chisholm Performance Text by Van Badham Set & Costume Design Anna Cordingley Lighting Design Paul Jackson Sound Design Jethro Woodward Cast Shelly Lauman Alison Whyte Musicians Jacinta Dennett Jessica Fotinos Yinuo Mu Stage Manager Tia Clark Assistant Stage Manager Kate Gregory Besen Family Artist Placements Sound Design Rachael Dease Lighting Design Nicola Andrews MERLYN THEATRE 2 – 10 AUGUST The Bloody Chamber is proudly supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation
DIRECTOR’S NOTE Angela Carter’s favourite literary form was the tale – folk stories traditionally passed on from one person to another. ‘Gothic tales, cruel tales, tales of wonder, tales of terror, fabulous narratives that deal directly with the imagery of the unconscious’ were what interested her. The traditional form of ‘storytelling’ was the first inspiration for this production. Creating a musical framework that could expand the aural tapestry of storytelling, as a musical monodrama or a radio drama does, was the second. How could we conjure Carter’s erotic and horrific symbols in the mind of a listener through words and sound? The Bloody Chamber is Carter’s telling of the Bluebeard tale. A version (or new story, she would claim) that brings to the surface the latent erotics of the narrative, and breaks down the traditional roles played by men and women, remoulding them as a way to combat the common construct of the naïve, passive female figure devoured by the animalistic male. As Margaret Atwood states however, The Bloody Chamber is not really populated by men and women, but by ‘tigers and lambs, carnivores and herbivores, those who are preyed upon and those who do the preying’. And in The Bloody Chamber Carter acknowledges that ‘lambhood and tigerishness may be found in either gender, and in the same individual at different times’. She therefore uses this tale not as a vehicle for ‘to-the-barricades’ feminist writing, but to explore the many possibilities the dichotomies of male and female, ‘tiger and lamb’, can offer.
This means Carter celebrates the potential of metamorphosis. She believed that it was possible for tradition to change, for the unexpected to occur, for individuals to learn to sing a new song. She also believed that the act of storytelling, of entering into a fiction, could strengthen our ability to transform reality. While developing this work Australia’s media has frequently reminded us that misogyny and assumptions based on gender run deep in the Australian psyche. Gender still falls into false and backwards-looking stereotypes; discrimination and judgment still prevail. Carter however offers us a figure in The Bloody Chamber which is awe-inspiring – a mother who is a tiger-eater, who is able to reverse that which seems inexorable, who is able to achieve that which often seems impossible. If we can imagine and believe in this mother in fiction, there is hope that we can see her in reality as well. Matthew Lutton
VAN BADHAM PLAYWRIGHT Van Badham is Associate Artist (Literary) at Malthouse Theatre as well as a weekly political columnist for The Guardian and an occasional broadcaster. As a theatremaker, she has had more than 100 international productions of her original texts for theatre, opera, music theatre and radio staged across the UK and Australia, as well as in the US, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. She has won numerous international awards for her plays, as well as the UK’s prestigious Sunday Times Harold Hobson Award for theatre criticism. Her radio plays have been produced by the BBC and she has hosted literary programs for ABC radio. Her first novel, Burnt Snow, was released in Australia in 2010, the first in a three-book series for Pan Macmillan. She trained in writing for television on attachment to BBC serial Holby City. Van’s first short film, Octopus, won the Jameson Screenwriting Award in 2008, screening in the Dungog, Tropfest Australia, Munich International, Berlin International and L.A. Shorts festivals. Currently completing her second novel, in her spare time she is studying a Masters in Theatre at the University of Melbourne.
DAVID CHISHOLM COMPOSER David’s work has appeared at Venice Biennale, Villa Medici Roma, Edinburgh and Melbourne Festivals, Moscow Museum of Art, ISCM World New Music Days, MONA FOMA, Danscenen Copenhagen, Monaco Dance Forum and the Australian Centre for Photography. It has been performed and recorded by International Contemporary Ensemble, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Arcko Symphonic Ensemble, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Golden Fur, Aria Co, Latitude 37 with Ashley Smith, Silo String Quartet, Atticus String Quartet, The Australian Ballet/
Sonic Art Ensemble, and virtuosic soloists including Tristram Williams, Jennifer Chou, Mauricio Carrasco and Eric Lamb. Key collaborators include choreographer Phillip Adams; choreovideographer Cazerine Barry; poets Yves Bonnefoy, Anzhelina Polonskaya and Elizabeth Campbell; cross‐media artists Emmanuel Bernardoux, Boris Eldagsen, Natascha Stellmach, and Sharon Huebner; conductors Eric Dudley and Timothy Phillips; sound artist Myles Mumford; producer Sarah Greentree; and singer Jessica Aszodi. David has won many awards including three Green Room Awards, a Highly Commended Paul Lowin Prize, a mention at 36th Bourges International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Electronic Art, and a special mention in the X Media Forum 31st International Film Festival, Moscow. He is founder and Artistic Director of the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music which presents its inaugural season this September.
TIA CLARK STAGE MANAGER Tia is a graduate of WAAPA. Her credits for Malthouse Theatre include Dance of Death, Hate, Opera XS, A Golem Story and Baal (with Sydney Theatre Company). Other credits include: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Gordon Frost Organisation); Every Breath (Belvoir); The Rake’s Progress (Victorian Opera); Scooby Doo Live 2011 Tour (Entertainment Store Group); The King and I, The Boy From Oz, Sugar (Some Like It Hot), Anything Goes, Kismet, and Grey Gardens (The Production Company); The Marriage of Figaro and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Arts Centre Melbourne); At the Beach and Behind the Veneer (Buzz Dance Theatre); The Hidden Forest (Spontaneous Insanity); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare WA); and The Nutcracker (WA Ballet).
ANNA CORDINGLEY SET & COSTUME DESIGNER Anna is a graduate of the VCA (Production Design) and has a Masters of Curatorship from The University of Melbourne. Recent credits include Sunday in the Park with George (Victorian Opera); Phèdre, Macbeth and Julius Caesar (Bell Shakespeare); An Act Of Now and Connected (Chunky Move); The Story of Mary Maclane by Herself (Griffin/ Malthouse Theatre); Little Match Girl (Southbank London, Sydney Festival and Malthouse Theatre); and Inside (Token Events/ Sydney Festival). As Artist in Residence at Malthouse, Anna designed A Golem Story, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Sappho… in 9 Fragments, The Threepenny Opera (with STC), Elizabeth – Almost By Chance A Woman, One Night the Moon, Knives in Hens (with STCSA), Happy Days (with Belvoir), A Commercial Farce and Autobiography of Red. Exhibition design credits include The Extraordinary Shapes of Geoffrey Rush and War Horse & The Breath of Life (Arts Centre Melbourne). Anna has twice won Green Room Awards for her stage designs and was recipient of the Kristian Fredrikson Memorial Scholarship in 2012.
JACINTA DENNETT HARPIST Jacinta is a freelance harpist playing in orchestras and ensembles in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. Her eclectic experience also includes performing in musicals, studio recording, film, showcase performances on cruise ships, residencies, entertaining in Melbourne and Sydney hotels, and at festivals. Jacinta is a member of faculty at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, and tutored at the National Music Camp. She is a regular guest at the Australian Harp Festival. Born in
Ballarat, her initial music training began on piano at age three before being introduced to harp at Loreto College. Jacinta trained in the Salzedo harp method, has studied further with harpist Rita Costanzi in New York City, and has attended Judith Liber’s masterclasses in Italy. Jacinta is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts at the Centre for Ideas, investigating essential gesture through eurythmy and harp playing.
JESSICA FOTINOS HARPIST Jessica Fotinos is a distinctive and versatile artist. She was the first harpist to be awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Australian National Academy of Music in 2010, and a full scholarship to complete a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2009. Jessica has won competitions including the Australian open-age pedal harp competition at the 3rd Australian Harp Festival; the Pioneer Outstanding Soloist competition in 2009; and the Australian National Academy of Music Concerto Competition in 2010. As a soloist Jessica has performed Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra as well as Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with Orchestra Victoria. Jessica performs in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Australian Youth Orchestra, and has collaborated with ensembles such as the Tin Alley String Quartet, Forest collective and Quiver. Jessica has worked with cabaret artist Meow Meow, Joe Chindamo, Slava Grigoryan, Paul Kelly, Pekka Kuusisto, Anthony Marwood, Iiru Rantala, Paul Grabowsky, Michael Kieran Harvey, Prue Davis, Dale Barltrop and Tobias Lee. Her award nominations include: David Chisholm’s Kursk: an Oratorio Requiem (Helpmann Award) and Wunderschön by Reinbert De Leeuw (Green Room Award). A passionate performer of new music, Clive O’Connell of The Age has labelled her Melbourne’s ‘go-to harpist for contemporary work’.
PAUL JACKSON LIGHTING DESIGNER Paul is Associate Artist (Design) at Malthouse Theatre. He has designed lighting for Malthouse Theatre, The Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Melbourne Theatre Company, West Australian Ballet, Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, BalletLab, Lucy Guerin Inc., World of Wearable Art New Zealand, La Mama, not yet it’s difficult performance group, Chamber Made Opera, and many others. Paul’s work has featured in festivals in Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom, and he has lectured in design at the University of Melbourne, RMIT University and Victorian College of the Arts. Paul has received a number of Green Room Awards and nominations for design, as well as receiving the 2012 Helpmann Award for lighting design. He was named in The Bulletin’s Smart 100 for 2004 and was the Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellow for 2007.
SHELLY LAUMAN PERFORMER Shelly is an actress and theatremaker. Most recently she worked as assistant director to Eamon Flack on Belvoir’s Angels in America. At the end of 2012, she was invited to dramaturg on a production of Macbeth for the National Theatre of Iceland. In 2010, Shelly was commissioned to develop a one-woman version of Hamlet, entitled A Piece of Him, through Bell Shakespeare’s creative development initiative Mind’s Eye. As an actress Shelly has appeared in productions such as Every Breath and As You Like It (Belvoir); Baal (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company); Othello Retold (The Eleventh Hour); and The Suicide, The Only Child, 3xSisters and Spring Awakening (The Hayloft Project). Shelly graduated from the VCA in 2005.
MATTHEW LUTTON DIRECTOR Matthew Lutton has most recently directed Dance of Death, Pompeii, L.A., On the Misconception of Oedipus, Die Winterreise, The Trial and Tartuffe for Malthouse Theatre. He has also directed The Mysteries: Genesis (Sydney Theatre Company); The Duel (Sydney Theatre Company/ThinIce); Love Me Tender (Belvoir/ThinIce); and Don’t Say the Words (Griffin Theatre Company). In 2011 he directed the new contemporary opera Make No Noise for the Bavarian State Opera, and in 2012 Strauss’s Elektra for West Australian Opera/ThinIce/Opera Australia/ Perth International Arts Festival. From 2002 to 2012 Matthew was the director of Perth-based theatre company ThinIce, and since 2011 he has been Associate Artist (Direction) for Malthouse Theatre. Later in the year he directs Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman for New Zealand Opera.
YINUO MU HARPIST Harpist Yinuo Mu enjoys a diverse performing career as an ensemble and solo musician. Yinuo has served as Principal Harpist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra, performing with such renowned artists as Renee Fleming, Debra Voigt, Ann Sophie Von Otter, Bryn Terfel, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. As an orchestral harpist, Yinuo has worked with many of the major orchestras in Australia including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and West Australian Symphony Orchestra; and with many great orchestras in the US such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra and San Diego Symphony Orchestra. An avid performer of new music, she has premiered numerous works in America, both as a soloist and with various ensembles.
Yinuo has been a key participant at a number of international festivals including the Tanglewood Music Festival (USA), Spoleto Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival (Japan). In addition to classical music, Yinuo enjoys backing up pop artists on stage and recording sound tracks for television and films.
ALISON WHYTE PERFORMER Alison Whyte is one of Australia’s most accomplished actors, with an outstanding reputation in theatre, film and television. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2009 ASTRA Award for Satisfaction; a TV Week Logie for Satisfaction and Frontline in 2008; a Green Room Award for Decadence in 2005; a TV Week Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress in 1997; as well as many nominations. Alison won both a Green Room Award and a Helpmann Award for her outstanding performance in Melbourne Theatre Company’s Richard lll. Alison has worked with many major theatre companies, most recently performing in Australia Day for Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company. She also appeared in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Clybourne Park and All About My Mother (Melbourne Theatre Company); and in Rising Water (Black Swan State Theatre Company). Previously with Malthouse Theatre, Alison performed in the production of Optimism which also toured the Sydney Festival and the Edinburgh Festival. Other performances with Malthouse Theatre include Tartuffe and Eldorado.
JETHRO WOODWARD SOUND DESIGNER Jethro Woodward is a Melbourne-based composer, musician and sound designer recognised for his expansive and highly layered film, theatre and dance scores. A multi Green Room Award-winner and nominee, he has worked with some of Australia’s leading major and independent companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir, Arena, Windmill, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Rawcus, Stuck Pigs Squealing, Fragment 31, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, KAGE and more. Jethro won Green Room Awards for Moth and Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd (Malthouse Theatre/Arena); and Irony Is Not Enough (Fragment 31). He was the musical director and sound designer for the sixtime Helpmann-nominated musical The Wizard of Oz (Windmill).
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Simon Westcott (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Frankie Airey, Michele Levine, Ian McRae, Sarah Morgan, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary Artistic Director Marion Potts Executive Producer Jo Porter Associate Artist (Design) Paul Jackson Associate Artist (Direction) Matthew Lutton Associate Artist (Writing) Van Badham Company Manager Lucy Birkinshaw Associate Producer Josh Wright Administrator Narda Shanley Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni Finance Administrator Liz White Finance Assistant Connie Stella Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Scicluna Media Manager Maria O’Dwyer Digital Strategy & Marketing Coordinator Chloe Gordon Communications Coordinator Jennifer Smith Graphic Designer Rick Milovanovic Development Manager Jaclyn Birtchnell Philanthropy Manager Nicole Punte Development & Marketing Assistant Hiroki Kobayashi Ticketing Manager Emma Howard Ticketing Assistant Lauren White Youth & Education Program Clare Watson Executive Assistant Emily Fiori Audience Development Consultant Jason Tamiru Building Manager Peter Mandersloot Bar Manager Cherry Rivers Front of House Managers Tristan Watson & Sean Ladhams Production Manager David Miller
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Technical Manager Baird McKenna Operations Manager Dexter Varley Head Electrician Stewart Birkinshaw Campbell Head Mechanist Andy Moore Theatre Technician Nathaneal Bristow Head of Wardrobe Amanda Carr Wardrobe Assistant Chloe Greaves Workshop Supervisor David Craig Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli Workshop Staff Mitch O'Sullivan Scenic Artist Patrick Jones Props Master Ross Murray (lifetime recognition) Front of House/Bar Staff Leeor Adar, Matt Adair, Jacqui Brown, Ben Carollo, Mimi Catterns, Kathryn Delaney, Tom Dent, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Christian Grant, Kate Gregory, Kathryn Joy, Bridie McCarthy, Ian Michael, Daniel Newell, Ruby Nolan, Syrie Payne, Kliment Poposki, Claire Richardson, Sanne Rodenstein, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold Box Office Staff Abbey Barnes, Paul Buckley, Mark Byrne, Kathryn Delaney, Kate Gregory, Suzie Hardgrave, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Fiona Wiseman, Liz White Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented. Malthouse Theatre would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of its volunteers.
OUR PARTNERS GOVERNMENT PARTNERS Malthouse Theatre is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body
EDUCATION PARTNER
MEDIA PARTNER
PRODUCTION PARTNER
CORPORATE PARTNERS
CORPORATE ASSOCIATES
COMPANY SUPPORTERS
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Australian Communities Foundation Slome-Topol Family Charitable Trust
The Robert Salzer Foundation Vera Moore Foundation
PROGRAM PARTNERS Suitcase Series
REGIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM
ARTIST PROGRAM
Female Director in Residence PROGRAM
REGIONAL PERFORMANCE PROJECTS
NEW AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION & PRODUCTION
The Danielle & Daniel Besen Foundation DIRECTORS EXCHANGE PROJECT COMPANY IN RESIDENCE (Men of Steel) Maureen and Tony Wheeler International Program Jeanne Pratt AC, Rae Rothfield, Sue Nattrass AO, Judith Maitland-Parr THE KENN BRODZIAK ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Tom Kantor Fund INDIGENOUS THEATRE PROGRAM (Shadow King)
Victoria University is proud to be Malthouse Theatre’s official Education Partner. We share a vision and commitment to excellence, opportunity, community and individual empowerment. Together we help future teachers make the arts accessible and engaging for students, provide theatre work placements for our students, and offer individuals from diverse backgrounds opportunities to experience live theatre. our collaboration in research and contemporary creative arts practice means that Victoria University graduates are empowered to reach their goals by acquiring exceptional skills, knowledge and experiences. Find out how you can be part of this creative partnership through further study or engagement with us. Visit our website or call 1300 VIC UNI.
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A SHARED CREATIVE VISION
Photography: Lachlan Woods