FREE | #13 - MAR/APR 2019
Know Your Neighbour COLEY KICKS GOALS FOR TOWNSVILLE’S MUSIC INDUSTRY
BEFORE BROADWAY The plays that rose to musical glory
REGURGITATOR REVISITED Meet the GTM artist with a kids’ TV show
HAVE YOUR SAY!
Are you passionate about the Townsville Arts scene? We want your feedback to ensure our Arts programs and performances are tailored for our community. For more information visit townsville.qld.gov.au or phone 13 48 10.
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Publisher’s information CONNECT A: PO Box 1935 Townsville QLD 4810 www.huxley.press fI CONTENT Editor-in-Chief: Sarah Mathiesen sarah@huxley.press Journalist & Online Content Creator: Nathan Toll nathan@huxley.press CREATIVE Design & Layout: Kieran Thomas, Harshmellow Media + Design ADVERTISING Account Manager: Sarah Mathiesen, sarah@harshmellow.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Tayla Comelli, Kodie Redfern, Mathew Currie ON THE COVER Nicole ‘Coley’ Cross. by Kodie Redfern
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THANKYOU To the many people and organisations who contributed at the last minute while still recovering from the flood and to all of our advertisers who support us to support North Queensland’s artists & creatives. Copyright HUXLEY Press 2019.
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All rights reserved. All material in HUXLEY is wholly copyright and reproduction without the written permission of the Publisher is strictly forbidden. Neither this publication nor its contents constitute an explicit endorsement by HUXLEY Press of the products or services mentioned in advertising or editorial. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, HUXLEY Press will not be held liable for any errors or omissions. We’ve done our best to appropriately credit all photos, images and written contributions. In some instances, photos are supplied to us by those who appear editorially with their permission to use said images. The views contained within this magazine are the views of those expressing them and HUXLEY Press and its individual representatives do not necessarily share these views.
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Tayla Comelli Tayla Comelli was eight years old when she had her first art lesson. “It was with the Librarian at my school, who was an artist herself, and we sat in a park and drew a picture of a puppy,” Tayla said.
“I have been in love with art since that very first moment and continued lessons with her for a few months, before I began attending lessons at a small studio where I stayed until I was 17.”
“By second semester I had changed degrees and it was the best thing I could’ve done. Not only was I able to further my skills as an artist but I learnt so much about the industry, ultimately leading me to where I am today.” Tayla is currently preparing for her work to be exhibited in Townsville for the first time outside of university, following her first solo exhibition in Mackay last year.
After high school, Tayla moved to Townsville where she realised her passion for art could evolve into so much more than a hobby.
“In my first exhibition, I really wanted to celebrate the connection between people and nature. I also wanted to keep the work fresh and minimalistic, to tie it all together.
“Originally I’d never intended on studying art at university as I only ever looked at it as a hobby, but it didn’t take long for me to meet some incredible people who showed me just how exciting a career in the creative arts could be.
“It was such an amazing feeling being able to stand there on the night and see it all: all the months of hard work, the late nights, the freak outs – I’ve never felt so proud.”
WHERE TO FIND TAYLA’S WORK Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery: Profile Exhibition 7-28 April Murky Waters Studio: Lunar Group Exhibition 8 March - 5 April Mackay’s Jubilee Exhibition Space: Arcadia Solo Exhibition 6-19 July I@dot.taylamaree | taylamaree.com
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Tayla will be featured in a profile exhibition at Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery this April. “Whilst maintaining the connection between people and nature, this selection of work will be based more on my own personal encounters. Following last year’s exhibition I spent 10 weeks travelling around Europe, coming home with a mind and a camera full of inspiration to incorporate memories into my work. “One day I would love to have a little gallery where I could showcase not only my own work but the works of other young creatives. Finding a space which is accessible and affordable can be quite difficult, so being able to break that circle in the future would be an absolute dream.”
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Editor’s Letter Phew!
These Editor’s letters are always one of the last things I write when we put together HUXLEY. I like to look back on each issue and reflect on the conversations we’ve been able to share one last time before we send it off to the printers. It feels like putting the final full stop on each project.
Like so many of our friends and neighbours, this issue felt the impact of Townsville’s horrific floods. There was a week we lost focus as the thick grey sky dumped its seemingly-endless contents on our heads and the waters rose well above our belly-buttons; a week we were distracted by the irresistible pull to join the rest of our town in the pressure-cleaning, furniture-tossing, mould-busting, waterline-scrubbing, treasure-salvaging, tight-hugging, laugh-to-save-crying efforts; and a week we dared not call people for interviews for fear of disrupting much more important recovery duties. What a rollercoaster. Just when we thought we’d looped the last loop – in fact in the final few days before this magazine was due to go to print – one more stomachchurning drop caught us out. Things weren’t getting back to normal for Townsville’s Arts scene; they were getting even harder. As I write this we don’t yet have a full view of the casualties, but we do know that some of the most important Arts venues are still down for the count. The Civic Theatre Riverway Arts Centre Umbrella Studio They’ve all sustained significant damage. Add to those the St Margaret Mary’s Theatrette, Townsville Little Theatre’s rehearsal venue at the Aitkenvale PCYC, a number of Anne Roberts Dance Studio’s extension venues and no doubt others of which we haven’t yet caught wind; and you’ll get a sense of the loss – although hopefully much of it only temporary – that our community has suffered. Of course, all that on top of homes, cars, livelihoods, and treasured possessions. For us, the cancellations and postponements meant scrapping or rewriting almost half this issue in a matter of days. What we have learned from this effort is how resilient our beautiful Arts community is – the late nights in studios to meet submission deadlines for exhibitions, the doubled-down rehearsal efforts to make up for lost time, the reworking of sets to cater to different venues, the commitment of casts and production teams that expand 12 months beyond their initial expectation. The list goes on and on, all to the ensure that the show does too. You truly rose to the challenge, Townsville.
Sarah Mathiesen.
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ART A CLEAR VISION FOR MURKY WATERS Townsville’s latest artist studio will launch its first exhibition this March. Murky Waters Studio, opened in December 2018, will host Lunar, a collection of works by North Queensland artists inspired by the Lunar New Year. Resident artist Hannah Murray said the space was designed to support and bolster the local arts community. “The Studio is home to four local artists who all shared a common desire to work in a supportive studio collective environment. In time, we hope to establish Murky Waters as an engaging and vibrant artist-run space in Townsville,” Hannah said. “Lunar was initially meant to be held in February to align with the start of the Lunar New Year. In light of the devastating floods we rescheduled the exhibition with the new launch date to be now held on International Women’s Day - equally fitting given we are an all-female artist collective.
“As a collective we are all very passionate about celebrating and supporting the local arts community. Our aim has always been to share the space and Lunar gives artists the perfect opportunity to exhibit somewhere new.” The group exhibition will be the first of many, with more opportunities for local artists in the future. “Beyond Lunar and aside from working on our respective art practices, Murky Waters Studio will be very busy accepting exhibition proposals, preparing for Pop Up North Queensland 2019, as well as developing a number of super exiting, yet to be announced artist-in-residence programs and partnerships! Watch this space!” Catch the launch of Lunar at Murky Waters Studio (126 Hanran Street) from 6pm on Friday 8 March. The exhibition will run until 5 April. For more information, follow murkywatersstudio on Instagram.
ART TRAIL SETS SAIL Townsville’s art galleries are set to become more accessible than ever with the launch of an art walking trail this April. The trail, taking in the seven galleries throughout the CBD and along the Strand, was proposed by owner of Aluminium Art Exclusives, Naomi Watts. “The idea for the art gallery trail was born from visitors to the gallery – both locals and tourists are often interested to hear about the
| NATHAN TOLL
other galleries and art spaces Townsville has to offer but when I went looking, found there was nothing easily accessible providing the information people were often asking about,” Naomi said. “This trail includes seven different galleries that showcase local, international, modern and traditional art, so there really is something for everyone!” The trail takes in Umbrella Studio
STITCHING TOGETHER TWO LOVES A Townsville couple is turning their passion for art and literature into a series of limited edition, handmade, illustrated hard-cover books in collaboration with four Australian and international artists.
image // Lauren Jaye Carter, Lunar 2019 linocut
| NATHAN TOLL contemporary arts, Aluminium Art Exclusives, Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, the Drill Hall Studio, Gallery 48 and Townsville Art Society. The inaugural Art Gallery Trail walk will be held on Sunday, 14 April, with more information available on the Aluminium Art Exclusives Facebook page closer to the event. To access the trail, search for ‘Townsville Art Gallery Trail’ on izi.travel
| SARAH MATHIESEN image // Supplied
Michael and Melanie Richards successfully ran a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to get their first project off the ground and onto book shelves across the globe. The project will see the couple lovingly hand-stitch up to 2,000 copies of their first four books – including Pride & Prejudice and Alice in Wonderland – under the Waterbell name. “The books are completely handmade,” said Melanie. “We sew all of the pages together by hand to create the leaflet, and have gone back to traditional book binding techniques. We’re covering the books with lavish illustrations that we’ve commissioned from various artists.” While the six titles included in the first four publications are all in the public domain (and therefore free of copyright restrictions), Melanie said she and Michael were already looking ahead to other titles, which would require licensing. For more information, visit Waterbell on Facebook.
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To Townsville,
Community.
With Love
It’s a word that has been thrown around a lot recently, and for good reason: rarely have we seen our community come together as much as they have following Townsville’s severe weather at the start of February. From providing shelter to neighbours through to helping complete strangers clean out their homes or giving them a shoulder to cry on, the level of support and companionship citywide has been heart-warming. This sense of community makes Umbrella Studio contemporary arts’ Postcards from the North and South exhibition all the more meaningful. The exhibition features artworks sent in as part of a print exchange, facilitated by Townsville’s PressNorth Printmakers and Victoria’s Firestation Print Studio – and which this year will also feature work by Blue Grass Printmakers and Second State Press, both from the USA. PressNorth Printmaker and event
image // Sandy Fisher - Numbat (detail)
organiser Zelma Schulten said the exchange had been especially difficult for Townsville artists this year – but they hadn’t let the floods dampen their efforts.
“This year’s exhibition has been particularly challenging due to the recent flooding, but our members did not disappoint. Many of our members were affected but despite being exhausted, still finalised and delivered their prints,” Zelma said. “It was heart-warming to hear that one of our printmakers had to evacuate their home at short notice and her prints were one of the priority items she took with her.” Postcards from the North & South has been a recurring print exchange since its inception, and quickly became global. “One of PressNorth’s members, Rhonda Stevens, came up with the idea in 2011. She frequently visited Edith May, the manager of Firestation Print Studio at the time, and they discussed the idea of exchanging postcardsized works for two collaborated
exhibitions.
“The concept was embraced by everyone as the works were small so costs for participants would be minimal, and the first exhibitions opened in 2013. “Since 2014 international guest studios have been involved, with prints travelling to Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and the USA. I took over the project from Rhonda in 2016 and it’s a project I continue to work passionately on.”
The 2019 exhibition will feature a record 125 prints by 95 participants from the four studios. “As PressNorth are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year, we decided to go big and invited two American groups to join us. Each participant presents the first few prints from an edition – with one to be exhibited at each location – with over 30 members from PressNorth involved in each exhibition. “PressNorth began in 2009 with roughly 20 local printmakers who wished to share their knowledge
and skills with backgrounds ranging from emerging to professional printmakers. Today we are a vibrant community-based and not-for-profit organisation with more than 60 members striving to promote innovative printmaking, foster excellence, inspire, and transfer skills.” 10 years since forming, PressNorth has successfully fostered a global community of artists who continue to inspire and educate each other – all from an act as simple as sending a postcard. “This year’s works range from very traditional printmaking techniques such as etching, linocut, mezzotint and drypoint to solar plate and digital prints. Subjects range from personal investigation and social awareness to nature and experiences while travelling. The works are well-executed prints, mostly done by hand, and all with a lot of passion.” Catch Postcards from the North & South along with other exhibitions at Umbrella Studio contemporary arts from 12 April – 12 May.
meet the artists Irene Rae
Karen Neal
PRESSNORTH PRINTMAKERS, TOWNSVILLE AUS
FIRESTATION PRINT STUDIO, MELBOURNE AUS
“For me the exchange is an important event. It allows us to be involved as a group locally and to participate with other printmakers in Australia and overseas. While the overseas country varies from year to year, Townsville and Melbourne stay consistently. The interaction with other printmakers expands our view of current trends and allows us to see what other groups are doing.”
“I’m fortunate to be one of the printmakers that has a studio upstairs in our building, an old firestation. This exchange is a great opportunity to spread our work to new audiences. One of the unique characteristics of printmaking is the ability to generate multiple images. Compared to many other mediums, this creates the opportunity to enable much wider sharing of original artwork. I really like the postcard size and find it good for experimenting with processes before trying larger prints.”
Adrienne Dixon
BLUEGRASS PRINTMAKERS, KENTUCKY USA
Ashley Limes Castellana
“This is our inaugural year in the print exchange. We have eight printmakers participating and I’m sure we would be happy to continue to contribute to this project in the future. I think it’s of great importance for artists to not only share ideas, but also for people in general to exchange culture and inspiration. Printmaking has been a very fun and freeing practice for me, and I hope I can contribute to spreading the knowledge and joy of printmaking with others moving forward.”
“We were honoured to be invited to participate in this exhibition. This exchange is perfect for a studio like Second State Press, as our members work in a variety of mediums and subject matter and the exchange highlights our range, skill, and love of print. Our mission is to foster the development of ideas and innovation in printmaking by providing artists with a professional, affordable and supportive workspace. Opportunities like this are critical for us to be able to share our work on a global scale.”
image // Laura Castell - Satin Bowerbird
SECOND STATE PRESS, PENNSYLVANIA USA
image // Sarah Pitrus - For all the times
image // Joanne Price - Garden Chick
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BURLESQUE | NATHAN TOLL
IDOL
DANCE “Creating an act takes a long time: you research, you piece it together, you find the right music, you choreograph it to tell a particular story and to take a journey as well; and factor in that you are using the energy of the audience to connect and keep them captivated. Some are super serious with meaning and really go into the artform, and then you have other people who are doing it because they just want to dance.” Burlesque goes a lot deeper than many give it credit for. The artform, originating in Italian theatre, was often used as a comedic interlude in shows – but has evolved over the centuries to now sell out shows of its own. Townsville burlesque in particular has seen rapid growth in audience and performer numbers in recent years: so much so that Burlesque Idol – a national competition usually confined to capital cities – will hold a heat in Townsville for the first time this March. Townsville local and Burlesque Idol entrant Willow Noire said the introduction of a North Queensland heat was firm acknowledgment that Australia is recognising the emerging talent from regional areas too. “2019 will be the first time that a heat has been run in Townsville. The girls up here in North Queensland find it really difficult to go down South to compete, because the costs of flights and everything on top of making and transporting costumes can all be quite difficult,” Willow said. “It gives the local girls a chance to really showcase what they’ve got and is a really good opportunity
for us to get noticed within the wider burlesque community within Australia.” While burlesque troupes have called Townsville home for some time, the opening of a dedicated burlesque studio, The VaVoom Room, and regular performances at local venues has seen the art gain a strong reputation among locals and touring acts “As well as regular performances by each of our VaVoom Room classes, we hold about four major local showcases each year,” Willow said. “During these bigger showcases we bring in other performers from Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane, and all over the country, and getting that sort of recognition from those performers is spreading the word that we do have a very good burlesque community here and it’s growing. “There’s actually only two dedicated burlesque schools in Australia: Maison Burlesque in Melbourne, and VaVoom Room here in Townsville. There are other schools and academies in Australia that offer burlesque alongside other dance styles. There’s also troupes around the country that might not have a studio to work from, but they still meet up or train under instructors. “Before VaVoom Room opened a studio, we were working out of gyms and the Sovereign Hotel when it was still open. Now though, to have a central home is really great for us to come together and have our own space.” Willow will join four other locals and four Mackay entrants in the Townsville Burlesque Idol heat.
“The winner from each heat then goes to compete in the finale. And the winner from the finale will be named Miss Burlesque Idol Australia. “My act is called Opium Den. It’s actually one of my most popular pieces. I have performed it a few times now and it shows a darker side of burlesque. It’s not as comical, jovial or fun ... it’s very sensual and dark, and is about taking the audience on a journey of what is essentially addiction. “The great thing about the piece is that it doesn’t have to specifically be about drugs or anything, it’s about any sort of addiction, like an addiction to people. It’s about that journey where you start to fall in love, you go through a high, and then you need it more and more because you can’t let it go and then you’re in its grips.” For burlesque performers, the onstage persona is everything. Willow Noire will be competing against personalities such as Gertie Mae, Miss Billie Beau, Miss Olive Delight, and Valentina Rose. “Choosing your burlesque name can be a big deal because it’s something you’re then stuck with once you’ve chosen it. You also want it to represent the style of Burlesque you perform. Gertie Mae is wonderful, she is fun and her performances really make you laugh – so it wouldn’t make much sense if she had a much more serious name. Whereas my performances tend to be a lot more serious and tend to dip into film influences, which is where ‘Noire’ came from.” Whether performances are slapstick or serious, Willow said
burlesque in general has acted as a vessel for self-confidence and unity. “Burlesque spreads love everywhere, and it’s something that I think is happening all over the world: it’s connecting people that are all different body shapes, genders and political viewpoints. It allows everyone to feel accepted and confident and come together as one. “You can express a lot through the dance as an artform with really meaningful pieces, or you can take it for purely dance sake. It’s very versatile, which is what’s helped it grow so much.” Willow’s connection with other performers has transformed burlesque into so much more than a sport. “It really is a family. Something that I’ve found with burlesque … when you participate in other sports or hobbies you make great friends., but with burlesque, you create much deeper connection with the other dancers and the students. They really become your family. “We’re there for everyone, whoever needs help, whenever they need help. I know this for a fact; I’ve been through some hard times and the local burlesque troupe helped me get through it more than any of my other friends. It’s great to have that as a support network even if things aren’t burlesque related: we’re there for each other.” Catch Burlesque Idol’s Townsville heat at the North Queensland Club on 8 March, with tickets now available via EventBrite. For information on local classes, visit The Vavoom Room Facebook page.
It’s connecting people that are all different body shapes, genders and political viewpoints. It allows everyone to feel accepted and confident and come together as one. image // Willow Noire by Sam Tindall
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MUSIC NEW WORLDS FOR OLD STOMPING GROUND Townsville’s Barrier Reef Orchestra (BRO) will welcome back an old friend this March, when world-renowned conductor and founding Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM), Theodore Kuchar returns to lead BRO as a guest conductor.
Sinfonica de Venezuela (National Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela) and feature on our Grammy CD Latin-American Classics.
BRO’s upcoming performance, New Worlds, draws on works that have had significant importance to Theodore during his colourful life and career, including Dvorak’s Symphony From the New World and works by Marquez, Ginastera and Moncayo.
Theodore said his upcoming time with the Barrier Reef Orchestra in Townsville would be as emotionally symbolic as it would be musically gratifying.
Theodore said he was drawn to Dvorak’s work due to their shared Slavic background. “Dvorak was a Slavic immigrant in the USA when he composed this best-known of symphonies,” said Theodore. “During my Ukrainian, Czech and Slovak [Orchestral] directorships, the orchestral works and symphonies of Dvorak have been our calling-cards and he is the single composer whose works I have performed more than anyone else’s. “The three Latin-American works are callingcards from my period as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orquesta
image // Supplied by Theodore Kuchar
“The works with European origins were composed in and as a result of the Americas.”
“You must understand that this Orchestra’s existence is an evolutionary development of the very first conversation concerning the establishment of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music,” he said. “In all honesty, during the first decade of the Festival’s existence, I cannot remember any conversation in which a first discussion about the Festival … did not evolve into a wish that Townsville would, one day, have its own symphony. I see my upcoming weeks as a great privilege and commitment. The Great Barrier Reef Orchestra, lead by Theodore Kuchar, will present New Worlds at James Cook University’s George Kneipp Theatre on 16 March. For tickets, visit ticketshop.com.au
TABONE RETURNS HOME International Tenor Paul Ettore Tabone will return to Queensland this March for performances in each of the regional centres that continue to hold a special place in his heart. Paul, who is currently taking on the role of Ubaldo Piangi in The Phantom of the Opera on London’s West End, said the chance to return home to where his performing career began was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. “The last time I performed in North Queensland was six years ago, when I came home while living in Italy. It’s well overdue,” said Paul. “Each of the towns I’m performing in hold some significance to me. Ingham is the town I was born and raised in; Townsville is where I won my first big singing competition (City Stars); Mackay is where I studied my university degree; Toowoomba is where I won the Brian Boak Bursary for my opera studies; and Maleny is where my mentor and friend Kim Kirkman lives and where I used to perform with the Maleny Singers. Each town holds a special memory and place in my heart.” Paul will be joined for each performance by
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| SARAH MATHIESEN
| NATHAN TOLL
Phantom of the Opera alumna Lara Martins, with the pair also conducting a masterclass after each show on audition techniques for the West End. “This is Lara’s first time performing in Australia, she is so excited. She has an exceptional CV and Australia has always been a dream for her. “The masterclasses after each concert will be free for ticket holders and we’ll be accompanied by Professor Judith Brown, Head of Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music, to answer any questions about their Bachelor of Theatre degree. “In each town, I will also invite a promising young voice to share the stage with me in hope of promoting promising talent – just like so many people helped me to do when I was young. In Ingham and Townsville, I will invite my past student Sarah Valinoti to join me on stage – I can’t wait.” Catch Paul Tabone and Lara Martins in the Nostalgia Tour at Ingham’s Kelly Theatre on 7 and 8 March, and at the Townsville Choral Society Hall on 9 March. For information and tickets, visit paultabone.com
15 YEARS OF FATBOYS
AFCM'S 2019 LINE-UP
Aussie Hip-Hop royalty Butterfingers will make a stop in Townsville on 12 April as part of their 15 Years of Fatboys national tour.
AFCM has unveiled its 2019 programme, touting five world premieres, five Australian premieres and 40 of the best chamber musicians on the planet.
Catch Butterfingers at the Dalrymple Hotel.
For more information, go to www.afcm.com.au
★
T S E F FOLK G UP FILLIN FAST ★★ ★
★
| SARAH MATHIESEN
The Palm Creek Folk Festival holds a special place in many a North Queenslander’s heart. Tucked snugly at the base of Mount Elliot, free from phone reception and in the company of more than 4,000 good-vibin’ music-devotees, this four-day loveup feels miles from civilisation but is less than 40 minutes from Townsville. Celebrating its 27th year this year, the Palm Creek Folk Festival continues to drum, march, dance and weave daisy-
chains to its own beat – it proudly operates without corporate sponsorship and, despite losing its Queens Birthday weekend in 2015, continues to draw a pilgrimage of punters down the Bruce Highway ahead of the second weekend of June each year. Convention (and work commitments) be damned! The loyal following of this rich folkie tradition was made all the more evident this year, as organisers released their entire allocation of weekend camping
tickets to early birds throughout February, with more than 15% snapped up in just the first few days.
Quick-to-click punters are sure to be rewarded for their speed, with the three headline acts already announced generating a palpable buzz.
some dust; rock goddess and 2018 Festival highlight Z-Star Trinity will make a much-hyped return after wowing crowds at the Festival last year and North Queensland favourite Bobby Alu – a regular at the Townsville Cultural Fest – will bring his easy-going, smooth-Pacific multi-instrumental magicianship.
Nine-piece brass-meets-beats (meets-dance-meets-soul-meets hip-hop) vibers Bullhorn are sure to get people kicking up
The 2019 Palm Creek Folk Festival will be held on 6-9 June 2019. For more information and tickets, go to www.palmcreek.com.au
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COLEY MOLY | NATHAN TOLL
image // Perch. Productions
Adele. Beyoncé. Coley. A simple ABC of female musicians kicking proverbial backside. Following a recent rebrand, Townsville’s Nicole ‘Coley’ Cross is scoring as many goals as possible – with new music on the way, a music festival in the works, and a valuable mentorship setting her on the right trajectory for even bigger goals in the future. Nicole was recently named as one of eight inaugural participants in QMusic’s Women in Music program, which pairs aspiring female musicians with mentors in complementing fields. “The Women in Music Mentorship is an opportunity provided by QMusic, leading the way in supporting and encouraging women in their participation, innovation and dedication to creating the music business of the future,” said Nicole. “In my application I focused on my contribution to the music industry in Townsville as well as our aspirations for the future and the challenges we face day to day, focusing on my roles as Co-Founder of Neighbourhood Sessions and Neck of the Woods Music Festival.”
sessions over the course of several months, before Nicole and the other mentees will have the opportunity to outline where they feel they would benefit from future investment to further advance their skills. Nicole’s mentor is local businesswoman Jayne Arlett. “I am so excited to meet Jayne! I was very happy to see my mentor was a fellow ‘Townsvillian,’” Nicole said. “I hope to chat to Jayne about sustainability and long-term planning for Neck of the Woods and Neighbourhood Sessions as a business, to allow us to keep growing and continue to provide opportunities for local artists in Townsville and North Queensland. “Networking is very important in the music industry and any industry really. This opportunity has partly contributed to my decision to make the music industry my sole focus, and I am feeling excited to keep pushing
who listen to my music will now know me as Coley – it’s almost like all of the people who come to a show or listen to my music are now part of my family in a way.” Family and community are important to Nicole, and she feels that she and her local music industry peers are working together more closely than ever. “This town has really proven to be so supportive and encouraging of live original music. The following we have built around our events has just made me so proud of our community for supporting original artists. “We are breaking down boundaries and helping shift the mindset with cover gigs versus original gigs. I think people are starting to realise that going to an original show really gives you a special experience, an experience where an artist is sharing something really raw and intimate with their audience. “There are a few key groups in Townsville doing some really cool things across all genres: Neighbourhood Sessions, Very Casual, Diffraction Collective, Purge Promotions, Empire Alternacade and Events, NQ Licensed Events, JCU Unibar, Townsville Folk Club, Blackout Events, Dalrymple Hotel and The Ville just to name a few. I think the scene here is continuing to build, and I am excited for the future of music in little old Townsville.”
...it’s almost like all of the people who come to a show or listen to my music are now part of my family in a way
Neighbourhood Sessions, launched in January 2017, saw Nicole and her partner/fellow musician Sam Wright bring live original music to backyards, beaches, and other secret pop-up venues around the city. Neck of the Woods, launched later that same year, showcases some of Townsville and Australia’s emerging artists nestled among food trucks, campfires and audience members of all ages. “I recently made the decision to focus on Neighbourhood Sessions and Neck of the Woods full time and leave my day job,” Nicole said. “This mentorship will provide me with resources to inspire work in the music industry and improve my skills, as well as important networking opportunities with women in leadership roles in music and business in Queensland.” The mentorship involves three mentoring
the limits with what we can achieve. I think this can only mean bigger and better things for Neighbourhood Sessions, Neighbourhood Productions and Neck of the Woods Music Festival.” In the leadup to this year’s third annual Neck of the Woods Festival, Nicole has released more of her own original music. “I released a single Sunday News in late February, and my EP Bug on a Lamplight is set for release this April! I am super excited to share my music and start the new Coley project. “I’ve been writing a lot in the past 12 months, and my new music is quite different from the music I put out under the ‘Nicole Cross’ project. My new songs are very sentimental and very focused on my family and day-to-day life. “’Coley’ was my childhood nickname and only close family and best friends have really called me that. It feels really nice knowing that people
Among that mix is a collection of talented women with every chance of being awarded a QMusic mentorship in years to come. “There are some amazing female artists making some beautiful music in Townsville and North Queensland at the moment. My personal favourites are Matilda Duncan, KC and the Moonlight Band, KM, Greta Stanley (Cairns) and Maggie Slater (Cairns). There are many more but damn these women make me proud to call North Queensland home!” For more information on future QMusic Mentorship programs and funding rounds, visit qmusic.com.au. Coley’s latest single Sunday News is now available on Triple J Unearthed – for updates on the release of her EP, follow Coley on Facebook. Neck of the Woods Music Festival will return to Townsville’s Pinnacles on 29 June, with the lineup announced mid-March.
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R O T A T I G R U G E REVISITED | SARAH MATHIESEN
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If you know what a Millennium Bug is, and you can name all seven women Lou Bega wants a little bit of, it’s highly likely Regurgitator holds a soft spot in your heart.
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While the band is most widely known for their 1998 Gold Single, Polyester Girl; they owe their 25-year career to so much more: steadfast management, uncompromising creativity, enduring passion, and little of the old ‘right place, right time’. The experimental “dumb-dumb” band will return to Townsville in May as part of the stellar line-up for Groovin the Moo and we caught up with lead vocalist – and Belgian Gardens / Townsville Grammar alumnus – Quan Yeomans to discuss some of Regurgitator’s many creative projects over the years.
On starting as a side project
While forming Regurgitator in 1994 lead to a non-stop musical career, Quan and his founding band mates Ben Ely and Martin Lee, had originally established the band as a side project to their other, much more serious, musical pursuits. “We were all playing in these really heavy bands where it was all about how technically accurate you could play and complex you could make it,” said Quan. “Part of our brains were buzzing on that and enjoying it, but there was another part that was like ‘there’s this whole kind of groove, pop world’ … I met Ben just randomly. He’s a great groove drummer, really solid, really simple, nothing like the drummers we were playing with and I was getting a bit sick of doing the crazy technical stuff and he was a bit over it as well, so we thought ‘we’ll do a dumb-dumb band’.” It wasn’t until Regurgitator’s demo unwittingly caught the eye of an A&R rep from Warner Music, that the trio realised this act could eclipse everything else they’d been working on. “An A&R guy called Michael Parisi had seen Ben’s band [Pangaea] a few times and Warner was actually thinking of signing Pangaea for a while there,” Quan said. “Ben was like ‘oh by the way I’ve got this demo’ and he passed it on to Parisi and Parisi said ‘I think maybe I’d prefer to sign this band instead of Pangaea, if that’s alright with you’.”
On Polyester Girl
*That song* was the third single to come off Regurgitator’s second album, UNIT (1997), which they’d recorded in a condemned warehouse in the Brisbane’s Valley. Quan said it was a throw-away song that the band hadn’t thought much about at the time of recording. “It was done on a groove box - not what you’d call a brilliant creative machine … but it was so simple; I could create a beat and a very simple melody and sing over it. That’s basically all the song is – one drum machine and me singing over it and possibly an overdub live drum, I can’t remember.” While Polyester Girl was a bit of fun, it’s also been heralded Regurgitator’s ‘anti-commercialism anthem’. “The thing that really pricks me about mass media is the portrayal
of women,” Quan said. “It was this constant barrage of sex sells and women are presented in a certain way to be appealing, and you should work it if you’ve got it, and this whole obsession with plastic surgery. I thought ‘this could be a trademark of the band: that we do strangely appealing pop music that has a very dark edge to the lyrical content so people aren’t really aware until they stop and think about it’.”
On never selling out
Polyester Girl remains Regurgitator’s highest selling single, and Quan and his band-mates had always refused to compromise their integrity and creativity to chase higher chart success. “We tried our best not to think about where we sit in commercial terms,” said Quan. “We’re not too heavily surrounded by it, we’ve had a buffer with our Manager. He’s been accused of not being the most commercially adroit manager, but he’s still with us now, he’s never ripped us off, he’s always stood by us, he’s done what’s fair to people around him in his mind and in ours. “The only thing I have to say about it, is when you do actually achieve [commercial] success – which I feel was very accidental for us – there is this part of you that kind of gets used to it and you start double-guessing yourself. You start going ‘How did I actually get there and how do I do it again?’ and at that point, the music starts to get worse. The creative output tends to take a nosedive.”
On Band in a Bubble
In 2004, after splitting with Warner, Regurgitator moved into a giant biosphere in Melbourne’s Federation Square in a recording project-meets art installationmeets social experiment. The band lived in the Bubble for three weeks while writing and recording their fifth album, Mish Mash! “Our Manager [Paul Curtis] has a very academic mind when it comes to industry and art and I think he proposed something similar in the Brisbane mall [years before] and everyone kind of laughed him off,” said Quan of the idea. “And then I happened to be living in London at the same time David Blaine was living in a tiny little perspex box suspended above the Thames River. I don’t know how long he was up there for, I just thought ‘oh, it’s kind of dull’. He was just sitting there and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be
good if we could actually create something and let people see what it’s like to do it?’ That was the impetus to do it and Paul’s brain was like ‘Yep. Just waiting for you.’ and then he got things in motion, got Channel V on board and it all just kind of cascaded from there.” Band in a Bubble allowed pedestrians to look into most rooms within the bubble, as well as tune in to a 24/7 broadcast on pay TV, to watch the album take shape. “There was a bit of pre-production work done with that, even though all of the recording was done inside, but I think just the experience itself was so out there, it’s probably the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done,” Quan said. “It was more of a social experiment than a personal experiment or the music. “I don’t think the record did particularly well even though the actual project had a lot of public attention.”
On the new kids’ album
Regurgitator has recently stepped into Wiggles’ territory, playing a string of kids’ shows and recording a new kids’ album, The Really Really Really Really Boring Album, which will drop in March. While it might seem like an odd move for a band whose previous singles include tracks that we’re not allowed to name here since we cleaned up our language (just Google it, kids), the album has been a long time coming. “It was borne out of Ben’s just being a great dad,” said Quan. “Hearing this silly kind of music that he wrote with [his kids], I’d always said ‘look man, don’t do a solo thing, just do a kids record you’re so good at it’ and he was like ‘yeah I know, I’ll get around to it’ and then by the time he didn’t get around to it I was having kids and I was like ‘let’s just do it and see how it goes’. “What we’ve realised is a lot of our fans have kids now, and they’re bringing them. So instead of just one fan coming, it’s three or four. I think our fans kind of understand the aesthetic as well because they’ve grown up with us and they want their kids to know about us as a band and know that we’re not going to go down a really normal route for kids’ stuff. While Quan admits the kids’ shows make him more anxious than anything he’s done for adults, he says the band continues to keep
it real and hopes new fans will appreciate the authenticity as much as the old ones. “For a band that’s been going for so long in the so-called professional realm, we make a hell of a lot of errors and I think people enjoy that. Performances are getting slicker and slicker and a lot of it is computer controlled and there’s a lot more backing tracks involved, and precision. We come from punk backgrounds so it’s never really been like that and we bring that to a kids’ show as well – a lot of it’s ad-lib. I think kids enjoy seeing that adults aren’t always perfect all the time, they make mistakes too. “I look at some of my fashion choices and the things I did on stage -- then at some point in my career I started getting successful and I started caring too much and got vain and lost a bit of that spark. Maybe doing this kids’ stuff is going to give me a little more of that back again because it’s really great when you see a performer who’s just themselves and they don’t really care about what’s going on and they’re not aware of their body in some ways, they’re just being themselves and channelling their thing.”
On Groovin the Moo
Regurgitator will return to Townsville for Groovin the Moo this year, although Quan’s not giving too much away in terms of what punters should expect or of what the band expects from punters. “We’re just a bunch of old dudes. I think it’s going to be three old dudes doing their thing. I mean we do have lot of energy still, we haven’t got fat. Somehow. We’re all still enjoying life and I think that channels through our music. “The thing with Groovin the Moo is it’s for younger people who probably haven’t heard a lot of our music, or have only been familiarised with it through parents. Some of the generations missed it and for some people it’s gong to be a whole new thing that they maybe hate, or maybe they’ll be like ‘What is this? Why have I not heard this before?’ “That’s always a fun thing for us, we don’t really know.” Regurgitator will perform in Townsville as part of Groovin the Moo on Sunday 5 May 2019. For the full line-up and tickets, got to www.gtm.net.au
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FILM BROMANCE IN THE LANE Townsville Classic Films has unveiled its 2019 theme, moving on from Film Noir in 2017 and Monsters in 2018 to celebrate something a little lighter: Bromance.
“Our first film, Bullitt, is the celebration of a Bromance from afar, while our other films celebrate loyal mateship under extreme circumstances.”
Founder of Townsville Classic Films, Mark Enders said this year’s main theme was inspired by Connor and Sean Doyle, who run Hoi Polloi café in Denham Lane, where the series will be screened.
Throughout the year Townsville Classic Films’ Bromance series will include Bullitt (1968), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Breaker Morant (1980), They’re a Weird Mob (1966) and Sunday Too Far Away (1975).
“For some time the boys at the Hoi Polloi have told me about their undying love for Steve McQueen and have been angling for me to screen one of his films,” Mark said. “I agreed and took a little time to think about what theme could tie together Steve McQueen and the laneway. After themes like Film Noir and Monsters, it was time to look at a brighter topic, like love.
Mark said he hoped the series would encourage male audience members to share stories of their own Bromances, before looking at love through female eyes in 2020.
“Love is a powerful emotion that extends far beyond coupling and sexual attraction. Since the beginning of time blokes have loved other blokes in a platonic way and have managed to negotiate some of the social challenges that come with that… the attitudes of people like your parents, your partner or other friends and family,” said Mark.
| SARAH MATHIESEN
“Lanes can be dark disturbing places – as we’ve highlighted in the past – but they can also be romantic spaces,” Mark said. “I think the main reason people like coming to the lane for film screenings is because it is a romantic space, hidden away from the busy city traffic, stars up above, enjoying a film with friends or loved ones.” Townsville Classic Films will begin the Bromance series with Bullitt in Denham Lane on 23 March 2019.
image // Steve McQueen in Bullitt
ENYA SCORES SILVER SCREEN SCHOLARSHIP Aspiring Townsville actor Enya Flett has secured herself a Summer School Scholarship at the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, following a successful acting showcase in Los Angeles in December. Enya was one of just 200 Australian and American artists invited to perform at ARTS International in LA last year, where she was able to demonstrate her acting chops for some of Hollywood’s leading casting directors and agents. Enya said the ARTS Showcase equipped her with valuable insight into forging a career as an actor, from getting the headshot and audition right to defining and adhering to her own personal values. “There were a lot of people at the ARTS who are working as actors and actually getting paid for it,” said Enya. “Aaron Marcus was one of the gentlemen: he’s spent his life as a commercial actor for the pharmaceutical market. It’s a big niche – he basically said he’s done everything by looking sick. “And Abbie Cobb (NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Suburgatory) was our guest speaker. She said the most important thing is to be you. ‘You need to be humble, you need to be nice to make it in
| SARAH MATHIESEN
this industry’.” Through four performances – a monologue, a film scene, a TV commercial, and photography modeling – Enya secured three call backs from industry representatives who recognised her potential. “Studio LA was one, the New York Film Academy another, and the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. In the call backs, it was just wanting to speak with you and see where you could go with [acting] … if they could see you were enthusiastic, that’s how they gave out the scholarship.” Enya will now use her Summer in New York to delve deeper into the world of acting for film. “I love theatre, but they said if you want to get paid good money, or decent money, it is in film. So Summer School is about seeing whether I want to take film to the next level,” said Enya. “[The Conservatory’s program] is quite intense – five days a week from 9am to 6pm every day, training you as if you’re a professional actor. That will help me decide.” Enya will next perform locally in Townsville Little Theatre’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, 20-23 March at Dancenorth.
TOWNSVILLE CINEMA GROUP The Townsville Cinema Group has released its 2019 First Half program, featuring 17 awardwinning feature films from 12 countries. The line-up includes three Cannes Film Festival winners: Shoplifters (JAPAN), BlacKkKlansman (USA) and Donbass (Germany, Ukraine) For the full program and session times, visit cinemagroup.org.au
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HUXLEY.PRESS // FILM
image // Enya Flett by Hannes Danzfuss
THEATRE IT'S NO PICNIC
It’s not often that you choose to direct a play when its corresponding novel and movie put you to sleep. But that’s the challenge Director Alan Cooke set himself with Townsville Little Theatre’s first offering of the year, Picnic at Hanging Rock. “Reading the book, I thought ‘yeah okay’ – but then the film is better than any sleeping tablet I’ve ever heard of,” Alan said. “When I heard there was a stage script though, my interest came in reading it and realising that it was a workable vehicle: it’s something that I believe I could bring to life on stage, despite never seeing it alive even in a reasonably wellfunded film. “This play is adapted from the novel and movie, so there are challenges – because it is an open set – in making good use of the stage, moving 20-odd cast members around the space effectively, and maintaining audience interest and engagement.” Those familiar with Picnic would understand the cast size – but this in itself has posed its
| NATHAN TOLL
own challenges with the number far larger than your usual play. The age of the characters has also meant a lot of the cast will be taking to the stage for the first time. “Nurturing first-timers has always been a goal of mine,” said Alan. “The legacy has to be that we’re able to hand down to the people we’ve mentored and drawn in over the course of shows, because some of them will get hooked and want to stay, which is the way it has to be: we have to prepare to replace ourselves. I love working with this many people.” Aurora Robert (16) will make her Townsville Little Theatre debut as Irma Leopold. “I’ve only ever acted in classes, I’ve never performed in a show before. I’ve always had a love of drama though, which made me want to get involved in Picnic,” Aurora said. “It’s an Australian classic with mystery, depth of character, and all within the one space thanks to a really well-rounded script. I’ve loved the cast interactions and gaining more experience in my own acting ability; the whole show has been really fun so far.”
Alan said cast and character interactions were an important piece of the jigsaw that was often not focused on. “Relationships are important: one thing I’m interested in [as a Director] is always accentuating what is working, because I don’t believe it’s done enough. We’re always quick to point out what needs altering, but what happens less is pointing out what’s already working and the parts of scenes that are already there, which is what I’m driving myself to do.” For those familiar with the storyline, be prepared for the same mystery, in a different way. And for those unfamiliar, Alan said to come with an open mind. “Picnic at Hanging Rock stands as an icon in Australian literature. I hope people come with energy, interest, and respect for a job well done because that’s what I’m aiming for.” Catch Townsville Little Theatre’s Picnic at Hanging Rock at Dancenorth from 20-23 March. Tickets are available via trybooking.com
HUXLEY.PRESS \\ THEATRE
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| NATHAN TOLL
image // Theatre iNQ's Bridgees by Chrissy McGuire and supplied
All creative pursuits come with an element of risk.
really fun to be able to tell them they were getting their own show.”
It takes years of persistent work to be recognised, with a few gambles in between – and often those gambles don’t pay off.
DNA, written by Dennis Kelly, centres around a group of teenagers intent on hiding one big secret.
sure that we’re supporting every member of The Project: for every kid succeeding and doing well, there’s another one finding it really tough to get any work at all – but we still believe in them just as much.
“I’ve loved this play for a long time and have loved Dennis Kelly for ages too. He worked on Matilda with Tim Minchin, but this is not Matilda – this is anything but Matilda. This is the worst-case scenario of what those kids might grow into!”
“It’s a really tough industry, and getting more work in it doesn’t mean you’re any more talented. Talent schmalent. It’s a really tough game, and every one of these kids trying to make it in the industry needs our support until they do make it.
Terri explains the plot:
“The whole way through The Bridge Project, we’re preparing them so that when they do graduate, if they go to another town, they have the skills to put on their own shows and not be reliant on other people deeming them worthy of performing. They can make their own work – or their
But Townsville’s next generation of performers has never been in safer hands: Theatre iNQ’s The Bridge Project has been ensuring its graduating classes walk out with everything they need to make a career of theatre: thick skin, broad shoulders, solid training, big ideas and a never-say-die attitude. The current cohort of ‘Bridgees’ will be given their own chance to shine at the start of May, with Theatre iNQ’s next production, DNA, made entirely of Bridge Project students. Director Terri Brabon said, while the Bridgees are showcased alongside Theatre iNQ’s experienced actors in a number of shows each season, DNA would place them firmly in the spotlight. (That spotlight, of course, will also be operated by a Bridgee.) “Our Bridgees are involved in every show in some way – they were the leads in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017), and in cases like that they don’t need their own show. But this year, it felt like the third years in particular needed an opportunity to take on that level of responsibility,” Terri said. “As part of our training sessions for second- and third-year students we do scene studies, so unbeknown to them we’d been doing scenes from DNA for a while, without them realising they were being auditioned in a way. “I wasn’t going to tell them for ages but when we came back to training after the floods, I wanted to give them some good news. It was
“A bunch of school friends have done something really bad but try to cover it up. Once they’ve covered it up, there’s this sense that they’ve united in adversity, and they pat themselves on the back for it, before it starts
“The Bridgees have had a long journey to get where they are already, and it’s not thanks to us at all: I always say we’re a small town, big ville,” Terri said. “I was nurtured by a lot of people in my time training so I think it’s important to remember that the whole town should be proud of these kids because this whole town, at some point, has invested in them; whether it’s through council programs, drama classes, schools, or as audience members. “There are kids who have graduated from The Bridge Project who I know feel in their heart they will come back to Townsville one day: all of them know they’ll always have a home in Townsville and with Theatre iNQ. “They also all know I’m looking for someone to take over, and it will take two like myself and [set designer/actor/partner] Brendan. It’s really a team job and it isn’t even just the two: it’s not about replacing the old guard. These Bridgees all know how to run this place already, we’re always helping them learn everything about not just what’s on stage but how to run the business behind it as well.”
The whole town should be proud of these kids because the whole town has invested in them unravelling and lies just keep piling up. “One of the great things about DNA is that it’s scripted so that every role can be gender fluid and you can cast it however you like. Even though a character may be named ‘Richard’ in the script, he could just as easily be ‘Rachel’. The dynamics between characters are also really interesting: it’s about young people, but also has a bigger picture element: it’s about so much more than what’s on the page.” Terri said The Bridge Project provided its students with more than just stage experience. They begin to develop a sense of what their lives might look like, if they were to seriously pursue a career in the performing arts. “Being in theatre is a hard life and it’s very admirable for anyone to be attempting it. We make
own company – and that’s really important to us, it’s what [Brendan O’Connor and I] did. “The Bridge Project itself is quite a hard experience for the students; it really sorts out whether they want to do this for a living or not. They’re expected to put in nonstop effort, so you know they’re very committed to keeping this as a lifestyle.” The skills of The Bridge Project students are testament not only to the knowledge handed down from Theatre iNQ, but Townsville’s wider creative community. Past students have gone on to further training at institutes such as NIDA and WAAPA; to perform with the Australian Shakespeare Company; to secure recurring roles on major Australian television series; and more.
While DNA is an all-Bridge Project show, it will be held to the same high standard as any other Theatre iNQ offering. “Because we are charging people to come and see this, I make it very clear that I expect it to be the same Theatre iNQ standard. I think the kids carry that expectation for themselves as well. Knowing we’re putting the company brand behind them, makes them feel good but also work hard because they know how much that means to me. “In rehearsals, it’s all about failure. Fail gloriously, because then you’re learning something. But in performance it’s about making sure you work hard to succeed because the audience deserves that.” Catch The Bridge Project’s DNA at the Theatre iNQ space on Allen Street from 8-18 May, with tickets and information at theatreinq.com
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BEFORE
THEY WERE MUSICALS
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Musicals: big, bright, family-friendly fun. Plays: drab, dramatic, high-brow and a sometimes a little weird. While that’s probably boiling it down way too far, many a theatre-goer would recognise a clear distinction between musicals, “straight” theatre and the pre-loaded misconceptions that come with each. But Full Throttle Theatre Company will seek to blur the lines this year, as they present a season of plays that were ultimately adapted into monumental musical marvels. We sat down with Full Throttle’s Creative Coordinator Todd Barty to learn more about this exciting season. What exactly is the concept for Full Throttle’s season and where did the idea come from? The season is a season of plays which have since become well-known musicals. Musical theatre is the world’s most popular live entertainment. More people go and see musicals than go and see straight plays or live music and that’s certainly true here in Townsville. Townsville is a big musical theatre town with a thriving music theatre community and certainly the shows that are the big events of the theatre season, in terms of publicity and in terms of being in the public consciousness, are the musicals. Over the years I’ve kind of wrestled with why that is, to some extent, but I think it’s the popularity of variety ... So I kind of thought What can Full Throttle do... to plug into that [popularity] as a straight theatre company? A lot of musicals are based on other things first – a book, a film, sometimes a true story, but in many cases very good plays. There are a lot of very good plays that have almost fallen into obscurity because they’ve been eclipsed by their musical variant, so we’ve chosen three of those to make up our main stage season for Full Throttle this year. Which plays-turned-musical are on the line-up? The three we’ve landed on are Pygmalion, which is the basis for My Fair Lady; I Am a Camera, which is the basis for Cabaret – I Am A Camera itself is based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, which then became the play and then the musical, with a few films of both along the way; and finally Sweeney Todd, which is of course Sweeney Todd. The Sweeney Todd story is very old, however, the playwright Christopher Bond made a more sophisticated narrative for him and gave him a back story and motivation that he didn’t have previously. And the Christopher Bond version of the play is the one that the musical by Sondheim and Wheeler was based on. Are you hoping to win over some musical theatre loyalists with this programming? I hope the musical theatre crowd – and certainly the people who are involved in musical theatre, which isn’t a small group of people – as well as our regular audiences, [will be interested] in these three very good plays. You’re Directing (and appearing in) Pygmalion as the first production of the season. How does Pygmalion, the play, compare its musical counterpart, My Fair Lady? It’s interesting. Pygmalion’s had a long history of being tweaked, largely because of the unsatisfactory nature to many audiences of the original ending. Well, not so much the audiences as to nervous theatre promoters who
were looking for some kind of conventional happy ending; they’d be quite happy if Eliza did end up marrying Professor Higgins, if he did kind of thaw somewhat and compromise. The musical doesn’t quite give that solution, but it does make a compromise to have some kind of unity at the end; the ending of the play – I won’t give it away entirely – but it is much more inconclusive and it’s interesting to speculate where these two characters might go following the play. Other people have asked me about the horse racing scene which is quite famous in the musical – the Ascot scene – and I have to say that it’s not there. There are things that people will be familiar with from the musical that aren’t there but it has glittering dialogue, incredibly funny dialogue, so caustic that people are surprised that in the Victorian-Edwardian era something so lacerating could be written. Certainly, I think the cast was taken aback on the first reading. George Bernard Shaw first presented Pygmalion in 1913 but some of that commentary on the haves and have-nots, women and men and the changing tolerance of certain behaviour from group to group seems as relevant as ever, don’t you think? Yes, he probably foresaw the discussions that were coming very well and of course he was a social commentator, Shaw, and Pygmalion is probably one of his lighter plays but there’s still a rich vein of social commentary there. Higgins’ views on gender equality and social equality are quite progressive really. His behaviour is uncompromising so it’s interesting to watch him and Eliza kind of driving at the same thing, but at odds in the same way because when it comes to Higgins modifying his own behaviour and understanding the sensitivity that other people need, he’s very challenged. He understands the connection of language to culture and civilisation because that’s his field, he’s kind of autistically obsessed with that but he doesn’t understand manners, he regards them as a pretension that people wear to sidenote their status. Danette Potgieter (Samson, Road to Midnight) will play the iconic role of Eliza Doolittle. What was it about Danette that lead you to cast her in this role? Working with her in The Road to Midnight last year, [I learned] she’s a very game actress. She’s disciplined in the rehearsal room, but she brings that kind of focused playfulness that theatre needs. If there’s no playfulness it’s harder to work with an actor, if there’s no discipline either and it’s just entirely playful then that’s
not really what’s needed in a rehearsal room. But she brings that kind of risk to the table, she’s extremely open to direction, extremely flexible, very good actress with very good training; so I decided to do Pygmalion during the Road to Midnight and asked Danette to be Eliza, quite soon after. You’ve taken on the role of Professor Higgins yourself. How do you handle directing and acting in the same show? It comes from having a very particular idea. The characters that I play are characters that I have a very particular idea about how I see them and it’s just at a point where I feel I need to do that myself to have exactly what I want. It is a challenge and I often have to do things like do a run where I read my lines from off stage while I watch everyone else or this time, I’ll probably have someone when I do that in my place on stage. It is hard and I usually can’t give notes immediately. I have to go away and reflect and write down everything and then kind of post it to the actors or talk about it at the beginning of the next rehearsal. I have wanted to play Higgins for a long time and he is a delightful role to play in the things he gets away with saying. Who else have you cast? Max Lenoy (Waiting for Godot, We Will Rock You) is my Pickering; Barbara White (Summer of the Aliens) is Mrs Higgins and Sam Audas-Ryan (The Graduate) is Freddy Eynsford-Hill. He’s the young man who’s smitten with Eliza. He’s a young man from a historically wealthy family but not a currently wealthy family and the two Eynsford-Hill children are quite air-headed What should people who are either new to this story, or familiar with My Fair Lady, expect from Pygmalion? Don’t be prepared for heightened realism – there won’t be singing. Some of that wonderful Chauvin dialogue is in the musical, but be prepared for that to be amped up because the caustic insults and the comic vitriol add another level in the stage play, I think. It is rich in its social commentary, but it is light as well. It’s kind of caustic champagne. There are some debates around class and gender, but I don’t think it makes any conclusive judgement. There are statements in there, but it’s not brutal and I think people will be very entertained by it. Full Throttle Theatre Company will present Pygmalion at the Courthouse Theatre 24 April – 5 May. I Am A Camera will be staged in June, and Sweeney Todd in October.
| SARAH MATHIESEN 21
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OCEAN FILM WORLD TOUR @ BURDEKIN THEATRE
8
DZ DEATHRAYS @ DALRYMPLE HOTEL
PAGE 8
6
GALLERY 48 THE STRAND REOPENS
15-16
1RAR PRESENT ROCK SWINGS CHARITY CONCERT @ DANCENORTH
PAGE 10
8
BURLESQUE IDOL – TOWNSVILLE HEAT @ NORTH QUEENSLAND CLUB
16
9
GREASED LIGHTNING OPENS @ STAGE DOOR THEATRE RESTAURANT
PAUL ETTORE TABONE’S NOSTALGIA TOUR @ TOWNSVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY HALL
PAGE 17
PAGE 10
16
BRO CONCERT WITH THEODORE KUCHAR @ GEORGE KNEIPP AUDITORIUM, JCU
22
20-23
GRAEME CONNORS @ BROTHERS LEAGUES CLUB
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK @ DANCENORTH
22
MATT CORBY @ TOWNSVILLE ENTERTAINMENT & CONVENTION CENTRE
22
ULTIMATE INXS SHOW @ THE VILLE
27
MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR @ EVENT CINEMAS
30
THE SAPPHIRES @ BURDEKIN THEATRE
WE MADE THIS MAG WHAT CAN WE MAKE FOR YOU?
DESIGN - PRINT - MARKETING - PUBLIC RELATIONS - WWW.HARSHMELLOW.COM.AU 22
HUXLEY.PRESS // GET CULTURED
APR 3
CHARLEY PRIDE – 50 YEARS OF PRIDE @ TOWNSVILLE ENTERTAINMENT & CONVENTION CENTRE
4
DEATH BY CARROT @ BASE MAGNETIC
6
WOLFE BROTHERS @ DALRYMPLE HOTEL
PAGE 6 PAGE 2
6
12 APR to 12 MAY
DEAD LETTER CIRCUS @ QUAYSIDE TERMINAL
7-28
TAYLA COMELLI PROFILE EXHIBITION @ SYLVIA DITCHBURN FINE ART GALLERY
THE AUSTRALIAN ‘SETTLER’ PROBLEM AND MORE EXHIBITIONS @ UMBRELLA STUDIO CONTEMPORARY ARTS
PAGE 5
12
14
BUTTERFINGERS @ DALRYMPLE HOTEL
INAUGURAL ART GALLERY TRAIL WALK
16
THE ABBA SHOW @ BURDEKIN THEATRE
PAGE 20
20
PEKING DUK @ THE VILLE
24 APR to 5 MAY
PYGMALION @ OLD COURTHOUSE THEATRE
26-28
SHORT SEASON OF SHORT PLAYS
28
SPIRIT & SOUL FESTIVAL @ HERITAGE TEA ROOMS – ACCESS VIA BLACK RIVER BRIDGE
DUE TO FLOODS, PLEASE CONFIRM EVENT DATES WITH ORGANISERS.
GALLERY 48 We welcome art browsers. Wednesday and Saturday 12pm to 5pm f/gallery48thestrand gallery48thestrand@gmail.com www.gallery48thestrandtownsville.com
ARTISTS:
Vince Bray, Graeme Buckley, Heather Byrne, Gai Copeman, Jim Cox, Harry, Ed Kulpa, Anne Lord, Steve Maguire, Lynn Scott-Cumming, Anneke Silver.
image: Jim Cox, Big Leaf (detail).
HUXLEY.PRESS \\ GET CULTURED
23
image // Kinky Boots' Jeremiah Pau and Matt Isokangas will wait until 2020. by Mathew Currie
A FLOODY MESS The full impact of Townsville’s one-in-2000-year floods last month extended further than many initially thought, with local art galleries and performance venues forced to postpone or cancel future events while repairs take place. Umbrella Studio contemporary arts’ annual Members’ Exhibition, originally scheduled for 17 May – 23 June, has been postponed to the end of the year, replaced by The Partnershipping Project, Where to with Water and the NQCC Artist Postcard exhibition, which were supposed to launch at the start of March. Many shows scheduled to take place at the Civic Theatre and Riverway Arts Centre have been cancelled, and some postponed: North Queensland Opera and Music Theatre’s March production of Kinky Boots has been
postponed until 25 March – 4 April 2020. Kinky Boots’ Production Manager Sasha Pinches said it was unfortunate, but was unavoidable. “I don’t think anything that has happened in Townsville could have been avoided as this was an event unlike any other and hopefully one that will never happen to anyone again,” Sasha said. “The theatre technicians spent long days and nights during the floods trying to contain the water at the Civic – there was nothing anyone could have done. “It does give weight to the argument that Townsville needs an additional theatre space with the same capacity and capabilities as the Civic Theatre as we would love to be able to just ‘slot’ in somewhere within the theatre
calendar this coming year. Unfortunately other venues are just not suitable for this type of show.” The Civic Theatre is not the only performance venue requiring maintenance, with the Riverway Arts Centre, Pimlico Performing Arts Centre, St Margaret Mary’s Theatre, and the Castle Hill PCYC – usually home to Townsville Little Theatre rehearsals – all sustaining damage. Council were approached several times for further comments regarding both the Riverway and Civic Theatres without response. “We have already spent close to $50,000 preparing Kinky Boots for stage,” Sasha said. “Hopefully we can re-coup some of this money when we put on the show next year; some will sadly be lost forever. However it leaves NQOMT
| NATHAN TOLL
with a huge chunk of money tied up for 12 months and it means with the theatre closed again we lose that income to put towards future shows in the community. “This will take the company years to recover from but that seems to be the same for the entire community affected by the floods. So far the hours put into Kinky Boots run into the thousands. I have been working on this show with the production team since last September and the cast has been rehearsing for a couple of months at least three times a week with some rehearsing four.” For updates on Townsville City Council venue closures and event scheduling, follow Townsville Ticketshop. For updates on gallery scheduling and smaller community group productions, follow their respective pages.
6-9 June 2019
www.palmcreek.com.au
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TOWNSVILLE SUNDAY 5 MAY
SCAN WITH SPOTIF Y TO HEAR THE GTM201 9 PLAYLI ST
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