| Pestilence | Platform Youth Theatre |
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Facilitated by David Ryding
Performed by Jacinta Cross, Camille Lopez, Erin Mayne, Adam Marriott, Geoffrey Masters, Michele Owen, Joana Pires, Sarah Sabell
Production design adviser Tanja Beer
Part improvised theatre, part installation with a little dash of street performance, Pestilence, the last horseman of the apocalypse, is riding into view at the Synergy Shopfront Gallery in Northcote as part of the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Performed from 12pm to 4pm each Saturday of the Festival, the audience is invited to wander and linger in the space, and witness entirely improvised moments, stories and scenes – stay a minute, stay the afternoon and encounter an ensemble of improvised characters. And all for a gold coin donation.
Under the direction and guidance of artist David Ryding, Pestilence has been created with no script, just devised characters. The Pestilence performance ensemble comprises young artists from various backgrounds who aren’t comfortable calling themselves ‘just actors’ or ‘just writers’ or ‘just designers’ or ‘just performers’. These young people have been working with David Ryding since the beginning of August in devising, creating, producing and performing a multi-artform production.
The theme ‘pestilence’ is inspired by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is the overall theme for Platform Youth Theatre’s projects in 2008. Following on from a dark musical production inspired by the horseman famine – ENOUGH – which played at fortyfivedownstairs in July, the horseman pestilence will link in with the notion of the ‘plague’ of consumerism rather than a biblical plague of locusts or disease. The Syngery Shopfront Gallery, usually a hub for visual arts, will be stripped back and re-fashioned into a familiar supermarket setting which is non-descript in its generic atmosphere but universal.
Platform Youth Theatre works with professional artists to create theatre with, for and by young people. Since its first production in 1998, Platform has carved a niche for itself as a company with an innovative approach to making quality work. Pestilence is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, the City of Darebin, VicHealth and the Besen Family Foundation.
Platform Youth Theatre
Pestilence
Season: Saturday 27 September, 4 October and 11 October 2008 as part of the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival
Times: 12pm-4pm (audience members can come at any time during the four hours)
Venue: Synergy Shopfront Gallery, 253 High Street, Northcote
Tickets: Gold coin donation, no bookings
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