Artslab: Reverb — Review
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ArtsLab is Shopfront’s flagship program for emerging artists who want to create their own work. Throughout the 6-month intensive, artists work alongside peers and their chosen mentor to craft and refine their art, culminating in a festival put on at Shopfront Arts Co-op in Carlton. This year’s ArtsLab:Reverb stands apart from previous years through its sheer volume of talent with 50+ creatives and 8 unique pieces that tackle issues relevant to today, prompting interesting conversations.
Mummy I’m Scared! is an absurd comedy written and performed by Fia Morrison that depicts three sisters (Fia, along with her collaborators Alison Cooper and Georgia Condon) trying to summon their recently deceased mother. Mentored by Mish Grigor, this piece is irreverent, hilariously meta, and full of wit. Devised as a love-letter to Fia’s recently deceased Nanna, Jocelyn Pfanner, for teaching her to believe in ghosts, this show is absurdism at its best.
Ultrareality is a 35-minute performance art endurance work by Resinperson that analyses the connection between our eyes and technology. Or, as they describe it “a synthetic opera in a trial universe; in order to immanentize change in a false reality one must wear the skin of a replicant existence and devour its last within.” Mentored by Maruc Whale, this psychedelic experience is a great mixture of an acid trip with a nightclub. The evocative, pressing sound design and horror-equse puppets (particularly the many eyed face mask), designed and built by co-collaborator Oliver Durbidge, leave the audience questioning ‘To what extent am I just a passive observer being fed information in today’s society?’ Or, to quote the show, ‘To what extend am I “Unplugged in?”’
manic pixie meltdown is both a meditative tale of the titular manic pixie, Teddy, and a deconstruction of (a ‘break’down of) the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ trope. It was written by Thea Jade in response to her witnessing a heartwarming exchange between two young girls. “One girl brought a [toy] that another participant really took to. At the end of the session, she gifted it to her, excited by the joy it gave the other participant.” Thus, manic pixie meltdown was born in an attempt to connect communities together through storytelling. Mentored by Jules Orcullo, it achieves this by being the first all neurodivergent AFAB cast at Shopfront, inviting the audience into an authentic form or representation they may not have seen before.
REX is a one-man show where everything goes wrong (on purpose!). Written and performed by Jasper Lee-Lindsay he beautifully weaves together the story of The Theban Plays; Oedipus Rex (where the title comes from), Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone; and his personal life and loves. Mentored by Zoë Coombs-Marr, this show is deliriously funny and a miraculous demonstration of how to use Microsoft PowerPoint to its fullest extent.
Bunny Boiler is a 50 minute dramatic monologue about intergenerational trauma from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. Written and performed by Amelia Harding, it tells the story of a grief-stricken young woman and how she gets herself involved in a drunken hit-and-run. Mentored by Hannah Goodwin and directed by Luke Denvir, Amelia and her team pull on the audience’s heartstrings as we watch her devolve into the madness of the ‘rabbits/bunnies’ that have plagued her family for generations. A hauntingly poetic story, brilliantly performed.
We Have Stolen Our Bodies From God is an ‘almost-musical’ by composer and performer Matthew Forbes that reflects both his doubt about Christianity and the compassionate, Christians who exemplify the good that the church is capable of. Mentored by Jack Prest, the piece is neither overtly Christian nor antitheist, but rather a challenge to the prominent Christian groups and individuals who champion ‘climate denialism’, as signs of an imminent Judgement Day, as opposed to speaking out about climate change.The title, therefore, goes beyond the apparent religious imagery and becomes a rejection of the Rapture, and death itself by extension, as the core tenet of Christianity. Matthew builds a whole new world entirely through music, where each song feels like its own separate pocket universe or mini-narrative within a larger story, all coalescing to a final, powerful duet.
Tautua: A Journey is a beautiful cultural-immersion poem performance experience. Written and performed by Fale Tumanu, it tells the story of how she came to realise the importance of family, leadership and service. Tautua (which from context clues within the show I think roughly translates to ‘to serve’) takes on many different meanings; the different facets and roles she plays in her own life; the certain roles and responsibilities she adopted. But, what makes this work special, was the experience in the audience that night I was there. In an 80ish seat theatre, half of the seats were filled with Fale’s Sāmoan family, friends and relatives. At one point in the show, she starts singing a song in her native tongue, and the chorus that echoed through the theatre was transformational. Mentored by Grace Vauilau and Gabriel Faatau’uu-Satiu, this show is a truly breathtaking deepdive into Sāmoan culture.
Finally, Maybelline is in her Slut Era in an unabashed, irreverent comedy cabaret written and performed by Maybelline San-Juan. The show is a self-described “self-indulgent trauma dump special” that shows off Maybelliens talents to sing and dance (about her frivolous and tumultuous sex life). Mentored by Michelle Brasier, this is a story about girlhood and how women can do “anything”; meaning the good, the bad and even the ugly. After debuting the show to a sold out season at the Adelaide Fringe (where it won an award to take it to Hollywood Fringe in June!), her Sydney season brings the show home to where the titular “Slut Era” began. A joyful, vibrant, honest and heartfelt ride, well worth seeing for those 15 years or older.
A parting thank you and congratulations must be giving to Natalie Rose (Creative Director), Valentina Corona (Creative Producer), Tyler Fitzpatrick (Production Manager, Lily Hayman (Associate Producer), Ashleigh Ho (Producing Assistant), Daniel Ballen (Sound Designer), Jimi Rawlings (Lighting Designer), Georgia Tyrril (Emerging Lighting Designer and performer!), Lauren Oakes and the rest of the Shopfront team. Shopfront continues to be a shining light in Sydney’s creative arts industry and you all continue to create space for amazing art to be made. Artslab:Reverb is no different.
— Ben Webb