Jake Oldershaw

Just two more days of festival to go over here, all gone so quickly as always and even with a week off to explore with a campervan i'll never even get close to seeing all the things i'd like to. Such is the case with a three week run of the rice i've been through a mill of emotions from nervous excitement, boredom and back again. Like going out for a long walk - you think you'll never make it and suddenly it's all over.

It was very busy in the show yesterday with 6 different school groups coming through alongside general public with a whole range of needs, questions and responses. My groups included a rural private school group with a quite worrying split of pupils - half white australian, half chinese with little or no communication between the two. a fantastic group of younger pupils who really engaged before even coming into the main hall, and a thoroughly mixed group of recently immigrated students.

It felt to me like they were using the show as a catalyst to make sense of their checkered personal histories, those of their friends and others, and that in this country famed for rejecting difference it was a chance to feel a little more at home. At one stage i was talking to 3 students from Malaysia, Sudan and Tibet about their journey to the country, the HIV epidemic and sub-saharan africa.

This just after a very emotional talk with a man who was returning to the show to see how it was used educationally. He told me that as an australian Jew he had intially been outraged by the placement of all the people killed in the holocaust close to all the russian civlilans who died in world war two. It transpired that he wanted to return to tell someone how angry he had been, and how on reflection he had realised that because the rice is so neutral in terms of statement - a visual representation of two accepted and horrifying death counts - his anger was a result of his own preconceptions and agendas. It's completely understandable of course, and as we stood there, two strangers sharing a moment of monumental personal and historical significance, it was impossible not to well up with emotion.

Take a breath and it was back to asking a kid to stop running, picking up a few stray grains of rice,wondering why the world turns so quickly.

Posted by Jake at 03:01 AM | Permalink

The 'ten best' articles that are ubiquitous these days will invariably tell you that Melbourne is one of cities with the highest quality of life in the world. Generally I can't stand all that '10 things to do before you die horribly in a bungee accident' rubbish but as i sit here in my 21st floor appartment on Southside, recovering from a couple of weeks hard work and hard play, i can confirm it's all true.

I can't help feeling extremely privileged working on 'Of all the people in all the world'. We have travelled to some fantastic places in the last year and been able to contribute creatively and meaningfully to the discussion of local and global issues wherever we've been. From such a minimal concept the show packs a mighty punch, capable only of being comprehended when you actually experience it live. There are so many good things about the show i can't even be bothered to begin talking about them at the moment but i think one of the most positive aspects is that we as performers/functionaries/cleaners/curators/call us anything you like - constantly inhabit the space. This makes for a discourse with the audience that is pretty much unique. Risky children who are left to their own devices by ignorant or exhausted parents become hypnotised by the work if you will just spend 5 minutes with them. As Graeme pointed out in Norwich, adults who are finding the experience heavily emotional have a chance to voice their incredulity/anger/malaise directly to the people who are responsible for it. It all makes for quite an exhausting days work i can tell you.

Given that, i've been cutting loose a bit more than normal in an attempt to let go of all the days baggage (some performance cliches still ring true). 4 days into the festival and i've managed to dance into the small hours every one and see 3 shows - reactions to which among the company have been pleasingly mixed, with the exception of Tim Robbins' 1984 which was pants.

The other 2 shows, both in the SBC style Hamer Hall both promised a lot but delivered very differently.

Camille is an irish singer who takes the songs of Cave, Waits and Brel and murders them by using them as a vehicle for her own ego. (I'm sure she's lovely and i feel bad for saying that because she obviously works so hard and has good taste).

Insen is a collaboration between Alva Noto and japanese pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Superb synergy between the sonic and visual with clarity and emotion (Produced by a crew largely from back home which includes an old friend, Simon MacColl). I met Ryuichi in the performers bar last night. SO softly spoken and oozing cool, i did my best not to get all isleowight gushy.

Word has to go to the man responsible for getting us all here ultimately. James Yarker, artistic director of Stans Cafe, back home looking after office and family. Cheers boss.

Posted by Jake at 04:28 AM | Permalink