To kick off the start of summer, Arts House will open their home with four short and joyous works created by some of Melbourne’s leading companies and artists.
Arts House will kick off their summer with immersive works by four of Melbourne’s leading creatives, spanning a huge entertainment spectrum that promises something for everyone. Starting in December, the works featured will be SINK by Simona Castricum X Carla Zimbler, ENTITY by Back to Back Theatre, Soap Bubbles and the Forces Which Mould Them by Brian Lipson and Love Me (Bar) Tender by Stage Mom.
Arts House Artistic Director, Emily Sexton said she is eager to have audiences back inside the building. “These incredible works were all originally commissioned through our Housewarming call out in the middle of 2020 and we can now finally share them with everyone. These unforgettable experiences will remind people how wonderful live performance can be for the soul,” said Sexton.
What you need to know
Season 1 – 4 December 2021
Times Various – starting from 5.15pm
Location Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall
Address 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
SINK by Simona Castricum X Carla Zimbler
Underground music icon Simona Castricum combines her talents with the light and projection sorcery of Carla Zimbler to create SINK, a live sonic experience of uncommon depth.
SINK reinvents the stadium techno experience and strips it back to an intimate encounter. It is a music installation with loud percussive drumming, electronic music, sudden intense noises, flashing lights, smoke effects, haze and lasers.
ENTITY by Back To Back Theatre
ENTITY is rare hypnotic solo performance presented by one of Australia’s most loved theatre companies, Back To Back Theatre.
Performed by Back To Back Theatre’s longest-standing ensemble member Mark Deans, ENTITY is an intimate 15 minute side show for four people where a fascinating new species is conjured before their eyes. A double act between human and ‘the other’ – an amalgam of séance, party trick, alien encounter and horror movie.
Back To Back Theatre aim to create a space where people can reflect and can imagine what may sit ‘within us’ and ‘between us’. Deans explains, “People come, people laugh, people get big shock, people clap, people go home. The ways in which we regard other people, how we pick up on sameness or difference and how quickly we make judgement of the differences all play some consideration in ENTITY,” said Bruce Gladwin, Back To Back Theatre’s Artistic Director.
Soap Bubbles and the Forces Which Mould Themby Brian Lipson
Soap Bubbles and the Forces Which Mould Them is a free event where Brian Lipson invites one audience member to join him in a wonderland of dream, science and vulnerability.
Melbourne theatre maverick, Lipson, was inspired by nineteenth century scientist Sir Charles Vernon Boys and started performing experiments with bubbles. This new work conjures a world of beauty and suspense – it highlights that every bubble is a self-contained universe of infinite mystery and allure.
Lipson likens the event to a ‘floating ghost train.’ He explains that throughout the pandemic soap has taken on an entirely new significance, and says “In its bubble form, soap provides the perfect metaphor for the current fragility of our lives. This piece has gone through more changes than any other I have made. Its present form is a mystery to me and I’m very excited to find out what it will mean to me and to the few people that I am able to share it with,” said Lipson.
Love Me (Bar) Tender by Stage Mom
A tarot-like-experience at a bar, Love Me (Bar) Tender offers an exclusive intimate encounter with a friendly bartender. Two people can book time with a bartender, who is ready to lend a generous ear and find answers in a custom cocktail. Commissioned and presented for Darwin Festival in 2020, Love Me (Bar) Tender is for pairs with a taste for the unexpected.
Stage Mom artists, Hannah Fallowfield and Alberto Di Troia, explain that during the pandemic they were missing the pub, “We became fascinated about the age-old ritual of chatting over a drink in a bar. We realised there are times while drinking where emotions become more vulnerable and sometimes people seek counsel and validation from anyone who would listen, including the bartender,” said Fallowfield and Di Troia.
Tickets range from free to $20 and $10 BLAKTIX for First Nations Bookings artshouse.com.au.
