Michelle Buxton and Andrew Walker, co-creators of MAP 57 in partnership with Strut & Fret Production House, are bringing their festival experience to Melbourne following 17 successful years of their Adelaide event, The Garden of Unearthly Delights. From its humble beginnings in Rundle Park with a Spiegeltent and one tiny bar, The Garden has grown to become an attraction that generates more than 750,000 visitors each year.
“It’s grown from there really slowly,” says Buxton. “It’s just two tiny companies. We don’t have any funding or anything so we’re just slowly building it up as we go. It’s created its own magic very gently and organically over time.”
That magic is being transformed and transported to Melbourne for the next two months, a move that’s particularly close to Buxton’s heart given she calls the city home. But the appeal of creating a festival specifically for St Kilda is more than a sentimental one for the creators of MAP 57.
“Melbourne is, as far as I’m concerned, the very centre and capital of live performing arts in this country,” says Buxton. “It’s great for comedy, it’s great for music, it’s great for big cabaret — it’s a great privilege to do it here.”
The festival certainly covers a wide range of performing arts with a program curated to ensure there’s something for all ages. From hit cabaret show BLANC de BLANC and family-friendly Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to Northern Territory dance troupe Djuki Mala or the unique experience of Disco Yoga, MAP 57 boasts a program of diversity, new experiences and, of course, great entertainment.
“BLANC de BLANC is such a great show and I guarantee a good time,” says Buxton. “A glass of champagne and a bit of BLANC de BLANC will go a long way. Then you’ve got shows like Djuki Mala which is the best all-ages show I’ve come across in a long time. It is such a riotous good time and it’s really great when you find a show that actually can please all ages in one show. That’s a real skill.”
MAP 57 will celebrate the arts with shows at two live performance spaces: the Aurora Spiegeltent and the Box. The shows are set to provide visitors with the kind of unique experiences that Buxton knows are essential to the appeal of the arts.
“The little hairs that stand up on the back of your neck when you walk into a live performance space, something amazing is happening and you’re sharing it with other people — there isn’t anything that makes me feel better. It’s being part of something that is actually happening.
“There’s a lot to be said for trying something new,” says Buxton. “There’s nothing to be lost by having a new experience. I think that’s probably the whole point of the Garden and MAP 57 – go and see a live show because you might just have the most amazing night of your whole life.”
