This year’s NEON sees five original new works from independent theatre makers and companies each presenting ten day seasons in the Lawler: Nicola Gunn’s Sans Hotel, Little Ones Theatre, angus cerini/doubletap, Antechamber Productions & Daniel Keene, and Tasmania’s Arthur. Murray is very keen to remind people not to make comparisons to last year’s productions. “It’s not fair to compare,” she says. “Whenever I can, I remind people that these are fresh companies and that we should take everything as new. We want to alleviate that pressure.”
“NEON is an opportunity to celebrate good work,” says Murray. “We are incredibly pleased at how the MTC audiences become audiences for independent theatre. It’s a true testament to how good the work is.” How does NEON choose which shows will be involved? “We don’t select the works,” Murray answers. “It’s not a curatorial festival. The companies have complete rein to choose what they want to stage. We want to maintain complete independent freedom. This is a festival of independent theatre and the theatre makers have to be free to choose what they want to present. We encourage people to invite us to their work throughout the year. I see a lot of independent work. We’re having conversations with those companies with works in development. I see a snapshot of diverse work.”
However, there will be inevitable comparisons between last year’s NEON and this year’s festival. How is 2014 different? “It’s grown,” says Murray. “We will have NEON up late, which is three Friday night play readings by MKA theatre. There are free activities in NEON extra, both for the public and for independent theatre makers, which has been reshaped and grown as well. We’ve moved the NEON extra conversations from the Sumner to the Lawler and book-ended the festival with them rather than having them in the middle.” The talks will ask the questions of who has the right to tell whose stories, and what Australian theatre is now. “We’ve included our free keynote conversation,” includes Murray. “We have the writing workshops and also Insight for Independents and the Commonground sessions. We’ve been collecting feedback regarding areas to grow. Commonground is about lighting design, set and costume design, and sound design and composition, for the types of people who wanted to engage with NEON and with each other, in an informal way with their peer circle, engage with issues rather than work and also just to network, anything that takes their fancy.”
One element of NEON which is bound to raise eyebrows is the inclusion of renowned director of theatre and opera, Barrie Kosky, who returns to Australia especially to be part of NEON in a conversation with theatre critic Alison Croggan. Murray says Kosky was the top of her long list of choices. Why choose a practitioner who doesn’t live here to talk about independent theatre in Melbourne? “He’s an inspiration,” says Murray. “He’s an Australian with a career overseas and a long body of independent work and a strong relationship to art and culture. Whether you agree with him or not, whether you admire what he does or not, he’s in the position to talk about the global aspect of independent theatre and why he’s made the choices he has. We can stop and assess the current state of play in Australia, examine what happening here and now, and we can stop to take time to listen to someone who has actively pursued an independent career in Europe. You don’t have to love his work to be inspired by him. Without asking him to come with a provocation, his relationship with independent theatre makes him right for this. Unlike people who have been thought-provoking but then changed, he’s still out there doing it. He puts his money where his mouth is. He’s inspired conversation before. I’m certainly quite excited; I’m thrilled we can include this keynote conversation.”
Murray is proud of the fact that NEON celebrates a diverse kind of work, not just that of recent graduates from NIDA or VCA or emerging artists. “It’s about people who make theatre with all levels of expertise, celebrating freedom,” she notes. Is there anything Murray would like to see included that she’s not been able to program? “You can’t cover everything but there’s always room for growth. Resources are what they are,” she concludes.
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
