Murray says there are various ways the independent theatre community reaches out to the independent theatre community. “We’re aware of artists and look at what they do next, we might have had conversations about something else; there are different points of access besides NEON, like the women directors program, for example.” The level of community interest engagement and support for NEON never ceases to amaze Murray, she says. “There’s so much support for it. There’s a real collegiate atmosphere. It’s so beautiful. But I’m a bit biased!”
Some of the companies and artists involved include Dirty Pretty Theatre with The Lonely Wolf, as well as new works and readings by new companies such as the People of Colour Performing Arts Company’s Yes Way, a new work about migrants who have made Australia Home. The non-Anglo features too in a reading of The Day I Left Home from Rasma M Kalsie and a reading of Sean McIntyre’s Kids presented by Jimmy Flinders Productions. NEON 2015 features three works about transgressive women, and not necessarily nice women either, with Calamity, ‘part musical, part western and part biography’, by The Zoey Louise Moonbeam Dawson Shakespeare Company, a worklooking at ‘difficult women’ (Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane, for example) and the way they’ve been traditionally portrayed; there’s Elbow Room with We Get It, pitting the great heroines of classic theatre against each other; and at long last Patricia Cornelius’s work will be seen on the mainstage: she and director Susie Dee bring Cornelius’s new work Shit to NEON, about girls (not famous ones), behaving very badly indeed.
Murray reckons there’s little chance of independent companies not being noticed by the MTC. “If they’re creating, and if they’re putting work out into the world and they’re ready for this level of exposure, we’ll be aware of them.” Murray says the team of seven involved in sourcing the shows for NEON is ‘across what’s happening out there.’ “We see a lot of theatre every week. There are artists we’re aware of and we look at what they’re doing next.” Murray says the NEON Festival stays ‘true to its word’ in so far as not having any curatorial aspect to it – in other words, the independent theatre companies and artists have complete artistic freedom. MTC provides support but not interference. “We haven’t read the scripts,” she says. “That’s not part of the theatre making process of NEON. We watch each production in the rehearsal room but our conversations with the companies around the productions are usually about health and safety issues!”
The festival has other activities besides productions going on. “It’s important to us to put other activities on around the shows. It creates dialogue and points of access for other artists and for theatre lovers to get involved.” There’s a NEON Residency, this year occupied by RAWCUS Ensemble. “Humbling and beautiful and fascinating,” is how Murray describes her experience of working with these performers. “We ask what we can do to support them, offer them access to things they might not have, like a voice specialist, which will be of great benefit to their ensemble. The Master Class opens up the NEON Extra to performers with or without disabilities.”
Murray reckons there are some high-calibre theatrical mash-ups in this year’s NEON. One of the company productions in NEON is MKA Theatre, with Double Feature, a mash-up of Lucky and Lord Willing & The Creek Don’t Rise, the latter which was a NEON 2014 Up Late Reading. The Last Tuesday Society will also present Pimp My Play which Murray describes as being almost like a theatresports. “They’re an amazing group of artists. They take an existing work, divide it all up and put it back together. It’s shambolic but fun, very tongue-in-cheek. It’s great to see that kind of thing within the walls of the Southbank Theatre,” says Murray. “There’s a little bit of ‘how dare you!’”
This year the NEON Bar is moving into the Southbank Theatre foyer. “It symbolises how important NEON is to the MTC. The company is willing for NEON to take over the entire establishment even though there will still be mainstream productions happening at the same time,” says Murray. “It’s quite exciting. Wait until you see my decorations!”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
