Some missing images of old work..

A picture I took of Strange Fruit performing in Spain. I did duplicate costumes for this show, Field in 2007.


Still from the 2006 TZU video clip, In Front, directed by Anto Skene. I did the production design.


Still from the 2006 Tex'n'Tim video clip, Everybody Hates You When You're Popular, directed by Anto Skene. I worked on art department.


Photo of one of the bedrooms on set of the 2005 TV series Forget The Rules, where I ran the art and wardrobe departments.


Still from the 2004 production of Treibgut by Titanick Theatre Company in Germany, where I worked in the costume department.


Still from the 2002 feature film, "The Sticks", directed by Marcus Shutenko. I worked in the wardrobe department.


Still from the 2002 "The Half Light" theatre production by Forgets To Blink. I did costumes, set design and performed in the piece.

puppets, rock bang, hazmats and cakes

some recent projects I've been working on:

making fake cakes... Art Director on Daniel Koerner's upcoming film 'If I Dance will it Keep me Warm'


dancin the go go... Dancer in the 'Rock Bang' video clip for Die Roten Punkte, choreography by the lovely Anna


making Hazmat suits... Production designer for TZU 'Mondays' video clip, directed by Anto Skene


making puppets with the kids... A creative arts program I just completed at a primary school for The Song Room

taking the air with panther, kittens and girls girls girls

A few great exhibitions and shows I've seen recently:
Inside Out, a beautiful photography exhibition by Fiona Wood Upstairs@TheNapierHotel.
Taking the Air with Master Basho and Maestro Ravel, an exhibition of jewellery by Jennifer Martin at EgEtal on Flinders Lane - stunning pieces with story and soul.
Girls Girls Girls, a collaborative show at the Carlton Bar & Studios - great ladies, great work - the 70's sex collages and the enormous scale pencil case were standouts.

2 shows as part of the Melbourne Festival:
Kitten by Jenny Kemp at The Malthouse - incredibly acted, polar bear suits and silver balloon fish, fascinating writing and great lighting.
Exercises in Happiness by Panther at a warehouse in Carlton - a series of interactive tasks to measure your happiness, as rated by the audience/participants.

Panther did a fantastic job putting on this show. Staged as a social experiment, with results of the participant's happiness published by Crawl online daily, it allowed individual exploration of the concept of happiness, in an space that necessitated a comfortable level of interaction with others. 'Exercises in Happiness' is of great interest to me in relation to The Playground Project as it looks to define, or question, a pursuit of something that makes our daily lives a better place.
Activities included playing an electric guitar, indoor gardening, watching porn, listening to Beethoven, eating cake over conversation, hitting a pinata and reading in bed.

dance-a-thon 6000

There were 52 of us from Anna's Go Go Academy dancing The Madison at Dance-a-thon 6000. An incredible mix of dance troupes - a veritable adult rock eisteddfod! Hosted by the ever wonderful Town Bikes. My favorite was the record breaking effort by the audience - 300 people rocking the ribbons, interpretive dancing to Fleetwood Mac. Enough said.

Monkey Magic

Initially I made some costumes for this wonderfully tacky production of Monkey Magic, part of the 2008 Fringe Festival. Then got pulled in to play Yellow Demon's wife. It's been heaps of fun actually - definitely a while since I've had to learn lines though! The live band do a great score to the staged episode and Yellow Demon is especially hilarious. Read the review from The Age here.

Attack of the Evil Chi and Other Recent Events

A stunning chest-pulling, smile-giving evening at the Myer Music Bowl for the Yelling At Stars show (congratulations to all involved), surrounded by fog and concrete cold, we pumped our hams down to the Corner Hotel to see the Eddy Current Suppression Ring album launch, hard and loud and pulse-filled play. A warehouse of friends and fire-side burning. Misty-eyed morning.
And it is baby-blessings and engagement parties, such ADULT play, rinked with tea-lights in graters and patches for quilts.
And it is out for food, in a small well-lit delicacy that sits on your tongue.
And it is sewing and preparing and letting patterns play their own way out.
A drive in the country. Winery.Gallery.Lookout. Bathing in sparkling mineral water as the knots are kneaded out of the back.
And back. Blasted by the wind.
THERE'S NO FUN IN THIS. So ill. Poison in every muscle. Bedridden as the waking-dead. Fever dreams of soap-opera dramatic dying. Too many episodes of Arrested Development. The Bluth company will tear my head open.
Attack of the evil chi. Boo.

white blisters

a new set of costumes for Strange Fruit...blinded by the white
StrangeFruit


Photo courtesy of Strange Fruit

Great Wall of Books

As part of some recent construction training, I helped out for a few days on the re-build of Well Theatre Company's Great Wall of Books. Check out upcoming shows this year in Macau and Federation Square in Melbourne.
WellTheatre

Program for Playground Open Studio

Photograph: Rachael Perry

PROGRAM FOR THE OPEN STUDIO GIVEN TO AUDIENCE
(we asked the people there to give us as much feedback as they liked - the program was just a little background of the project)

THE PLAYGROUND

Performance/Installation looking at the way adults play...
Play is escaping and imagining. No in-turned eyes on yourself. Appreciating the here and now.

To develop the performance aspects of Playground over the past two years Nancy has facilitated performers through physical theatre workshops. These sessions where about delving into the performers personal imagination and through the body exploring what play means to them. Nancy was aiming to find physicality that had a pure quality of Play.

The design of The Playground focuses on ways that objects, space, colour and costume can instil a sense of play in the participant. In its entirety, The Playground is an interactive installation. The recent development of the design element has focused on altering levels, depth of field, scale, frames/opacity and placing surprising objects together, as a way to promote imagination and play.

Music is an important element of Playground. We are fascinated by how it arouses performer and audience. We are curious about how music might assist an image. Music effects the imagination, emotions and reveals narrative meanings.

Past developments have also focused on how performers can guide audience towards taking part. But at this stage we want the audience to sit back and to observe the playful act. When the performer reveals the private is it exciting?

This open studio is the culmination of a one-week intensive development of The Playground project. It was aimed at exploring how a performer and designer can work side by side in a creative space.

OUR GOALS:

• Explore repetition through the relationship between movement and design
• To return to the basics of creating theatre; working with a set frame, creating narrative in space and designating where audience is seated.
• Performer: create 3 movement sequences that evoke Nancy’s personal sense of play.
• Designer: create 1 image (still or life) that captures play – analyse what elements are present
• Fuse the performance and design process: must incorporate the swing structure and popular music and the swing


Thanks to the Spark team, Bernard and the staff at Cubby’s, Strange Fruit, Fitzroy Town Hall, Paul Mognahan, Mark, Ben, Ness, Amy, Anita, Corey, Fraggle, Rachael and all those involved in the project so far!

PLAYGROUND OPEN STUDIO

I decided that lighting was to be the main way to affect the space. Some simple props were added. On the thurs night we had a play with lighting and the space came to life more at night – could really use the depth of field. This element made it worth using the playground. Was great to have some large structures – the swings – to create movement. And the mounds, the logs – to experiment with what you can and can’t see.

Photograph: Rachael Perry