MIAF: Green / Small Metal Objects / Weyreap's Battle
Alison's Festival Diary #1
It's feeding frenzy time for Melbourne culture vultures: yes, Theatre Notes
has been donning her gladrags and mixing it with the bold and beautiful this
past week. I'm seeing as much as is consistent with sane living, which is
not as much as I would like, given the depth and interest of Artistic
Director Kristy Edmunds' program. But for your envious delectation, here are
Little Alison's reports on what she's been doing.
Read more at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Alison's Festival Diary #2
Songs of Exile , Diamanda Galas; Hamer Hall, Victorian Arts Centre.
There's no question that Diamanda Galas is demanding. She demands your
attention from the moment she walks on to the stage and paces, without pause
or preamble, towards the piano. She demands that you listen and that you
think. Most of all, she demands that you feel.
But the feeling she summons is no gentle waft on the airs of sentiment. For
Galas, feeling is passion: the passion of unconsoled grief and longing; the
passion for a precise and ethical beauty in the face of the unhealable
divisions which scar human existence.
And she earns the attention she asks for. The aggression with which Galas
performs contains the arrogance of a vast generosity. Galas will give us
her all: and she expects no less from her audience. For those who expect or
desire a lower-octane experience of art, something like what Barry Humphries
calls a "nice night's entertainment", this demand is more than confronting.
It is felt as an assault, and expresses itself in tedium. But for those
prepared to take up her gift, the experience is exhilarating.
Read more at http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
MIAF Knob-Jockey Awards
Theatre Notes is proud to announce the MIAF Knob-Jockey Awards, for
particularly stunning instances of critical philistinism during the
Melbourne Festival. Check out the nominations by clicking here through to
the Critic Watch blog .
Read more at http://criticwatch.blogspot.com
All the best
Alison
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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