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Last night we had the sing-along performance of Keating!. It’s not entirely clear how we got to be doing that… well, yes it is. A member of our audience, Sue Morgan, wrote to us suggesting it. Intrepid staff member, Siobhan Robertson, pushed for it. There was resistance - from me, from some of the band… but it was the end of a two year run and we thought, well, there’ll never be another chance. And, let’s face it - I do enjoy a bit of chaos. The band came on board and so, the 411th performance of Keating! was a sing-along. The atmosphere in the theatre before the show was anarchic – it was packed with people ready for anything. I gave a little pep talk to say there were no rules, that we could be courting disaster, that if it was going to be fabulous it was up to the audience to make it so. Well. What was amazing was not that people sang – they had lyric sheets and they did let rip! No, what was amazing was how 700 people could sense together how to participate, how to play. There was the most wonderful collective instinct at work – listening to the show and responding to the performers, the audience at times shut up, at times cheered characters on or booed them off, clapped complex rhythms… It was the most spontaneously imaginative response and it was shared through the entire house. It reminded me of Tim Winton’s response 10 years ago when he flew from Perth to see the final night performance of Cloudstreet in its original Sydney run in January ’98 down in the shed at Darling Harbour. “It wasn’t like we were at the theatre at all”, he said, “it was like we were watching the footy, cheering players on and off, breathlessly watching the action, enjoying and laughing and forgetting ourselves in the unfolding of events”. Times like these for me are as good as it gets – and really what the ongoing experiment of Company B is all about: creating a live experience that is unforgettable, unique and specifically a fusion of the creative energy in that space on that night. The actors and the audience together conspire to create a distinct and unrepeatable experience of joyful surrender. Our work in 2009 looks hard at our world and at our future. It moves from wheatbelt WA to Sydney to London to Baghdad to Warsaw to Leningrad to Melbourne. Or rather our dream of these places, for theatre is a collective dream: it can and should be. It’s wonderful to welcome four new directors to the Upstairs Theatre: Rachel McDonald, Geordie Brookman, Simon Stone and Wayne Blair — the last three all with particular triumphs in our B Sharp Season Downstairs. And there are plays by Samuel Beckett and Brendan Cowell, David Hare and Dorothy Hewett, Alexei Arbuzov and Harold Pinter, Hassan Abdulrazzak, Mikhail Rudy and Wladyslaw Szpilman and a beautiful work for the family by Richard Tulloch from Guus Kuijer’s dazzling The Book of Everything. Come and see the lot! (And feel free to sing along…) We should say that we will be taking Exit the King to Broadway and The Seed all over Australia. There may be more Company B voyaging to tell you about soon… Love,
Download 2008 Annual Report (PDF 1.0 Mb)*
* Requires Acrobat Reader |
Company B is one of Australia's most respected and celebrated theatre companies. Under Artistic Director Neil Armfield and General Manager Brenna Hobson, the company performs at its home, the historic Belvoir St Theatre located in Surry Hills, Sydney where it stages a 12 month Season of work. The company also tours to major arts centres and festivals both nationally and internationally. Company B works with Australia’s most prominent and promising playwrights, directors, actors and designers to present an annual artistic program that is razorsharp, popular and challenging. Belvoir St Theatre’s greatly loved Upstairs and Downstairs stages have been the artistic watering holes of many of Australia’s great performing artists such as Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Jacqueline McKenzie, Noah Taylor, Richard Roxburgh, Max Cullen, Bille Brown, David Wenham, Deborah Mailman and Catherine McClements. View Company B Productions Work ExperienceCompany B offers high-school students in Year 10 the opportunity to do one week of work experience. Demand is high for a limited number of places. All places for 2009 have already been allocated. Students interested in a work experience placement in 2010 should apply in writing using this application form and include a cover letter outlining their experience and areas of interest. Post to: VolunteersIf you have some time to spare the Marketing Team would love to hear from you. Assisting with archiving and mailings are two of the vital ways volunteers contribute to the work of the company. Belvoir St Theatre ShareholdersIf you are a shareholder of Belvoir St Theatre you are eligible to become a member of Company B. For more information about becoming a member of Company B, contact: John Woodland Company B Constitution (PDF 80Kb)* |
What is B Sharp? Now in its tenth year, B Sharp is a ground-breaking partnership between Company B and some of Australia's most exciting independent theatre production teams. The result is the annual B Sharp season presented in our Downstairs Theatre. |
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