My theatre comes from real stories. Life itself, a person´s true story is always the most extraordinary. I aim for a theatre that expresses imagery through its physicality, the ability to use the body, whatever age or condition the body is in, the journey to explore and improvise movement and gesture that comes naturally for that body, drawing from memory and personal story. I work with symbols, objects that represent a memory, both for the performer´s journey and for the performance and above all, a theatre that is brave in telling and asking.
1999-2003. Brunswick Women´s Theatre, Melbourne. Performed at many locations, theatre and public spaces in Melbourne. I was trained by Australian Director Catherine Simmonds, later Canadian Director Theatre for Living, David Diamond. And so began my projects with Forum Theatre by Theatre of the Oppressed of Brazilian Director, Augusto Boal.
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed, Brazil,
David Diamond, Theatre for the Living, Canada (View link…)
2004. During my international residency in Spain, I directing a short performance with four young performers about growing up in an urban setting; monotony and mobile phones.
2005. Barcelona. Trained with Theatre of the Oppressed Director, Barbara Santos. Barbara´s training was hosted by Trans-formas Theatre Co. We all made the shift from our theatre directing projects for a couple of days, to be in a theatre space again, as participants, all together, under Barbara´s theatrical microscope.
2005. Co-directed a week of workshops and two Legislative Theatre scenes with German Theatre Director, Till Baumann, Sabisa, Berlin. These workshops and performances were part of the CCD training/workshops at the Granollers International CCD Conference, Barcelona.
The two scenes were based on housing issues as experienced by the workshop arts worker participants living in Barcelona. The scenes showed situations in which residents were forced to suddenly pay much higher rent, demonstrating current increases in rental properties where residents do not have written signed agreements with their landlords. Another scene depicted the current shortage of housing in Barcelona and the increasing frustrations of residents who struggle to find affordable and liveable housing.
The scenes were played out as Forum Theatre, in which the audience was invited to offer and improvise alternative situations/resolutions.
In accordance to a Legislative Theatre experience, the audience then attended a workshop led by a local lawyer who informed the group on current laws and resident rights related to the scenes.
Working with Till Baumann. Look at Oct/Nov 2005 on this site (View link…)
2006. Co-directed with Txus Pedrosa, a performance in Barcelona called espejito espejito (mirror mirror), with a 15 women all aged over 60 at Can Bassa, Centro Civic. This was a much longer process working with Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. Two symbols, an apron and a book, were the focus of a performance that explained lives of illiteracy and child labour in domestic services in 1950´s southern Spain.
The performance also celebrated the women´s enduring spirits and their current plight in very different lives they have now, able to develop skills and participate in women´s weekly gatherings and literacy classes at Can Bassa, their local community centre. This project is the third stage of projects, following a process with photography and a documentary project in 2005. After two full house performances we were asked by Granollers Council to give a third performance a few months later.
(photography © Vivian Lyon, 2006)
2007. Barcelona. Co-directed second theatre project with the women of Can Bassa, Granollers. This project explored personal stories related to different phases of these womens´s lives related to their self discoveries of sexuality, child birth and married life, growing up in southern Spain, during the 1950´s when women were told that newborns came from the vegetable garden.
This project is presented as four stories in sequential order highlighting different stages of their lives. From running away from home with a boyfriend as a young teenager, giving birth alone in a field, and discovering her husband´s infidelities, the women are emotional, honest and humourous story tellers while other performers act as the chorus, presenting through movement, the physical interpretation of each story.
The performance, titled ROJO – RED, funded by Granollers Council and hosted by Can Bassa Community Centre, celebrates International Women´s Day, 2007.
2007. Upcoming project: A bilingual performance (Spanish/English) at VUT Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Funded by ICEPA, working title Moments of Identity, this project aims to create relationships between Spanish students, Spanish speaking artists and Spanish/Latin American organizations in Melbourne, Australia. This performance will be presented at Maribyrnong Cultural Festival, More than Words, May 2007.
VU Victoria University, Theatre Project 2007,
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