Ben Cobham
Kate McCartney
AUSTRALIAN
Premiere
NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
WORLD
Premiere
Panther’s Exercises
in Happiness
Helen Herbertson
& Ben Cobham
Sunstruck
Presented by Panther and Tape Projects in association with
Melbourne International Arts Festival
This latest offering from the award-winning creative
partnership behind the acclaimed Morphia Series
We ask you ‘What you would do if you lost everything?’
You say, ‘Start again.’
Helen Herbertson and Ben Cobham team up with long time collaborator
Trevor Patrick and Nick Sommerville in this corporeal evocation of the mind’s
eye. Stripped back to movement, light and design essentials, Sunstruck exists
in a landscape of isolation, absence and the dislocating slippage of memory,
reality and the imagination.
Originally developed in 2006, Exercises in Happiness is a big-hearted
performance installation involving audiences in activities designed around
the possibility of happiness.
For this Festival reprise Panther works to explore our restless need for a good
feeling in these increasingly uncertain times.
Panther has investigated happiness in depth; working in multiple cities,
interviewing people in shopping centres, on the streets and in art spaces. They
have scoured histories, articles and economic reports. They have thought about
earlier civilisations, all striving for happiness from the beginning of time. Now
Panther invites you to make up your own minds about happiness.
Panther is a performance collaboration between Madeleine Hodge and
Sarah Rodigari. Based in Melbourne, their collaboration is compact,
adaptable and open and extends across disciplines to create live art events
specific to each space and every encounter. Tape Projects promotes the
wealth of talented and emerging artists who practice media art and hybrid
forms not necessarily suited to the traditional gallery format.
Herbertson’s imaginative dance performances have been a regular feature
of festivals in recent years. A seminal figure in Australian dance, she was the
recipient of the 2007 Kenneth Myer Medallion for Distinguished Contribution
to the Performing Arts.
Cobham has made a striking contribution to the dance/theatre scene with yearly
Green Room Awards. He has extensive experience with many of Australia’s
leading arts companies and directors both nationally and internationally.
Concept Collaboration
Helen Herbertson & Ben Cobham
Direction Helen Herbertson
Design & Lighting Ben Cobham
Performance Trevor Patrick,
Nick Sommerville
Project Management
Bluebottle 3 (Frog) & Moriarty’s Project
Shed 4
Docklands end of Bourke St
Nth Wharf Rd
Melways Ref 2E:D7
Full
Groups (8+)
Conc
WARNING: An exercise in this work contains sexually explicit material,
the discretionary viewing of which is restricted to people over 18.
Tape Space,
Level 1, 81 Bouverie St
(Cnr Queensbury St), Carlton
www.melbournefestival.com.au
www.tapeprojects.org
Sat 11 & Sun 12 Oct
Sat 18 & Sun 19 Oct
Sat 25 Oct
2pm – 8pm daily
Mon 13 – Sat 18 Oct
at 8pm & 9.30pm
40min no interval
$5 on the door
This project was developed through
the support of the Performance
Space and Culture Lab at the Meat
Market through Arts Victoria and the
City of Melbourne.
Supported by Tape Projects and
crawl.net.au
$28
$25.20
$22
Discounts apply. Save up to 20%.
See page 2 to details.
Ticketmaster 1300 136 166
www.melbournefestival.com.au
Dress Warmly
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This project was created with the
assistance of Arts Victoria and the
Australia Council.
Supported by Faculty of VCA,
University of Melbourne
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