Heiner Goebbels
Germany
Australian Premiere
STIFTERS
DINGE
(Stifter’s Things)
Jack
Charles
V The
Crown
Australia
World Premiere
Starring
Jack Charles
Presented by Melbourne International Arts Festival
and Ilbijerri Theatre Company
A play without actors,
a performance without performers
and a concert without musicians
Legendary German composer, director and
multimedia maverick Heiner Goebbels invites
audiences to enter a fascinating space full of
sounds and images for his sonic performance
landscape Stifters Dinge.
Inspired by the 19th Century romantic writer
Aldabert Stifter, best known for his intricately
detailed and mystical descriptions of nature,
Stifters Dinge continues Goebbels’ trademark
inquiry into theatrical mystery and otherness.
“Strange and captivating
work. Magic.” New York Times
“Stifters Dinge: who cares
what it is? It's terrific.
Totally mesmerising.”
The Telegraph (UK)
This astonishingly beautiful and contemplative
work unfolds on a set of bare trees surrounded
by industrial construction. Five pianos, stripped
of their covers, are suspended sideways above
the stage. Across this bizarre landscape, the
pianos play, fog rises, rain falls, water bubbles,
objects move mysteriously and are set in motion
by robot-like apparatuses that create sound
effects. Idealised paintings of nature magically
appear. The score, performed in real-time and
recorded, includes original music by Goebbels,
selections from classical music, jazz works, and
traditional chants from South America and Papua
New Guinea. Recorded fragments of texts from
Stifter’s novels, and excerpts and quotations
from Claude Lévi-Strauss, William S Burroughs
and Malcolm X are woven throughout. Each
audience member will encounter these seemingly
disparate ‘things’ and can let their imagination
roam free to find their own meaning in this richly
comprehensive and totally mesmerising work.
Composer & Director Heiner Goebbels
Assistant Matthias Mohr
Lighting & Stage Designer Klaus Grünberg
Sound Willi Bopp
Programming Hubert Machnik
WARNING Smoke Effects
Please Note: Latecomers will not be admitted to
the performance
Event Information
The CUB Malthouse, Merlyn Theatre
Fri 8 – Mon 11 Oct at 2pm, 5pm & 8pm
Tue 12 Oct at 2pm & 5pm
1hr 10min no interval
Full............................................................. $55
Group (8+).............................................$49.50
Concession............................................. $41.25
Student........................................................$25
Save up to 20%. See page 72 for details.
Ticketmaster 1300 723 038
www.melbournefestival.com.au
M-Tix (03) 9685 5111
www.malthousetheatre.com.au
Co-produced by Theatre Vidy Lausanne with T&M-Nanterre Paris,
Schauspielfrankfurt, Berliner Festspiele - Spielzeit Europa, Grand Theatre
Luxembourg, Teatro Stabile Turino
Co-comissioned by artangel, London
Image: Mario Del Curto
A powerful one-man show shining
a spotlight on the colourful life
of one of the nation’s nearforgotten treasures
Jack Charles is one of Australia’s most highly
regarded performers. An Aboriginal elder who
pioneered Koorie theatre in the early 1970s, he
founded the first Aboriginal theatre company
in Australia, Nindethana and was a television
regular and the star of movies including The
Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. Jack is an actor,
musician, potter and gifted performer, but in his
nearly 70 years he has also been homeless, an
addict, a thief and a regular in Victoria’s prisons.
A member of the Stolen Generation, Jack has
spent his life in between acting gigs caught in the
addiction/crime/doing time cycle. And he lives to
tell the extraordinary tale.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Ilbijerri
Theatre Company has teamed with writer John
Romeril and Jack Charles himself to bring Jack’s
entertaining and uplifting story to the stage in
Jack Charles V The Crown. Jack’s constant and
unswerving optimism, his generosity of spirit and
his humanity shine through in this powerful oneman show, which tells the tale of a living legend’s
colourful past, while also looking to the future
where Jack is passionate and determined to help
those heading down a destructive path. Jack
Charles V The Crown is a very special theatre
experience full of sensitivity, pathos and plenty of
Jack’s own cheeky sense of fu