My Darling Patricia

Africa Video

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:50:25 +0000

Arts Hub review of Night Garden

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:21:13 +0000

“a refreshing experience requiring a level of imagination from the audience rarely felt in Sydney theatres. It is a sophisticated performance skilfully melding a variety of techniques together to create a disconcerting but intricately nuanced relationship”
Tim Spencer – Arts Hub

The Sydney Morning Herald review of Night Garden

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:16:35 +0000

“My Darling Patricia’s dark tale, Night Garden, at Performance Space, was an emotional and visual wonder.”
Lenny Ann Low – Sydney Morning Herald

Africa review in The Australian by Alison Croggon

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:55:20 +0000

“A stunning work … One of the achievements of Africa is its emotional honesty: how it at once expresses human resilience — the ability to generate beauty from the “rag and bone shop of the heart” — and the incorrigibility of damage and loss. Realised with an admirable skill, it’s funny, beautiful and heartbreaking. Beg, borrow or steal a ticket to this one.”
Alison Croggon, The Australian

Africa review in The Age by Cameron Woodhead

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:52:59 +0000

“Africa is a beautiful and savage piece of theatre, marrying virtuosic technical accomplishment to an emphatic and ruthlessley observed understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse.”
Cameron Woodhead, The Age

Night Garden Video

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:37:28 +0000

Kevin Jackson Review of Sydney Season of Night Garden

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:36:54 +0000

“In fact, beside the hauntingly beautiful Set, Lighting, and Sound, the most magical elements are the fabulous puppets and their “life”. When these elements are centre stage the gothic bewitchment and spell is most powerful” – Night Garden, Kevin Jackson

Africa

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00:58 +0000

“It is a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries – the chance to elope to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his five-year-old sweetheart Anna-Bell who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year’s Eve and set off from the German city of Hanover to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun.”
The Guardian (2008)

Inspired by the true story of Mika and Anna-Bell, In Africa, broken toys, puppets and sunfaded furniture are the props that feed the theatre of the imagination. Where some see abandon, chaos and suburban Australia, others see the child’s ability to transform their surroundings into places of wonder and delight.

Africa was created in residence at Malthouse Theatre

Credits:
Concept Sam Routledge
Writer/Director Halcyon Macleod
Design Clare Britton and Bridget Dolan
Performers Jodie Le Vesconte & Matt Prest
Puppeteers Clare Britton, Alice Osborne and Sam Routledge
Composer and Sound Designer Declan Kelly
Puppets Bryony Anderson
Lighting Designer Lucy Birkinshaw
Stage Manager Darren Kowacki
Props and Set Dressing Tim Varga-McGaw
Additional Devisors Katrina Gill & Tamara Rewse
Outside Eyes Maryanne Lynch & Chris Ryan

Tower Theatre, 12 November – 29 November, 2009, Presented by Malthouse Theatre

Realtime Review of Night Garden- David Williams

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:10:06 +0000

“Like much of My Darling Patricia’s impressive body of work to date, Night Garden blends extraordinary craft skills in design and puppetry with evocative video imagery and performance to produce a work of visual wonder” – David Williams, Realtime

The Age Review of Melbourne Season of Politely Savage

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:09:18 +0000

“Few artists have a bigger reputation in international theatre than Canadian Robert Lepage. When he says a show is good, that is a great endorsement.” – Robin Usher, The Age

The Australian review of Sydney season of Politely Savage

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:54:29 +0000

“A powerful, immersive experience – sense drenched, creepy and full of atmosphere”. - John McCallum, The Australian

Night Garden

admin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:25:31 +0000

Viewed in traverse and using puppetry, film, sculpture and performance, Night Garden is a dark suburban tale that unfolds within the shell of a burned house.

Developed in residence at Performance Space, Arts House, Hot House Theatre and Bundanon Artists Trust, Night Garden premiered in Sydney and Melbourne in March, 2009

The Sydney Morning Herald review of Politely Savage

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:08:22 +0000

“We leave with memories that resemble beautiful yet slowly eroding paintings of exquisite portrait-sitters and redolent landscapes.” - Lenny Ann Low, Sydney Morning Herald

Politely Savage

admin — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 11:11:07 +0000

Politely Savage, is a disquieting story of feminine decay and regret.  A small audience is invited to a cocktail party before being led into a labyrinthine structure. Inside, a series of installations reveal a disturbing suburban underbelly. Film, puppetry and performance converge as Politely Savage evokes the Australian Gothic in a distinct and idiosyncratic vision.

Politely Savage was developed in fits and bursts with periods of quiet reflection from 2003-05. During the development of the work, My Darling Patricia participated in residency programmes in Sydney at The Performance Space and in Albury for Hot House Theatre’s ‘A Month in the Country’ enabling the company to enjoy sustained periods of development and research.

The audience size is limited to 40 people to ensure an intimate and personal experience.

Politely Savage was initially presented at Pact Youth Theatre in April 2005. Since then it’s been performed at The Performance Space, the Victorian Arts Centre, presented by Tilt for Melbourne Fringe Festival, and at the Adelaide Fringe Festival presented by Vitalstatistix.

Awards for Politely Savage:

Best Independent Production, Sydney Theatre Critics Award, 2006
Outstanding Production, Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards, 2006
Best Design, Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards, 2006
Best Theatre Show Adelaide Fringe Festival, 2007

Real Time review of Dear Pat

admin — Sat, 01 May 2004 10:35:32 +0000

“As we witness these wartime women being slowly swallowed…it rather seems as is they are confronting and submitting to, the monstrosity of imagination itself.” – Bryoni Trezise, Real Time

Dear Pat

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 11:29:05 +0000

A short performance work that sees three nostalgic war-time women being devoured by an inflatable female behemoth puppet, Dear Pat was commissioned by the Performance Space for Live Bait Festival as part of The Box Set and performed again at Sydney Olympic Park, September 2004.

Kissing The Mirror

admin — Fri, 24 Jan 2003 10:45:40 +0000

Kissing the Mirror – A haunting installation and performance piece performed for audiences of 15 people in the caretaker’s apartment of the historic Petersham Town Hall, April 2003.

Kissing The Mirror’s exploration of the delicacy and rhythm of everyday rituals; careful minutiae writ large, reflects the inquisitive heart of My Darling Patricia. The performance delves beneath the domestic realm of the two elderly protagonists as the audience travels through the installed rooms of the apartment into the fractured imaginative world of Maude and Esther.

Credits
Performers: Clare Britton, Halcyon Macleod, Katrina Gill and Sam Routledge.
Puppeteers: Bridget Dolan, Adam Keely and Scott Wright.
Design and Construction: My Darling Patricia.
Concept devised by Halcyon Macleod and Clare Britton.
Images taken from video by Sam James

Kissing the Mirror was supported by the Australia Council for the Arts(Youth Initiative), Marrickville Council, erth Visual and Physical Inc and Pact Youth Theatre.