Richard speaks to the cast of a brand new Australian production,Lifetime Guarantee. Charles Purcell, Julian Dibley-Hall and Izabella Lena star in this satirical, modern-day comedy, written by Ross Mueller and directed by John Sheedy, dealing with issues of modern-day property development and our relationship to objects.Lifetime Guarantee is showing at Theatre Works in St Kilda from9th - 26th of February.
On the other end of the theatre spectrum, Humphrey Bower has developed a new, solo adaptation of Homer's TheIliad,aspart of Stork Theatre's Melbourne Homer Fest. The Rage of Achillesturns the focus to human tragedy within war, stripping back Homer's epic poem to the story of Achilles. Richard and Humphrey discuss questions of male rage, our attraction to war and the relevance of this ancient piece of literature to modern times.The Rage of Achilles is showing at La Mama Theatre from the 7th - 19th February.
Richard's final guest,Penny Byrne,is a sculptor and visual artist working with ceramics, among other things. Her upcoming exhibition,Brutal, uses reworked porcelain figurines to create new sculptures, dealing with contemporary global humanitarian issues. The result isconfronting yet familiar, with a sombre political commentary.Brutalis running at Linden New Art in St Kilda until the 8th of March.
About this program
Visual art, theatre, film and literature. Segments include:
- 'Art Attack' - fortnightly visual arts reviews with Ace Wagstaff and Tai Snaith.
- 'Shoot the Messenger' - fortnightly theatre news & reviews with Fleur Kilpatrick.
- 'Drawn Out' - monthly chat about comic books and graphic novels with Bernard Caleo.
Please email talks@rrr.org.au for all interview requests.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Richard Watts has many years experience working in the arts industry, including five years as the Artistic Director of the youth arts organisation Express Media, seven years on the Board of Melbourne Fringe (including three years as Chair), and six years on the Committee of Management at La Mama Theatre, where he currently serves as Chair. Richard has helped program a range of festivals including Next Wave, the National Young Writers' Festival, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the Emerging Writers' Festival (which he founded) and he has written for various broadsheets, journals, zines and magazines. Currently he pays the rent by working as the Performing Arts Editor at www.artshub.com.au. In his spare time he watches old Doctor Who episodes.
The podcast intro and outro theme is Soft Illusion and was generously provided by Andras.
https://andras.bandcamp.com/track/soft-illusion
