This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre

Friday 12 August
CANCELLED.
Sadly, this performance has been cancelled. Apologises for any inconvenience.
Risa Ray + Georgia Shine
9.00pm – 9.30pm
In front of the Peacock Theatre

Saturday 13 August 
Risa Ray + Jem Nicholas + Georgia Shine
9.00pm – 9.30pm
In front of the Peacock Theatre

Friday 19 August
Jem Nicholas + Georgia Shine
10.00pm – 10.30pm
Long Gallery

Saturday 20 August
Jem Nicholas + Georgia Shine + Risa Ray
10.00pm – 10.30pm
Long Gallery

Random Acts of Weirdness – where the strange and beautiful meet. 
Short form performances with extreme undertakings. 

Not to be missed.


Artists

Photo: supplied by the artist

Georgia Shine

Georgia Shine is a cellist, vocalist, improviser, and multi-disciplinary artist. A University of Queensland graduate in Music Performance (Hons) and an Alexander Technique practitioner and teacher, she is the founder of Moving Connections, which uses live music and improvised dance to build community with therapeutic arts practices. 

Georgia has performed around Australia with the Southern Cross Soloists, the Armilla Quartet, Nessi Gomes and most recently with the Tasmanian folk duo, Yyan and Emily. Her festival appearances include Dark MOFO, Bangalow Music Festival, Beaker St Festival, The Unconformity, Cygnet Folk Festival, Mt Roland Folk Festival and Woodford Folk Festival. Georgia has performed regularly as a solo cellist at MONA for the Ladies’ Lounge, Faro Restaurant and Salon Sunday. 

Being also an improvisational dancer and award-winning visual artist, Georgia is currently working on her own body of performance art that is inspired by the connection between the diversity of the Tasmanian landscape and her own ecology of artistic practices with an Arts Tasmania funded Artist in Residency Program at Cradle Mountain.


Photo: Marie Nosaka

Risa Ray

I’m a dancer from Japan. I have family there and here, and who exist in both worlds. I grew up around Tokyo, the direct opposite of Tasmania. I’ve been Tasmania for over six years and I love here. My connections are varied and contrasting. I’m not a native speaker and still studying English, but I can communicate. Dance is possibly my best way of communicating. It helps me form bridges between my worlds.


Photo: supplied by the artist

Jem Nicholas

Jem Nicholas has worked as an actor in Australia, New Zealand and New York. Jem holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Monash University, and has since further her studies at the Susan Batson Studio NY, 16TH Street Actors Studio and The Melbourne Actors Lab. Jem has also trained with Hollywood Director and coach Kim Farrant. Some of her notable theatre credits include playing Carrie in ‘Rules for Living’ (Red Stitch Theatre), Sylvia in ‘You Are the Blood’ (Spinning Plates Co.), various lead roles in ‘Song Contest, Almost Eurovision Experience’ (Glynn Nicholas Group), Vendla in ‘Spring Awakening’ (Monash University), and many more. Jem has also appeared in ABC’s ‘Dr Blake Murder Mysteries,’ directed by Diana Reid, and as Elizabeth in ‘The spirit of the Game’ (Shearwater Entertainment). Jem is an independent play write and physical theatre performer and puppeteer and has received a Green Room Nomination for Best Actress in an Ensemble for her role as Rose in ‘Love, Love, Love’ with Red Stitch. She is currently training in the Alexander Technique in Hobart and will graduate as a teacher in 2014.


An ecological comedy about finding the joy in hopelessness.

This new play, by Australian playwright Gita Bezard, weaves together characters struggling with the destruction of the planet, the pessimists, the fighters and those who see the world through lemon tinted glasses.

Annie is interviewing for apocalypse friends. Storm believes that love will come if you just ask loud enough. Daniel is going to save the world as soon as he gets his blog started, you just wait and see.

It’s hard not to be cynical when the world is on fire.

Presented by O’Grady Drama Hobart‘s 2022 ON CUE Performance Ensemble


Working with theatre producers, Katharine and Chris Hamley, and following superb performances of Colosseum, Duty Free and Prickly Love, O’Grady Drama Hobart‘s 2022 ON CUE Performance Ensemble perform this show as their major annual production. The senior drama students showcase their developing performance skills in a true theatrical environment for this public season of shows at the Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre.

The Ensemble have been working collaboratively for the past 6 months to present this show as a display of their dedication, talent and passion for the performing arts. O’Grady Drama hope you’ll join us for this delightful comedy play in support of their fabulous students.

Female that can play 20s to 40s.

The actor will be playing multiple roles aged from early 20s to late 40s.

Auditions
Sunday 7 August
Peacock Theatre

Please email a headshot, full-length photo and a CV listing your acting experience by 3 August the Performing Arts Program Manager, Lucien Simon performingarts@sac.org.au

This is a paid opportunity.

Key Dates

  • – Attend two days of the creative development between 8 – 11 August 2022
  • – Attend rehearsals (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm) 13 November – 3 December 2022
  • – Attend Production week 5 – 8 December 2022
  • – Attend dress rehearsal, 8 December 2022
  • – Perform at the Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart on Opening Night (9 December 2022) and for performances on the 10, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 18 December 2022 and a matinee performance on the 10 December 2022.

Be available for re-staging and tour of Jumpcut in 2023.

About Jumpcut

At the beginning of 2022 Chris Mead (Melbourne Theatre Company, Head of theatre at the VCA) and Tasmanian writers, Mathew Cooke, Hera Fox, Stepnanie Jack, Carrie McLean and Andy Vagg, took part in the first stage of development of a new full length play titled Jumpcut (working title).

They are working together to create a full-length play with the underlying theme, ‘Crisis, what crisis?’. Structurally the play is being created by using the Arthur Schnitzler play Reigen/LaRonde (1900) as a structural template. It consists of 10 ‘love’ scenes between pairs of people up and down society’s then class structure. The 10 characters each play in two adjacent scenes, each with two discrete lovers.

Chris has created a play using this format before. In 2001-2 Chris worked with five writers—Ben Ellis, Veronica Gleeson, Nick Marchand, Tommy Murphy and Emma Vuletic—to create 360 positions in a one-night stand for the 2002 Festival of Sydney. The play was incredibly well accepted and fast tracked the careers of the writers involved. The collective quality of the work benefited everyone involved.

About the Director
Chris Mead

This year Chris was appointed the Head of Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts, prior to this he was the Literary Director of Melbourne Theatre Company. Previous positions have included: inaugural Artistic Director of PlayWriting Australia; Literary Manager, Sydney Theatre Company; Literary Manager, Belvoir; curator, Australian National Playwrights’ Conference; and Festival Director, Interplay, the International Festival for Young Playwrights. Recent directing credits include Ross Mueller’s A Strategic Plan (Griffin 2016), Richard Frankland’s Walking into the Bigness (co-directed by Wayne Blair, Malthouse 2014), Ian Wilding’s Rare Earth (NIDA 2011) and Quack (Griffin 2010), and Damien Millar’s The Modern International Dead (Griffin 2008) which won Best New Play (Sydney Theatre Critics’ Awards) and the WA Premier’s Literary Award. He has a PhD from Sydney University. His Platform Paper on institutional racism and outreach strategies was published in 2008. In the past three years he has worked closely with writers such as Joanna Murray-Smith, David Williamson, Eddie Perfect, Lally Katz, Aidan Fennessy, Brendan Cowell, Hannie Rayson, Tom Holloway, Angela Betzien, Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner, and Steve Vizard, as well as emerging writers such as S. Shakthidharan, Anchuli Felicia King and Jean Tong.


  • Supporters

    Salamanca Art Centre’s 2022 programs are supported by the Commonwealth Government’s Office of the Arts via the RISE Fund.

This event is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre

This concert program comprises songs, drawing on the enduring literary idea of love in an age of nobility and chivalry. Courtly love was an experience of erotic desire and spiritual attainment combined. It was “a love at once illicit and morally elevating, passionate and disciplined, humiliating and exalting, human and transcendent”. 

Sequenza’s program will include songs of courtly love from the baroque by Couperin, Dowland, Caccini and more.

Sequenza
Quin Thomson | voice
David Malone | lute
Brett Rutherford | viola da gamba
Matt Goddard | percussion 

Together, their passion for making great music, their fascination for ancient instruments and historically informed performance practice, and their drive to innovate, have brought them together to form Sequenza. From its first concert in 2015 Sequenza has showcased the extraordinary repertoire of the Baroque and earlier musical periods, right back to the Middle Ages and fostered the creative development of extraordinary new compositions. 


This concert program was originally to be part of Eclectica Salamanca: a Festival of Music from other Times, other Places, which was supported by the City of Hobart through its Cultural Grants Program and by the Commonwealth Government’s Office of the Arts via the RISE Fund.

The Call of Aurora is a chamber opera, based on Douglas Mawson’s 1911 – 1914 expedition to Antarctica and explores the challenges faced by all those who were stranded on the ice continent for two years, before being returned to Hobart in January 1914.

In December 1911 the SY Aurora departed from Hobart Harbour for Antarctica. Heading this expedition was Douglas Mawson, a geologist, who had previously been to Antarctica with Ernest Shackleton. But on this expedition, despite having been invited to accompany Robert Falcon Scott to attempt to be the first men to reach the South Pole (an invitation that Mawson declined, of course), Mawson chose to lead on his own expedition to undertake scientific exploration on the Antarctic Continent. The SY Aurora arrived at Commonwealth Bay in January 1912, and Mawson and his crew set to work in the remaining summer months to build their huts, and establish their main base and outposts before winter – and the complete darkness that would come with it – arrived.

During that winter of 1912 the men would have busied themselves with the many and necessary preparations for the respective scientific expeditions that each party would embark upon in the late spring of 1912. Their plan was to go out as parties of three or four, leaving base camp in October or November, and to all be back in time for the Aurora’s return in January 1913, when they would board for their trip back to Hobart.

In October 1912 Mawson and his party, which comprised Xavier Mertz and Belgrave Ninnis, along with their team of huskies pulling three sledges containing tents, food, and other provisions, headed out for what they expected to be a 500 miles and three month expedition.

For the first 300 miles or so, thing went well enough, until Ninnis suffered frost bite on one of his fingers, which, in his reluctance to bother Mawson with, ultimately became septic. When eventually Ninnis, so affected by his poisoned finger, became of no use in pulling his weight, Mawson decided to ditch one of the three sledges and some of their provisions, and pack what he believed was necessary onto the two remaining sledges, re-assigning the dogs into two teams. As Xavier Mertz, some way out front of the first sledge (on which Ninnis rode as an incapacitated passenger, and in front of Mawson’s second sledge) realised that they were all perilously close to the soft drift that had only that night before covered what he knew just then to be a crevasse, Mertz raises his hand, as a signal to go no further. But it was already too late.

The first sledge, pulled by the best team of dogs, and carrying the dogs’ food, some of the ‘man food’, many of the provisions – and Belgrave Ninnis – had completely disappeared down a deep crevasse. Going to the edge of the crevasse, Mawson and Mertz could hear the strangling cries of the dangling dogs, but could see nothing, and despite their calls – for almost three hours – heard nothing of Ninnis. They fed their longest rope down the crevasse, but it was too deep. Just like that, they had lost one companion, the best dogs, food and much of their provisions. Mawson had no choice but to turn back for camp, with the last remaining sledge and those dogs, lucky enough not to have fallen to their deaths.

The Call of Aurora begins here.


Music & Libretto by Joe Bugden

Directed by Lucien Simon
Musical Direction by Johanna Bostock
Set Design by Nicole Robson
Lighting Design by Louise Goich

Cast (in order of appearance):

Christopher Bryg as Sidney Jeffryes (the mad wireless operator)
Phillip Joughin
as Douglas Mawson
Nick Monk
as Xavier Mertz
Grace Ovens
as Paquita Delprat (Mawson’s fiancee)
Michael Kregor
as Cecil Madigan
Nathan Males
as The Ghost of Robert Falcon Scott
Zoe Fitzherbert-Smith
as The Spirit of Aurora

Ensemble Members:
Rosemary Holloway ~ flute
Derek Grice
~ clarinet
Damien Holloway
~ viola
James Anderson
~ cello
Jamie Wilson
~ vibraphone


The Call of Aurora is supported by the Commonwealth Government via Festivals Australia and by IMAS, and is presented as part of the 2022 Australian Antarctic Festival

A uniquely eastern expression of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

In 1940’s China, a young playwright comes up against a government censor… 

Referred to by The British Times as “the most advanced comedy in the world today”, ‘Juleo and Romiet’ pushes the boundaries of contemporary theater, articulating a uniquely eastern expression that resembles the themes and structure of ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

“A thought-provoking work showcasing two talented actors!”
– Anywhere Festival Show Award Overall.

Two actors photographed against a green background at a very high angle; their faces are closer to the camera. One actor is dressed in a black suit and is wearing an eye patch. The other actor is dressed in a stripe shift with suspenders, and is wearing glasses; he has a bandage on the side of his head.
Fini Liu & Hanwen Zhang. Juleo and Romiet (2022). Photo Sinya Li
Two actors in theatrical, traditional Chinese costume.
Fini Liu & Hanwen Zhang. Juleo and Romiet (2022). Photo Sinya Li.
Two actors photographed against a green background at a very high angle; their faces are closer to the camera. Both actors are posed dramatically.One actor is dressed in a black suit and is wearing an eye patch. The other actor is dressed in a stripe shift with suspenders, and is wearing glasses; he has a bandage on the side of his head.
Fini Liu & Hanwen Zhang. Juleo and Romiet (2022). Photo Sinya Li.

Proudly supported by Salamanca Arts Centre as part of the Emergence program.

TERFwars (Seeded at the Tasmania Performs Tarraleah residency and supported at Blue Cow Theatre’s Cowshed) was birthed from the ongoing feud between two groups, both dedicated to protecting and empowering vulnerable people, but cannot see eye to eye because of pesky definitions.
What is woman? Who is woman? Is she just a body? Is she defined by trauma? Or is she so much more?
With gendered liberties being debated almost weekly, there has been a social paradigm resulting in a community of us versus them with both sides believing their virtue to be faultless.
How do we fight for equality, while still evolving to fit a slim definition, and where is the line of being yourself or becoming what others expect you to be to fit in.
Set in a community hall in Tasmania, TERFwars follows the journey of Taylor as she battles the president of the Club for Ladies Interests in Tasmania (Agatha), to be seen, accepted, and loved by a community she has always admired. Will she defeat the dragon Agatha? Or will she be burnt, and left to die on her hill?

This development will have an invite only presentation in the Peacock Theatre in July 2022.

TERFwars is proudly supported by Salamanca Arts Centre, Tasmania Performs and Blue Cow.


The Artist

Photo: Amy Brown

Hira Direen

Hera Direen is an award winning cabaret performer and producer here in lutruwita. They have under their belt the 2019 Artfully Queer Unifying Voice award, the 2020 30 under 30 Community Champion, (And in a past life the 2015 Mr. Boylesque Tasmania king).


Producer of QT Cabaret Hera has years of experience creating costumes on the fly, giving a dingey pub a queer neo classical make over, and furthering the gay agenda with their scripts; Zeb A Gender Odyssey (produced by Tasmania Performs), and RATTLE (Self produced).

They are currently studying an MFA in Cultural Leadership at NIDA, and hope to one day be happy.



Roll up for classic circus fun!

Get ready to witness a world of amazing acrobatics, classy conjuring, hypnotising hula hoops, and lots and lots of fun. A show for all ages, starring Tony Rooke, Lewie West, Freyja Wild and Conor Wild.  

It’s a show where anything is possible with laughs, gasps and giggles guaranteed.  

Fun, silly and sandwiched between incredible acrobatic feats.

Tony’s Imaginary Circus will leave you with a skip in your heart and a smile on your face. A family-friendly 45 minutes of gasps and laughs. Expect acrobatics, hula hooping, magic, a rogue clown and music you’ll hum all day. 

This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre

Three time-travellers from the future have come back to the present to re-write our destiny. They know that in ‘our present’ is a generation of young activists who know the truth and aren’t afraid to do something about it. So they have gone into the community to ask them two questions: ‘What is their vision of a utopian future, and what are they doing NOW to make it happen?’

Young Actors from Salamanca Art Centre’s Ensemble have met, talked with, and filmed interviews with young people, and used these interviews to create a show about how we can create UTOPIA NOW.

The end of the world is nigh!

Extra show added!
13 August 2022
1 – 2pm

Supported by Festivals Australia


Artists

Photo: Nicodemo Luca Lucà

Genevieve Butler | Director

Director- Genevieve Butler is a bilingual performance artist who uses Bouffon, Drag, Circus, and physical comedy to examine the significance of social masks within theatrical frameworks.  Her artistic practice focuses on how audiences connect/relate universally to colloquial stories.

She is an actor, writer, director, circus performer, mask maker, video editor and teacher of circus fundamentals, mask play and devising. She has toured numerous Fringe and Arts Festivals around Australia, and worked with theatre companies across Australia, Italy and Belgium. She has been a working artist for over 10years   

Genevieve has a diploma in Commedia dell’Arte (FAVA, Italy) and Movement Analysis and Theatre Creation (Lassad, Belgium)— and a bachelors in Theatre (QUT).


Photo: Julien Scheffer

Fithawit Hadgu | Actor

Fithawit recently migrated to Australia from Eretria. Since arriving Fithawit has been involved with Students Against Racism (SAR). Through SAR Fithawit has shared her personal story about how she came to Tasmania in schools and workplaces, revealing the realities of what refugees and new arrivals face when they come to this country. Last year Fithawit made her mainstage debut at the Peacock Theatre performing in The Story Behind My Suitcase. Fithawit received a scholarship from Salamanca Arts Centre to attend The Process drama workshops with Ben Winspear, Davina Wright and Lucien Simon.


Photo: Julien Scheffer

Takani Clark | Actor

Emerging filmmaker, performer, artist Takani Clark is a professional dabbler and multidisciplinary creative from lutruwita, exploring and engaging with mediums of filmmaking, visual art and performance. As a First Nations woman, raised within the staunch palawa community, Takani feels a deep responsibility to protect and document the island and its cultural identity and diversity, both environmentally and socially. As a storyteller she strives to use her creative voice to deepen our understanding of each other, the natural world and ourselves. Takani believes that diversity is an integral part of her creative practice, striving to collaborate with people from different artistic practices, any background and all walks of life.


Photo: Julien Scheffer

Bailey Jackson | Actor

Bailey is a Hobartian Thespian whose hit and miss performances will keep you guessing right until the very end — is this entertainment at its finest or is it a train wreck you can’t look away from? After more than a decade in Tasmanian theatre, still he isn’t sure. Nonetheless, Bailey appreciates Salamanca Arts Centre for rolling the dice and he hopes you enjoy the show.


Photo: Carly Young

Jackson Davis | Lighting Designer

Jackson Davis is a theatre maker, writer and performer based in Hobart. Since graduating with Honours from the University of Wollongong in 2012, Jackson has co-founded re:group performance collective and collaborates on new performance works with an emphasis on popular culture and videography. His theatre credits include Lost Boys (Performer, Merrigong Theatre Company, 2018), Route Dash Niner Part 1 & 2 (Director, Merrigong Theatre Company 2016-2017), Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo (Puppeteer, Japan Tour, 2016-2018), Conspiracies (Director, Shopfront, 2017) and LOVELY (Director, PACT, 2014).


This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre

Set up camp and stampede into the jungle for an outlandish, circus filled extravaganza!

Winning Best Children’s Event award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021, this is an extraordinary adventure you just can’t miss.

Lions and tigers and Dummies, oh my! Set up camp and stampede into the jungle for an outlandish, circus filled extravaganza that will leave you chuckling like a monkey and roaring for more.

Can’t make it along on the 19 August?

We also have shows happening on the 20 & 21 August 2022 from 1 – 2pm

This “inspirational all-female troop” (The Wee Review Edinburgh) of strong women, empower and educate young audiences to question gender stereotypes and societal expectations of gender.

Having delighted audiences in thirteen countries and counting, with five-star reviews across the board, this is a crazy adventure sure to “have the children (and adults) in stitches throughout” (One 4 Review Edinburgh).


Dummies Corp

Dummies Corp

Dummies Corp are the Australian circus-comedy specialists, recognised for creations of quality that are intelligent, theatrical, inventive and resonate across generations. Their productions transcend language barriers and their unique brand of dum and delightful has created treasured experiences for audiences across the globe.