WHELPING BOX. 2012
photo: heidrun lohr
Co-Creators Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson, Mirabelle Wouters), Matt Prest and Clare Britton
Sound Artist Jack Prest
Whelping Box premiered at Performance Space, Sydney, on 23 October 2012. Toured to Arts House, Melbourne, 4-8 September 2013.
"One of the best I’ve ever seen… Mad/brilliant enough to distract from current news… Unforgettable.”
(John Bailey, The Age reviewer via Twitter)
“A long-awaited reminder of how visceral, provocative and intelligent contemporary performance can be… Whelping Box breathtakingly delineates the pleasures, pain and contradictions of play, initiation, bonding, competition, risk and self-mythologising. Within a carefully choreographed framework, Wilson and Prest repeatedly push themselves to the limit, testing their bodies in sustained acts of endurance, living out the very condition they have committed to celebrate and critique.”
(Keith Gallasch, Realtime 112 – full review here)
“The process of creating Whelping Box has led us down dirt tracks, rivers and through the bush. We have absorbed true crime reportage, metal, techno, Norse mythology, dog training manuals, and the artwork that people airbrush on cars and posters. Our focus in making Whelping Box has been on atmospheres, actions, tasks and images. Led by what we want to experience in the performance, we have composed an experience for the audience that aims to work on a visceral and sensorial level.”
Acknowledgements
The premiere of Whelping Box was supported by Performance Space, and by the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body. Its development was assisted by Critical Path and HotHouse Theatre’s A Month in the Country residential program, a project delivered in partnership with Albury City. Branch Nebula is supported by Managing and Producing Services (MAPS) for Artists NSW, a joint initiative of the Australia Council and Arts NSW, managed by Performing Lines.
Producer: Harley Stumm Intimate Spectacle
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