It’s June already! It’s all been go, go, go for version 1.0, with barely time to come up for breath. And our busiest part of the year is yet to come! Yes, we will be working on four different shows in six different cities throughout August. But more on that later.

RUCKUS ON THE ROAD

Since our last e news, version 1.0 has performed THIS KIND OF A RUCKUS in Adelaide and Lismore to great acclaim. The Adelaide Advertiser raved that “you probably can’t afford to miss this show”, and awarded it a four star rating. The blog Festival Freak said of the show:

“You can feel the physical power play taking place in front of you, and it’s uncomfortable […] It’s like those Jagermeister shots that don’t taste too bad going down, but kick you in the head later.”

The street paper Rip It Up was similarly enthusiastic, stating that:

“The performance itself was highly professional and energetic. This piece will certainly stimulate your thinking, but be prepared for the rawness of the content. Final Word: Wonderful.”

In Lismore, we were very excited to visit our friends from NORPA, after commencing our tour of Deeply offensive and utterly untrue there last year. A fabulous media campaign saw a fantastic audience at the Lismore City Hall for our one-off performance, and there was vigorous discussion in the foyer afterwards. For this tour we were very pleased to work with guest artist Alan Flower, production managers Holly Woollard and Richard Whitehouse, and assistant stage manager Georgia Prince.

version 1.0’s THIS KIND OF RUCKUS will be playing as part of the FULL TILT season at The Arts Centre in Melbourne, playing at the Fairfax Studio from 18-28 August. Bookings and more information can be found here. It’s our first visit to Melbourne since The Wages of Spin in 2006, and for this season we’re very excited to be joined by special guest performers Valerie Berry and Katia Molino.

THE BOUGAINVILLE PHOTOPLAY PROJECT TOURS

Not only is RUCKUS touring, but The Bougainville Photoplay Project is also hitting the road on a national tour as a part of Mobile States, including the Darwin Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse and PICA in Perth. For those who missed this extraordinary piece when it was played at the Old Fitzroy Theatre last year, here’s your chance to catch it as it takes Australia by storm in August and September, keep an eye out! And there’s recently been a special offer to host a return season of the work in Sydney later this year, so stay tuned for further details to be announced very soon!

IN DEVELOPMENT

On the development front, things have also started hotting up.

Company Artist Yana Taylor and CEO David Williams have recently arrived back from a three-week creative development in icy Bathurst where they were working on The Disappearances Project. Commissioned by the Local Stages program at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, The Disappearances Project looks at the devastating effect that long-term missing persons cases can have on families and small communities. The world premiere of this deeply emotional chamber work is planned for April 2011.

Company Artist Kym Vercoe has been away in Bosnia doing research for a show new project titled seven kilometres north east, which will open at the Old Fitzroy Theatre on September 29, playing until October 17. More details on this project will be announced very soon.

And our biggest creative development for the year will take place a bit closer to home – in Wollongong! A co-commission between version 1.0 and Merrigong Theatre Company, The Table of Knowledge will look into the now-infamous ICAC scandal of 2007. The version 1.0 team will be joined once again by guest artist Alan Flower for a show that is set to be an entertaining mix of transcripts, media and power. The Table of Knowledge has a five-week creative development, culminating in a pubic work-in-progress showing at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre on August 7. The first three weeks of this development will be hosted by the Department of Performance Studies at the University of Sydney, and we’re pleased once again to be their Major Rehearsal Studies project for 2010. A full production of the work is planned for the second half of 2011.

VERSION 1.0 ARTISTS ELSEWHERE

Over the last few months, we’ve been updating the version 1.0 blog with a whole heap of writing about the company’s past projects, ranging from program notes, to opinion pieces to conference papers. It’s well worth book marking, and can be found here.

Company Artist Sean Bacon and guest artist Arky Michael are currently working on the much-anticipated Measure for Measure at Company B Belvoir, directed by wunderkind Benedict Andrews opening tomorrow night. Sean is doing all the (live) AV for the show using quite a lot of version 1.0’s equipment, and the buzz is that this is going to be a must-see work.

Elsewhere, company Artist Jane Phegan is currently on an extensive national tour with Monkey Baa’s Fox, and guest artist Alan Flower is set to work on a creative development for a new project titled Never Did Me Any Harm with our office neighbours Force Majeure.

INTERNSHIPS

We’ve welcomed our first ever intern! Holly Orkin is the first of four interns that will be working with us this year, and she’ll be working with version 1.0 until the middle of August, assisting on everything from office re-organisation to research and creative development.

KEEN TO SUPPORT ART THAT MATTERS?

Whilst version 1.0 is very grateful for the government funding support that we receive, this funding covers less than 40% of the cost of developing and presenting our program of performance works. As you might have noticed from this e news, version 1.0’s program keeps expanding, and in order to keep producing these important theatre works we need your help. We’re on a wild upward ride, and we would love for you to be part of our journey.
The end of the financial year approaches, so we’d like to remind you that any donations to version 1.0 over $2 are fully tax deductible. If you want to make a donation to support our work making innovative political performance that opens spaces for public conversation, then you can do so very easily by visiting here. Each dollar you donate has a multiplier effect, and contributes enormously to the development of contemporary performance in Australia.