Survival.
Admin.
Performance.
Leisure.
Survival.
Admin.
Performance.
Leisure.
Survival.
Admin. Performance. Leisure.
SurvivalAdminPerformanceLeisure.
Pony Cam,
one of the most inventive and busy theatre collectives in Melbourne, are
running. Four of them on treadmills and one marking time and keeping score.
They have a to-do list. They have life admin to tick off as well. They want to
eat healthy, too. And somewhere in the middle of all that, they get to perform.
Four essential ingredients, none of which work – or are nourishing – without the
others.
When you go
into a Pony Cam show, you never know what you’re going to get. They are
predictable in their unpredictability. But shaping a show and leaving room for
improv and audience reaction – and audience participation – is part of their
vitality and charm. Their shows have so much to say, it’s hard for them to
contain all the information and emotion they are wrestling with.
How does an
independent artist juggle all the things they have to do to survive and make
their own work? How do any of us wrangle the hours in a week for work and
pleasure and rest and things we do to nourish our soul? Is there any way to
find a balance or are we all just speeding toward burnout always?
If there’s
been a theme running through many shows I’ve seen at Melbourne Fringe this year
it’s that artists are tired. They work hard for little-to-no financial reward.
They have to do day jobs. Sometimes insecure work in the gig economy. They are worried about their own mental health. And
even when they have a successful show, that doesn’t always lead seamlessly tothe next thing.
Burnout
Paradise is full of
wild feats of physical and mental stamina. Witness cooking pasta on a
treadmill. Witness Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy on a treadmill. Witness
washing hair, brushing teeth and doing a RAT test on a treadmill.
See the
nightmare of most artists – writing a grant application on a treadmill.
On a
treadmill.
On a
treadmill.
On a
treadmill.
But it’s
not just Pony Cam trying – and sometimes failing – to get all this done all by
themselves. The audience can help out and on opening night, there was
generosity from all sides of the venue – shouting out answers, picking up
dropped props, helpfully marking off the wild To Do list that sat to one side
demanding and demanding and demanding. And that was a list of leisure activities!
Pony Cam’s
shows are not traditionally made – there’s no writer, there’s no director.
There’s a mysterious alchemy that the members are able to magic up every time,
though. Claire Bird, Ava Campbell, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub and Hugo
Williams have had a busy year – no wonder they are tackling the idea of artist
burnout. But tackle it they do in one of the most physically punishing shows I’ve
ever witnessed – and I saw a comedian try to outrun his trauma once!
Burnout
Paradise is not to
be missed. Every show will be different, so see it twice! I cannot recommend it
highly enough.
Go see it.
Go see it.
Go see it.
Run.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
Burnout Paradise is running as part of Melbourne Fringe until Oct 22nd.
Comments