The Drover's Wives (world premiere)
The Drover's Wives is a groundbreaking world premiere. Translating historical subjects via movement is always a challenge, but Steamworks under Sally Richardson's expert direction proves itself up to the task. In collaboration with her talented team, she has created a multi-layered synergy of music, dance, adapted text and visuals that provides a compelling insight into our past and present cultures. A stunningly performed and perfectly realised work of art. (Naomi Millet The West Australian)
The Drover's Wives (world premiere)
Creative Team:
Devised and Directed: Sally Richardson
Original Score: Iain Grandage
Lighting and Set Design: Andrew Lake
Costume Design: Zoe Atkinson
Video Design: Ashley De Prazer
Choreographed and performed by: Claudia Alessi, Felicity Bott, Shannon Bott, Jane Diamond & Danielle Micich (original cast) and Rachael Hare, Katrina Lazaroff & Aisling Donovan
Producers: UWA Perth International Arts Festival, Black Swan Theatre Company and Steamworks Arts Productions
Reviews:
Sally Richardson's The Drover's Wives is a knockout..You could laud it for it's polished production and fine design: Zoe Atkinson's costumes; Andrew Lake's set and lighting; Ashley de Prazer and Dank Micich 's video design; and Iain Grandage's music. They all create vivid, beautiful and evocative images that could only suggest the Australian outback, but more than that, the show touches the heart...Richardson brilliantly taps into the psyche of an immigrant society that has inherited the idea that where we find ourselves, physically and mentally, is not really home (Rita Clarke The Australian)
Sally Richardson has created a uniquely Australian bush story that blends quintessential and endless stories with stunning music, and captivating video imagery...Wryly humourous, and achingly sad..This collaborative work that has been several years in development, works like an epic poem; profoundly beautiful, abstracted, reflective and timeless (Sarah McNeill Subiaco Post)
This style of work makes the whole performance diverse and very rich..The background and shadows of the dancers all became on.....The Audience felt like they were living in the work..(New Beijing Newspaper Xin Jing Bao Beijing)
The performance gives people a vivid picture of bush life in Australia...The combination of modern and folk dancing makes this performance most expressive..The multi-media produces a vividly desirable picture of bush life in Australia..This production gives audiences a big picture of how people lived on the land in Australia (Xin Min Bao Newspaper Shanghai)
This production provided a positive shock for Shanghai people who are not used to seeing this style of work before...People felt involved and captivated by the work (Nihao Shanghai - Online addition)
The Drover's Wives conquered Shanghai Audiences...Its contracted stage scene, fresh contemporary dance and multimedia performance providing Shanghai audiences with a powerful visual attack and pure joy of art (China National Radio Shanghai)
The audiences were excited about the excellent integration between multimedia and the stage performance. In the past, multimedia technology only played a minor role on Beijing's Stage. The objective of multimedia participation can hardly be achieved. However, The Drover's Wives did not only manage to build the bush landscape (by multimedia) it can also construct the overall atmosphere of the show. The multimedia was closely related to the story itself, and accompanied the development of the performance. The audience was deeply moved by the performance (The Beijing Youth Daily)
The visual effect was shocking in an amazing way...The Australian images were very vivid arousing people's imagination about Australia...The multi-media images were an inseparable part of the dancing on stage...All the audience behaved as if they were in a cinema watching a movie...This show was new in style and a most important event to open the 5th Beijing International Dance Festival (Jing Bao Newspaper Beijing)
Timeline:
- 2007 Tian Qiao Theatre 5th Beijing Dance Festival
- 2007 Majestic Theatre 9th China Shanghai International Arts Festival
- 2008 WA Wheatbelt Festival Northam WA
- 2006 Perth International Arts Festival Playhouse Theatre
- 2005 Perth International Arts Festival Launch
- 2003 International Women's General Assembly Perth
- 2004 Creative Development/showcase PIAF (in association with Cultural Pursuits Australia)
- 2005 Creative Development NORPA NSW (supported by Australia Council, NSW Ministry, Northern Rivers Performing Arts Creative Labrotary)
Additional Links:
Awards:
Finalist - Best Original Score 2006 Helpmann Awards
Finalist - Best Female Performer 2006 Australian Dance Awards
Finalist - WA Ausdance Awards 2006 Outstanding Achievement in Choreography
Winner - WA Ausdance Awards 2006 Award for Design/Technology within Dance (Ashley de Prazer)
Dance Australia Dance Critics Survey: Best New Work (Rita Clarke, Naomi Millett), Most Interesting Group (Rita Clarke)