RAVEN MAD

Directed by Mike Finch & designed by Emily Barrie

Proudly supported by The City of Stonnington

Join us in Prahran Square from this April Fools’ Day weekend for an absurd circus street-battle between the local bureaucratic ravens and an eccentric family of hard-rubbish collectors… all unpacked from a blue box-trailer!

SHOW DESCRIPTION

A suburban family of eccentrics have travelled on foot from the east (the Dandenongs) to settle in the west, the long-promised land of Sunshine. 

Like bowerbirds, Nan, Jan, Mindy and Scot have been collecting blue hard rubbish from the nature strips along the way – blue clothing, blue baggage, blue utensils, a barbeque, not one but two blue shopping trolleys, all piled in a full-sized blue box-trailer!  

However, the local bureaucratic ravens consider this gaudy traveling junk-show as a territorial challenge and swoop down to patrol the borders and if necessary send this family back to where they came from – the east ... Dandenong. 

Mayhem ensues, and the show descends into an absurd vaudevillian circus street-battle for freedom!  

Expect acrobatics, foot-juggling, skipping, disco, hula-hoops, meteor-bowls, slapstick, mouth-sticking, hand-balancing, slipper-kicking, ball-manipulation, bottle-balancing, contortion, improvisation, ladder-walking, bag-pipe-impersonation, box-stepping and barbecuing.  

Made as a comic circus response to our collective current circumstances, social distancing, borders opening (and closing and opening again!) The world needs a show that can be performed literally anywhere, that meets an all-ages audiences where they are – socially distanced and outdoors!  

After two years of lockdowns, this show celebrates getting together again for live entertainment and comedy! It reignites the shared experience of performance through inclusive audience interaction, circus spectacle, inventive production, costume design, upcycling and recycling found objects. 

Originally conceived by Melenie Stevenson (National Institute of Circus Arts – NICA), Emily Barrie (Moomba, Rawcus, Ilbijerri Theatre Company) and co-devised by Director Mike Finch (Artistic Director Circus Oz 1997-2015) this show celebrates some incredibly skilled alumni of NICA, Emily’s eccentric and eye-catching found-object design, Mike’s sense of comic circus ensemble, and stars some of Australia’s best new and internationally seasoned circus talent: ‘TaraBoom’ Silcock, Hannah Richards, Joshua Phillips, Jarred Dewey, Olivia Porter and Tully Fedorowjtsch.  

With an extraordinarily broad range of ridiculous and jaw-dropping circus and performance skills between them, this is an all-ages comic street-circus battle of a hundred skills!  

Raven Mad is aimed squarely at the broadest possible all-ages audience, this is a shared celebratory, spectacular and comic event in an unexpected outdoor setting. We consider ourselves part of a global movement to democratise theatre and make live performance culture more accessible to all-backgrounds, all-ages audiences who may feel excluded by 'high'-culture, high ticket prices, exclusive indoor ‘arts’ venues or culturally inaccessible traditions. This is spectacular, funny, skilled circus-theatre for everyone!

EVENT INFO

Bookings: 
FREE!
Just turn up and enjoy the show

Dates: 
Friday 1 April 
Saturday 2 April 
Sunday 3 April

Times: 
4pm & 6.30pm
Each day

Duration: 
50 minutes

Location:
Prahran Square, Prahran
Corner of Izzett & Chatham Street

Rated:
G – All Ages
Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times. 

This project is supported by: