Overview
What do Franz Kafka and a misspelt offensive YouTube comment have in common? Usually nothing. But in the magical world of theatre — and more specifically, Malthouse Theatre's 2014 Helium program — the realms of high and low culture are coming into proper alignment. Like the recently-ogled red moon, this five-show program is casting an exciting glow on Melbourne; unlike the scarlet lunar moment, it's sticking around until early November.
Now in its third year, Helium is a celebration of independent theatre-makers and original ideas. Partnering up with Next Wave and the Melbourne Fringe for certain productions, this year's initiative from the highly respected Malthouse Theatre is quickly building momentum and looks to be a major player in this year's already bustling cultural program.
First cab off the rank is SEETHrough. Run in collaboration with Next Wave, this multimedia production from Sean Jorvn and the Ilbijerri Theatre Company tells a story of a friendship between a 'blackfella' and a 'whitefella', and the differing journeys they take on the path from childhood to adulthood. However the real innovation is to be seen in its audiovisual work. Containing hypnotic videography and soundscapes, Next Wave artistic director Emily Sexton describes the piece as both "menacing and fantastical".
Helium's second production, Intimacy, will continue this contemplative style. Telling the story of Michelle Ryan, a dancer diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 30, the show will be a fictionalised version of real life events and performed by Ryan herself. Devised by Torque Show, the piece will feature a live score by Lavender vs. Rose and will no doubt continue the hybridity of the Helium program with some inclusion of dance.
After these two, the program gets a little weird (in a good way, of course). In what's been described as a "multimedia This is Spinal Tap", Applespiel Make A Band and Take On the Recording Industry is a live-action rockumentary from Sydney performance group Applespiel. The show follows a fictional eight-piece indie band who crave success, complicated riders and "truckloads of cocaine". Needless to say, things don't work out for them, but an insight into their downfall will prove to be amusing nonetheless.
In September, the Fringe brings with it some trademark strangeness; this time in the form of The YouTube Comment Orchestra. Presented by The Last Tuesday Society, this show represents months of sifting through the dark underbelly of YouTube for lyrical gold. Like a real-time, musical Google Poetics this stage spectacular will no doubt provide some srs lolz (and if you don't like it, I'm sure there's some kind of video platform you can anonymously criticise them on).
Last but not least, Kafka gets an appropriate reimagining in The Second Cousins' META. Dragging the classic surrealist tale of Metamorphosis into the modern day, Samara Hersch and co. tell the story of Gregor Samsa — a family man whose mundane world unravels into a "multi-sensory nightmare". Spoiler (because you've now had 99 years to read the original): he might turn into a giant cockroach.
Malthouse Theatre's 2014 Helium program:
April 30 - May, 11 — SEETHrough
August 13 – 23 — Intimacy
September 3 -13 — Applespiel Make A Band and Take on the Recording Industry
September 17 – 27 — YouTube Comment Orchestra
October 22 - November 1 — META
For more information including ticketing see the Malthouse website.