Life and Times: Episodes 1-4

Overview

Imagine your autobiography — meaningless, small, incomplete, full of diversions and 'ums' and 'likes' — was turned into a play. That went for 24 hours. Who'd watch that? Well, it turns out, if you're Kristin Worral of the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, who then rave about it as if possessed. The New Yorker calls you "a masterpiece" and the Guardian gives you all the stars.

The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma (who are from NY; their name comes from a Kafka novel) are trying to remake everything we know about theatre, and for a company so experimental, they're also eminently watchable. The idea is that with each episode, the form shifts — from a musical to an '80s pop video, a murder mystery, an animated film and an illuminated manuscript. The first ten hours of Life and Times will be featuring at Melbourne Festival (the rest are still being developed), which you can watch over three nights or in one marathon performance broken up by a barbecue and snacks.

Check out the rest of our picks for the Melbourne Festival here.