I'm reading the words "experimental performance" and the first image that appears is Albert Einstein singing an operatic aria. One that results in a mushroom cloud. Call me naff for making that connection, but theatre and performance practitioners have drawn terminology from the world of science for a very long time. Plato considered the connection between god-writer-actor-audience as a type of magnetism; Stanislavsky yammered on about radiation. Now we participate in laboratories, develop endogenous performances and witness hybrid work. Maybe it's got something to do with science replacing religion as the lingua franca for discussing how our world works or, maybe, it's a useful metaphor when facing the problem of making a living out of being ridiculously creative. In an effort to support emerging artists, stagejuice collective - along with a chemistry kit of multi-discipline practitioners - are launching their own foray into the collaborative laboratory this week. Dubbed Freshly Squeezed, this initiative brings artists together for an intensive month of workshopping, playing and experimenting with performance and art. What remains in the beaker at the end is presented to the public (not tested on animals). Spurred on by fantasies of advanced physics and opera, I tossed three Freshly Squeezed participants into the crucible. Here's the residue that resulted. Concrete Playground: Why is it necessary for Freshly Squeezed to be a platform for emerging artists? Katy Green: It is creating an environment for dialogue, collaboration and constant critical engagement with your own and others' working processes. It embraces the community vibe, giving the artists confidence to be experimental. It is a chance to meet new artists and be exposed to different making processes. Scott Sandwich: It’s just necessary that there are platforms at all. Deciding to become an artist is a big enough step, but finding avenues to perform can be a nightmare. The more there are of supportive events that encourage this sort of thing, the better. The underground is starting to leak onto the streets, and that’s something to get behind. CP: How do you go about setting up this environment/platform with artists from such divergent practices? KG: Each week the artists present a work-in-progress presentation, anything from an articulation of ideas to testing performance material to showing the performance sequence. The group responds with questions, ideas and opinions based on what they viewed. It was open for the artists to collaborate with others and after the first workshop a mix of groups formed. We have a range of solos and collaborations. Georgia Matters and Kate MacDonald, two dancers joined forces with MamaDada, an interactive theatre group, as neither had ever worked with the other discipline. Gemma-Lark Johnson, a puppeteer/visual artist has teamed up with physical performer, Gideon Payten-Griffiths to fuse storytelling, movement and puppetry. Friends with Deficits: In fact, Friends With Deficits have been inspired to incorporate puppetry into an upcoming work for Brisbane Festival thanks to our exposure to other artists in Freshly Squeezed. A melting pot of disciplines encourages new, unknown types of performance. Awesome. CP: How keen are audiences to see hybrid performance? FWD: Because it's exciting and unpredictable. With our own performance, we always try and keep the audience guessing. We don’t want to prescribe a response, instead we aim to generate a mood and provoke thought. KG: There is a niche culture in Australia that really appreciates a mix of dance, theatre, media and sound and it’s exciting! Audiences always want to see something new and hybrid performance lends to this desire. SS: I think it's worth looking at whether there is such thing as a strict audience member. Hybrid performance to me is an acceptance of the community and supportive audiences, and the different interests that a single person may have, whether that single person be the audience member, or the performer on stage. KG: The limits are endless; there is always the opportunity to test new ideas by collaborating mediums. Artists are always searching for new ways to fuse different media and genres into new forms of artistic expression, transcending the boundaries between art and social culture. SS: I also think that live music these days is becoming more and more hybrid in a sense. It's very rare that you could go to a big act and just see the band on stage. There'll be half a million dollars worth of programmed lights on stage with them. And then the minute they put those big screens up for the people in the back row, someone on stage says "Hey you know what would be cool? If we showed pictures of kittens during the tuba solo." It's been like that for decades... maybe not the tuba as much. Or the kittens. But the fact is that mainstream audiences have been subjected to hybrid works for a long time. FWD: Of course some people are going to spend their hard-earned cash on tickets to "Jersey Boys", but a sizable chunk of Sydney-based punters are interested in seeing performance art and experimental theatre. There's something for everyone in Freshly Squeezed. CP: Following from the theme, "The Shed", do you see future themes being drawn out of particular social issues? How necessary are social issues as catalysts for artists? SS: Definitely. I think it’s only natural for artists to speak about issues outside of themselves. I don’t think I have enough inside me to constantly create from a personal viewpoint, but a personal viewpoint stems from surroundings and society. I suppose the really interesting things come from how those internal aspects interact and understand those external factors. KG: It’s important, not just as an artist but also as a person, to be aware of your surroundings and to be able to assess where and how you are situated. This has always been a particular interest of stagejuice. For Freshly Squeezed however, the future themes are undetermined as it really depends on the interest of the current group. FWD: During our exploration of "the Shed" Friends With Deficits have focused upon waste and excess in suburbia, with a twist. Certainly these are important issues that will continue to inform future works. KG: [Some of the artists] have engaged with "The Shed" on a social level, for example, the idea of the man’s world, others have engaged with it on a nostalgic level, such as considering the shed as storage of old forgotten memories. It really has evoked a colourful range of imagery and ideas. Freshly Squeezed When: Thu 19 - Sat 21 August at 8pm Where: Studio One, UNSW . Gate 2, High Street Kensington Price: $10 Bookings: admin@stagejuice.com