Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Old haunts

Came into Melbourne today to visit some old haunts. Lucky for me, they were offering exciting cultural events! The Playhouse in the Arts Centre was offering the Actors Company of the Sydney Theatre Company's justly celebrated production of Patrick White's The Season in Sarsparilla (who knew that White wrote plays, or that you could fit a whole 1960 suburban house on the rotating stage - I was reminded of Frank Castorp's Neustadt in the Volksbühne in Berlin - and let it stand for not one but three homes, housing three different families? director Benedict Andrews did a fantastic job, and Pamela Rabe led a stand-out cast), and the Mossenson Gallery in Collingwood had an opening for a show of recent work work from Injalak Arts in West Arnhem Land. I can't find any images of the play, so you'll have to make do with these images from the exhibition. (In order: Wilfred Nawirridj, "Yingana"; Elijah Nabegeyo, "Crying Boy Story"; Jeremiah Garlngarr, "Coronation Hill.") Wonderful to sense the intelligence and movement in these newest products of a visual tradition tens of thousands of years old.