Ensemble in Residence, Midnight Feast, are proud to be presenting staged readings of The Blue Bird by Maurice Materlink at NIDA Theatres, Playhouse. We caught up with Director Kylie Harris during rehearsals.
Ensemble in Residence, Midnight Feast, are proud to be presenting staged readings of The Blue Bird by Maurice Materlink at NIDA Theatres, Playhouse. The ensemble have been working with NIDA Head of Writing for Performance Dr Stephen Sewell and composer Max Lambert on the piece. We caught up with Director Kylie Harris during rehearsals.
‘We have always written our own work which has derived from stories from our performers or has come through from our own ideas. This adaption of The Blue Bird by Maurice Materlink is the first time that we will be working on and performing a set text piece,’ said Kylie.
Midnight Feast is a bold initiative that enables artists who experience significant physical and intellectual challenges to participate in the performing arts. ‘We celebrate abilities not limitations. Our theatre explores humanity in all its diversity and challenges assumptions,’ says Kylie.
The story is an often adapted piece about a girl calledMilly and her brotherTT seeking happiness,in a quest to find their parents. Why this piece? ‘It speaks about the children of war and the effects of war on children around the planet. We wanted to look at marginalized people, people who were displaced, refugees, looking at intergenerational trauma in Indigenous culture and people working in the sex industry and also the phenomena of human trafficking.’
‘This piece speaks to the issue that once you dehumanise someone then people don’t see them anymore. It doesn’t matter what you do to them. It doesn’t matter. They become a number.The Blue Bird is about hope and represents hope – everyone has their own bluebird. It speaks to that.’
‘We are in rehearsal now and have been all year. It is a huge undertaking for us. Every person in our company has unique ways of coming to a script and learn lines so they can play the character authentically. We work with several amazing artists, including in this piece the composer Max Lambert who has been slowly giving everyone singing lessons. Everyone has a different way of making a sound. Everyone will be performing to their own full capacity. We move slowly to ensure everyone can work to their own capacity.’
‘There is no way that we could do this without it being at NIDA. It’s a total result of us being Ensemble in Residence here.’
The Blue Bird is on Saturday 30 November. To book tickets and for more information visithere.
