Performing Arts

Classical Indian Dance performance by Chandrabhanu and others.

Program running time is approximately 3 hours with one interval.

Bharata Kalanjali Dance School presents the epic dance drama Ashokavanam: Living Without Disturbing Nature.

Monash University Student Theatre presents:

Scum: Death Destruction and Dirty Laundry

Following seven Parisians in the lead up to the people's revolution of 1871 and the creation of the infamous Paris Commune.

War, famine, siege, famine, war, revolution: Paris, 1871. France has misplaced its Emperor and got itself a lawyer. Things are getting hot at Madame Masson's laundry. Freedom and glory are mighty thin on the ground and the sheets still need soaking.

Written by Claire Luckham and Chris Bond in collaboration with the legendary 70s avant-garde theatre group Monstrous Regiment, Scum comes to life in Madame Masson's washhouse. Food and work is scarce - amidst teetering piles of dirty laundry, the women of Paris are forced to fight for their very lives.

Directed by Cheyney Caddy with Musical Direction from Tony Toppi.

Thurs 19 - Sat 28 March @ 8pm (no shows Sun or Mon) 2 pm matinee Sat 28

The Monash Shakespeare Society presents "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Performances from 30 April-9 May (no Sunday or Monday shows) at 7:30pm.

Special picnic performance on Saturday 2nd May, tickets only $10.

Contact +61 3 9905 1012 to make a booking or for further information.

Crazy
by Kate Laverack
directed by Kate Laverack and Riannon Berkeley

People don't exist for Cherry the same way they exist for everybody else. Cherry sees those that are in the past as well as those in the future:
Philip, a haunted World War II veteran;
Eva, a depressed 1950's housewife;
Tori, a mother and prostitute.
They all exist for Cherry.

Is she crazy? Or is she just seeing what others have forgotten?

Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca
Adapted by Ted Hughes
Directed by Celeste Macleod

The tragic tale of two feuding families in a dark and fantastic world, as blood is spilt on the high mountains of rural Spain. Lorca's modernist masterpiece is a mesmerising exploration of the themes of passion and repression, as a young bride battles with tradition and duty, whilst fighting her own illicit desire for another.

LOVE, LUST, INFIDELITY, HATE, BLOOD, TRAGEDY

Welcome to Blood Wedding; One wedding, two families, lots of BLOOD.

Monash Uni Student Theatre (MSA) presents:
The Grace of Mary Traverse
by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by Dominique Bongiovanni

'is there anything of which we are not capable?'

Season: Thurs 6 -- Sat 15 August @ 8pm (No show Sun/Mon)
Bookings: 9905 8173

Mary, a young, wealthy girl on the cusp of adulthood, leaves her privileged life in search of knowledge and experience from the world outside. In her relentless pursuit of truth, Mary finds herself drawn further and further into the violent and sexualized underworld of 18th century London. As she descends ever deeper into corruption, Mary must discover how to find grace in a dark and unforgiving world. Director Dominique Bongiovanni (director of the acclaimed 2007 MUST production of Paula Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive")has created a deeply theatrical production which features haunting images, bold performances and an unsettling score.

Placenta Theatre presents: Look back in anger
By John Osborne, adapted and directed by Jude Hansen. (3 TONY AWARD Nominations)

How much pain can love endure

Osborne's tour de force of emotion is a gut wrenching roller coaster ride through the humour, love and pain of marriage.

It tells the story of the wealthy Alison, newlywed and living with her husband, Jimmy, a ;helpless and angry young man; and Cliff their housemate. When Alison's best friend, the actress Helena, decides to visit sparks begin to ignite. Secrets are revealed; hearts are on the line.

In 1956, John Osborne's' landmark play electrified and shocked audiences with it's blank hatred and rage. In light of the recent changes to domestic violence laws in Victoria, Look Back in Anger remains just as challenging and resonant today.

Jimmy who lives and loves with frightening intensity, constantly provokes, taunts and humiliates Alison. Why does she stay with him? How can someone who loves you and hurt you so much? How can Cliff say he loves her and watch it all happen? How much pain can her love endure?

This unique adaptation of the classic drama will focus on Alison's story and her inner struggle by incorporating contemporary dance, physical theatre and projection into the play. These elements will provide a psychological deconstruction of emotional and verbal abuse, and the

Seeing this infamous 'electrifying' and 'shocking' play is an absolute must.

Dates: 12th - 29th August (Wednesdays to Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 6pm)
Venue: No Vacancy Gallery, QV building, (entrance 191 Little Lonsdale St, off Russell)
Tickets: $25 conc. $30 full
Bookings: +61 3 9905 1111 or visit the MONART website.

Monash University Academy of Performing Arts presents Aristophanes' 'Lysistrata' which battles its way through love, sex and war.

The women of Athens are fed up. They have had enough of their men always being away at war. Lysistrata rallies her friends to take strong and very direct affirmative action. The decision is no more sex until the fighting stops.

Aristophanes' classic comedy comes to life in a brand-new, fast-paced and bawdy adaptation by Melbourne writer Wayne Macaulay, and is being directed by Melbourne comedian and stage director Suzie Dee.

Sexual frustration leads the men of Athens on a baudy and laugh out loud path to reconciliation as their women hold fast on their demands.

With powerful and scarily modern political and social themes and undercurrents, Lysistrata might have been written centuries ago- but the battle of the sexes continues....

75 minutes, no interval. Not suitable for children under 13 years of age - Contains strong language and sexual themes and imagery.

Buy Tickets: www.monash.edu.au/monart or call +61 3 9905 1111.
Box office location: Alexander Theatre, Monash University, Clayton campus.

Indulge in a whole world of music

Bring your friends and enjoy a relaxed afternoon, sample from orchestra, jazz, chamber music and new music. Enjoy a glass of wine in the courtyard and then dip into the next glorious moment. Music in the Round at Monash presents an outstanding line-up in a range of genres with dynamic and eclectic performers.

Joining the 2009 bill is ARIA award winner Katie Noonan, critically and internationally acclaimed guitarists Slava and Leonard Grigoryan and one of Australia's best known opera singers, David Hobson, and a host of artists from throughout the country.

The festival will also feature a special family / children's series to be enjoyed by all.

One afternoon, 20 concerts, 6 magnificent venues and a musical experience like no other, book today to avoid disappointment.

Monash University Student Theatre presents Eugene O'Neill's mighty epic, Mourning Becomes Electra, one of the grandest, most spine-twisting tales in theatrical history. Mourning Becomes Electra updates Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy to nineteenth-century New England with three acts "The Homecoming, The Hunted and The Haunted" comprising the unsettling story. Like the Greek tragic myth on which it is based, the play highlights the dark nature of human existence, exploring the wildly destructive forces of jealousy and desire which are unleashed when Lavinia Mannon discovers that her mother has dared to take a young lover. As the bloody American Civil War comes to an end, a private war begins, with an entire family swept into a violent spiral of revenge and self-destruction.

Monash Uni Student Theatre (a department of the MSA) presents
Can't Pay? Won't Pay!
Stolen groceries, police and pure hilarity.
Written by Dario Fo
Directed by Luc Favre

All performances are in the MUST Theatre, Campus Centre, Monash University, Clayton.
The first three performances are a part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Thurs 8 - Sat 10 Oct, Tues 13 - Sat 17 Oct @ 8pm

Bookings:
8th - 10th (Melbourne Fringe) on +61 3 9660 9666 or online at http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/.
13th - 17th (MUST) +61 3 9905 8173.

Acclaimed satirist and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's, Can't Pay? Won't Pay! takes the self-reductionist movement of 1960s Italy and warps it into a fast-paced, wise-cracking farce with heart. In the face of overwhelming poverty, a group of Milanese women, led by the indomitable Antonia, decide they have finally had enough, and 'liberate' the groceries in the local supermarket. To avoid discovery, they hide the food under their dresses and, to the immense confusion of their husbands, suddenly all the townswomen become 'pregnant' overnight! Throw in a communist sergeant and a fascist inspector (who look astoundingly similar) and the result is barely controlled, hilarious chaos.

16 community groups.
300 musicians.
7 hours of fabulous community music.

It is time again for the Monash Philharmonic Music Festival. The 2009 mpmf will be held on Saturday October 10th at Monash University's Performing Arts Precinct.

The mpmf is truly a one-of-a-kind festival. It is designed to bring community groups together, promote community music-making, and to showcase the wonderful performances these groups present. The mpmf also provides a platform for community musicians to meet each other and share their audiences.

By Federico Garcia Lorca
Directed by Peter Oyston

Would you take a knife to a wedding?

Based on a true story of a blood feud between rival gypsy clans in Spain, Blood Wedding presents a raw and highly charged theatre experience.

This is a story of betrayal: two young lovers are torn apart, the man marries another, his lover is betrothed to a different man. They make a desperate and secret bid to elope; she flees from her fiance on her wedding day with fatal consequences.

Federico Garcia Lorca uses Blood Wedding to expose an inflexible and intolerant peasant culture. Highly superstitious himself, Lorca weaves into this tragedy the vague dark forces of blood feuds, sex, death and the moon, which manipulate his characters and unravel a tale of intense passion and primitive ritual.