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BRISBANE FESTIVAL 2009 PRESENTS
Who Do You Think You Are?
In this opera the characters have no voice
Brisbane Festival 2009 proudly presents the world premiere of Miracle in Brisbane, an opera by innovative and much acclaimed Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli.
An outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cast, including Tony Briggs, Deborah Mailman, Djakapurra Munyarrayan and Casey Donovan, brings to life this very Australian story under the direction of one of Australia’s most accomplished directors, Rhoda Roberts.
Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini says “Miracle in Brisbane is a key part of the narrative that runs through Brisbane Festival 2009, looking at two ends of the same scale - poverty and power - and how both can dehumanise and corrupt a society.”
Loosely based on the 1951 film Miracolo a Milano, this important event has been commissioned by Brisbane Festival 2009 and tells the story of a group of homeless Indigenous people ‘living on country’ on Brisbane’s outskirts. The discovery of oil under the site leads to deliberation over acknowledgment of ancestral spirits and the potential life changing wealth locked beneath the land. People with powerful interests soon start making their own plans.
Through music, dance and ceremony Miracle in Brisbane touches on many powerful and symbolic moments of the collective Indigenous experience, from the removal of a baby girl, the rebuilding of family, clan relations and the gradual invasion of sacred country by the city’s looming development.
In this powerful and moving opera, the oppressed characters literally have no voice, contributing to the score only with the sound of their bodies moving around the stage. The sounds of the shantytown construction also form part of Battistelli’s wonderful musical score, which features The Queensland Orchestra and Canticum Chamber Choir.
In Battistelli’s own words, Miracle in Brisbane is a form of ‘voiceless’ protest against inhumanity and highlights the incontrovertible rights of marginalised people to stake a claim in a world that ignores them. But both surprising and wonderful is the final theme of Miracle in Brisbane – hope.
VENUE
Performance Space, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
DATE & TIME
Thursday 1 October – Saturday 3 October at 7.30pm
DURATION
75 minutes (no interval)
TICKETS
Adult $35, Concession $25, Groups $25, Schools $20
Book now! Judith Wright Centre – 07 3872 9000 or visit www.brisbanefestival.com.au
MEDIA: FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Gabe Cramb – Ph 0419 798 995 / E gabe@scrabble.net.au
Dawn Hewitt – Ph 0434 883 880 / E dawn@dawnhewitt.com.au |
