Magical things occur under the glow of a full moon, which might go some way to explaining the confluence of two of Australia’s coolest creative forces during winter festival Rising.
Geelong-based game-changers Back to Back Theatre is restaging one of its most powerful works, Food Court, at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse from May 26-29. The pioneering company has blazed a trail over the last 30 years, showcasing work created and performed by artists with disabilities. So it’s only right and proper that Rising's debut year celebrates the theatre company's indelible achievements with a retrospective of its brilliant works.
First performed in 2008, Food Court saw the group team up with cult Aussie band the Necks for a boundary-shifting work that pushes back against power and its abuse, which is all too often inflicted on the vulnerable and marginalised. As one woman faces down being humiliated in a public space, this powerful treatise on equality spirals into a nightmare-scape that must be changed. It’s all the more important now, given recent headlines spinning from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
Unflinching and deeply affecting, the show is live scored by seminal post-jazz trio the Necks, who rejoin original performers Mark Deans, Sarah Goninon, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price and Tamika Simpson 13 years after Food Court was first performed. If you haven’t had a chance to be wowed by Back to Back Theatre’s work before, now is the time to be astounded, all thanks to the Arts Centre and Rising.
