Interview: Elephant Sessions play WOMADelaide 2018

Womadelaide 2018. Euan Smillie and Alasdair Taylor. 16 Jan 2018

 

Appearing at WOMADelaide as part of the 2018 line-up, Elephant Sessions are excited to be coming down under for the first time. “None of us in the band have ever been before, so we’re buzzing, can’t wait!” says fiddle player, Euan Smillie.

 

The group will be following up their WOMADelaide appearance with a string of performances in other capital cities. “We are over for around about a month,” says Euan, “Going down the East Coast doing Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, [and] Byron bay. We are doing quite a few dates, festivals and venues”

 

Described as a modern folk quintet, the group is a hybrid between old styles and new sounds including funk and electronica.

“We have all been brought up playing traditional music, on a very traditional level” says mandolin player, Alasdair Taylor.

“From a very young age we were having lessons and were in classes.”

“You’re always going to start – if you’re playing the fiddle or the mandolin – from a very traditional point of view” adds Euan, “But as we got older and we went to study music in the various places around the country, and started getting a bit more experience in writing our own music and listening to other people play from all genres, we started getting an idea of the kind of thing we personally enjoyed listening to, which is also going to reflect in what you’re playing as well.”

 

Those other sounds from their personal listening experiences added flavour to their folk music.

“The thing is we all listen to various kinds of music from funk to electronic and rock music, so [when you] combine that with the folky roots that we have, [it] sort of lent itself to the sound we have now” Euan says.

 

The band have put out two studio albums in All We Have Is Now and The Elusive Highland Beauty, but their sound has really matured from the first award winner to the second.

“The first album was a bit more traditional”, Euan tells us, “There was less electronic sounds, but [when] comparing that to the second, that is the one that we unanimously prefer, it sounds a bit more us, and I think we’ve really found our sound now, so we are excited to write even more stuff using the sounds that we have and the style that we play”.

 

The five piece group have long been friends but they haven’t always been together as an ensemble.

“This line-up has been together for four years” Alasdair says.

“Our base player Seth (Tinsley) was the last to join. Me, Euan and Greg (Barry) started the band and the trio very quickly got Mark (Bruce) on guitar.”

“We always had a vision that we wanted to have a bigger, bulkier sound”, Euan adds. “[This music] is what we want to hear... and what we enjoy playing [and] its really nice that other people seem to enjoy listening to it.”

 

When it comes to their writing process, there isn’t one fixed technique they employ.

“We’ve done the process where someone brings a tune, or [where] me and Euan; me and Seth; or Seth and Euan have written collaboratively”, says Alasdiar, “But we’ve also just all got in a room and started with nothing and started from scratch with a bass riff, or a drum pattern, or a guitar riff”.

“Traditionally in a folk band the usual way to build a set would be for the tune player to come with a tune and then the band then accompanies that tune.” Says Euan.

 

“We found that more recently, [and] again with the second album, that we were more interested in the groove and the feel of the tune as a whole.”

Occasionally the group will start off with the drummer, Greg, and take any grooves, sounds or a feel that he might like to work to build a base for a track.

“That’s the bones. That’s the meat of the track”, says Euan, “And then it gives us something to work with. You get a totally different feel than if you just had a fiddle tune and then the base joining in. Everyone gets a little bit of the focus, and it gives everyone a specific part.”

 

The band certainly hasn’t set out to modernise folk music though; that has just been a symptom of their external musical influences.

“At the core it is folk music”, says Alasdair, “But it's taking it to a different level”.

“It is definitely what we would like to hear” adds Euan. “We have a lot of fun playing it and we have a lot of fun writing it. We never know where a track is going to end up. It often starts off at a very different point to where it finishes”.

 

The group remain pragmatic about fame, but also count their blessings that they have these amazing opportunities to play music they love, with their best mates, at gigs all over the world.

“You never think when you start a band that it’s going to go well”, says Alasdair. “You never assume that you’re going to make it because the statistics show that just doesn’t happen really. We’ve been going for a few years and we are now doing this pretty much professionally and we love it, but you never think it’s going to go like this, and I certainly never thought I was going to be going to Australia, and America, and Europe so we cannot believe, really, where we are now.”

 

“When we first started we just enjoyed playing music together” adds Euan. “We were friends anyway, we knew each other and would hang out and have a drink together, but when you’re young and you’re a musician and you go and have a drink with somebody quite often you find yourself writing stuff, and playing in a really relaxed environment, so you don’t really see it coming.”

 

“We started this in the shed, in the highlands of Scotland, drinking beer with our friends!” says Euan.

“We never went hunting for gigs,” adds Alasdair. “We knew a few people locally who put on shows and very small festivals and things and they gave us a shot and it just built gradually.”

“There’s no, kind of ‘X-Factor’ in folk music, so it doesn’t just happen” laughs Euan. “If your focus is on trying to make it then your focus is in the wrong place.”

 

With two albums under their belt, the group aren’t about to stop now.

“We have started writing a third album over the last three months” says Alasdair. “We have a few tracks now that we have been trialling at gigs. Hopefully we will have a few more by Adelaide. Over the next six months or so we are going to keep writing in between touring; 2019 is the sort of a rough date when we reckon we might release the third album”.

 

The next album will really be a focussing of the group’s new sound, taking what they have developed over The Elusive Highland Beauty and adding to it.

“The big change was really between the first and the second album”, says Euan. “Most of the band feels we have found our sound now so in theory it should be a development from that again. We have more experience using the instruments, the technology, we will probably be working with similar teams… so hopefully the third album will be a development from the second.”

 

“We enjoy writing to perform,” adds Alasdair, “So we write with a live view and the audience in mind… in the same way that a DJ will build a set we try to do the same thing to lift and drop an audience with us, which means that we can write music over the year, perform it and tweak it, so by the time it actually gets to the album you find that the sets are tried and tested and that people will listen to it and relate to it in a live setting.”

 

Elephant Sessions will be playing two sets over the WOMADelaide weekend, on the Moreton Bay Stage at 2.30pm on Saturday and on the Zoo Stage at 10.00am on Sunday. They will also appear at Taste The World on Monday.

 

WOMADelaide ticket bookings and the full program can be found online.

 

Paul Rodda

 

When: 9 to 12 Mar

Where: Botanic Park, Adelaide

Bookings: womadelaide.com.au

Interview: Spring Awakening Realises Life Long Dream for Young Performers

The Hills Musical Company. The Stirling Theatre. 4 Nov 2017

 

For young actors Mitchell Smith and Millicent Sarre, known as ‘Mim’, the opportunity to perform in Spring Awakening was a lifelong dream, come true.  “Auditions were back in June,” Mitch recalls, “Then there was like a month and a half break before we got started”.

 

They were both so keen to dive right into the material that the wait to get started was excruciating.

 

Luckily, it won’t be the first time they will work together on stage. In fact, the two young performers have been great mates for over 8 years, first meeting in a youth theatre production of Honk Junior in 2009.  “I was 14, [Mitch] was 11,” Mim says, “And we did not see it going here!” laughs Mitch.

 

They were in the same harmony group and would always seek each other out for note support side stage before their entrances.

“We did a couple more shows over the next couple of years,” Mitch continues, “Through Swell Productions with Patrick Lim.”

The shows were Seussical The Musical and Beauty and the Beast and needless to say it was pretty clear right from the get go that they were going to be great friends.

 

This production, however, is like nothing the two have done before.

Spring Awakening is a coming of age story which confronts the themes of morality, sexuality, depression, suicide, and self-discovery, head on. The show itself contains depictions of sex, masturbation, and self-harm and also has some very strong language.

 

The original musical production is based on a play of the same name, written around 1890 by Frank Wedekind, which criticises the sexually oppressive culture of the nineteenth century. The story is set in Germany, and due to its controversial subject matter has often been banned or censored in various locations around the world.

 

For The Hills Musical Company’s production Mim is playing the role of Wendla Bergmann and Mitch the role of Melchior Gabor.

“[Wendla] is very naïve,” Mim explains, “She has grown up in a really sheltered, conservative environment where she has no access to information about what is happening to her body, her emotions, or sex-drive, and she tries to seek out this information… but any attempts are completely shut down by her mother. Then because she has these urges, and doesn’t know what to do with them, one thing leads to another and she ends up getting pregnant.”

 

The situation is no better for the other players either.  Mitch’s character, Melchior, tries his best to assist them, but often does more harm than good.

“Melchior is basically the one that seeks out and finds information about these topics, like sex education, relationships, [and] mental health – topics which were taboo in the 1890s, some which are still taboo today, 120 years later – and takes it upon himself to go educate his friends.” Mitch explains.

 

Unfortunately, the other characters don’t have the skills or emotional maturity to deal with this information, and the resulting outcomes drive many of the show’s other themes. The show also contains homosexuality, and explores the emotional impact that has on young maturing adults.

 

Spring Awakening contains a lot of challenging material for any performer, but particularly for ones so young. The show’s director, Hayley Horton, has remained conscious of this and taken steps to not only make the performers feel as comfortable as possible when approaching the content, but to also protect their physical and mental well-being.

“I love Hayley,” Mim begins,

“It’s been such a supportive environment.” Mitch says, “Hayley obviously knows that we are the ones that actually have to get up there and do it, so the first time we have rehearsed all of our scenes – and not just the sex scene – it has been just the three of us so we could figure out where it sat.” He says.

“She locked all the doors leading to the room that we were in,” Mim adds, laughing.

“She is really, really good at giving constant feedback and support, and making sure we have all of the resources available to us to make sure that we are comfortable with everything.” She concludes.

“Mim and I are great friends,” Mitch adds, “But it is still a big step to do this kind of thing… its confronting stuff, so to take away the pressure, do it, and just see how it goes, then gradually [increase] the number of people who are in the room, bringing some of the cast in, the tech staff, means it’s not like, go do a sex scene in front of 50 people!”

“I am so grateful that [I am doing this with] Mitch,” Mim says, “We already have such a strong friendship and level of trust that [it means] we can do this. If I had been cast opposite someone who I didn’t know as well I think it would have been a lot harder.”

 

Mim and Mitch both cite links in current policy shifts around the world to the outcomes presented by this production; the winding back of sex education programs, the removal of support for women’s mental health, the closure of sexual health and abortion clinics.

“The original production is very much an 1891, German period piece, but we’ve brought it forward a bit in order to see if [it would apply] to a [possible] future world.” Mitch explains.

“But it’s not an attempt at a current day mirror,” he continues, “It’s not the world we live in.”

They agree that the intent behind updating the musical is partly to pose the question: Is this a possible reality that we could end up living if we return to the ways of the past?

 

Mim feels a level of responsibility to the work, but also to the greater idea that the regression of public policy and a return to the sexually oppressed ways of the past could have a hugely negative impact on our society as a whole.

“I think [our responsibility] goes two ways,” Mim begins. “In some regard theatre and music are really important in validating other people’s experiences, and I think a lot of the audience… will be able to identify with something [or] with one of the characters [in the show]. As actors our responsibility is to play them honestly so that there is a level of connection, a level of identification and a level of validation of [the audience’s] own experiences.”

 

But Mim is also really passionate about the themes the show contains.

“I think that we need sexual education, we need to be open and honest, and [Spring Awakening] presents kind of a worst case scenario of what happens if we do, say, defund planned parenthood.” She elaborates.

“Presenting these themes and showing that worst case scenario demonstrates how important they are and how we have to work towards making sure that doesn’t happen. Wendla‘s character really pushes the [idea] that if you don’t educate your youth there are really drastic consequences.” She concludes.

 

Mim’s feeling is that audiences shouldn’t be despondent though, just because the content sounds a bit sad and depressing.

“Even though it is all very doom and gloom when you think about it, and when you say it out loud, I don’t think it actually feels like that when you are going on the journey of the show because there is a lot of humour [and]… a lot of light-heartedness” Mim explains.

“The major difference between the play and the musical is that the music makes it so much more uplifting, and in between these really dark scenes there is this really beautiful music that is either upbeat, or has really poetic language. It [all] ends on a high note.” She concludes.

 

The cast of 15 performers includes Mim as Wendla and Mitchell as Melchior, as well as Connor Olsson-Jones as Moritz, Jemma Allen as Ilse, Emily Downing as Thea, Sahra Cresshull as Martha, Zachary Moore as Hanschen, Harry Nguyen as Ernst, Chelsea McGuinnes as Anna, Robbie Mitchell as Georg, Dylan Rufus as Otto, Emma Wilczek as Melitta, and Kieren Gulpers as Greta. There are two performers in the adult ensemble as well, and Kate Anolak takes on the role of Adult Woman, whilst Josh Barkley plays the Adult Man.

“I reckon there are only 2 people in the cast that I didn’t know – and they were from interstate” remarks Mitch. “It is the youth theatre of Adelaide!”

“All of the adult characters are played by two actors,” Mitch adds,

“And they are brilliant!” says Mim.

 

The show opens this coming Friday, 10^th of November, and both say they are feeling ready for an audience.

“I always have anxiety, but objectively I think it’s going to be fine,” Mitch says, “I’m always hyper critical of myself.”

 

The show runs at the Stirling Theatre for 3 weekends with 2 matinees. Performances are on November 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 at 8pm, with matinees on November 19 and 25 at 2pm. The production is rated MA15+ and recommended for audiences 15 years and older. It contains partial nudity, adult themes, frequent sexual references and strong language.

 

Ticket bookings are available online at hillsmusical.org.au/tickets, by phoning 0466 118 153, or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pricing is $32 for Adults, $28 for Concession, and $25 for Groups of 8 or more.

 

Paul Rodda

 

When: 10 to 25 Nov

Where: Stirling Theatre

Bookings: hillsmusical.org.au

 

Photography by Mark Anolak. Location Published Arthouse

 

Interview: Puberty Blues adaptation hits the stage

When first she read Puberty Blues, Zoe Muller was just 15.
She assumed the crude sexism within its pages was a “then” thing, a symptom of the 1970s surfie boy culture.
She loved Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey’s iconic Australian coming of age book.
"I loved the story and was fascinated and appalled by the way girls were treated in the 1970s,” she says.

So great was her intrigue with the world of the 70s surfer chicks and the great Australian beach culture that the Unley High School student sat down and wrote an adaptation of it for the stage.
Among the evolving points of interest was the sense that perhaps things had not changed quite as much as we like believe. There were actually similarities between the sexist attitudes described in the book and those she and her peers observed in their current world. 
“I grew to see similarities which shouldn’t be,” she says.
The sexism of “then” took on a degree of “now”.

But perhaps the thing that resonated most strongly with the teenager was the sense that the book spoke to adolescents with an adolescent voice.

“I wrote the script to see if I could get the characters right,” she adds.
Zoe was a dedicated and seasoned thespian, even at the age of 15.

She had been involved in The Hills Youth Theatre Company since she was nine. So had her two besties, Jean Collins and Matilda Butler from Cornerstone College. Plans were hatched to bring the play to the stage. But first, it required official approval from the author. Zoe contacted the book’s agent.

“We got the rights,” thrills Zoe. “It was so exciting.”

Now, as they worked and planned together on Puberty Blues, they saw the opportunity not only to put on a new play but to create a new theatre company.

Thus was Deadset Theatre Company born.
‘"Deadset” is a word used a lot in Puberty Blues, explains Zoe.
Now the three girls are 17.

Zoe and Matilda are playing the lead female roles of Debbie and Sue. Jean is playing the role of Vicky. Zoe and Jean are directing and Matilda is Assistant Director. The nascent company held group auditions to find the rest of the 14-member cast.
“There was a huge turnout,” says Zoe. “Now we have a cast aged from 16 to 19 with one in the late 20s playing the high school teacher.

“It is crazy to be directing a bunch of 18-year-olds. There is lots of laughing. But it has been great. We have all bonded. I think that will be very noticeable on stage.”

 

Among other things, the cast went surfing for a day to get some authenticity in their depictions. It was a hit.  Zoe predicts that they will all be doing it more in the future.

Meanwhile, it has been the drug and sex culture of the 1970s compared to that of today which has fascinated them all, especially the sexism.
“Parents in the audience are going to say that the young don't have to deal with this these days but the teens will say, yes we do,” says Zoe.
“Most of the cast members say they have dealt with sexism in some form or another.
And then there are the drugs.

"Drug use is still relevant today, Drugs and alcohol,” laments Zoe.

 

And thus it is that Puberty Blues may belong to another generation but it remains relevant today.

 

The show will run at Holden Street’s Studio Theatre from October 25 to 28 and tickets have been selling like hot cakes. 

"It is 75 percent sold with over a week to go. It looks like a sellout,” says Zoe.

 

And it will not be a one-off for Deadset, she reveals.

She is working on a new project.  But she’s keeping it under wraps.

 

Samela Harris

 

When: 25 to 28 Oct

Where: Holden Street Theatre

Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com

Interview: Cooney and Watts - Men Behaving Badly

Matt Byrne Media. Holden Street Theatres. 29 Sep 2017

 

Matt Byrne Media will present Stephen Nye’s politically incorrect riot Men Behaving Badly, live on stage at Holden Street Theatres from October 3 to 21.

“It’s very light hearted, just a couple of lads who live together in a flat” says performer Rohan Watts.

“They both have love interests. Gary, Rohan’s character, has Dorothy, his long suffering, on-again, off-again, girlfriend, and Tony, Brendon’s character, has Debra, who is the girl that rents the flat downstairs, and she is the object of his affections. He is smitten by her, but she doesn’t really want to give him the time of day.”

 

The award-winning British sitcom was a boisterous success for six years in the 90s.

“I am delighted to have gotten permission from author Simon Nye to present four of the funniest episodes in the show’s outrageous history” says Producer / Director Matt Byrne.

 

Byrne has chosen four episodes from the 6 season run of the TV show, but they aren’t completely random.

“The episodes are definitely independent vignettes but time passes” says Watts.

“They are called Bed, Marriage, Drink, and Sofa… and they translate really well.”

 

Originally designed for television this adaptation for the stage does have a few challenges of its own.

“It’s a sitcom designed for TV… so the formatting is a little bit different” Watts continues.

“They have the luxury of quick cuts and cut away scenes where the live show doesn’t.”

 

There are some flash back moments however, which have been cleverly intertwined with pre-recorded footage.

“We do some flashbacks live on stage as well… which is kind of cool” Watts adds.

“We break the fourth wall a fair bit, which is right up my alley. You literally look at the audience and wink in some moments”.

 

Men Behaving Badly came along when political correctness was in full swing and helped swing the pendulum back the other way.

“The humour is really pitched in that mid to late 90’s level” says Watts, “Ala Black Adder or Red Dwarf. Its good British humour; very much that bawdy British sensibility.”

 

The core cast is the 4 leads, but there is also an ensemble of other characters.

“It’s a few people wearing many hats, filling out the scenes. Matt [Byrne] has a little cameo as Les the Bartender” adds Watts.

 

The show is basically ready to go. Now it just needs audience laughter to take it to the next level. But even after months of rehearsals, everyone is still laughing.

“The supporting cast and the crew, that sit there and watch every rehearsal, still laugh” Watts says, “That is a testament to the quality of the writing… we’ve got jokes that are 20 years old, which we’ve said 30 times, and they are still funny. There are moments where I literally can’t hold myself together yet because it’s just too funny.”

 

The actors aren’t impersonating the original performances though, and some of the jokes have been updated.

“We are turning it into our own thing, so people shouldn’t expect just to see a carbon copy of the original episodes… otherwise they could just go and watch the real thing. We [also] improvise a little bit – we snatch a few jokes out of the air here and there – which keeps it fresh for us” Watts concludes.

 

“Gary and Tony are complete lager louts with few redeeming qualities and their women Dorothy and Deborah usually come out on top” Byrne says.

“The great mystery is they somehow stayed together, for six triumphant seasons, maybe there’s a message there somewhere, but you’ll be laughing too hard to care.”

 

The Matt Byrne Media production will feature Rohan Watts as Gary, Georgia Stockham as Dorothy, Brendan Cooney as Tony and Cheryl Douglas as Deborah, with John Matsen as George and Heather Riley as Anthea, and contributions by Bec Mason, Heather Crawford, Nick Kennett, Chris Stansfield Niki Martin, and Matt Byrne.

 

Men Behaving Badly runs at the Holden Street from October 3 to 6 (no first Saturday night), 10 to 14 and 18 to 21. Admission is Adults $30 and Concessions $25 with Group Concessions for 10 or more. The Tuesday shows on October 3 (Preview) and October 10, are both $20 Cheap Nights.

 

Paul Rodda

 

When: 3 to 21 Oct

Where: Holden Street Theatres

Bookings: 8262 4906 or mattbyrnemedia.com.au