OBSERVER: Arts House Season 1
Arts House launches Season 1 2025 with two Australian premieres presented in partnership with Asia TOPA: Goldfish by Terrapin in association with Aichi Prefectural Theater; and Fire Drill Scenario by Geumhyung Jeong.
Goldfish asks: what role should humanity, and the theatre, play in times of increasing disaster?
Developed by Tasmanian puppetry company Terrapin and Japan’s Aichi Prefectural Art Theatre, Goldfish is a dynamic work for children and their families where reality and fantasy collide.
A solo puppeteer spins a fable for children using everyday items. But fiction turns to fact as a flood arrives, devastating the land and two disaster recovery workers burst in, interrupting the performance.
As the theatre turns to an evacuation centre, familiar items illustrate the story – a tarpaulin becomes a surging ocean, pallets of tinned food become battlements and bags of rice become sandbags to hold back the tide.
For each season of Goldfish, a new set is made using disaster recovery materials specific to each location.
Terrapin Artistic Director Sam Routledge says: “To stay true to the intention of the work, we have set ourselves the challenge of telling the story using only the materials of the theatres we play in and items that will be useful to disaster recovery organisations at the season’s end.”
Fire Drill Scenario is an emergency evacuation contingency like no other. It is a wry and unexpected performance that challenges the safety zones of art and life.
Created by South Korean choreographer and artist Geumhyung Jeong, Fire Drill Scenario scrutinises the risks that audiences and artists are exposed to when they gather in confined spaces.
In a work that is both ridiculous and useful, Jeong will choreograph and coordinate Arts House’s safety instructions with meticulous detail and dry wit.
n Goldfish – Terrapin in association with Aichi Prefectural Art Theater
Feb. 26 – March 2. 7.30pm Wed. – Fri., 1pm and 7.30pm Sat. and 5pm Sun. Duration 60 minutes, no interval
School shows: 11am Thu and Fri
Relaxed performance: 1pm Sat
Post-show artist talk: 7.30pm Thu
n Fire Drill Scenario – Geumhyung Jeong
March 6 – 9 . 7.30pm Thu. – Sat. and 5pm Sun. Duration 90 minutes, no interval
Venue: Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
Tickets + transaction fee
$40 Standard ticket
$25 Reduced ticket
$15 Blaktix
Bookings: artshouse.com.au 9322 3720. – Ben Starick