OBSERVER: The Blok
First Nations theatre company, A Daylight Connection, delivers a new work, The Blok! presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy and Deadly Fringe from October 8-18 in the Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre.
Directed by Kamarra Bell-Wykes, the play centres on a character called The Master, an auteur whose exponential success and dizzying sense of self-importance comes crashing into a severe case of writer’s block. Played by Carly Sheppard, the character lampoons the idea of the genius artist, and pokes fun at the arts industry, while also speaking to the very real struggles of artists trying to make meaningful work in an increasingly impossible climate.
When The Master realises their god-like creative power has run dry, they’re visited by a divine Creator figure, played by Alexis West – a Blak woman.
The show’s take on The Creator riffs the Judeo-Christian understanding of God and cracks this open into something much more multiple, pantheistic, and spiritual. This is a polyphonic vision of God as a Blak Woman, written by a team of Blak women.
While The Blok will keep that same humour ADC are known for, Sheppard and Bell-Wykes are challenging themselves to strip back their traditionally heavy production values to create a more minimalist experience, which highlights the evolution of the company.
It’s a very meta view on questions they care about as much as they find them ridiculous, making great fodder for exploration and satire.
Pushing the form and embedded into ADC’s work is the experience of live music, with a score created by small sound (Andrew James – Quandamooka), a multi-instrumentalist, sound designer and composer.
Performance Dates: October 8 – 18. Wed. – Fri .7.30pm | Sa.t 2pm, 7:30pm
Venue: Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre, 189 High St, Northcote
Tickets: https://arts.darebin.vic.gov.au/Programs-and-opportunities/Programs/Speakeasy-presentations/THE-BLOK
Cheryl Threadgold