NEVER DID ME ANY HARM Produced by Force Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company Devised by Force Majeure Photo Credit (Lisa Tomasetti) From award‐winning Australian director and choreographer Kate Champion and dance theatre company Force Majeure comes a riveting dissection of what it means to be a parent in Australia today. Featuring a mixed cast of actors and dancers, Never Did Me Any Harm is a powerful melding of theatre and movement. ABOUT THE SHOW Over the past few decades the word ‘parenting’ has crept insidiously, almost imperceptibly, into our vernacular bringing with it increasing anxiety around issues of raising children. Is the pressure to get it right overwhelming us? And what is ‘good parenting’ anyway? Are children today given too much choice? Too few boundaries? Less chance to take risks? Are they protected from notions of failure? Sexualised too young? Drawing inspiration from Christos Tsiolkas’ best‐selling novel The Slap, Force Majeure’s Artistic Director Kate Champion and the company interviewed people of all ages and backgrounds to garner their views on the subject of parenting. In a familiar Aussie backyard seven actors and dancers create a myriad of familiar characters from the verbatim text that they collected. Never Did Me Any Harm is a captivating work that has attracted rave reviews with its power, poignancy and distinctively Australian humour. “Never Did Me Any Harm makes you laugh, cringe and possibly even cry." Sydney Morning Herald “Go to be thrilled, entertained and emotionally engaged and you won’t be disappointed.” Stage Noise “Candid, controversial and very clever theatre.” Concrete Playground CREATIVE TEAM Director Set & Lighting Designer Composer & Sound Designer Dramaturg Associate Director Assistant Director AV & Assistant Lighting Designer Choreography Kate Champion Geoff Cobham Max Lyandvert Andrew Upton Roz Hervey Geordie Brookman Chris Petridis The Company TOURING HISTORY January 2012 March 2012 October 2012 Premiere ‐ Sydney Festival, Sydney Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Melbourne Festival, Melbourne ABOUT FORCE MAJEURE Led by Artistic Director Kate Champion, Force Majeure produces critically acclaimed dance theatre works. Established in 2002, the Company is based around a collective of artists from varying disciplines who are committed to creating stimulating movement‐based theatre. Artists include dancers, actors, writers, visual artists, composers and filmmakers. Since 2002, Force Majeure has created five major works, two collaborative works, a short film series, and has received five major national awards. This year the company has joined forces with Sydney Theatre Company to produce Never Did Me Any Harm, as well as working on Food, a co‐production with Belvoir. Force Majeure produces challenging and relevant work that reflects on contemporary life, breaking down boundaries between art forms. Whether its work is defined as dance, theatre or performance is secondary to its relevance and impact. Force Majeure is also committed to supporting the development of dance theatre in Australia. forcemajeure.com.au | @majeurenews STAGE NOISE REVIEW Diana Simmonds, 15 January 2012 A show that is devised and staged by Kate Champion's Force Majeure physical theatre company is pretty much guaranteed to demand that you expect the unexpected and check your own preconceptions at the door. With long‐time collaborators, set and lighting designer Geoff Cobham and co‐creator Roz Hervey, Champion has given us ‐ most recently ‐ the memorable Not In A Million Years and The Age I'm In and the quality and variety of their work goes back to Same, Sam But Different and altogether they place the company in a unique and hugely admired place in Australian performance. The least likely and oblique sources tend to launch Champion's imaginative leaps and Never Did Me Any Harm was sparked by Christos Tsolkas's The Slap. It's merely the spark, however, and the creative heat caused by it has fashioned something else entirely. Over the past couple of years, the Force Majeure crew has conducted some 60 hours of interviews with people who have shared their thoughts and beliefs on kids, parenthood, corporal punishment, discipline (notably its absence), breastfeeding, disability and so on. Fragments of these recordings begin the evening, anchoring it in the place of "real" and "ordinary" from which the theatre and spectacle then take off. Typically, Champion has chosen a company of actors and dancers whose distinct talents and abilities are melded, apparently effortlessly, into a coherent whole. It's deceptive, of course. The ease that flows in the exchanges between, for instance, actor Marta Dusseldorp and dancer Sarah Jayne Howard, is the outcome of willingness on the part of both to leave their own assumptions and comfort zones behind; inventive minds and bloody hard work. Similarly the fusion of audio, breathtaking lighting plots and the performers is made to appear simple and easy when it is not. Text and gesture, light and sound combine to make poetry of the human body and rhythms of everyday speech. The rest of the cast ‐ Kristina Chan, Vincent Crowley, Alan Flower, Kirstie McCracken, Heather Mitchell and Josh Mu ‐ assume various roles: father and son, lonely kids, bullying kids, a snippy middle class matron, lovers, mothers, friends, enemies. All have a discrete language of movement and voice; for the dance inclined there are sly pas de deux, trios and fractured ensembles. But Never Did Me Any Harm is impossible to pigeonhole. Geoff Cobham's hyper‐realistic set of a suburban backyard with a neatly mown lawn, herbaceous border, a tree and a shed is both reassuring and unsettling as it's washed in the already mentioned light plays and Max Lyandvert's rich soundscape. Dogs bark, children laugh and play in a nearby swimming pool and playground, birds sing, cicadas trill. It's all so normal … average … and yet, as we all know, some of the most ferociously uncompromising cultural and ideological battles are fought out in the privacy of normal, average homes and backyards. Kate Champion's Force Majeure is never less than madly interesting; most often they have profound, amusing and moving things to show and tell. In this instance, anticipation is rewarded in spades. Warning: don't go expecting run of the mill contemporary dance, or performance art or theatre. Do go to be thrilled, entertained and emotionally engaged and you won't be disappointed. TECNICAL SPECIFICATIONS The following information sets out the technical requirements and support to be provided to Force Majeure by the Presenter. TOURING TEAM – 13 PERSONNEL 7 x Performers 6 x Production / Creatives RUNNING TIME 65 minutes, no interval STAGING NB: a fly tower is not required. Set: The set is made to look like a typical Australian backyard. • The floor is fake grass, secured with double sided tape. • A fence is erected around 2 sides of the space supported by short booms stood in bases and French braces. • A shed stands in the upstage right corner. • In the opposite corner, there is a tree standing 4m high. The main structure of the tree is a 2m stick of tri truss and a base plate. We will bolt the base plate to the floor Masking: Presenter to Provide • 1x flat black smother rigged upstage of the fence (position determined by venue size, minimum is 1m). This will be a projection surface so needs to be flat, stretched and weighted at the bottom. It should be at least 12m wide and be as high as the grid. • Side masking will depend on the venue. We’ll either need a set of legs one side or panorama masking with an entrance upstage and downstage. The upstage entrance around the shed may need some small single flats. Props: Presenter to Provide • 1 bin bag of dead ivy or similar creeper to be supplied to attach to our fence and shed. If not dead it could be live sections that will die over the season. In the past we have sprayed these with flame retardant. AUDIO VISUAL Projectors: Presenter to Provide • 2x Projection Design F30 SX+ • Lenses to suit (venue specific) • Rigging brackets to suit. Control: Company to Provide • 1x Mac Pro running Catalyst Media Server controlled via Artnet • 2x DVI Matrox TripleHead2Go • 1x 8‐port Gigabit switch • • • Cat6 network connection to Jands Vista and Catalyst Cat6 cable and with Kramer DVI to Cat6 Baluns to all projectors 3 short throw projectors for behind fence LIGHTING Control: Presenter to Provide • An experienced Lighting Operator for show playback only • DMX signal to all necessary lighting fixtures from our two universes of desk output. o 1 Universe for Venue Dimmers o 1 Universe for Moving Lights • Cat6 signal to DT3000 Company to Provide • We tour a PC laptop with a DMX converter box running Jands Vista, this machine also controls the AV. Atmosphere: Presenter to Provide • 1 x MDG Atmosphere • Please ensure that spare juice + CO2 is available • Requires DMX interface to Lighting system Moving Lights: Presenter to Provide • 1 x VL3500Q Spot • 2 x VL1000TS (These sit on floor and must be screwed to the floor) • 1 x Robe Digital Spot 3000DT • DMX cable Conventional Lights: Presenter to Provide • See LX Plan • Red turning (spotting) light located at centre rear of auditorium SOUND The sound for show consists of composed and sourced, recorded music with some live speech. Operation Position: Stage Manager to operate sound from rear of auditorium. If the op position is in a rear booth, please can the window be open. Control: Presenter to Provide • Digital Mixer with a minimum of 14 inputs (10 from motu and 4 for radio mics), preferred desk would be DM1000 but happy to use venue’s equivalent. The mixer will need to be digital as it will perform automatic scene changes via MIDI. Patch cables for MOTU and radio mics to the desk: 13 x 1/4inch jacks • Appropriate amps and crossovers. Company to Provide • Q lab with mac laptop • Motu sound card Speakers: Presenter to Provide • FOH PA: left and right appropriate to venue. • FOH Surround: appropriate to venue. • SUBS. • 2 x speakers for behind fence. • 1 x small speaker (MM4 or control 1) for inside shed. Cast Microphones: Presenter to Provide • 4 x DPA 4061 beige mic capsules for our Sennheiser mic packs. • Dual band third octave graphic EQ. Company to Provide • 4 Sennheiser EW112G2 Radio Mics packs. • Mic frequencies currently in use (Sydney season). o 661.950 o 786.000 o 787.050 o 788.500 • 4 adaptors for mic packs (to connect DPA’s to Sennheiser packs). STAGE MANAGEMENT Stage Manager’s Position: Rear of audience Presenter to Provide The Stage Management position will need the following: • Paging systems to dressing room • Show relay in dressing rooms • Monitor and low light camera with full view of stage Communications: Presenter to Provide • 3 sets talkback/COMS o SM o LX Operator o Radio coms Backstage for ASM if possible • 2 x cue lights o DSOP o USOP Dressing Rooms: Presenter to Provide • 1 x dressing room for male performers (must comfortably fit 5). • 1 x dressing room for female performers (must comfortably fit 4). • 1 x dressing Room for Stage Management. Water: Presenter to Provide • Please provide a water cooler for the cast and crew side stage. WARDROBE Personnel: Presenter to Provide • 1 x wardrobe person for washing and drying costumes before each show Equipment: Presenter to Provide • Room for washing and maintenance • 1 x industrial washing machine • 1 x industrial dryer • Iron and ironing board SHOW CREW Please note: All show crew must remain the same from bump‐in to the end of the season. Presenter to Provide - 1 x LX Operator o The LX operator will operate the Lighting & AV cues from our stage manager via our laptop running Jands Vista - 1 x Venue Technician Will be responsible for ensuring the stage is clean for each performance, and maintaining the venue sound system (turning on/off) during the season - 1 x Wardrobe Responsible for washing/drying and ironing costumes before the show each day Company to Provide - 1 x Stage Manager - 1 x Assistant Stage Manager BUMP-IN CREW AND SCHEDULE An eight (8) hour pre‐rig is required prior to the company arrival. During this session all lighting, AV, sound and masking must be rigged. Please note: bump‐in crew must remain the same throughout the course of the bump‐in. Generic Production Schedule (Assuming a pre‐rig is possible, if not we’ll need a 3‐day bump‐in) Day 1 9:00am – 1:00pm Bump‐in set 4 x Mechs Rig touring lights 4 x LX Sound install 2 x SD Prepare costumes Force Majeure Management 1:00pm – 2:00pm Sound quiet time 2:00pm – 6:00pm focus 4 x LX 2 x Mech 7:00pm – 11:00pm Plot & Tech with cast 2 x LX 1 x SD Day 2 9:00am – 1:00pm Technical time 2 x LX 1 x SD 1 x Mech 1 x wardrobe 2:00pm – 6:00pm Tech/Dress Rehearsal 1 x SD 1 x LX 1 x wardrobe 8:00pm Opening Performance 1 x Venue Tech, 1 x LX Op FRONT OF HOUSE Warnings: - Adult themes - Coarse language - Haze effects - Strobe‐like effects - Loud music Latecomers Policy: - 7 minute lockout into show on Stage Managers call FREIGHT - The production travels in a 20ft shipping container or equivalent. Ideally the truck has a tail lift. CONTACTS For information please contact: Bec Allen Producer, Force Majeure Email: [email protected] Tel: +61 2 8571 9086 Fax: +61 2 8571 9089 Mob: +61 402 136 650 Contact List: Set / Lighting Designer Sound Designer AV Designer Producer Production Manager Geoff Cobham Max Lyandvert Chris Petridis Bec Allen Marty Langthorne [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]