Image: Bryony Jackson
APHIDS PRESENTS
THE DIRECTOR
22-25 MAR
MULTIPLE PERFORMANCES
70 MINS (NO INTERVAL)
-
WED 22 MAR, 7.30PM
THUR 23 MAR, 7.30PM
FRI 24 MAR, 7.30PM
SAT 25 MAR, 7.30PM
-
General Admission $30.00
Concession $25.00
Blak Tix $20.00
Companion Card Ticket free
-
Platform Arts is wheelchair-accessible via our Gheringhap St entrance. Unlocked, accessible bathrooms are available on both ground and first floors.
For accessibility enquiries, please directly contact us at hello@platformarts.org.au
Please note, Platform Arts is a dry venue.
-
This presentation contains references to death, mourning and loss.
The Director is a bold performance starring charismatic ex-funeral director of 21 years, Scott Turnbull, and artist Lara Thoms.
Taking up a universal experience and taboo topic, Turnbull and Thoms demystify, expose and expand elements of the death industry, using humour and first-hand knowledge to dig a little deeper on what happens after we go. Nothing is off limits, including the smell of a crematorium, the tools of the mortuary, and driving tractors into a funeral chapel. At a time when dying costs an average of $10,000 and funerals happen within a week, death can seem like a very expensive drive-thru meal.
Blurring the roles of funeral director and theatre director, Thoms and Turnbull ask each other to perform tasks, share knowledge and give feedback on each other’s actions. Balancing macabre reality, playfulness and the tragic elements of death, the result is a spiky, funny and invigorating performance.
Nominated for the 2019 Green Room Awards for Outstanding Production: Contemporary and Experimental Performance, and Outstanding Performer.
-
APHIDS is a 28-year-old artist-led, not-for-profit, experimental art organisation that forefronts intersectional feminist voices. From our home in Naarm, Melbourne, we create art of lasting global, social and cultural significance, bringing artists into meaningful exchange with audiences through performance, critical dialogue and unpredictable encounters in the private and public realm.
Collaborative and future-focused, APHIDS is led by Co-Directors Lara Thoms and Mish Grigor with Executive Producer Anna Nalpantidis. Our work is driven by what is current and urgent in contemporary culture and a passionate belief in the social role of art. Past APHIDS works have been presented in major venues with major partners in every state and territory in Australia, they have toured the world, and they have been shown in more unexpected places too: in ricefields and samurai hotels in Japan, churches in Finland, industrial zones in Bulgaria, botanic gardens, and martial arts dojos, even beamed into outer space.
