See the article 'Servant of the Revolution: The Creative Art of Serving History and the Imagination' in the 2010 HECATE An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women's Liberation Vol. 36 Nos 1&2: 137–152. Find HECATE at bookstores, such as Readings in Melbourne and Gleebooks in Sydney, or your local library.

TRAILER OF DVD

See a trailer of the DVD of the Brunswick prouction at Making of Movies:

http://www.makingofmovies.com.au/productions.htm

After downtime once the season finished, we are pleased to announce that a Making the Movies DVD of the Brunswick production of the play has been completed and will be made available later in the year with study materials. The dedicated mobile phone number for tickets is no longer operative but you can still contact us through servantrevolution.gmail.com or anitra.nelson@rmit.edu.au The image is a shot of most of the production crew and all three members of the cast.

FIRST NIGHT

First night was heralded in the The Age 21 July with two items, in the Arts (p.10) and The Age Diary (p.15). Production shot (above) by Irene Finkelde.

Tomorrow is bump-in day for Servant of the Revolution. Listen to Life Matters on ABC radio on Monday 20 July (9 am to 10 am) for an interview on the historical background and details of this production of the play. We are arranging filming of the play using the services of Making the Movies (David Muir). After being interviewed by Chris Gaffney for Keep Left on 3CR yesterday (10am to 11 am), I saw him star in Boroondara Theatre's production of The History Boys last night. It was a great performance.

COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

Commedia dell'arte refers to improvised theatre that flourished in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and heralded professional acting in Europe. Commedia dell'arte developed stock characters, routines and gestures, masks, intrigues and subjects. Actors developed their skills as a recognisable discipline, creatively upsetting the expected, in a dialogue with audiences familiar with dramatic forms and techniques. Common material included scandalous love intrigues, particularly involving servants, and impersonation, helpless victims and long-lost children. Shakespeare and Moliere drew from this tradition.

The director, Brenda Addie, is making use of resonances of commedia dell'arte in the characters and subject matter of Servant of the Revolution, with some humorous interventions to give colour to otherwise serious material.

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals continue apace this week. 'Fabulous,' is the way the director is describing the cast's performances. The MTC is lending us furniture for the stage. Check out the preview in the 1 July issue of Green Left Weekly and listen out over the next couple of weeks for the interviews on the play's content by Vincent O'Donnell on the Arts Alive program which is syndicated throughout Australia (Mondays 4–5pm) and by the 3CR Keep Left program heard every Friday morning.

TED KAZAN is the sound designer

Ted Kazan has been an active member of the Melbourne music community for over a decade. A multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Ted has performed with numerous different bands, appeared on many recordings, composed and produced soundtracks for documentaries, as well as writing and producing solo material. For the last three years he has been the stage manager of Melbourne Zoo's popular Twilight Concert series. Ted's involvement in Servant of the Revolution is his first step into the world of theatre.

SCOTT ALLAN is the lighting designer

After training with the Young People’s Theatre for several years, Scott Allan spent eight years lighting pantomime and productions in repertory as the company's Resident Lighting Designer. For six years he was Resident Lighting Designer to the Gold Coast Arts Centre and, for four years, Technical Manager for the Arts Faculty at Deakin University. Scott is a professional member of the Association of Lighting Designers and the Treasurer of the Australasian Lighting Industry Association. Take a look at his website — http://www.sallanld.com/

AMELIA JACKSON is the stage manager

Currently completing a live production course at the Box Hill Institute, Amelia Jackson has worked as a stage manager (and dresser) for several years, most recently for: How to Direct From Inside (La Mama 2009), Garden of Delights (Theatreworks 2009 Selected Works), Who is Lindsay Boag (Chapel off Chapel, 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival) and One Cloud (Theatreworks 2008 Company Initiative Program and Lady Muck).

RAFAELLA McDONALD is the set designer

Rafaella McDonald works collaboratively across a wide range of media including animation, film, theatre, installation and collage. She has exhibited work at George Paton Gallery and various screen venues across Melbourne, including Horse Bazaar and Loop. Recently, her animation work was displayed at the Federation Square Atrium as part of the Spill Collective show Dark Matter. In 2009 she will complete a Creative Arts degree, majoring in Visual Media, at the University of Melbourne. Her design for Servant of the Revolution makes use of the tradition of socialist poster and street art.

ANITRA NELSON is the writer-producer

Alongside a varied academic career in the social sciences, Anitra has made an award winning autobiographical short film Mercury Stole My Fire (2005) on being ‘allergic to the twentieth century’. She was a committed member of the Communist Party of Australia before it disbanded in 1991 and remains a women’s liberationist. Known for her original approach, her PhD was published as Marx’s Concept of Money: the God of Commodities by Routledge (London, 1999). She has published and talked (ABC Health Report) on Marx’s carbuncles and other illnesses. Her latest book publication was as editor and contributor to Steering Sustainability in an Urbanizing World (Ashgate, London, 2008). A Senior Research Associate at RMIT University, she lives in the Blue Mountains (NSW) where her partner runs Chekhov’s Three Sisters Second Hand Books.

BRENDA ADDIE is the director

Brenda Addie has had a thirty-year career in the performing arts in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada working with luminaries such as Meryl Streep, Max Von Sydow, Michael York, Sam Neill, Richard Todd and Sooty. Known for featured television roles in Chances, Bellbird and Neighbours, Brenda extended her career into writing, directing, producing and dramaturgy and has just completed her Masters of Creative Arts in Theatre Studies at the University of Melbourne. Currently resident director for Bloomsday in Melbourne, Brenda has brought to life three anniversary celebrations of James Joyce’s Ulysses. She is delighted to bring the fascinating play, Servant of the Revolution, to the stage in Brunswick.

JULIANNE DONOVAN plays LENCHEN

After being unashamedly sidetracked by life, Julianne Donovan has recently returned to theatre. She won the Best Actress Runner-Up Award and People’s Choice Award for her performance in Mary Anne Butler’s I AM in Short and Sweet 2007 (Arts Centre). She performed in a string of plays in 2008, such as Amelia Roper’s Camberwell House (Dog’s Breakfast Festival, Monash University) and Clickety Tock (Tipsy Teacup Productions, Fitzroy Town Hall). Julianne has appeared in short films — Cherry Bomb (VCA), Being Barry (Film Vic) and Trains and Buses — as well as in the Channel Nine series Canal Road.

CLARA PAGONE plays TUSSY MARX

This year Clara Pagone has played the mother in Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (Bitter End Productions), successfully directed a sold out season of How to Direct From Inside at La Mama Theatre for the 2009 Melbourne Midsumma Festival and is in pre-production for a Gasworks Theatre performance in October.

Clara writes and produces, as well as performing and directing. She played Pucci in the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival season of Who is Lindsay Boag?, which sold out, and won Best actress in the 2007 Fast n Fresh Arts Centre Festival (in Susan Who?). After directing Clara in Short and Sweet 2007 (The Knitting Circle) Brenda Addie approached Clara to play Tussy (and Jenny) Marx in Servant of the Revolution.

RAY TIERNAN plays ENGELS

Ray Tiernan has been working professionally as an actor in film, television and theatre for several years. He has worked in theatre throughout Australia including recent seasons of I Want to be in a Jane Austen Novel and Two Weeks with the Queen. Having just relocated to Melbourne from Brisbane, Servant of the Revolution marks Ray’s first theatre performance in Melbourne. Recently Ray appeared in Sea Patrol and the drama series The Strip on Channel Nine. He performs stand-up comedy and has developed skit comedy for the Austereo radio network in Brisbane and Canberra. He will appear in the 2009 season of Channel Seven's City Homicide and the online series Welcome to the Cosmos.

BOOK NOW — DON'T MISS OUT
Ten shows at night

8pm Tues–Sat on 21–25 July & 28 July–1 August
One matinee only — 6pm Sunday on 26 July


Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick Sydney Rd (Glenlyon Rd cnr)

Tickets: $25 (full) $15 (concession) $20 (group bookings of 10 or more)

Bookings: 0420 933 101 servantrevolution@gmail.com