Oil Babies by Lap Kelpie

A woman with short dark hair and red lips wears a black veil over their face.

Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy and Lab Kelpie

Repositioning our lives as one on the precipice of a planet dramatically changing – perhaps even the moment before our own extinction – OIL BABIES weighs up our continued “hope-investment” in procreation against our feelings of helplessness at the state of the planet and our role in its demise.

Throughout this piece, the body – in particular women’s bodies – are used as a metaphor to explore our world: our need to control it, our desire to want it to look and be a certain way and, ultimately, our lack of respect for it.

Reviews

'It’s provocative and searching theatre, smartly designed and performed with an infectious sense of mischief.' - The Age ★★★1/2

'A smartly designed set and terrific sound engineering really hammer home the messaging. A fast-moving, relatable and hard-hitting genre, wrapped up in a highly-entertaining package. Definitely worth seeing.' - We Know Melbourne ★★★★

'A play with an amazing array of intelligent and heart wrenching questions and interrogations, Oil Babies is a really beautiful and lyrical play.' - What Did She Think ★★★1/2

'It’s impossible to overstate the refinement or the easy integration of design elements, from the whimsical reptile-themed costumes (Harriet Oxley) and tenebrous lighting (Lisa Mibus) to the cataclysmic sound (Darius Kedros). They’re all exceptionally well judged.' - The Australian

'Oil Babies is a fine addition to Lab Kelpie’s collection of new Australian theatre, with plenty of heart and craft.' - Australian Arts Review

'Oil Babies is intimately confronting and leaves you feeling devastatingly exposed.' - TheatrePeople

'The magic of Oil Babies is the presentation of dinner table conversations about these issues to a broader forum.' - Weekend Notes

'Kalive’s direction of Oil Babies is visually very striking.' - Witness Performance

'Such thought-provoking parallels are the strength of Kalive’s writing.' - The Dialog

'The amazing performers, Kali Hulme (as P), Jodie Vesconte (as X) and Fiona Macleod (as C) all play with strength and passion. They each represent an aspect of people just trying their best to live clean and fulfilling lives. They’re women who live in a world with no right choices, women who are overcome by anxiety and compassion fatigue.' - RMITV

'Oil Babies articulates the anxieties around environmental issues and transforms them into a complex and rich text framed by a highly visual and visceral theatrical experience.' - Stage Whispers

Creative Team

Playwright: Petra Kalive
Director: Petra Kalive
Movement Director: Xanthe Beesley
Assistant Director: Lyall Brooks
Cast: Kali Hulme, Fiona Macleod & Jodie Le Vesconte
Set DesignAndrew Bailey
Lighting DesignLisa Mibus
Sound DesignDarius Kedros
ProducerAdam Fawcett

Image by: Sarah Walker

 

Artist Bios

Petra Kalive (Playwright & Director)has extensive experience as a director, writer and dramaturg of new works for the stage. Her acclaimed

adaptation of Peter Goldsworthy’s novel Three Dog Night toured nationally in 2009. She was Dramaturg at Red Stitch from 2009 – 2012, Assistant Dramaturg at The Malthouse in 2010. At Melbourne Theatre Company she directed Beached (winner of the 2010 Patrick White Award), In the Kingdom of Cha (Cybec Electric), and was Assistant Director on Constellations and on STC’s Macbeth.

Petra has directed for Arena Theatre Company, Complete Works Theatre Company, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, La Trobe and Monash University performing arts programs. She is currently Artistic Director of Union House Theatre at Melbourne University. Her most recent work as a director includes the much acclaimed Melbourne Talam at Melbourne Theatre Company following Taxithi which played two sell-out seasons at fortyfivedownstairs and was nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Direction, Redemption by Anthony Crowley at La Mama and Macbeth and Macdeath: a Coda for Union House Theatre.

Andrew Bailey (Set & Costume Design) studied Design at the VCA School of Production, graduating in 2004.

Some of his recent designs include Melbourne Theatre Company’s Double Indemnity, Lungs, The Boy at the Edge of Everything, What Rhymes with Cars and GirlsThe Effect (2014 Green Room Award nomination), Beached, Happy Ending, The Golden Dragon, On the Production of Monsters (2012 Green Room Award nomination), The Joy of Text, Songs for NobodiesRuby Moon, and, for MTC Education, Explorations: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Some of his other independent/site-specific designs include Grief and the Lullaby (Theatre Works Flight Festival), The Stream/The Shore/The Boat/The Bridge (Next Wave Festival; 2012 Green Room Award), Southern Crossings (Green Room Award), Pillow Talk24003 and This is Our Youth.

Andrew currently holds the position of Production Design Coordinator at Melbourne Theatre Company.

Rachel Burke (Lighting Designer) has worked nationally and internationally with Australia’s leading arts companies for more than twenty-five years.

Her industry awards include six Green Room Awards for Excellence in Theatre Lighting Design, 2005 and Helpmann Award nominations for Black Medea (Malthouse/Belvoir) and Marlin (MTC/Arena).

 Selected theatre design for Melbourne Theatre Company: Buyer and Cellar, Cock, Solomon and Marion, True Minds, Constellations, True West; The Australian Ballet: Art to Sky, Cinderella, Stephen Baynes’ Swan Lake, Dark Lullaby and Ballet Imperial.

Rachel has a substantial body of work in the independent theatre sector including long-term work with Nadja Kostich, Peta Murray, Angus Cerini, La Mama, fortyfivedownstairs and Red Stitch. She has recently designed critically acclaimed and sold out seasons of SHIT (Dee & Cornelius) and The Season (Tas Performs) for Sydney Festival 2017.

Darius Kedros (Sound Designer & Composer) works across theatre, virtual reality, art installation, and podcasts.

Since relocating to Melbourne from the UK in 2013 he has created work for ABC’s Radio National, the Festival of Live Art, Scienceworks, Federation Square, MIFF, Melbourne Music Week, and Asia TOPA among others.

Collaborations with Australian artists include Petra Kalive, Susie Dee, Triage Live Art Collective, Matt Scholten, and Tim Minchin.

His northern hemisphere credits include The Rambert Dance Company, Momentum Pictures, the BBC, and Virgin Records.

An early adopter of new media and technologies, Darius has most recently turned his hand to spatialised audio in virtual and mixed reality projects, and is actively exploring these emerging artforms.

Virginia Gay graduated from WAAPA in 2005, and made her MTC debut in On the Production of Monsters. Her other appearances with MTC include The Beast, and Gabies. She has just completed a soldout run of Calamity Jane at The Hayes Theatre, and prior to that, she spent four years pretending to be a nurse in Channel Seven’s All Saints, six months pretending to be Julia Gillard in STC’s Wharf Revueand five years pretending to know a lot about high finance on Winners & Losers.

She has worked with the Production Company in The Producers and Jerry’s Girls, makes regular appearances on First Tuesday Book Club, and has created three solo cabaret shows – Dirty Pretty Songs, Songs to Self-Destruct To, and Cautionary Tales for Children (this last one with Arena Theatre Company) – which she’s performed all over the world, most notably headlining the Famous Spiegeltent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Catherine Glavicic graduated from USQ in 2003 with a Bachelor of Theatre Arts and is best known for her TV roles in Underbelly, The Worst Year Of My Life AgainOffspring and Party Tricks.

Recent theatre credits include Detached, The Importance of Being Earnest, Uncle Gus, Coriolanus and Man of Mode.

Lyall Brooks’ (Assistant Director) professional theatre credits include Savages (fortyfivedownstairs), Penelope and The Pride (Red Stitch), The Heretic (Melbourne Theatre Company), Sunday In the Park with George (Victorian Opera), Guys & Dolls (Donmar), and the award-winning solo show Prudent Man for Lab Kelpie.

Upcoming television appearances include A Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Leftovers, after previous guest roles on Neighbours, Winners and Losers, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

A three-time Green Room Award nominee, Lyall has trained with 16th Street Acting Studio in Melbourne and Renegade Theatre Group in Los Angeles. He has worked as teaching artist, creative consultant and director for theatre-in-education company Make A Scene since 2010, and will act as associate director to Susie Dee on Patricia Cornelius’s new play Big Heart.

He is a current member of the Theatre Works’ 2017 Associate Artist program.

Lyall also brings the experience of his extensive and varied career to the role of artistic director of Lab Kelpie.

Adam Fawcett (Producer) is Lab Kelpie’s award-winning creative producer, having presented their productions since the company’s inauguration in 2012.

As well as producing Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig and SuperGirly: Return of the Pop Princess (Lulu McClatchy/Lyall Brooks) for Lab Kelpie, in 2016 he produced Elegy as a Midsumma Premier Event and Katy Warner’s A Prudent Man, which won the WA Tour Ready Award and the Bank Australia Audience Choice Award from over 400 shows at the 2016 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

It has since been nominated for a 2016 Green Room Award for Best New Writing and accepted into the 2017 United Solo Festival in New York.

Also in 2016 Adam worked as freelance producer for Influx Theatre (Susie Dee, Nicci Wilks and Kate Sherman) to co-present Animal with Theatre Works.

Animal recently won Best Direction, Best Ensemble, Best Lighting and Best Sound at the 2016 Green Room Awards.

Tanje Ruddick (Production & Stage Manager) graduated from the University of Ballarat with a Bachelor of Arts (Theatre Production) in 2005 and has since worked for a number of private organisations and local, state and federal government bodies in the areas of theatre, festivals and major events.

Since coming to Melbourne in 2009, Tanje has focussed on producing new Australian work with Melbourne independent dance companies Collaboration The Project (Climax / Stratagem / Parkland Avenue), Project Y (The Dream Machine / Move / iOverload), and taking Neil Cole’s Groucho to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2013.

In 2012, Tanje supported the Present Tense ensemble as an Associate Producer, contributing to the successful season of Chants des Catacombes at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and is now working on their 2014-2015 season as Production Manager.

In 2017 she will work as Production and Stage Manager on Patricia Cornelius’ Big Heart, directed by Susie Dee at Theatre Works.

When

  • Wednesday, 08 August 2018 | 08:00 PM - 09:10 PM
  • Thursday, 09 August 2018 | 08:00 PM - 09:10 PM
  • Friday, 10 August 2018 | 08:00 PM - 09:10 PM
  • Saturday, 11 August 2018 | 08:00 PM - 09:10 PM
  • Sunday, 12 August 2018 | 06:00 PM - 07:10 PM
  • Wednesday, 15 August 2018 | 06:00 PM - 07:10 PM
  • Thursday, 16 August 2018 | 06:00 PM - 07:10 PM
  • Friday, 17 August 2018 | 06:00 PM - 07:10 PM
  • Saturday, 18 August 2018 | 06:00 PM - 07:10 PM
  • Sunday, 19 August 2018 | 02:00 PM - 03:10 PM

Location

Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre, 189 High Street, Northcote, 3070, View Map

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