May 7 Day 126. Splashing about

For reasons I don't understand and certainly can't explain, I seem to have a problem with Tuesdays. Perhaps it's a Monday-itis thing for people who don't go to work on Mondays. But for several Tuesdays in a row I've struggled to get out of bed. Today was another one. By late afternoon I forced myself to do something about it. The dogs and I went to South Bank. The fresh air and Sunshine did us good. Just getting out of the house did us good. Longs periods off work kind of mess with your body rhythms. I need to try and fix that one way or another. As the Nike slogan goes "just do it". But slogans are easy. Action is harder.

May 6. Day 125. Colour chart

 I have often wondered who names the colours on colour charts. Who could come up with 75 different names for different shades of orange?
This was on my mind today because the painter arrived to start work on the outside of our house.
I've been waiting for a year for this day. Good painters are both hard to find and worth waiting for.
And yet I haven't really locked down colours. So I looked out the window and down at colour charts.
I looked out the window and down at colour charts.
Repeat.
I Google searched pergolas and pool houses and made notes of colours.
The dogs looked at me with a great deal of curiosity. I have no idea if I'm any closer to reaching a conclusion.

May 5. Day 124. Fairy Tale

 You see all sorts of colourful creatures at South Bank. Indeed when it comes to street performers it's the hub. It's not surprising really. It's where people go to swim, to picnic, to eat or drink or to just hang. There's a permanent chilled mood at South Bank which puts people in the mood to stop and watch and listen or hopefully hand over money. There's a lot of hat being handed around in the Parklands. So when I saw a woman sitting under a tree dressed as a fairy, I thought little of it.
The dogs were keen to investigate so we walked up and had a chat. 
Tulip introduced herself and handed us a brochure. She wasn't busking.
She wasn't after money. She was just keen to tell us about the free art, dance and drama classes she runs.

She was a woman whose mission in life closely aligns with things near to my heart.
Her classes are for children who have been bullied, artists living with a disability and people coping with mental illness.
I admire her . I later went to her Facebook page where she says "Tulip the Fairy lives in Yellow Woodland and in this land she can not fly. Other fairies can see far into other lands and Tulip wears glasses.  Members of Tulip's family live with intellectual and learning disabilities and are all aspiring artists ...Tulip is always questioning whether there is any such thing as disability. he believes the English word should hereby be changed to diff-ability...
If you can not fly, climb, walk, jump or dance. Tulip the Fairy can show you that with a friend beside you and a bit of imagination you can". Tulip is a little ray of yellow sunshine. I admire her.

May 4. Day 123. Behing bars

Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble artistic director Rob Pensalfini and creative Liliana Macarone 

You'll find a lot of actors behind bars. Hollywood is full of them waiting tables between gigs. But this about actors behind actual bars; prison bars, voluntarily and not because they fraudulently tried to buy college places. This is about using the power of performance to enrich and educate both those held at Her Majesty's pleasure and the people from the outside who journey to watch the performance.  The Shakespeare Prison Project has been a journey facilitated by the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble since 2016. The Tempest in the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre will be the 11th production but the first in a women's prison. In a broadranging interview at QSE's headquarters at UQ this afternoon QSE artistic director Rob Pensalfini and The Tempest facilitator Liliana Macarone spoke of how taking Shakespeare behind bars gave agency to the inmates and helped break down stereotypes held by the public who bought tickets to the experience.
For some of the prisoners this is the first time they have been applauded for something that they have done. Receiving accolades is powerful and that holds in equal measure but in different ways when those clapping on are family and friends and when it's complete strangers praising your work. It's giving voice to the voiceless and helping find an outlet for the emotions that well up behind bars or those that helped land them there in the first place.
But for those like myself, who have bought tickets it's about seeing what a prison is like and talking to prisoners. The performance facilitates that dialogue and helps the general public understand just how like or unlike a women's prison is to what we see in Wentworth (hint Rob reveals that the women are surprisingly candid about what happens On the Inside).
There will be more after we see the performance on May 18 but for now hear all on our podcast here or read about the Shakespeare Prison Project here

May 3. Day122. Give yourselves a round of applause

Cowriter Alana Valentine, director Leticia Cáceres  and performer Elaine Crombie

Ursula Yovich plays the titular character Barbara

According to figures released today, 64 per cent of Australians agree  the country should  "amend its constitution to establish a representative Indigenous body to advise Parliament on laws and policies affecting Indigenous people". 
The other 36 per cent should be given a ticket to see Barbara and the Camp Dogs. Or perhaps that's being too optimistic. Let's start with just the 13% who are neutral on the idea.
The bolted on objectors  probably need more than a piece of theatre to get them thinking, no matter how strong the text or masterful the performances.

Elaine Cromby plays Barbara's sister and fellow muso Rene

This is a really, really powerful piece of theatre that smacks you been between the eyes. It's funny and touching in parts but unflinching in its portrayal of the issues that confront Indigenous Australians. But there's also great pub rock and a set that looks like it has borrowed both its carpet and chalkboard from a pretty grungy tavern.
This will take you places. The crowd at opening night tonight rose and applauded not in the obligatory
opening night way but in a long, loud and deeply moved way.
This isn't an easy piece of theatre - but it's important without being preachy. And it just might change a mind or two

Listen to our review of Barbara and the Camp Dogs here

Queensland Theatre's artistic director Sam Strong

May 2. Day 121. Barbara and the Camp Dogs

There was this time when Australian cinema seemed to have this distinct tone ... well at least that was the perception. It was all quaint period pieces, sort of costume dramas of a colonial Australia of  the past - if it was an Australia at all. In recent years, there has (thankfully and finally) been a move to tell contemporary Australian stories from an Indigenous perspective, particularly in the theatre space.
But a contemporary Indigenous Australian musical, about two strong independent woman?  in the State theatre company? Well that's pushing the boundaries even further and music to my ears. Barbara and the Camp Dogs is in some ways the classic road trip story but with a big difference.
Today in the Bille Brown Theatre that looked like a grungy rock pub we were given an advance look at the world of Barbara and the Camp Dogs.
It's loud. It's mad and it's full of anger and music.
If the bits we saw and the interview we conducted with star and cowriter Ursula Yovich is anything to go by this should be theatre that packs a punch.
And I have to say as road trips go this promises to be a wild journey.
I can't wait to strap myself in and go along for the ride.
You can hear our full interview Ursula Yovich here

May 1. Day 120. Breathing in the view

One of the weird and wonderful things I decided to do whilst on sick leave - in fact really the only weird and wonderful thing I decided to do - was to take up singing lessons. I decided it would be relaxing, it would include breath control, it would be an investment in me. I'm not sure if it is any of those things. Perhaps it is all of those things and more.
Anyway my singing teacher is in Europe so today I got the understudy or something. What I actually got was the hairy scary experience of singing in front of another person. For someone with an internal dialogue that says "I can't sing" this is a big deal.
I did it anyway.
I'm pretty proud of myself .
And then I had half an hour to fill in while Oliver had his lesson.
I went for a drive.
I found a lookout.
The hills weren't alive with the sound of music but it felt good.