The Oak’s Bride

× Performance

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All images by Park Jong Hyon 2009

The Oak’s Bride is a new physical performance by Red Moon Rising. It is inspired by the poetic novel Gaudete written by notorious poet Ted Hughes. Extreme in physicality and content, The Oak’s Bride immerses the audience in a beautiful and electrifying world.

Using the expressionistic physical theatre style of Butoh as a springboard, Red Moon Rising explores what happens to the human body when its component parts are at war. The Oak’s Bride confronts contemporary issues such as the fragmentation of identity through technology, the archetypal struggle between life and its shadow, and the innately human drive for power over others.

Presented in the bowels of the historic Donkey Wheel House, a Gothic-revival landmark located in central Melbourne, The Oak’s Bride asks: what happens when the primal and evolved collide in a world that, in Hughes’ words, is ‘out of control’?

Check out The Oak’s Bride on Facebook.

This project is part of the 2010 Next Wave Festival’s Dance Program. Click HERE to read more about it.

Supporters: Australia Council for the Arts, Donkey Wheel House, St Martins, La Mama, Australia-Korea Foundation, Aphids

Artist/s:

Ellen Rijs: Creator; producer Jeremy Neideck: Creator; composer Polly Sara: Creator Angela Cole: Lighting designer; technical manager

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About the artist/s:

Ellen Rijs holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Monash University) and has studied Classical Ballet, Butoh, The Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Viewpoints and The Meisner Technique. Ellen has participated in Butoh workshops with Dairakudakan, Semimaru (Sankai Juku), Yumi Umiumare, and Mutsuko Tanaka and Body Weather workshops with Tess De Quincey. She regularly participates in Butoh training with Tony Yap and Yumi Umiumare. Ellen completed a Company Internship with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in 2008 and in 2006 she was a member of the St Martins Performers Ensemble. Before Red Moon Rising was formed, Ellen co-founded Look Twice Theatre, a group of Melbourne-based artists interested in making devised physical theatre. Ellen directed and produced Beta Life (45 downstairs) and Split (Melbourne Fringe Festival) for Look Twice Theatre.

Performance credits include: The Oak’s Bride (development showing at La Mama), Beyond Butoh 08 (Yumi Umiumare), Zeitgeist (Zen Zen Zo, Dir. Lynne Bradley), Beta Life (Look Twice Theatre), Radicals and Misanthropes (St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Dir. Christian Leversley), Z: A Dance with Appendages (Monash, Choreo. Rebecca Hilton), A Revenger’s Tragedy (Monash, Dir. Michael Coe), Nowingi (MST, Choreo. Bryan Davidson-Blue).

Jeremy Neideck is a dancer, composer and performance maker with a strong focus on exploring the convergence of extreme physicality with extended vocal techniques. Since graduating from Queensland University of Technology (Performance Studies), he has trained in physical theatre and Butoh with Zen Zen Zo (Brisbane), Dairakudakan (Tokyo) and Yumi Umiumare (Melbourne). His current focus is on working with Red Moon Rising to explore ways to use filmic theatre techniques to produce Butoh within multi-dimensional performance environments. In 2009 Jeremy spent four months in Seoul, South Korea, studying traditional Korean opera (Pansori) with Oh Min Ah at The National Theatre of Korea. His focus was on traditional repertoire, and incorporating this incredibly demanding style into his physical practice. Jeremy also undertook a one-month residency at the Modern Dance Festival in Seoul, participating in cultural exchanges and creating a work for the festival showcase with artists from Korea, Australia, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, France, and Cameroon. Jeremy then participated in a 3-month residential studio program at The National Museum Of Contemporary Art, combining his Butoh practice with Pansori and filmic theatre techniques to create a work of performance art that was exhibited at the Museum in August. Performance credits include: Nok Cha Cafe (Offset Art), Strange Earth (National Art Studio, Korea), Beyond Butoh 08 (Yumi Umiumare), Zeitgeist, Zen Zen Zo, Strange Soup, The Little Dragon and Five Fools (LATT Korea), Dir. Roger Rynd, Tashi Stories Imaginary, Dir. Mark Radvan) at the Brisbane Powerhouse and Korea Foundation World Book Fair 2005, Snow Tastes like Chemicals in Europe (QUT).

Polly Sara is an actor and physical theatre performer. She has worked with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre for five years as a Performance Company Member and Teaching Artist and has trained in The Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Viewpoints and Butoh Dance. Polly holds a Bachelor Of Creative Industries majoring in Drama (QUT) and has studied Butoh with Dairakudakan, Semimaru Juku, Jorge Lopez Ramos and Yumiko Yoshioka. She has also studied The Meisner Technique with Jamie Kable, Clowning, Melodrama, Commedia del Arte and The Lecoq Method of Actor Training with Steph Kehoe, Viewpoints and The Suzuki Method with Ellen Lauren and Creative Gym with Marie Dumont and Anna Yen. Performance credits include: The Odyssey (QAC Regional Tour), The Dairakudakan Project (Dairakudakan and Zen Zen Zo), Sketches of Blood (Red Moon Rising), Sub-Con Warrior 2.0 (Dir. Simon Woods), Zeitgeist (Dir. Lynne Bradley) Dracula (Dir. Steven Mitchell Wright), An End to Dreaming (Dir. Steven Mitchell Wright with The Dresden Dolls), Visions of Macbeth (World Shakespeare Congress and Zen Zen Zo) Sub-Con Warrior 1.0 (Dir. Lynne Bradley) and This Much Individuality (Margi Brown Ash).