Blair Harris

The story:
Allow us to introduce to you two characters for whom life's journey was cut abruptly short, if it ever really began at all. Doomed to forever be prisoners, Bony Anderson and Eliza Donnithorne were completely removed from the daily experiences of life that most of us take for granted. These two chamber operas are both based on real people who lived out the remains of their pitiful lives in Sydney. Anderson, an unruly convict, chained to a rock on Goat's Island to be gawked at and taunted like a circus animal, and Miss Donnithorne, a jilted bride who returns to her dead father's house and remains there, still in her bridal gown, for the last 30 years of her life.


The Pitch:
This project is big. Our biggest yet, in fact. Sadly we didn't get the funding we needed, so we've had to quickly move on to Plan B, which involves you. We need your help to make ends meet. With 60 hours of rehearsals planned, this is going to be a killer gig that you won't want to miss, and all of us at Syzygy are forfeiting any fee so that the project can still go ahead.

Where is the money going to go?
We have a stellar cast of guest artists joining us for these shows: Christopher Richardson (bass baritone), Judith Dodsworth (soprano), Peter Neville (percussion), Josh Rogan (trumpet), and John Paul Fischbach (director). We also have overhead costs like music hire, costume cleaning and props, which are all adding up! We thankfully acknowledge our wonderful supporting partners Montevecchio Wines, Rose Chong Costumiers, philanthropic art buffs Bella and Mick Bolto and the Melbourne Recital Centre.


What we need to make it happen:
We are personally contributing time and funds towards the project, but we need your help - anything you can do to assist us would be greatly appreciated! There are some nifty rewards up for offer. Have a look at our compilation video to see what we've been up to in the past year, and listen to some live snippets taken from our recordings of last year's Metropolis program, and Pierrot Lunaire at the Melbourne Festival. We've had an extraordinary run of shows and thank you all for your support of the ensemble so far! Of course, if you're not in a position to make a financial pledge you can support us by just coming along to see the finished product!

How long we have:
The performances are on the 16th and 17th of April, so we have a month to get this happening! Action stations.