Deborah Wayne Leiser-Moore

Deeply textured, multilayered and savagely poetic work 

(Real Time about Cordelia, Mein Kind)

* It’s Theatre of War - a universal human experience.

* Told through Australian eyes (new and old) - personal stories of Australians in theatres of war (global conflicts)

* A site-specific totally immersive audience experience.

Based on original interviews with men who have had direct experiences of war, this is a brave new work. It places the audience - as witness - in the theatrical field of war, strewn with debris. Physical remnants of past and present lives – furious pressure cookers, a cascade of bones emerging from a mountain of sand, an iron bed, a woman conversing with her absent prisoner-of-war husband, shadowy silhouettes of a lost family, torrential rain, helicopters - are “memory triggers’ (“Even today, when I walk on grass I feel as if I’m walking on someone’s skin). As KaBooM evolves, the ghost of these ‘Men of War’ are evoked - their powerful presence palpable as they inhabit the space.

By supporting this project you are helping these important stories being told.. Not just told - performed in a way that gives the audience a visceral experience of what people carry with them, everyday, in their lives.

The interviewees have expressed how much they needed to tell their stories - first hand experiences of war from Burundi (a child soldier), Iraq, Israel, Vietnam, Russia...

This Project is Important Because:

Contemporary Australian performance has shied away from the subject of war and its consequences. KaBooM addresses this by lightening the load of those carrying the burden of their history. 

It asks: How can contemporary performance create pathways for contemporary Australian audiences to engage with these stories? KaBooM gives voice to the silenced, the displaced and the invisible.

KaBooM is an important project because, as (interviewee) Fablice said:I have all these stories/experiences inside me. I don’t have the opportunity to tell them. These are stories of human ‘suffering’ that need to be told so that people know and can learn from them.

CLICK HERE

We Need Your Help Because:

We have managed to scrape up enough money (mainly my own - and thanks to La Trobe University), to conduct interviews and work with the individual theatre makers.

We have been given a Bundanon Residency to work on the dramaturgy of the piece.

From March 26th - April 15th, we have a Culturelab development residency at Arts House Melbourne. 

This will provide the space and some cash, BUT the cash amount isn't enough to realise the project.

We need to raise $6,500 to make KaBooM work. 

Every bit helps and we appreciate anything that you can give... so a big heartfelt thank you for your support!

The Team:

DEBORAH LEISER-MOORE - CONCEPT/CO-CREATOR/PERFORMER: Deborah’s work in physical contemporary performance has toured nationally and internationally (most recently San Francisco with her solo work Cordelia, Mein Kind). She has studied in Japan with Tadashi Suzuki, trained in the work of Ettiene Decroux, taught in many universities, presented her work at many conferences and has been the recipient of a number of grants. She is Artistic Director of Tashmadada. KaBooM is her latest major performance work.

GAIL KELLY – DIRECTOR: Gail has directed and devised shows for companies such as Circus Oz, Legs on the Wall, Monoxide Circus, Urban Theatre Projects, Rock ‘n Roll Circus, Open City, and Sidetrack Performance Group. She regularly worked for Playworks as a dramaturg developing new Australian texts and contemporary performance works. Gail established two contemporary physical performance companies – including Club Swing. She is presently Artistic Director of ACAPTA.

DEREK IVES – RIGGER: Derek was a founding member of Rock ‘ Roll (CIRCA), worked with Club Swing, Circus Oz, Circ CIirkor, Circus Monoxide, often as both rigger and performer. He has trained with Phillipe Gaulier and Angela De Castro in clown and buffon. He started The Candy Butchers and On Wild Duck. For the last two years as associate director at Circus Oz creating Steam Powered with Mike Finch.

KATHRYN NIESCHE – AERIAL DIRECTOR: Kathryn’s hwork spans dance-theatre, cabaret, film, TV, radio, traditional and contemporary circus, street theatre, nightclubs, large-scale events and physical theatre. She is an aerial trainer at NICA. Kathryn worked as an aerial trainer/ choreographer on ‘Zangoora’, a Bollywood music-theatre production at the Kingdom of Dreams in Delhi, India. Kathryn received a Professional Development Grant from the Australia Council to study aerial skills in Paris.

TIM PARISH – VIDEOGRAPHER: Tim works across video art, live performance and film production. He produces documentaries, short films and music videos and performs live VJ performances at festivals, art events and theatre. Recent live performances have included Garma Festival 2011, Andante (Darwin Festival 2011), Burning Man Festival (USA), Wide Open Spaces Festival (Alice Springs), NT Indigenous Music Awards, Darwin Symphony Orchestra 'The Planets'.

NIKLAS PAJANTI – LIGHTING DESIGN: Niklas’s works across opera, circus, musical theatre, dance, drama, comedy, events and public spaces. He has delivered projects to Europe, the USA and Asia and has designed for many companies including: STC, Chunky Move, BalletLab, Belvoir Theatre, The Eleventh Hour, Ranters Theatre, Brink Productions, Dancehouse, Malthouse,ACMI, MIAF, Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Federation Square and Waterfront City. Niklas has received two Green Room Awards. and has had 9 nominations.

BIG TOXIC – MUSIC COMPOSITION: Big Toxic, (José Tomás Martínez) has composed much of the music for the legendary Spanish compnay, La Fura dels Baus. Based in Barcelona, the name Big Toxic - the great intoxicating – was chosen after seeing a fantastic Dadaist Art Exposition in the Reina Sofia. Big Toxic is one of the founders of the Spanish based Audiodrome.

MICHAEL BAXTER – SET/PRODUCTION: Since leaving a career as a yacht mast builder and rigger in 1986, Michael Baxter has been involved with the Australian new circus industry as a performer, designer, maker, trainer and producer. In 2000 he left the position of lecturer with the School of Architecture at the University of Tasmania to embark on a full time journey in circus and physical theatre. His work and creations are different, innovative, and often spectacular.

The Participating Artists who have worked on the individual interviews:

SUSIE DEE: Susie has worked extensively in theatre as a performer, devisor and director both in Australia and overseas for over 30 years. She worked as a performer with various companies including Moving Parts in Madrid, Carshop in London and with Circus Oz throughout Australia and the UK. She was the recipient of the 1995 Ewa Czajor Memorial Award

YOUNES BACHIR: Younes joined La Fura dels Baus in 1995 as a performer. In 2003 he began to work collaboratively as and assistant director within the comapny. He then collaborated as a co-director and co-author on various creations presented on the ship-theatre Naumon. In 2007 he co-directed SUB with Carlus Padrisa. Younes separated from La Fura dels Baus in 2009 and is currently developing, with Tashmadada, the Andante Project in Australia.

BAGRYANA POPOV: Bagryana is an interdisciplinary theatre maker. Her work investigates themes of displacement, identity and power: Subclass 26A- refugees in detention, Studies in Being Human - based on interviews about the war in the former Yugoslavia. She recently presented a hybrid performance in Sofia, He is not here, a site specific installation and two short films: Returning and Coda investigating the experience under the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria.

ADRIANO CORTESE: Adriano is Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed theatre company, Ranters Theatre. The company has created over fifteen critically acclaimed productions, toured Europe extensively since 1999, and has been programmed in numerous international arts festivals.

GAIL KELLY: Gail has directed and devised shows for companies such as Circus Oz, Legs on the Wall, Monoxide Circus, Urban Theatre Projects, Rock ‘n Roll Circus, Open City, and Sidetrack Performance Group. She also regularly worked as a dramaturg developing new Australian texts and contemporary performance works. Gail established two contemporary physical performance companies - Club Swing who toured Australia, Edinburgh, London, Glasgow and Germany with their award winning show, Appetite and Sydney and Melbourne with their production of Razor Baby

REGINA HEILMANN: Regina is currently Arts Program Manager at Bundanon Trust. Prior to this she was Artistic Director of PACT (Sydney) and was a core ensemble member of Sidetrack Performance Group and worked with The opera Project Inc, She has worked as an independent artist in collaboration with other artists, most notably with Deborah Leiser Moore on a room with no air, unpacking the German/Jewish dynamic, and on sonic selveswith Gail Priest, a sound work investigating courage in the face of fear.
LECH MACKIEWICZ: Lech (Skierniewice, Poland) has acted, directed and written for theatre and film in Poland, Australia, Korea and Japan. Formed Auto Da Fe Theatre Co. in Sydney in 1987. Recipient of the New South Wales Performing Arts Scholarship in 1991. Assisted Neil Armfield on the production of “Diary of A Madman” with Geoffrey Rush at Belvoir Street Theatre.