Ren Flannery

Bird Song is an experimental new theatre work to be developed by a cross-artform collective of International artists at Footscray Community Arts Centre in October 2014. In this phase of the work Australian emerging theatre maker Ren Flannery will host Japanese Butoh artist Kae Ishimoto.

国際協同制作「バード・ソング」は、複合的な芸術ジャンルにまたがった実験的な作品です。オーストラリア人の新進芸術家、レン・フラニー及び日本人パフォーマーの石本華江を中心に、２０１４年１０月にオーストラリアのFootscray Community Arts Centreにおいてクリエイションが予定されています。

Together they will explore theatre as a language free story-telling platform by experimenting with the limitless possibilities of movement, sound, light, shadow and song to create a meeting place for audiences from a diverse cultural, social and political background.

ムーブメント、サウンド、ライティング、影絵や歌などの要素を複合的に用いることで、多様な文化的、社会的、政治的な視点を持つ観客に「出会う」プラットフォームとなり得る、言語に依らない演劇作品を創作してゆきます。

Starting with the text, Bird Song, written by Ren Flannery, we will research a linking story between our different cultures. By working with the multi-cultural community of Melbourne’s Inner West the collective will investigate themes of love, desire and beauty to develop a globally recognizable tale relevant to a culturally diverse audience.

クリエイションにおいては、まずレン・フラニーによって執筆されたテキスト「バード・ソング」を元に、異なった文化の中で類似する話をリサーチしてゆきます。メルボルン西部、特に複合的な文化コミュニティが存在する地域で、愛や欲望、美といったテーマに基づき、多様な文化的基盤を持つ観客に対し世界中に通ずる普遍的なストーリーを構築してゆくことを目指します。

A message from Kae in Japanese:

Kae's Crowd Funding Video from Ren Flannery on Vimeo.


This development at Footscray Community Arts will be a deep exploration into the creation of a visceral, language free story telling form. The work will culminate in a work in progress showing at FCAC in early November 2014.

FCACでのクリエイション過程で様々なリサーチを行ないながら、物語に基づきつつも言葉を用いない作品を制作してゆきます。そしてレジデンシーの終わりである２０１４年１１月には、ワークインプログレス公演を予定しています。

Beyond this point the collective will engage with a broad spectrum of visual, sound and performances artists from Thailand, Taiwan, Australia and Europe, working towards an eventual tour of the production in the Asia-Pacific region in 2015-16.

このプロジェクトは更にタイ、台湾、オーストラリア、ヨーロッパ等の多様な地域から、サウンド、ビジュアルアート、またパフォーマンスといった幅広い分野のアーティストを迎え、フルプロダクションとして２０１５年１６年に環太平洋ツアーを行なう予定です。

The development of this work has been a committed 5-year process driven by these creative aims:

•create an interdisciplinary new theatre work through a collaborative process.
•transcend cultural, linguistic, political and social divides through the discourse of theatre.
•convey simplistic notions of humanism that unites audience beyond societal divide.
•discover ways to work across a culturally diverse sphere
•develop work that explores humanism, multiculturalism, globalisation and identity through an inter-disciplinary approach.
•create long-term collaborative partnerships within the Asia-Pacific community.


 Image by Don Salubayba

More about Bird Song:

Bird Song is a fantastical tale that traverses time and space, exploring the universal themes of love, desire and beauty found within the intimacy of women’s daily rituals. Narrating the quiet journey of two women and a mythological bird, Bird Song manifests within the abstract world of a bathhouse, where their journeys collide.

脚本である「バード・ソング」は、女性の視点を通じて愛や欲望、美といった普遍的テーマを描いてゆく時空を横断するファンタジーです。二人の女性と伝説上の鳥による旅を綴った静謐な物語であり、舞台となる浴場に立ち上がる抽象的な世界を描写してゆきます。

In 2009 Bird Song underwent a concept development with performing artists Nicola Eddington and Monique Buggy, this informed the initial script development.

In 2010 performers Darra Klein, Katie Broadbent and Anita Stevenson teamed up with set designers Jennifer Tran and Thu Nguyen to explore the visual language of the text, which culminated in a showing at the Melbourne Fringe Festival as part of the Platform Youth Theatre Emerging Artists showcase.

The potent imagery developed in this intensive development period was written into the script and it was given its first public reading, which provided Ren with valuable audience feedback and provocation.

Continuing to research the extreme potential of theatre as a global story telling mechanism Ren had the work translated to Mandarin and took it to Taiwan in 2012. Where she, mentored by Paschal Daantos Berry, worked with local performers/musicians and Filipino artist, Don Salubayba, at Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre, to research the interconnecting themes within the text that could be transcribed into a visual translation of the work.

２００９年パフォーマーであるNicola EddingtonとMonique Buggyと共にコンセプトが作られ、脚本の初稿が構成されました。２０１０年にはパフォーマーのDarra Klein、Katie
Broadbent、Anita Stevenson、さらにセットデザイナーのJennifer Tran and Thuとコラボレーションし、脚本の視覚的なイメージを創り出しました。これはメルボルン・フリンジフェスティバルの「The Platform Youth Theatre Emerging Artists showcase」プログラムの一環として発表されました。これらのアーティストとの共同作業を通じて生まれた新たな創造性により、その後更なる加筆を行ない、脚本家レン自身によるリーディング公演が行なわれました。観客からのフィードバックに触発され、物語を伝えるという機能を演劇の極限的な可能性の中で試しながら、２０１２年中国語に翻訳された脚本は台湾での公演を迎えます。Paschal Daantos Berryによる助言を元に、台湾のパフォーマー及び音楽家、フィリピンのアーティストDon Salubaybaと、テーマと連動しながらもいかにテキストを視覚的なイメージに翻訳してゆくかという観点で制作を行ない、Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatreにて上演されました。


Image by Don Salubayba

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Ren Flannery has been laying the foundations for this ambitious project for almost 5 years in which time she has connected with an extraordinary group of exciting artists in Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Poland, the UK and the Philippines. In this time she has been diligently establishing creative and venue partnerships for the creation and subsequent tour of this work.
 
寄付金はどのように使用されるのか：

レン・フラニーはこの意義あるプロジェクトに、５年の歳月を費やしファンドの構築を試みてきました。そしてこれまでに日本、香港、韓国、タイ、台湾、フィリピン、ポーランド、イギリスの才能あるアーティストと、制作の可能性を探ってきました。今回プロジェクトの最終地点としての公演並びにツアーのために、更なる経済的基盤を作りたいと考えています。

The funds given here will go directly towards the flights, accommodation, visas and travel expenses of Kae to come to Australia for the initial development of the work at Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne in October 2014.

寄付金は２０１４年１０月にメルボルンのFootscray Community Arts Centreにて行なわれる、本公演の第一段階を成すクリエイション、及びそれに参加するアーティスト石本華江に関わる諸経費（航空券、宿泊費、ビザ申請料、その他滞在費等）に充填されます。

$1000 Flights
$500 Accommodation
$20 Visa
$250 Travel (airport transfer, MYKI, noodles)
$230 Pozible fees, rewards and administration costs

Footscray Community Arts will provide us with the space, resources and important community connections; with your contribution we will have all we need to begin the exciting journey of Bird Song.

Footscray Community Arts Centreは、稽古場及びコミュニティとのネットワーク構築の機会やリソースの提供を行ないます。皆さんの寄付により、「バード・ソング」の旅を始めることができます。ぜひたくさんの方のご協力をお願い申し上げます。

(Frequent flyer point donors will receive the reward that is equal to the dollar value of their points.  Donors of 2 weeks accomodation for Kae in Melbourne will receive the $500 reward!! To make these contributions email Ren on [email protected])

The pledged amount will just cover the bare essentials, anything raised above the pledged amount will go directly towards cost of materials, transportation, publicity, documentation, technical support, equipment hire, research excursions (to community groups, such as local choirs and cooking classes) and perhaps we can even put some veggies with our two minute noodles.


Image by Don Salubayba

Our biggest challenge in trying to create this work has been a shortage of funding; with this first development completed we will have concrete evidence to support our pitch to the funding bodies.

Already we have committed artists from a variety of art forms and countries but without the funds we are unable to bring everyone together.

Not only do we have committed artists but we also have venue connections right across the Asia-Pacific region that have shown great interest in the presentation of this work once it is created.

This work has previously been an entirely self-funded independent production with all artists involved committing their time, ideas and energy completely inkind.

Again in this development the artists will be working on an inkind basis with the commitment to making this phase of the work become a catalyst for provoking the support we need to take it the next step further.

This development will serve as the much needed catalyst for Bird Song to reach its intended outcome, without this seed funding we will not be able to proceed with this exciting project that has taken almost 5 years to reach this place.

Image by Ren Flannery