The Family

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF VICTOR BERGMAN  by The Family

Once upon a time in Romania, Aaron Orzech and his girlfriend met a strange and powerful man named Victor Bergman. The next day, he married them in the village of Voronets  By the third day, he was gone, but for days and weeks and months afterwards he haunted Aaron's life.

Performed by Brian Lipson and Aaron Orzech, "The Collected Works of Victor Bergman" is a ritualistic performance which retells and reiterates everything that ties Aaron to Victor, and vice versa. It is a cyclical and paranoid dissection of mentorship, masculinity and mind control. 

THE FAMILY

The Family is an independent theatre company. Our work pushes at the the limits of contemporary theatrical forms and tells stories which are as intimate as they are universal. The Family is co-directed by Romanie Harper and Aaron Orzech, with sound designer James Paul. "The Collected Works of Victor Bergman", our debut show, was directed by Romanie and Aaron, designed by Romanie, sound design by James Paul, lighting by Katie Sfetkidis, and performed by Aaron and Brian Lipson.

SLOVENIA

In December 2014 The Family performed this work for the very first time. In September 2016 we will be doing it again, only this time it'll be in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We have been invited to perform 'The Collected Works of Victor Bergman' at REPETITION/S: Philososphy and Performance in Ljubljana. REPETITION/S is a new event consisting of performances, lectures and workshops all based around the theme of repetition. 

Performing this work in Slovenia is a wonderful opportunity for us to show our work to a European audience. A new audience means a new show, and The Family is committed to pushing our exisitng work into new and exciting places. Too often independent theatre shows simply disappear after a two-week run, despite the months and sometimes years that go into them. This remount is a terrific opportunity to revivify our work and turn it into something completely new. We also want to create more cultural cross-pollination in the Australian performance world, and this is a great way to start. One of our main aims on this tour is to make connections with other artists and thinkers at REPETITION/S. 

PRODUCTION ELEMENTS

The script for this work is all taken from interviews made with important figures in the real-life events. This recorded text is then transmitted live to the performers, Aaron and Brian, through an earpiece, and repeated to the audience in a semi-improvised way. So to make the show work we need to build a reliable audio transmission system which will function in Europe, which our current system will not do!

Lighting, set and props for the show are also essential, not merely as backdrops, but as physical elements with which the performers interact. Again, these will have to rebuilt in Slovenia using whatever materials we can get our hands on. 

TRAVEL & ACCOMODATION

The Family is completely self-funding this tour, so any money we are able to raise on top of our production costs will go towards getting us to Ljubljana and finding us a place to sleep!

Our biggest challenge is simply getting ourselves to Slovenia and assembling the necessary elements for the show.  We have a venue provided by REPETITION/S and contacts we can call on in Ljubljana to help us out. If we can raise the money to get ourselves there and purchase the minimum technical equipment needed, then we have a show!

Perhaps you saw the show in 2014 and loved it so much you really want to help it fly again. Or perhaps you've never seen it but think it's really important that independent Australian artists get to show their work all over the world. Either way, all you help is greatly apprectiated.