Category: News
Two Australian theatre practitioners, a Japanese teacher and a Chinese Human Resources Manager walk into a bar. No joke.
A few hours later I walk out with a Chinese name. My new name translates roughly as ‘Unique Visitor’. I’m a guest speaker at TEFO’s Drama Theatre and Education Conference in Hong Kong and it’s the second night of the conference. Tonight, we four merry travellers have participated in a workshop led by Sean Shun-pui Kwan.
In it he shared one of the many ways he incorporates theatre exercises into his corporate workshops. The conference has been full of great keynotes, panels and workshops like this one and we’re inspired to continue the conversation over a beer.
On the first day I joined Mr Kwan, Jonathan Neelands and Yong-wen Peng to speak in a plenary session on corporate learning and development. In my presentation I spoke about Melbourne Playback Theatre’s work supporting organisational culture programs with our performances and training.
I made grand statements like; ‘Theatre is a change agent and community builder’, ‘Storytelling helps people understand and shape organisational culture’ and ‘Playback theatre is transformative’.
Like most of the applied theatre practitioners, teachers, social workers and corporate facilitators at the conference, I’m interested in the pro-social benefits of theatre. This is our shared interest and despite the diversity of practical application, diverse cultures and varied experience, it connects us. Just as theatre helps connect the people we work with.
Jokes that start with three characters of different nationalities walking into bars strike me as culturally insensitive and inappropriate. Sometimes they are downright racist. They are a form of storytelling that people use to make sense of cultural differences. But because they use stereotype and make fun of those differences I think they often serve to divide us. At the bar tonight, we spend a lot of time sharing stories and learning about our cultural differences.
We grew up with different families in different countries at different times. But each of us has a personal story that make us unique. And through hearing each other’s stories we also discover similarities.
Qian’s English name is Michelle. In her first English lesson the teacher offered her a choice of two names, Michelle or Stephanie, after characters from an American TV show. ‘Was that Full House?!’ ‘Yes!’ A bad 80’s sitcom we both loved as kids isn’t the only similarity we find tonight, but it’s a funny one!
In my presentation at the conference I cited this Harvard Business Review article and its list of mechanisms that business leaders can use to shape organisational culture.
Our playback theatre performances and the theatre-infused experiential workshops that we deliver contribute to most of the informal mechanisms listed. These techniques build connections between people, just as the workshops at the TEFO conference bridged massive language and cultural barriers to build relationships.
But there’s also a lot to be said for ad hoc social gatherings like this drink at the pub.
Mike McEvoy delivered his presentation ‘Theatre Leading Organisational Change’ at the TEFO Conference in Hong Kong on 1st May 2015.
By Karen Berger
It seems a cliché that travel broadens the mind, but studies have shown that a journey really can make us wiser. In an article for The Guardian, Jonah Lehrer, stated that ‘seasoned travellers are alive to ambiguity, more willing to realise that there are different (and equally valid) ways of interpreting the world’.
The sense of perspective given by travelling can lead to better problem solving.
I was lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong to run a two day Playback Masterclass (particularly its applications to corporate training) with Andrew Gray as part of the Hong Kong TEFO Conference on Drama Education. Being at this conference not only gave me new perspectives, but also opened my mind to subjects I’d never even thought of before. The following are brief notes on some of the things that stood out for me over the 5 days I was in Hong Kong.
In our Masterclass we played a ‘get to know you game’ where the participants stand in a circle, and one person steps forward and states something that is true about themselves. Others for whom that is true will also step forward.
Attempting to liven things up a bit, I stepped forward saying, ‘I vote left wing.’ Andrew immediately stepped forward and there was rather confused discussion among the participants.
I was surprised to realise ‘vote’ and ‘left wing’ were being explained. No one else stepped forward. At the end of the second day of the workshop, a lively participant from Ghangzhou in mainland China told a ‘moment’ about her experience of my revelation. Once she understood what I meant, she initially struggled with deep regret that she had never experienced voting, but then she thought, ‘Whatever! I should just get on with my life.’ I have never been made so aware of a right that I don’t properly value, so much do I take it for granted…
Carmel O’Sullivan, Director of the Arts Education Research Group at Trinity College, Dublin, spoke about how it’s her problem if colleagues have trouble describing what it is she does, and her responsibility to explain it to them. Her ten year research project running weekly drama groups with autistic children has been assessed by Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Unit to gauge its impact. It’s the kind of qualitative and quantative research our own Melbourne Playback’s Artistic Director, Mike McEvoy would love to demonstrate the value of our work with various corporate organisations.
At the end of Mike’s plenary session on ‘Corporate Learning and Development’, an audience member asked the speakers if they had any qualms using their theatre expertise in the aid of business.
Mike related that at his interview to join Melbourne Playback he was asked his attitude to doing gigs for big business. Seated in the audience, Andrew Gray smirked – he’d been the one to ask the question. I listened with interest, having not heard that question asked of any Playbacker. Mike had responded by saying that he felt that as an artist, his role as an agent for positive change in any setting was a privileged one. Also on the panel was Jonothan Neelands, Professor of Creative Education at the Warwick Business School. In response to the question, he asserted that we need to broaden our definition of business: a freelance artist or a person selling food on the street are actually business people. Both business and art can be good or bad. There should be no value judgement on ‘business’ as such.
In his keynote address, Neelands spoke with great passion about the recent Warwick Commission Report on the Future of Cultural Value of which he was a Director of Study.
This study used irrefutable statistics to argue for the strong relationship between creativity and economic growth
and the need to change England’s poor arts education standards for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
A powerful image of the relationship between the arts and economy for him was a scene from the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony where the UK health care system was proudly displayed – the sports stadium filled with performers playing doctors and nurses surrounding a beautiful giant baby. Having started watching the opening ceremony with his fingers over his eyes (the cringe factor could be high!) he ended up feeling proud – the ceremony seemed to him a defining moment of national identity.
Neelands finished his speech by talking about what he felt might be a defining moment for Hong Kong’s identity – the ‘Umbrella Revolution’. He highlighted the neat areas for students to study with post it notes from demonstrating teachers offering tutoring and their phone numbers; the wishes for Hong Kong’s future printed prettily and decorated with yellow ribbons; the overall politeness and care symbolised by busy thoroughfares taken over by people carrying delicate umbrellas.
I had had a visceral taste of what it might have been like to be part of the Occupy Central Protest two days before during a conference workshop run by four young people from a Hong Kong NGO, entitled ‘The Process of Empowerment between Calm and Passion: Exploring Our Position in Civil Disobedience Movement through Process Drama’. In a shortened form, participants were taken through a workshop they had run to help potential protestors clarify their intentions and the possible ramifications of their participation, including on their family and friends. I found the opportunity to play a member of the rally (with other workshop participants playing the roles of police, media, etc) and to play a relative of someone about to join the march, a surprisingly powerful and direct way of experiencing many dimensions of this experience that was so important to many Hong Kong residents.
The impact of politics on people’s daily lives was also brought movingly to the fore during the conference’s final session: a Playback performance from the local Encounter Playback Theatre. The final story told and enacted by the team was from a man from mainland China who had been very moved by a performance on the first night of the conference, PsychoSEE, which skillfully staged a theatrical intersection between the Occupy Central Movement, Antigone, and a personal story about powerlessness in the face of rape. This performance had brought up very strong memories for the storyteller of Tiananmen Square and the interdiction on commemorating that event in China now. Witnessing his tears while telling his story and the moving playing back by Encounter Theatre provided me with a deeply personal perspective on an important world event from someone who was sharing his story in a public forum. That’s something Playback can do wherever it is seen – like travel it can allow us to gain the kind of wide perspective so important for creativity and problem solving. We can go on a journey from the comfort of our theatre seat.
Posted by Melbourne Playback in
News on 17 Jun 2015
We’re writing to ask for your voice of support.
What is happening?
Senator Brandis recently announced a plan to shift $104 million dollars from the arms-length Australia Council for the Arts to a ministerial controlled ‘National Programme for Excellence’ which will administer the funds directly from the minister’s office.
Below are some links with more information about the changes and the uncertainty it has created in the arts community.
What is concerning about the change?
The principal of arms-length funding and the rigorous peer-review process for arts funding is an important feature of Australian Arts Funding because it ensures excellence, innovation and diversity in the sector and it removes the possibility for political interference in deciding what artwork is created and supported
The move to bring funds under ministerial control is akin to allowing the sports minister to pick the Australian cricket team, rather than the expert selection panel best placed to make that difficult decision.
It is also evident that some of the worst hit by the change will be the thriving independent and small-to-medium sector which is the breeding ground of new talent and innovative new Australian work, in the same way that the VFL and grassroots football clubs feed the AFL.
What is Melbourne Playback’s position?
Melbourne Playback is a not-for-profit organisation which operates as a social enterprise so we do not directly rely on Federal Government funding to survive. However, some of our community projects are made possible through state and local government grants that will feel a knock-on effect from the changes.
And critically, our company’s success relies on the independent artists who form the ensemble. The health of our company is directly related to the health of the arts sector in Australia.
Like any ecosystem, all the different organisations, individuals and artworks are connected and dependent on each other to ensure a thriving arts sector. The artists who work for Melbourne Playback also work on independent projects and on projects with major performing arts organisations. Our work on those projects influences the quality and style of our work with Melbourne Playback and make it possible for us to have sustainable careers.
A number of our partner organisations, cultural festivals and the venues we rehearse and perform in are under direct threat because of the proposed funding changes; La Mama, St Martin’s Youth Arts, Dancehouse, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Footscray Community Arts Centre and many more.
What can you do?
Write a submission to the recently launched senate enquiry (closes 17 July, 2015)
Join the Facebook group #freethearts where up-to-date news and action is being shared
Write to your local MP and Senator and tell them why the arts are important to you
Sign the petition
Share this post using the links below
MORE INFORMATION
Richard Watts Arts Hub article ‘Mobilising audiences to oppose Australia Council Budget cuts’
ABC Radio ‘Arts industry converges on Canberra to protest Government cuts’
The Age article ‘George Brandis turns arts into ‘political football’
The Guardian article ‘I’m an artist and I’ve received grants, want to know what I do with all that money?’
The Australian article ‘Sector adjusts to funding revamp’
Let’s not mess around…let’s get ‘Down Under‘ with a very special one-off performance that will be held on Friday 22 May at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.
We want you in the audience for this exciting show so comment below and be in the draw to win tickets.
We have two double passes to give away.
Our theme is a big topic. Reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a loaded word. Some champion it, some see it as a distraction from treaty and constitutional recognition. The definition of the word means: ‘to bring together again; regain; win over again, conciliate‘
What does reconciliation mean to you? If not reconciliation, what word would you use? What is your wish for First Nations and non-Indigenous Australia?
Many wonderful people are coming from far and wide to take part in this very special performance. We can’t wait to hear the stories that will be shared and the connections that will be made.
A playback show is a conversation, and we want to start this conversation now.
What does reconciliation mean to you?
Let us know in the comment section below. Two comment-eers will win a double pass each to the show!
So, let us know, what does reconciliation mean to you? Comment below to win!
We will draw the winners on Wednesday 20th May. Winners will be notified by email.
Or, if you just want to book some tickets, you can do that HERE
![KeepCalmStudio.com-[Crown]-Keep-Calm-And-Use-Your-Soft-Skills (1)](http://melbourneplayback.com.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/KeepCalmStudio.com-Crown-Keep-Calm-And-Use-Your-Soft-Skills-1-e1428358874358.png)
Did you see the article in The Age recently titled “The rise of soft skills: Why top marks no longer get the best jobs”? The journalist John Elder described how leading companies from Australia and the UK are valuing more than ever ‘soft skills’ in their workforce.
So what exactly are soft skills?
They are skills that build personal connection. Have you noticed how things are more likely to go our way when we are able to make a genuine connection with someone? Soft skills help us do that. They are skills in emotional intelligence, communication, conflict resolution and using collaboration (rather than compromise) to solve problems. Its something we can all relate to.
Soft skills really can be a game changer.
Associate Professor Jennifer George is director of a new masters program at Melbourne Business School that is offering business training that includes a soft skills program complete with actors from Melbourne Playback.
We join the participants for sessions in voice projection, posture and presentation skills. Later on we do ‘real-play’ sessions where our actors play scenarios with such as the boss who the participants have to break bad news to.
For skills that are inter-personal, there is no substitute for trying it out in a safe place, with an actor who isn’t actually your boss.
The ability to have a go, get feedback and have another go is invaluable as a way to learn these skills. They can’t be mastered by theory alone.
What soft skills do you want to master? You elevator pitch? Listening? Collaboration? Share them in the comments below.
And try this: ask a friend to have a go with you. Make up a scenario based on your target soft-skill, play it out together, talk about how it went and try again. Give yourself permission to do it really badly. Make it fun. You’ll be amazed how easy it becomes.
Read the full article from The Age here
Posted by Melbourne Playback in
News on 10 Nov 2014
by Karen Berger
Each year, Melbourne Playback Theatre is honoured to be invited to perform at a number of gatherings for refugees and recent immigrants. In 2014 these included:
- performances and workshops organised through SEAAC (Southern Ethnic Advisory and Advocacy Council)
- a performance at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre
- a performance for Whittlesea Interfaith Network
- a Refugee Week performance at Footscray Community Arts Centre organised through the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.
We started wondering: ‘How well are we serving the refugee and immigrant community through these shows?’ There are a number of company members who are immigrants to Australia, and two whose parents were refugees, but still we felt there was a lot more for us to learn. For example: What is the best way for a conductor/facilitator to invite people to share their stories in this situation?
As a result, on July 28th 2014, we organized a special rehearsal where people from refugee and immigrant backgrounds were invited to our North Fitzroy rehearsal space to share their stories and to then give us feedback on how we were doing. We were extremely lucky that these 8 generous and engaging people (children and adults from Afghanistan, Iran, South Sudan and Ethiopia) donated their time and knowledge to help us improve our work.
These are some of the thoughts that came up:
- Why do we all wear black in performances? In many cultures wearing black is associated with mourning. (In Vietnam white is worn at a funeral.)
- What are the other ways we could explain how a Playback show works before starting?
- Can the company develop more expertise in ethnic dance and music (and food etc)?
- Refugees and immigrants want to be first seen as people before they’re categorised by where they’re from. It’s important to hear funny as well as sad stories – and stories about everyday life.
Overall it was a very moving evening. A Sudanese guest related that she had thought that after years of living in refugee camps, she would be inured to the pathos of another ‘refugee story’. However she found the details and playing back of specific stories to make them emotionally engaging.
There was acknowledgement of the healing, dignifying and hope-building power of telling a story, and that Playback can offer a wonderful service to people from challenging backgrounds.
We are continuing to develop our expertise in this area and are currently organising to meet with the manager of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture to learn more about how Melbourne Playback can best serve storytellers with traumatic stories.
Melbourne Playback rehearsal exploring our approach to the ‘refugee story’.
Melbourne Playback’s Karen Berger with the Aminullah brothers.
Tesfaye G/Hana and Mustafa Aminullah
Melbourne Playback rehearsal exploring our approach to the ‘refugee story’.
Posted by Sheridan Green in
News on 28 Jun 2013
Melbourne Playback is looking forward to seeing you at our Portraits Public Shows this weekend at Theatre Works. Saturday 29 at 8pm and Sunday 30 at 6pm.
Come along and watch audience members stories come to life through theatre.
Or you may have a story to tell?
Meet company members in the foyer post the performance.
Posted by Sarah Kempson in
News on 2 Jul 2012
We had so much positive feedback in June, we couldn’t fit it all in one post!
Focus on Youth issues in the Shire of Hume:
The team we had was awesome!!! They were a fantastic opener to the day; they really set the mood!!! The feedback from the audience was that the day was FANTASTIC! I even had to ask them to start early and they did with no trouble; we will use them again for sure!!
Kayla Miller, Youth Participation and Engagement Officer, Hume City Council
Melbourne Playback conducted many workshops throughout May including Public Workshops (see website form workshops coming up in September 8 & 9)
Melbourne Playback supported Hallam Senior College with their subsidy request for a workshop dedicated to confidence, team-work and presentation skills. Lizl Tregidga is a teacher at Hallam Senior College and teaches an all-girls senior VCAL Personal Development class. Lizl said in her request “We have just come into a partnership with the National Women’s Council of Victoria and will be working closely with them this year. As part of the plan for our girls (my class, the broader female student community at Hallam), I was hoping to organise an incursion focusing on an full day ‘girl empowerment’ program.”
Feedback from the day printed in the school’s newsletter said:
The Melbourne Playback Theatre Company focussed a lot on encouraging the girls to build their confidence by gaining and holding an audience and just feeling comfortable being themselves.
Sebel Town House hosted a performance for Financial Counselling Australia (formerly AFCCRA) for all parties to discuss and reflect upon the complexities, frustrations and successes that both groups experience in solving client matters. Playback is an effective tool for groups to reflect and appreciate the circumstances under which we all work, to find solutions to processes and, as a way to increase understanding of the needs of others.
The following feedback was received from Lauren Levin, Manager, Policy & Strategic Projects, Financial Counselling Australia (formerly AFCCRA):
The session was great. I’m just doing our survey and will forward any specific comments I get, but the people I spoke to love it. Your team is totally professional.
Thanks to all for the great feedback – we look forward to seeing you at Melbourne Playback again soon!
Posted by Sheridan Green in
News on 25 Jun 2012
WOW another month just flashed by in the life of Melbourne Playback Theatre Company!
This month the Company has performed for many organisations and their staff including;
Inner South Community Health Service Health workers planning day: Melbourne Playback did a performance for seventy Community Health Workers who work with a member of the community who has acute health problems. Deb Barrow, Program Manager, advised us “It’s a planning session around mapping links between internal and external contacts, as well as bringing everyone together”
Further feedback from Helen Bell, General Manager (Community Support Area of Inner South) said “I would like to thank Melbourne Playback Theatre on behalf of all of our staff for your energy, skill, humour and amazing insights. We saw people laughing, with tears in their eyes, when on past occasions they have had grumpy faces! I’m sure that you are used to accolades and we add ourselves to the list and offer our heartfelt thanks. Thank you to all your fabulous team. It was very energizing and lots of fun and has put us into a good space to tackle the issues that we need to grapple within the year ahead. Exactly what we thought we might achieve!!’
City of Casey Leadership Day: The City of Casey requested a subsidy from Melbourne Playback, which we were able to give thanks to a generous donation we received.
Primary school student leaders were encouraged to recognise their individual leadership skills and strengths, which are transferable across many areas.
Feedback from Kharie Murphy Primary School (Support Office, City of Casey) was received by Melbourne Playback as follows:
“The performance captured what our day had been about and highlighted what the children had gained through participating. The performance was interactive and entertaining and completely fulfilled our expectations. The feedback I received on the day from the children was all positive.”
120 participants completed the evaluation following the session and marked Melbourne Playback theatre as AWESOME!!
Look out for more updates next week.
It’s a treat to bring our work to the theatre at Dancehouse in Carlton. The theatre offers so many theatrical possibilities with its depth, and its polished floorboards and comfortable seating bank provide a warmth and intimacy that is well-suited for the storytelling of playback theatre.
But as always, the magic ingredient is not the theatre. It is the diverse range of stories and experiences brought to the theatre by our audiences. Thanks to all those who came along. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the weekend’s performances here.
And if you missed the shows this weekend or if you’re ready for another dose, perhaps we’ll see you for one of performances in Alexandra, Yea and Flowerdale in May and Gasworks in June.
