never did me any harm - Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre

NEVER DID ME ANY HARM
Produced by Force Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company
Devised by Force Majeure
EDUCATION PACK
Image: Lisa Tomasetti
!
1. SEASON INFORMATION
NEVER DID ME ANY HARM
Produced by Force Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company
Devised by Force Majeure
Director: Kate Champion
Set and Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham
Composer and Sound Designer: Max Lyandvert
Dramaturg: Andrew Upton
Audio Visual and Lighting Associate: Chris Petridis
Choreography: The Company
Cast: Marlo Benjamin, Kristina Chan, Alan Flower, Tracy Mann, Joshua Mu, Veronica Neave,
Timothy Ohl
TOURING HISTORY
January 2012 Premiere - Sydney Festival, Sydney
March 2012 Adelaide Festival, Adelaide
October 2012 Melbourne Festival, Melbourne
This project is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding
and advisory body and by the NSW Government through Arts NSW. Toured by Arts on Tour.
2. ABOUT FORCE MAJEURE
Led by Artistic Director Danielle Micich, Force Majeure produces critically acclaimed dance
theatre. The company is based around a collective of multi-disciplinary artists committed to
creating stimulating movement-based theatre. Artists include dancers, actors, writers, visual
artists, musicians, composers and filmmakers.
Since its inception Force Majeure has created six major works, two collaborative works and a
short film series. This highly produced body of work engages with and questions contemporary
culture using intelligence, pathos, humour and insight.
The Company has toured work to the prestigious Lyon Biennale de la Danse, Place des Arts
Montreal, Dublin Theatre Festival, the Seoul Performing Arts Festival and has received five major
national awards.
Force Majeure is dedicated to supporting the development of dance theatre in Australia,
pursuing opportunities that enable emerging dance theatre performers, choreographers and
directors in Australia to flourish.
The company was established in 2002 by founding Artistic Director Kate Champion.
forcemajeure.com.au
@majeurenews
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3. SYNOPSIS
Never Did Me Any Harm aims to provoke discussion and question aspects of how people in
contemporary Australia are raising children and how this upbringing is affecting young adults.
In Australia today, people are tending to have fewer children, later on in life with more money to
spend on them. A lot of parents have had professional careers before/whilst having a family and may
bring a sort of ‘business mentality’ to the task of child rearing.
‘Helicopter parenting’, ‘smother mothers’ and ‘free range kids’ are all terms that have arisen in
Australia in the last decade. These days, a child who comes last in a race can be celebrated as the
'last winner'; children are driven around the corner to school for fear of kidnapping; and young adults
may be accompanied to a job interview by their parent(s). Would this have happened twenty years
ago?
This is the subject matter that inspired Never Did Me Any Harm, the co-production between Force
Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company that premiered in 2012 at Sydney Festival. The production
has had 53 performances across Australia to date and in 2016 there will be a further 23
performances across 10 venues.
Interviews spanning a wide range of opinions from the general public in Australia provided the
source material for the spoken text in Never Did Me Any Harm. Performers from both theatre and
dance take on different personas during the show, speaking verbatim text drawn from these
interviews. Some of the spoken text is an amalgamation of different interviews. This creates a
slippage of ideas and interesting inconsistencies within the logic or argument contained in some
sections.
Throughout the production, choreographed sequences are used to further depict the struggles and
contradictions of parenthood in a non-verbal, but highly evocative way.
The production is set in a realistic looking suburban backyard complete with bird sounds and other
familiar Australian noises. During the show, graphic projections overlay the set. This alters the
otherwise domestic setting, amplifying the characters’ internal conflicts and thoughts.
This production embraces humour in its observations, but it also explores the serious frustrations
and possible consequences of 'over parenting'.
The title of the show came out of an interview with an elderly man. This man recalled of being hit by
his parents with a leather strap as a child, commenting that it 'never did me any harm.' On hearing
this, the show’s Director Kate Champion remembers thinking how glad she was that such a practice
was no longer condoned but at the same time wondering whether by over-protecting children,
parents may be causing a different kind of harm.
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4. PRODUCTION IMAGES
Image: Lisa Tomasetti
Image: Lisa Tomasetti
Image: Jamie Williams
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5. REVIEWS OF NEVER DID ME ANY HARM
“Never Did Me Any Harm makes you laugh, cringe and possibly even cry.”
Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/emotions-flow-in-heartfelt-exploration-of-parentsand-children-20120112-1pxbn.html#ixzz1n9xqRIBO
“Go to be thrilled, entertained and emotionally engaged and you won't be disappointed.”
Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
http://www.stagenoise.com/review/1811
“Candid, controversial and very clever theatre.”
Hilary Simmons, Concrete Playground
http://sydney.concreteplayground.com.au/event/43425/never-did-me-any-harm-%E2%80%93sydney-theatre-company.htm
“A joy to watch and as involving as any show I have seen.”
Tony Busch, Theatre Guide
http://www.theatreguide.com.au/current_site/reviews/reviews_detail.php?ShowID=anyharm&ShowY
ear=2012
“The text is powerful enough, but for me the theatrical side of the performance was staggeringly
effective, and increased that power immensely.”
Nicholas Routley, Australian Stage
http://australianstage.com.au/201203165253/reviews/adelaide/never-did-me-any-harm-|-forcemajeur.html
“This is a thought provoking work that engages anybody who is, or has been a parent and, in fact,
anybody who has been a child or had children in their care, which means everybody.”
Barry Lenny, Glam Adelaide
http://www.glamadelaide.com.au/main/never-did-me-any-harm-%E2%80%93-2012-adelaidefestival/
“The genius of the production is the absence of boundaries between the various elements. This is
what cross-disciplinary performance is all about.”
Peter Burdon, Adelaide Now
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/festivals/never-did-me-any-harm/story-fnb4fehg1226300578678
“Thought-provoking, engrossing, entertaining and impressive production.”
Chris Boyd
http://chrisboyd.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/2012-melbourne-festival-prelude-or.html
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6. DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Q&A WITH DIRECTOR KATE CHAMPION
To what extent is Never Did Me Any Harm inspired by Chris Tsiolkas’ novel The Slap?
We originally toyed with the idea of trying to put the book on stage, but it was a step too far towards
narrative and specific characters, and I felt we would lose the essence of what we do. So this show
is definitely not The Slap but rather a discussion of some (not all) of the subject matter in the book,
focusing on the idea of children and boundaries.
A key part of the development of this work involved the gathering of extensive interviews. How
many interviews did you do?
I didn’t tally them because we did it over a three-year period and Geoff (Cobham, Designer) and Roz
(Hervey, Associate Director) did interviews as well. But in the end there was roughly 60 hours.
How did you select your interviewees?
It is such volatile subject matter that we found when we talked about it to friends or acquaintances,
we were easily able to find people with strong opinions on the topic. What is most useful,
theatrically, is people who feel passionately about the issues, so among us we would say things like
“there was a father at the soccer match and he had really strong ideas about something or other”.
But I also had a market research firm find me complete strangers so we could access some
unpredictable opinions and backstories.
Did all of the interviews make it into the final show?
I find, now that I’ve done it so many times, I usually know 10 minutes into an interview whether I’m
going to get something useful from it. But even so, I have to persevere with them because
sometimes out of a 45-minute interview, I might get one really good phrase. It’s all about weeding
out the bits we can use and it takes a lot of sifting to get there.
After doing the interviews you then spend a long time editing them into the quotes you use in
the play. Is this difficult?
Editing is such an interesting process, like a cross between choreography and writing. It’s all about
choosing the right phrases but trying not to manipulate the opinion. It’s so exciting when you get a
quote that makes you realise “I don’t think anyone could have made that up”, because it’s so truthful
and from the gut.
*Source: Never Did Me Any Harm Sydney Festival/Sydney Theatre Company program, 2012
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7. COMPANY AND CREATIVES
Kate Champion, Director
Kate Champion has worked as a Director, Choreographer, Dancer,
Teacher and Rehearsal Director for various companies including
Australian Dance Theatre, Belvoir, Legs on the Wall, Dance North,
English National Opera and London’s DV8 Physical Theatre. She has
also created, performed and toured two critically acclaimed solo
shows – Face Value and About Face. As Artistic Director of Force
Majeure, Kate directed Same, same But Different, Tenebrae – Part 1 and 2, Already Elsewhere, The
Age I’m In, Not in a Million Years, Never Did Me Any Harm, Nothing To Lose and the film series The
Sense Of It. In 2012 Kate co-directed Force Majeure and Belvoir’s co-production Food with Steve
Rodgers. In 2013 Kate was the Associate Director for Opera Australia’s production of Wagner’s Ring.
Kate is also the choreographer of the original stage production of Dirty Dancing. Kate has been
awarded Helpmann, Green Room and Australian Dance Awards along with the Robert Helpmann
Scholarship for Choreographic Excellence.
Geoff Cobham, Set and Lighting Designer
Geoff has worked as a Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Set
Designer, Event Producer, and Venue Designer. His love of light and
dance has led him to work with many of Australia’s top
choreographers and allowed him to explore the endless combinations
of colour, angle, intensity and movement of light. He has also lit
museums, buildings, public art and freeways. Geoff has produced
many outdoor events and clubs for Festivals and received a Churchill Fellowship in 2010 to study
outdoor theatre in Europe. He is currently the Associate Artist at State Theatre Of South Australia.
Awards: Ruby Award for Sustained Contribution, Green Room Award Best Lighting Design for Night
Letters, Sydney Theatre Award Best Lighting Design for Never Did Me Any Harm.
Max Lyandvert, Composer and Sound Designer
As Composer/Sound Designer: For Force Majeure: About Face, Same
same But Different, The Age I’m In and Not in a Million Years. As
Composer: For Sydney Theatre Company: includes Gross und Klein,
Before/After, Oresteia, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, True West,
Elling, The Vertical Hour, Blackbird, Riflemind, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, The Art of War, Howard Katz, Doubt, Festen, Julius Caesar,
Far Away, Life Is A Dream, The Lady in the Van, Three Sisters, Fireface, Life After George and La
Dispute. For Belvoir: The Ham Funeral, King Ubu, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The
Business. For Weimar 99/Adelaide Festival: Ur/faust. For Adelaide Festival: Improvising The Future
(musician). For QTC: The Winter’s Tale. For Q Theatre/Belvoir/Asian Arts Festival: Dead City. For
Auto Da Fe: Fellini-ada. For Griffin Theatre Company: The Fertility of Objects, Sweet Phoebe,
Wonderlands and Nightwatchman. For Playbox: Redemption. For STCSA: includes Closer, Macbeth,
The Idiot and Kafka Dances. For Melbourne Theatre Company: Art and Soul and Design for Living.
For Legs on the Wall: From Here to There and Under The Influence. For Malthouse Theatre: The Ham
Funeral, Journal of the Plague Year and El Dorado. As Sound Designer: For Marstall Theatre, Munich/
Hebbel Theatre, Berlin: For Jerry. For Ontological Theatre, NY: The Four Twins. As Sound Designer:
The War of the Roses, Master Class and The Lost Echo. Awards: Helpmann Award Best Sound
Design for Journal of the Plague Year and War of the Roses.
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Andrew Upton, Dramaturg
As Director: For Sydney Theatre Company: Cyrano de Bergerac,
Endgame, Travelling North, Waiting for Godot, Fury, The White Guard,
Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Mysteries: Genesis, Reunion,
Ruby Moon and Dissident Goes Without Saying. As Writer: The
Present, Riflemind and Hanging Man. As Adaptor/Translator: For
Sydney Theatre Company: Children of the Sun, The Maids (with
Benedict Andrews), The White Guard, Dissident Goes Without Saying, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda
Gabler, Don Juan, Cyrano de Bergerac and Uncle Vanya. For National Theatre, London: Children of
the Sun, The Philistines, The White Guard and The Cherry Orchard. Film: As Writer: Foucault’s
Pendulum, Amongst Thieves, Duplicate Keys and Gone. As Writer and Director: Bangers (short film).
Chris Petridis, Audio Visual and Lighting Associate
Chris Petridis is a Lighting and Video Designer from Adelaide. Since
completing a Diploma of Live Production, Theatre and Events at
Adelaide Centre of the Arts, he has worked across theatre, dance and
live events in Australia and internationally. For State Theatre Company
of SA: Eh Joe for the Beckett Tryptych, Masquerade, The Kreutzer
Sonata, Maggie Stone, and Little Bird. For Tiny Bricks: Deluge. For
ADT: The Beginning of Nature Part 1. For Restless Dance Theatre:
Touched. For Slingsby Theatre Company: The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage. For Windmill
Theatre Company: Grug and the Rainbow, Big Bad Wolf and Story Thieves. For Vitalstatistix: Quiet
Faith. For Someone like U: Bitch Boxer. For Torque Show: MALMÖ. For The Border Project: Half
Real. For Ludwig Fleck and Flecker. For five.point.one: Muff. For Country Arts SA: multimedia
performance project If There Was A Colour Darker Than Black I’d Wear It. Chris will continue to
explore the synthesis of light and video wherever possible.
Marlo Benjamin, Performer
For Force Majeure: The Age I’m In (Sydney and international tour) and Never Did Me Any Harm
(Melbourne Festival of the Arts 2012). For Chunky Move: It Sounds Silly. TV: Choreographic
Assistant/Performer to Paul White for So You Think You Can Dance. Performed the dancing solo on
the opening credits for ABC’s Sunday Arts. Film: dancer on Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Other: In 2012, Marlo was the sole performer in a film instillation piece commissioned by the Art
Gallery of NSW, for artist Cate Consandine. Training: Marlo completed her first year at the Victorian
Collage of the Arts and Sydney Dance Company’s Pre Professional Year in 2015. Marlo also worked
for Melbourne based choreographer Gideon Obarzanek on a choreographic process.
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Kristina Chan
Kristina has performed throughout Australia, America, Canada, Asia,
Israel, Europe and the UK working with various Australian companies,
choreographers and directors including Force Majeure, Kate
Champion, Australian Dance Theatre, Garry Stewart, Chunky Move,
Australian Ballet, Gideon Obarzanek, Lucy Guerin Inc., Stephanie
Lake, Sydney Theatre Company, Legs on the Wall, Theatre of Image,
West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland, State Opera South Australia, Tasdance, Michelle Mahrer
and Bernadette Walong, Narelle Benjamin, Paul White, Anton and Tanja Liedtke. In 2011 Kristina
presented short solo works’ Carnivorous at the Solo Festival of Dance and Lost and Found as part of
iOU Dance Series at UNSW which went on to Spring Dance Festival at Sydney Opera House in 2012.
Kristina was awarded a Helpmann Award in 2011 for Best Female Dancer in a Dance or Physical
Theatre Production and has received two Australian Dance Awards for Outstanding Performance by
a Female Dancer.
Alan Flower, Performer
Alan Flower’s acting credits include: For Belvoir: Ray’s Tempest and
Peribanez. For Burning House: That Eye, The Sky. For Version 1.0:
Some Kind of Ruckus and The Table of Knowledge. For Ensemble: A
Streetcar Named Desire and A View from the Bridge. For Tamarama
Rock Surfers: Road, The Disposal, Cross Section, Fidelity and Boxing
Day. For Darlinghurst Theatre: The Wool Gatherer and Portia
Coughlan. For Siren Theatre Company: Blue Heart and As You Like It.
For B Sharp: La Ronde, Frozen, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train and Fool For Love. For New Theatre: The
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. For Playing Australia: Shorter and Sweeter (national tour). For
Sydney Theatre Company: The Removalists, Stag and The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Film:
includes When Good Ghouls Go Bad, Danny Deckchair, Fat Pizza, Jewboy, Gabriel and Burning Man.
TV: includes Flipper, All Saints, Backberner, Above the Law, Water Rats, Love is a Four Letter Word,
Farscape, Bad Cop Bad Cop, The Alice, The Silence, Rescue Special Ops and Home and Away.
Positions: founding member of Tamarama Rock Surfers and its Artistic Director from 2001-2006.
Training: BA UNSW, Ensemble.
Tracy Mann
Tracy’s theatre credits include: For Force Majeure: Never Did Me Any
Harm. For Sydney Theatre Company: Embers, The Beauty Queen of
Leenane and Two Weeks With The Queen. For Malthouse Theatre
Company: Minefields and Miniskirts. For Melbourne Theatre
Company: Don Parties On. For Belvoir: Ruben Guthrie. For Old Fitz:
Last One Standing (Old Fitz). For Griffin Theatre Company: Burning.
For O’Punksky’s: The Gigli Concert. For Really Useful Company: The Graduate. For Perth Theatre
Company: Dead Funny. For Ensemble Theatre: The Heidi Chronicles. For Davis Morely: When I was a
Girl I used to Scream and Shout and Crystal Clear. For Peers and Mann: Catholic School Girls. TV:
includes The Box, Prisoner, Sweet and Sour, Skirts, Janus, MDA, The Brush Off, All Saints, City
Homicide and LAID. Mini Series: includes Cowra Breakout, Cyclone Tracy, Cassidy, Four Minute
Mile, East of Everything Series 2 and Sword of Honour. Film: includes Hard Knocks, Going Down,
The Scarecrow, Fast Talking, Reckless Kelly, The Cup, Hating Alison Ashley and Any Questions for
Ben. Awards: AFI Best Actress Award for Hard Knocks. Logie Award for Sword of Honour.
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Veronica Neave
Veronica has worked extensively as an actor, dramaturge, writer,
director and physical performer throughout Australia. Her theatre
credits include for Force Majeure: The Age I’m In, Already Elsewhere
and Same, same But Different. For Queensland Theatre Company:
includes Brisbane, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, God of Carnage, A
Streetcar Named Desire, Caucasian Chalk Circle and Mano Nera. For
La Boite: White Earth. For Malthouse Theatre: Lead Blue Love. For Sydney Theatre Company: Les
Parents Terribles. For Marguerite Pepper Productions: Lead Blue Love (Singapore tour). As Director:
For NIDA: The Word Dog. As Choreographer: For Legs on the Wall: Flying Blind. As
Dramaturg/Writer: For Shaun Parker and Company: This Show is About People, Happy as Larry and
Am I. Veronica also works as dramaturg for independent theatre companies Preying Eye and Lisa
Wilson Company. TV: includes Mortified (Channel 9), Wanted, Through My Eyes, Wildside (ABC) and
Blindside Breakway (ABC). Co-producer/writer for documentary Pieces Of Me (ABC). Film: includes
How To Change in 9 Weeks, Girl The Boys, Girl Clock. Positions: Artistic Director of Vulcana
Women’s Circus. Awards: Matilda Award Nomination for Best Actress in God of Carnage and the Inaugural John Harris Critics Award for Contribution to Theatre.
Joshua Mu, Performer
Josh Mu is an Australian based independent contemporary dancer.
His practice began in breakdance and hip-hop culture, and has
expanded to include contemporary dance, ballet, circus, gymnastics,
yoga and physical theatre. Josh’s varied skill set has enabled him to
work with a wide range of prominent companies and artists across
Australia, including Chunky Move, Force Majeure, Antony Hamilton
Projects, Shaun Parker and Company, Sydney Theatre Company,
Perth Theatre Company, Marrugeku, Tracks Dance Theatre, Buzz Dance Theatre, Dancenorth, Jo
Lloyd, Stephanie Lake, Gavin Webber, Garry Stewart, Gideon Obarzanek and Meryl Tankard. Josh is
an ArtsNT scholarship recipient and an Ausdance WA award winner for Outstanding Performance.
Timothy Ohl, Performer
An accomplished actor, dancer, acrobat, singer and writer, Timothy
Ohl has over 16 years experience devising original physical theatre in
collaboration with companies including Force Majeure, KAGE,
Australian Dance Theatre, Legs on the Wall, Chunky Move, Lucy
Guerin Inc., Shaun Parker and Company, Stalker, Theatre of Image
and Meryl Tankard. Timothy has been writing and performing his own
work since 2006 including the satire fuelled Jack for iOU Dance Series at Sydney Opera House, the
beat making Squid Dreams and the darkly humorous Naked Habit at Carriageworks. His upcoming
show King TV commenced development in 2013 and will make its Sydney Comedy Festival debut in
2016. Winner of 2010 Green Room Award for Best Male Dancer in Chunky Move’s Mix Tape.
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8. PRE-SHOW READING
CONSIDERING BOUNDARY-CROSSING AND DANCE THEATRE
Read the below statements and discuss how you’d define dance theatre. Do you think that there
should be text/words in works that are also based around choreographed dance? If so, how
many words and why use text?
−
Kate Champion told The Australian in 2001:
“I find that I hit a wall when I try to make movement say everything. I just find it leaves people
without understanding it or it’s too naff because it’s so literal.”
−
Arts Hub on Force Majeure:
“Force Majeure push the boundaries of what is considered contemporary dance and bring us
works that communicate with the audience in a fresh, challenging way.”
−
Diana Simmonds, review of Kate Champion’s 2008 show The Age I’m In,
The production crossed “so many boundaries it probably ought to have a passport... Is this
really contemporary dance? Is it really theatre? Does it matter? It’s Kate Champion’s Force
Majeure and it’s brilliant.”
THINKING ABOUT REPRESENTATION
Read below what Kate Champion said about the crucial moment in which the Company decided to
depict children on stage using adult performers in Never Did Me Any Harm. Answer the questions
that follow.
The Moment
“Making a show about parenting inevitably throws up the issue of how to represent children on
stage. Do we cast real children? Do we represent them in projected imagery? Or, usually my least
favourite idea, do we get the adult performers to act as children?
“We decided that we should at least give the latter a go. I set some parameters for the cast to
improvise within and off they went. At first the playing was a bit predictable and 'overplayed' but as
the actors got more involved in their activities as children the more believable they became.
“Then, as we continued to watch, we noticed one of 'the children' off to the side of the space just
watching. He'd occasionally adjust his undies and put his fingers to his mouth. He was totally
believable as a six year old – curious, but too shy to join in. It was Al Flower – 40 years old with a
beard and a slight paunch.
This was 'the moment' – the moment we knew we had someone who could play a child convincingly
and then in a split second also play the concerned father of an autistic son. Through Al we found the
freedom to represent the age range that the subject matter demanded we represent. It was a
liberating discovery!” - Kate Champion
Questions
−
How important is it in a performance that a character is played by a performer of the same
physical ‘type’ or the same age as the character?
−
What might be gained by having a performer of a different gender, age, physicality or
appearance playing a character?
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−
How would this work in the performance so audiences understand what is happening?
9. ACTIVITIES
PRE OR POST SHOW ACTIVITY – PRODUCTION IMAGES
Refer to the four production images on page 4 of this Education Pack. Consider how each
element of the production – lighting, costume, set, projection and performers – combine to
create the whole image. Consider how these elements contribute to the meaning of the moment
that’s been captured.
− What looks as if it is happening in each production photo?
− What does it remind you of (image, colour, sensation, experience, anything)?
− Write down three words to describe the mood or quality the picture suggests.
− Who is the central figure? What appears to be their relationship to the other people in the
picture?
− From looking at these images, what would you think the show is about?
PRE OR POST SHOW ACTIVITY – IMPULSE IMPROVISATION
Use the ‘Tetra Pack’ monologue as stimulus for an impulse improvisation session. As someone
speaks the monologue others respond with gesture or physical movements. Respond to either the
sound of the words or their meaning.
You can vary the frequency of movements or provide a definite parameter such as one movement or
gesture for each new thought.
Physical responses can be solo or collaborative with other performers.
You can experiment with incorporating physical objects such as balloons. You could also put down
markings in the room to indicate literal physical boundaries to resist and play against while the text is
being spoken.
Tetra Pack Monologue
Woman:
Well I knew when I was twelve that I didn’t want to have children.
I never played with dolls, um I knew I just knew that I was never ever going to want what I saw, of,
people with children.
I just thought that’s not for me.
I could never do toddlers. I’m particularly, particularly bad with babies and toddlers.
Once they start speaking and I can have a conversation with them and I can read to them, things are
already better.
You know, you see children who’s parents just sort of let them run rampant until 10 11 at night, and
then they get over tired, and they get really sort of shitty and then the parents kind of look at them as
if to say “oh I wonder why they’re like that”.
And I do see a lot of parents it seems, to me, who don’t enjoy being with their children very much
because they haven’t socialised their children properly. So because they haven’t given them
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boundaries about manners and bed times and things like that their children do run amuck and are
feral. And then the parents kind of go “Oh my god my children really are monsters”, well der.
You know children who are allowed to interrupt conversations endlessly and anything that they say
has to be you know kind of given, ah, primacy over whatever ah it is your talking about, I think that’s
a really, really big bugbear of mine.
An interesting one was… I’ve never forgot, one of the most confronting ones culturally was, we, um,
she was Sri Lankan he was Australian, and she came from a culture were you breast fed a child for I
think three to five years, three to five years.
So we would go round there and this child would be bobbing up and down on her lap and would
unbutton her blouse get out her breast and just play with it like a ball just sort of whack it backwards
and forwards and then take an occasional sip from it like it was a tetra pack.
And at one stage I think it must of been four years into this I said ‘Siri, really don’t you think its time
the he were weaned?’ And she said ‘Not in Sri Lanka’ and I did feel terrible but I you know I wanted
to say ‘But you’re in Australia, you’re in Australia now and we don’t do this…’
Another really funny one was when a friend was asked by a mutual friend of ours to look after the
kids for the weekend and was sent an eight-page email on how to care for them. One of the
instructions was for the going to sleep ritual for the little one who was must have been about 18
months or something. You had to put him in the cot, stay in the room, cover the top of the cot with a
towel so he couldn’t see your face, but you weren’t allowed to leave room, and you had to either
rock him or pat him, but make sure you didn’t make any eye contact. And when you thought it was
safe to leave, you had to get down on your hands and knees and crawl… or commando roll out of
the room
You know, you never hear ‘I have a child who’s just average.’ Nobody ever celebrates the idea that
they have a child that’s just an average child any more.
There are all sorts of subtexts of jealously about the fact that you are more of a free agent
supposedly with more deposable income supposedly that you’re not spending on some ridiculous
private school and tuition for your genius. That you know you can travel more or you can you can go
out to the movies without having to think about a babysitter.
I don’t feel like some desiccated old prune just because I haven’t I haven’t had a child. When you
get to this age, when you get to 50, you do start to think it’s going to be quite interesting at the
pointy other end of life in terms of who is going to be there for you in the end. Someone who is
related to you by blood is probably going to be the person who is going to have your interests at
heart…and you know I expect…well, I won’t have that.
Questions
−
What emotional distance does the woman travel from the first statement to the last
statement?
−
What specific details do we learn about the woman from what she says?
−
How important are the pauses and ellipses (…) in understanding what is happening for
the woman?
−
What words and images does the woman use to describe herself? How are these words
or images different from the words she uses to describe others?
−
Think about the central image of the tetra pack (juicebox) – how does the woman use this
image persuasively to win the audience over to her point of view? Do you agree with her?
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POST-SHOW ACTIVITY – TEXT AND MOVEMENT
Explore the following ‘Rant’ monologue using careful, constrained movements or a combination of
free and constrained movements in relationship to movement speed, space and force.
Use movement sequences based on Laban’s different types of effort actions – PRESS / FLICK /
WRING / DAB / SLASH / GLIDE / THRUST / FLOAT. Vary the movements systematically then
erratically.
Play with matching the changes in action to changes in the emotional charge or rhythm of the
speaker’s voice.
Rant Monologue
Man:
You know, it’s interesting because you get these shopping centres… or… even… places like Darling
Harbour and they’ve got these… young wet behind the ears; they’ve got… They’ve had three days
training or some bullshit like that and… they’re security morons… and… they’ll come out and they
tell you what is good for your kid. They say “No, no, no you can’t…he can’t climb a tree because its
dangerous for him”
I mean, fucking hell, kids have been climbing trees for five thousand years, longer…And if I want my
child to climb a tree and fall out of that tree and break his arm then that’s my right as a dad to say
climb the tree and I’m prepared to risk you breaking your arm. I’m not going to sue. I want to wear a
T-shirt around bloody Sydney saying, “I will not sue you as, please can my child play on the tree I
promise not to… to sue you okay? Can my child ride his bike down the fucking path, I promise not to
sue”
Can I put that somewhere? Can there be a website of people who promise not to sue so their kids
can have an experience in life!
I mean no wonder we’ve got a generation of kids that are scared and fat. They don’t get to do
anything risky, they don’t get to do anything. They no longer have to try. They get what they want
just by turning up. I mean, at birthday parties, when you play pass the parcel, under every layer of
wrapping paper there’s a prize. And every kid gets one. There’s no suspense, no losers and no
excitement. How’s a kid supposed to learn how to deal with disappointment? All they learn is a
sense of bored entitlement. They don’t even walk to school. Every morning pods of 4-wheel drives
beach themselves on the footpaths and disgorge these blobs whose under-used leg muscles strain
to waddle the few feet from the car to the classroom. And they go on about stranger danger? I
mean you’d need a fucking hoover to nab one of them.
But whatever you do don’t let them climb a fucking tree. No, give them some piece of batterypowered plastic shit that does all the playing for them so they can sit on their fat arse. Kids toys
tody suck. They’re ready assembled, ready imagined, all that’s left for the kid to do is break them.
“Here’s your Nintendo Wii-box-i-game-pad boy.” Break that. But don’t climb a fucking tree. I
mean, what? What do these people not remember about their own childhood? Where did they
fucking…learn to climb a tree…ARRRGH!!!
POST-SHOW TASK – CREATIVE CHOREOGRAPHY
Devise a short physical sequence based on a childhood memory of your relationship with your own
parents or their relationship with their parents, as they describe it in stories of their childhood.
For added complexity, layer the two devised pieces so both parent-child relationships are seen as
happening and overlapping simultaneously and include a small amount of text in your piece.
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POST-SHOW TASK – REVIEW (RESPONDING/APPRECIATION)
Write a review of Never Did me Any Harm (1,000 words max).
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Decide what publication you are writing for and write in that style and for that audience.
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Support your interpretation with descriptions and examples from the work.
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Contextualise the production by referencing your research on Kate Champion’s other
works for Force Majeure, e.g. The Age I’m In and Nothing to Lose.
POST-SHOW TASK – DEBATE / DISCUSSION / EXPLORATION
From your perspective as someone who is currently being ‘parented’, take five minutes to jot
down your ideas on what makes a good parent.
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Share your ideas with a partner and brainstorm some images of ideal and un-ideal
parents. You can use contemporary references from books, film, TV and theatre e.g.
Katniss Everdeen’s mum in The Hunger Games, Josh Thomas’ Mum and Dad in Please
Like Me, the parents in Matilda and the Montague and Capulet parents from Romeo and
Juliet.
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Using magazine images or digital images make a collage to create an amalgam image of
the ‘ideal parent’ or the ‘un-ideal parent’.
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Consider how you would like to be raised, how would you like your parents to respond to
you and treat you? Discuss with your partner.
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If there were one thing you could let your parents know, what would it be? Write your
answer down.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY – GESTURE
Make a physical gesture for the way you see yourself (you don’t need to explain it to anyone else).
Then, make a physical gesture for the way you think your parents view you. Consider the difference
between the two gestures – can you make a third gesture using both images?
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY – IMPOSSIBLE PARENTING IMPROVISATION
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Divide the group into three’s – allocate each person to be ‘A’ ‘B’ or ‘C’
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A & B are parents and C is the child.
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C needs to try to follow A & B’s instructions
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A will give verbal directions to C and B will either model physical movements for C to try
to follow or (very gently & with permission) move C’s arms and legs to specific positions.
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C can make sounds (laugh, shout, groan, sigh) but not speak. However, C can try to
communicate with the ‘parents’ whilst following their instructions.
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After about five minutes, swap the roles around. This might form the basis for a longer
scene, depending on what images the movements and situations suggest.
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POST-SHOW TASK – QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Thinking about childhood and boundaries:
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Did the production’s setting (a suburban backyard with lawn, shed, tree and fence)
suggest familiar sensations and evoke childhood memories for you?
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What impact did it have on you to see adults playing children?
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How does seeing childish behaviour enacted by fully grown people allow you to notice
differences between adults and children in terms of power dynamics, relationships to their
bodies and understanding?
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Do you think it was more successful and effective than having real children on stage?
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What else becomes possible when you have adults playing small children and teenagers?
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Do you remember a moment in the first ‘couple’ scene in which the man bit his own arm
and performed other erratic movements to suggest a 3-year-old’s behaviour? How did
those physical actions work to interrupt or punctuate the flow of the text?
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How many specific moments can you remember in which boundaries between people
were crossed? Do you remember a moment in which a man sprawled face down on the
grass and a woman came and lay on top of him? How did this moment unfold into a
succession of physical struggles culminating in the man grabbing the woman’s neck in an
image of domestic violence?
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Think about the scene in which the father gets the son to lie down on a cart and puts a
bucket on his head then sets up an obstacle course of buckets and pushes the son into it
like a cannon. How did this scene work to disrupt the authority of the parental figure? Did
the humour of this scene allow the audience to appreciate some discrepancies between
parents’ harmful actions towards their children and their intentions?
Thinking about physicality:
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Think back to the first scene between the couple talking about parenting difficulties. How
did the movement change from conversational actions to highly heightened gestures and
movements? What impact did this slippage have in combination with the layered text?
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How did the scene read with both performers in the parental couple facing outwards
towards the audience rather than towards each other? What do we gather about their
relationship and their relationship with their child from this physical choice?
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In the ‘Teenage Diary’ scene, what was the relationship of the twisting and indirect
movements of the performer to the text? How did the continual writhing and shifting
relate to the teenage speaker’s reaction to having her mum find and read her diary?
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When the mother describes finding her daughter’s diary, she is quite still but there’s a
projection behind her, shifting and moving. Why do you think this element might have
been added to this scene? How does it affect you when you’re watching?
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Consider the technique, repeated a few times in the production, including in the ‘Advice’
section, of one performer manipulating another performer’s limbs or body, shifting them
into a series of positions. What did this make you think of? How in control did the dancer
seem while they were being positioned?
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Consider the comic sequence in which the mother, father and son were wearing paper
hats. At first the mother and father were struggling over the son and hitting each other,
then it escalated. How did this scene operate to demonstrate the illogicality of hitting
children?
Using text in dance theatre:
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Does knowing that the text used in Never Did Me Any Harm comes from real people make
a difference to the way you respond to this production?
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If you didn’t know that the text used all came from real interviews would you be able to
work this out anyway? Why? Why not?
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In the scene in which words from the text were projected in white onto the dancers’
bodies, can you recall some of the specific words that you saw? (Change, Bored,
Complicity, Should, Money, Work, Damage)
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Did the way the text was put together open up or close down the way you saw the issues
that were being explored in this production?
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How would you describe the way the text functioned with or against the movement?
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What kind of overall dramaturgical rhythm was created in this piece by having some
dense sections of text then purely physical sequences?
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Did each speaker express consistent opinions throughout the work or within the scenes?
If not, what might be the purpose of this?
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Never Did Me Any Harm featured several monologues. Which of these were most
powerful? If you had to choose one that you think encapsulates the argument of the
show, which one would you select and why?
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Think about the monologue that started “Why should there be discos for five year olds?”
How did the gestural choreography escalate at certain points such as “my parents used
to BEAT me”?
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In the monologue called ‘Tetra Pack’ (text included in these notes), how did the choice to
have the performer lying on a banana lounge for this piece support or undermine her
argument?
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In the monologue entitled ‘Rant’ (also included in these notes), the father’s normalised
gestures and repeated movements become extremely exaggerated when he is describing
contemporary kids as blobs with under-used leg muscles. Do you think the audience
agree with him at this point or does the exaggeration make them amused by his rage?
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How is the physical movement in ‘Rant’ telling a different story or giving a different
emphasis to his words?
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10. THINKING FURTHER
TO READ:
Tsolkias, Christos, The Slap, Allen & Unwin, 2008
Gibbs, Nancy, The Growing Backlash Against Over-Parenting, Time Magazine, 30.11.09:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1940697,00.html
TO LISTEN TO:
ABC RN Books and Arts interview with Kate Champion and Gregory Crewdson at Melbourne
Festival, 10.10.12: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/kate-championand-gregory-crewdson/4304760
CLIPS TO WATCH:
6 min Excerpt of Never Did Me Any Harm: https://youtu.be/rKnuaNku5eY
Interview with Director Kate Champion and Keith Gallasch for Real Time:
http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/realtime_tv/10881
Sydney Festival TV interview with Director Kate Champion including rehearsal footage, 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIkqdtXX_5w
Sydney Theatre Company interview with performer Alan Flower, 2012:
https://youtu.be/0b2_Fk2kl_c?list=PL417D6B18E3A07B9D
Sydney Festival TV interview with performers Marta Dusseldorp and Heather Mitchell, 2012:
https://youtu.be/jIkqdtXX_5w?list=PL417D6B18E3A07B9D
LINKS TO PUBLICITY ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS WITH DIRECTOR / PERFORMERS:
Sydney Morning Herald / 11.01.12 / by Wendy Frew
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/dance/slap-bang-in-middle-of-search-for-balance20120110-1ptjq.html
The Australian / 10.01.12 / by Sallie Don
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/arts/the-slap-interpreted-for-the-stage/story-fnbp14ia1226241092463
LINKS TO REVIEWS:
The Australian / 13.01.12 / by Deborah Jones
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/a-lively-slap-in-the-face/story-e6frg8n6-1226242926588
Sydney Morning Herald / 13.01.12 / by Jill Sykes
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/emotions-flow-in-heartfelt-exploration-of-parentsand-children-20120112-1pxbn.html
Time Out / 13.01.12 / by Rebecca Saffir
http://www.au.timeout.com/sydney/theatre/events/27587/sydney-theatre-company-never-did-meany-harm
Crikey / 15.01.12 / by Lloyd Bradford Syke
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/curtaincall/2012/01/17/review-never-did-me-any-harm-sydney-festivalwharf-1/
Stage Noise / 15.01.12 / by Diana Simmonds
http://www.stagenoise.com/review/2012/sydney-festival-never-did-me-any-harm
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND SUPPORT IN RELATION TO FAMILY VIOLENCE
Kids Help Line - Phone 1800 55 1800 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Kids Help Line can help young people between the age of 5 to 25 with any issue, including abuse or
violence at home. Phone Kids Help Line (free call) if you feel like you need someone to talk to, any
time, day or night. You can chat to them online or through email. http://www.kidshelpline.com.au/
SAFE FAMILIES
Children are raised in all types of families. Some are raised by a mum and a dad living together,
whilst some are raised by one of their parents, or live part time with each of their parents. Some
children are raised in families with two mums or two dads and some children are raised with other
members of their family such as grandparents. There are some children who are raised with foster
and adoptive parents.
Whatever shape your family comes in there are some important things that children should know
about safety in families. In all families parents and adults can have times when they may not get
along, have disagreements and even arguments. Even when adults argue or disagree they should do
it in a safe way where they
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Treat each other with respect
Allow each other to have their own opinions
Allow each other to make decisions
Allow each other to be themselves
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – UNSAFE FAMILIES
Sometimes adults and parents in a family do not treat each other in a safe way. We call this
domestic violence. This is when one in adult or parent in the family bullies or hurts another adult or
parent in the family. Domestic violence can also occur between boyfriend and girlfriends not just
parents or married people. Most times (but not all the time) it is the man who hurts the woman. When
domestic violence occurs in a family the children might see the following things:
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One parent behaves in a way that scares or makes the other parent nervous or threatens
to hurt the other parent.
One parent hurts the other parent physically, with hits, kicks, pushing or throwing things
One parent criticizes or calls the other parent names (like idiot or stupid), or shouts at
them
One parent tries to control the other parent
One parent tries to stop the other parent from going out, seeing / talking to friends and
family
One parent doesn’t let the other parent have any money
What you can do - If domestic violence is happening in your family or you feel unsafe the best thing
you can do is to tell someone about it. It is normal to feel nervous about telling someone but there
are lots of adults who know that domestic violence happens in families and they have been trained in
what to do when they are told about it. These people will want to make sure that you are safe. Here
is a list of people you can tell:
People you know and trust like:
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Your mum or dad (if they are not the one doing the violence)
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A relative that you trust like your grandparent or an aunt or uncle
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An adult family friend
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Another adult you trust like your sports coach or neighbour
People who have been trained to know what to do for example a teacher, school counsellor, any
counsellor, doctor, the police.
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