If you have anything that you would like to add to this scrapbook - ie: photographs, sketches, thoughts, poems, critical responses to the shows - please email them to innersanctum@sanctumtheatre.org.

In March this year we decided to resurrect the City Creatures from Lament: candles & compost (2006) for a ten minute performance in a Brunswick shed. Within a month this grew into the thriving market place that  was the first Wealth of Nations at the Harrison Street homestead.

This then snowballed into Zero Projects 2009 where we promised to present 'one show a month between March and November'. Zero Projects 2009 was billed as an animism for the Twenty First Century, bringing to life locations in and around Brunswick through story, revery and revelry.

We have almost lived up to this promise - presenting the first incarnation of bower: family portrait in a burnt out factory down the road from Lachlan's house in April and then further developing and restaging it in August; devising and presenting Colleen Burke's play about living with a disability, flight, in her house in July; and culminating in the grand finale, the return of Wealth of Nations under the Village Festival's beautiful Rajisthani circus tent in September/October.

The final Wealth of Nations was described by Mark Hawthorn in the Business Age as "...a decadent night of bands and performers, rather than a discussion place for economic theories..." (9th September 2009) and was awarded a high commendation as a special event by the Fringe Festival. Wealth of Nations brought together a disparate bunch of bands and special guests including Pete and the Tar Gang, Suitcase Royale, Sex on Toast, Mamuska, The Kurtletts, Minstrels of the Revolution, Daniel Oldaker, Cabaret Existenz, The Twins of Gibbon, The Sewell Family Cabaret and An Inconvenient Spoof.

Michael Chalk's documentation of Wealth of Nations from bump in to bump out

Whilst in development for the September version of Wealth of Nations we all traveled up to Tim and Sam's country residency in Tallarook, not far from Seymour...

Tim Ratcliffe, Greg Fryer and a couple of chooks

Greg Fryer and Tim Ratcliffe photographing an echidna

Lachlan Plain, Kiri Buchler, Jon Drews and an echidna

"In almost every other race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity, is intirely independent, and in its natural state has occassion for the assistance of no other living creature. But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, an dshew them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them."

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776.

Some thoughts on ‘competition’ en lieu of Wealth of Nations in September

The word ‘competition’ is too often used in economic or political discourse to define one’s stance within a polarised ideological landscape. It is rarely used in a considered manner to illustrate an integral aspect of human society, functioning alongside other important aspects, such as organisational structure, collaboration, creativity, empathy and respect. Competition often appears to be diametrically opposed to these other qualities, however this is not always the case. Competition plays an integral role in human society, animal societies and throughout all ecosystems for various reasons.

Every population has a finite amount of accessible resources. Even if the population extends its’ pool of available resources through technological ingenuity, populations tend to expand in direct correlation to any growth in resources, (especially when coupled with advances in medicine or hygiene.) This principle was espoused by Malthus in light of the Industrial Revolution and is vindicated by the food shortages facing humanity at the start of the twenty first century following the so-called ‘Green Revolution’. It inevitably pits populations, and subsections of populations, in competition with one another. The current crisis highlights this fact, however humanity has always been in competition with itself. Competition is inevitable, but it is more than a ‘necessary evil’.

Competition, both between individuals and nations, has been advocated by Enlightenment thinkers such as Adam Smith as a means by which to further the material plight of society as a whole. Over the past two hundred years economists have argued that such competition inspires technological and social advancement. That by keeping the ‘playing field’ level you inspire individuals to strive harder for the greater good, if only to further their personal needs and desires through the rewards that society will inevitably bestow upon them. Most economists, Smith included, are prudent enough though to acknowledge that this is only true when competition is mediated by organisational structures such as government and executed with the collaboration of a larger community.

But the primary role of competition is not technological development nor any other kind of advancement as Smith and other such economists propose. Such perspectives become void when detached from any clear goal in human evolution. Competition instead allows organisms to continuously adapt to a dynamic world. But competition is not simply responsive to the environment, it is a dynamic element in its’ own right.

The primary characteristic of the world in which we exist - as it is generally translated from Buddhist and Hindu texts - is ‘transience’, though perhaps a more appropriate word might by ‘dynamism’. It is this dynamism that provides the foundation for our perception of the world. In a stagnant world one perceives only sameness. It is the movement of differences and contrasts that allows us to perceive things. It is in the friction between energies that the world exists. Competition is the mechanism sentient beings have developed to stay in step with such a dynamic and transient world, a world in constant flux, a world of friction.

Competition is a dynamic and creative force. Throughout history the arts and culture have flourished along cultural fissures, especially when such competition expresses itself peaceably through trade. Trade routes such as the Silk Road have enriched human thought immensely. The market place is a space of heterogony and the confluence of ideas. It brings peoples together to collaborate on satisfying their individual and collective material needs and desires, it often also provides something richer and more culturally enriching, something that can only grow out of the meeting of ideas.  

Sanctum’s Wealth of Nations is not a call for an entirely unmediated economics where the capitalist is free to amass his fortune at the societies expense. It is instead a communal celebration of competition. Sanctum’s Wealth of Nations is full of all the contradictions and paradoxes inherent to any discussion on ‘competition’. It is a study into the interrelations of control and freedom as they are played out when competition is allowed and disallowed. It highlights the absurdity of that useful but problematic tool, money.

The audience is invited to contribute a small amount of money and a whole lot of colour and noise to the collective experience. The primary currency of Wealth of Nations is fun.

June: photos by Steve Mushin from flight and of marionettes in workshop

This is our lovely front of house manager, Jasmine Powell, at the lighting console (the fuse box).

Here are some great portraits Steve Mushin took after flight was over:

Jon Drews

Dave Houston

Lachlan Plain

...and here are some awesome photos of the marionettes that were constructed for The Plains last year (and will appear again in bower in August) taken by Steve in Lachlan's studio:

April: bower: family portrait

the build

Sarah Barrow and Iris Radovic working on the bower installation

The Zero Theatre 2009 season - with a show (almost) every month - harnesses the energy generated in the development of The Plains last year. Such a rigorous, ongoing program will provide a sense of community and belonging for audience members and the collaborative team.

Each 'show' is different. None of them entail sitting in a darkened theatre viewing spotlit spectacle on some distant plane.They are experimentations in form.They are ritual re-interpretations of everyday spaces. Many of them are in people's homes, they about 'home and hearth', the audience member becomes guest. Others are more remote and require an intrepid disposition - the audience becomes exploration party. Others - such as Wealth of Nations which will be re-invoked in September for the Fringe - sit somewhere between performance and festivities.

If you would like to be involved in Zero Theatre 2009 in any way contact me on 0432 103 538 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We have a meeting on the first Monday of every month which you are welcome to attend and find out more about the season.

Otherwise join the mailing list below the menu on the righthand side of your screen and keep informed of upcoming shows.

--Lachlan Plain, artistic director

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March: Wealth of Nations

the program

Photo: 20th May 1953, The carved wooden figures of Gog and Magog return to the Guild Hall in London, replacing the original figures which were destroyed during bomb raids on the building in 1940. Sculptor: David Evans. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

gog & magog

Gog and Magog watching over the Burke Street mall

money

The following passage is not from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. It is instead taken from the account of one William Mariner, a cabin boy who had been shipwrecked in Tonga in 1806. It tells the story of a conversation between the Englishman, Mister Mariner, the Tongan king, Finow, and his companion, Filimóëátoo. In it Páloo speaks of his extended visit to the young colony of Sydney and they all reflect on the white man’s systems of trade. I found it whilst researching this show in Tim Flannery’s The Explorers (1998).

…He [Filimóëátoo] expressed his astonishment at the perseverance with which white people worked from morning till night to get money; nor could he conceive how they were able to endure so much labour.

After having heard this account, Finow asked several questions respecting the nature of money. What is it made of? Is it like iron? Can it be fashioned into various useful instruments? If not, why cannot people procure what they want in the way of barter? But where is money to be got? If it be made, then every man ought to spend his time making money, that when he has got plenty he may be able afterwards to obtain whatever else he wants.

In answer to the last observation, Mr Mariner replied that the material of which money was made was very scarce and difficult to be got and that only chiefs and great men could procure readily a large quantity of it; and this either by being inheritors of plantations or houses which they allowed others to have, for paying them so much tribute in money every year; or by their public services; or by paying small sums of money for things when they were in plenty and afterwards letting others have them for larger sums when they were scarce; and, as to the lower classes of people, they worked hard and got paid by their employers in small quantities of money as the reward of their labours etc. That the king was the only person that was allowed to make money, and that he put his mark upon all he made, that it might be known to be true; that no person could readily procure the material of which it was made without paying money for it; and if, contrary to the taboo of the king, he turned this material into money he would scarcely have made as much as he had given for it.

Mr Mariner was then going on to show the convenience of money as a medium of exchange, when Filimóëátoo interrupted him, saying to Finow, I understand how it is: money is less cumbersome than goods and it is very convenient for a man to exchange away his goods for money which, at any other time, he could exchange again for the same or any other goods that he may want; whereas the goods themselves may perhaps spoil by keeping (particularly if provisions), but the money, he supposed, would not spoil; and although it was of no true value itself, yet being scarce and difficult to be got without giving something useful and really valuable for it, it was imagined to be of value; and if everybody considered it so and would readily give their goods for it, he did not see but what it was of a sort of real value to all who possessed it, as long as their neighbours chose to take it in the same way.

Mr Mariner found he could not give a better explanation; he therefore told Filimóëátoo that his notion of the nature of money was a just one.

After a pause of some length, Finow replied that the explanation did not satisfy him. He still thought it a foolish thing that people should place a value on money when they either could not or would not apply it to any useful (physical) purpose. ‘If’, said he, ‘it were made of iron and could be converted into knives, axes and chisels, there would be some sense in placing a value on it, but as it is I see none. If a man,’ he added, ‘has more yams than he wants, let him exchange some of them away for pork or gnatoo. Certainly money is much handier, and more convenient, but then, as it will not spoil by being kept, people will store it up, instead of sharing it out, as a chief ought to do, and thus become selfish; whereas, if provisions were the principal property of a man, and it ought to be, as being both the most useful and the most necessary, he could not store it up, for it would spoil, and so he would be obliged to share it out to his neighbours, and inferior chiefs and dependants, for nothing.’

He concluded by saying, 'I understand now very well what it is that makes the Papalingis so selfish – it is this money!’

the sanctum theatre studio

The Plains: a play 2008 season

the build

mask by Sabrina D'Angelo

mask by Iris Radovic

mask by Lachlan Plain

mask by Rachael Guy

 the wimerra shoot, June 10th, 2008

What an extraordinary landscape - the pink, crystaline lake was unbelievable. This landscape has left me with a sense of salt, dust and wood. Maybe our puppets can be pillars of salt! Dimboola was like a ghost town - silent streets, the memory of prosperity. Loved the empty shop fronts with broad verandahs, the vacant car lot with 70's signage and the sign-post signaling the distance to major international destinations - Dimboola at the heart of the world!

--Rachael Wenona

Last weekend eleven of the designers, puppeteers and cast involved in the The Plains: a play climbed into their vehicles and drove to The Little Desert for a 'development'. Due to the length of the journey not a lot was achieve during the day on Saturday, except for some 'research' during the evening at the Dimboola pub and around the camp fire.

On the Sunday we came across two perfect locations to shoot the footage required for the dream sequence in the show. On one side of the highway was a freshly ploughed paddock with a perfect horizon. On the other side was the Pink Lake, a salt lake. Like many of the salt lakes in this area, at first glance it appears to be a lake of a regular depth due to the extent of its surface area, it is however only a few centimetres deep all the way across. This gives the illusion that, when people are crossing it, they are walking on water, a great effect for a dream sequence, the characters walk across a rippling reflection of sky with their long reflection trailing behind them. It also has a beautiful pink tinge due to the algae that grows in the water, however the film was shot in black and white super-8.

--Lachlan Plain

 

(first published on collaborativecommons.org)

script reading and showbag presentation, May 19th, 2008

On Sunday 18 May we had our first meeting with everyone.

In the first half we watched presentation of the 'maps' everyone had prepared in responses to the 'totems' they found in their 'showbags'. Jon presented his in immersive sound; Gabriella in beautiful poetry; Ben, Fleur and Tim in performance; Ana and Michelle presented small booklets; Sarah a collage and Sabrina and Gai as sculpture. (I know the photos are pretty bad, but we have videos too.)

Then we read from the script in the second half. Now the challenge is putting the two together.

(first published on collaborativecommons.org)

Barwon Park heritage manor, May 6th 2008

Last Sunday, 4 May, the six designers working on The Plains project drove to Barwon Park just out of Winchelsea. This was an ideal location to garner inspiration for such a play. The crisp light from the plains outside in contrast with the majestic dimness of the interior was like a physicalisation of the psychological space of the novel. And we even had a rendition on the old piano by Jon.

Background: A grand ball was held in 1871 to open this great manor. It was built for Thomas and Elizabeth Austin who lived in the Western District since 1845. Unfortunately Thomas died several months after the aforementioned ball and Elizabeth was left to continue with his philanthropy, opening the Austin hospital. Thomas, a member of the Acclimatization Society, is perhaps best known these days for introducing the rabbit into Australia, (if he wasn't the first then he was certainly the first to do it with any great success.)

We then had a lunch at a teahouse and a short bushwalk in the Brisbane Ranges, a brief moment of quiet in which to begin the project.

Wedding of Ellen Austin1876

Barwon Park

the entrance hall

tapestry

preliminary sketches

Lament: candles & compost 2006 season

the build

Michael Camilerri

preliminary sketches

Lachlan Plain:

Michael Camilleri:

the starting point

Giotto, Lamentations for Christ

Giotto, Lamentations for Christ

Supporting Quotes

--Luke 23:55

--Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Christ, 1993

--Robert Mate-Mate, Children, 1996, as quoted by Sebastion Jorgenson in his album, tribute