One more night .. and two events!

One more night of the festival..

At 5.30 join us for a Sunday afternoon champagne soirée with some of Australia’s most exciting Playwriting Talent and celebrate the spoken word with Meant to be Spoken: A champagne celebration of Australian Playwriting

Meant to be Spoken presents selected works written and read by Adam Cass, Patricia Cornelius, David Mence, Declan Greene, Tee O’Neill, Hannie Rayson and Amelia Roper and is hosted by Robert Reid.

Then stay for 7.30 for Cordelia, Mein Kind – a duet for live body and film that maps a modern Cordelia and her “Lear-like father” onto the bones of Shakespeare’s Lear and his silent daughter.

…deeply textured, multilayered and savagely poetical work…. Real Time 94

Here is theatre – visceral, elemental, brutal – that will heave your heart into your mouth. Rob Conkie (Shakespeare Project)

….a multi-stranded narrative that literally pulsates, like an exposed heart, with  deep feeling and mystery… Ari Roth (Theater J, Washington DC)

And here is a review of the Directors Cut night which saw performances by such  incredibly talented artists:

http://www.australianstage.com.au/201002203206/reviews/melbourne/director-s-cut-|-searchlight-festival-2010.html

The Home Stretch and Directors Cut

Sally Smith in Director’s Cut

David Wells in Director’s Cut

The fortyfivedownstairs foyer as Sally Smith lead the crowd into the theatre for Director’s Cut.

Join us on Wednesday night for opening night drinks.. they are free…!

so come and celebrate – meet the performers – meet others…… be part of the communtiy….

Be part of what is gearing up to be an unforgettable week of performance…

So, buy your tickets now so you don’t miss out…. buy a few.. immerse youself in a week that will excite, challenge, confuse, make you laugh, make you angry… but whatever it does.. it won’t be boring…

A feast of performance…

Things are gearing up as Searchlight Festival approaches…

So, now is time to book your tickets.. and remember, tickets are not expensive – so buy a few in order to totally immerse yourself in the offerings of the “buffet table” that is the festival….

Whether it’s Michael Dalley‘s fierce anti cabaret, INTIMATE APPAREL, (17th Feb); Benn Bennett and Wes Snelling’s reprise of their hit show BLACK BAG (18th Feb); or a feast of eclectic short works that is the DIRECTORS CUT (19th Feb);

Or be amongst the first to see this new young all women performance company, Forty Forty Home‘s WE’RE DOING WELL as part of Benn Bennett and Chas Forrest’s HOUSE MUSIC (20th Feb): or see Deborah Leiser-Moore and Meredith Roger‘s CORDELIA, MEIN KIND  – described as a highlight of Brisbane Festival’s Under the Radar program in 2009 (21st Feb).

And witness new works in development – Sandra Fiona Long’s rock and roll memoir – TYRANT WITH SHARKS (18th Feb); avant-garde playwright and novelist, Antoni Jach‘s WAITING FOR ISABELLA (18th Feb); or running man Tom Davies‘ HOME STRETCH (19th Feb).

And to compliment this array of performance work, Searchlight Festival presents SPEAKING BODIES as ACAPTA director, Gail Kelly, hosts an ‘in conversation’ with Independent physical performance artists including Ira Seidenstein and Peta Tait (20th Feb).

Finally…. don’t miss this incredibly special and unique event – MEANT TO BE SPOKEN: A champagne celebration of Australian Playwriting, on Sunday 21st Feb.. as our most established playwrights join forces with our rising stars to read excerpts from their own work.

So.. don’t miss out.. bookings are online on the fortyfivedownstairs website: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com

See you there – starting from the drinks on the 17th…….

Searchlight Promotional Video

Join us for Opening Night Drinks..

Searchlight Festival 2010 invites you to join us for opening night drinks and celebration – 17th February at 6.30pm at fortyfivedownstairs – 45 Flinders Lane Melbourne.

Screening at the drinks will be Cathy Vogan’s MIMOSIS – a film of her unique multi-media performance (Live at MIFF ’09).

Cathy Vogan is an acclaimed media artist and performer. She has shown her work throughout the world, and now maintains a high profile online, via her numerous websites, notably, vogania.com, which receives up to 40000 visitors per month.

MIMOSIS – 2009

…escapes all logical categories, including such stable categories as body/mind, reason/madness, normal/abnormal, nature/culture, pleasure/need, female/male. It caresses jouissance; a bliss without clear outlines, an orgasm without a body; it laughs at reason and makes fun of its prudent categories.

Mimosis is a concrete flight from representation, that subverts, disturbs the categories, and the perceptual and moral “certainties” that rely upon it.”……………          John Najjarr, poet

After the drinks, stay for the opening night performance – Michael Dalley‘s anti-cabaret INTIMATE APPAREL….

We look forward to seeing you there….

Deborah

Screening at Searchlight Festival 2010 opening night drinks 17th Feb at 6.30pm

Searchlight Festival Program

Welcome to the brand new Searchlight Festival website.  We have just launched our exciting 2010 programme, which is viewable on the Programme page of this site.

The festival runs from Wednesday 17 – Sunday 21 February 2010.

Tickets will be on sale through fortyfivedownstairs very soon. Ticket prices are being kept very reasonable to allow you to come to one, two or even every night!

We will be updating this site with news, artists’ profiles, interviews and photos so do check back regularly.

We look forward to seeing you at Searchlight 2010.