Caliban brings unheard voices to the MAC stage
Published on 10 May 2018
Western Edge Youth Arts' Edge Ensemble will visit Mildura for the first time ever this month when it presents Caliban at the Mildura Arts Centre.
Caliban will be performed at seven venues across Victoria as it tours for the first time since its debut at the Coopers Malthouse in 2016.
Featuring six artists under the age of 25; Amarachi Okorom (Nigerian), Craig Gungata (Zimbabwean), Ebony McGuire (Indigenous Australian), Piper Huynh (Vietnamese), Natalie Lucic (Croatian), and Ror Akot (South Sudanese), the Edge Ensemble represents Australian cultural diversity and brings often unheard voices to the main stage.
Mildura Rural City Councillor for Arts and Culture Jason Modica said the culturally diverse Edge Ensemble delivers a brave, energetic and wonderfully accurate adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest with Caliban.
Set in a not-too-distant future on the brink of climate disaster, Caliban starts where Shakespeare’s The Tempest left off – when the island is submerged in the rising tides.
“Caliban explores the important issues and challenges of climate change, colonisation, feminism and immigration. If you really care about what youth are thinking about tomorrow, go and see this show,” Cr Modica said.
Caliban is directed by Western Edge Youth Arts' Associate Director, Penny Harpham, co-Artistic Director of She Said Theatre, who directed Hart, the winner of three Melbourne Fringe 2015 awards.
Featuring stories from Sudan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Noongar country in Western Australia, Caliban is a dynamic and empowering performance that draws from the past to question how we’re living in the present.
Crashing between Shakespeare and rap, physical theatre and audio visual projection, this inspiring performance allows young people to grapple with Australia’s most urgent question: how do we save the planet if we’re the ones to blame?
Audiences will see Australia from a more youthful and diverse perspective, and leave with Caliban’s thought–provoking messages high on the agenda as they leave the theatre.
Mildura Arts Centre and Western Edge Youth Arts present
Caliban
Performed by The Edge Ensemble
7.30pm, Thursday 31 May
Tickets: Full Price $30 I Concession $28 I 25 years and under $25 I Group 4+ $25pp
Please contact Helen Piscioneri at Mildura Arts Centre at helen.piscioneri@mildura.vic.gov.au or on (03) 5018 8330 for more information, images and bios.