One and the Other tells the story of Sue Broadway and her not so helpful assistant Debra Batton. These circus luminaries combine classic stunts, acerbic truths, and audacious acts in a wonderfully exposing and messy celebration of the glories of aging disgracefully at La Mama Courthouse for a limited season from 26 May 2017.
Batton & Broadway are colleagues, enemies, collaborators and rivals that perform a physical theatre duet of dominance, subversion, restraint and celebration. In One and the Other they reinvent slapstick and modify acrobatics. They dance with hats, contort and growl, rant and rave to reveal the good and bad experiences that have made them who they are right now.
Slipping irreverently between theatre, circus, dance and clown this is theatre that is shocking, outrageous, bold and yet surprisingly intimate. They began work together four years ago hosting a variety style event, The Classics at the Melba Spiegeltent featuring performers over 50 years of age.
Batton was the Artistic Director of Legs on the Wall for thirteen years and won two Helpmann Awards for On the Case. She has also worked with Circus Oz, NICA and the MTC Neon Season. Broadway was a performer, artistic director and founding member of Circus Oz and Ra-Ra Zoo. She created the show Eccentric Acts that toured Australia, UK, Andorra and Brazil for over six years. In 2014/15, she was a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria where she produced, devised and performed in Vaudevillia.
One and the Other brings together an award-winning team of independent artists. Director Clare Bartholomew has worked with companies such as Otto & Astrid – Die Roten Punkte, The Long Pigs, The Business, The Burlesque Hour, Clown Doctors, Fringe Wives Club and Circus Oz. Her work has been nominated fourteen times for a Greenroom Award and won twice.
Composer and musician Teresa Blake is renowned as a performer with Circus Oz and as co-founder of DESOXY theatre. Most recently she has appeared as a solo artist in Retro Futurismus at the Sydney Festival, and as a composer and musician in the Melbourne Fringe Award winning show, No Punchline.
Director: Clare Bartholomew Creators / Performers: Debra Batton and Sue Broadway Composer and Musician: Teresa Blake Costume Design: Laurel Frank Lighting Design: Gina Gascoigne Production Manager: Anna Pidgeon Sound Consultant: Kelvin Gedye
One and the Other
La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton
Season: 26 May – 4 June 2017 (preview: 25 May)
Information and Bookings: www.lamama.com.au
Image: Batton & Broadway by Richard Collins