A tragi-comedy about faith, sex, identity and ritual, Button Eye Productions present the premiere of The Orchid & The Crow as part of the Coopers Malthouse resident artist initiative from 13 February.
Reflecting on Daniel Tobias’s real life (and almost death) experiences, The Orchid & The Crow is a solo performance that features original songs from the award-winning writers of Die Roten Punkte.
At eight days old Daniel’s secular Jewish parents chose to have him circumcised. Having not read the fine print in the Old Testament, this unknowingly triggered God’s ongoing contract with the Hebrews. In return for following his rules, God promised to look after the Israelites.
At 29, Daniel is an atheist, single and living the life of a bohemian artist in Carlton. And lo, God was not pleased! Appalled with Daniel’s lifestyle choices, God makes an example of him and appears on earth to smite him with stage three testicular cancer. Stage four is death.
As Dan prepares for his upcoming treatment he is left in a spiritual vacuum. He is reaching for faith in something, but he’s certainly not going to find it in a deity who has already stolen one of his balls. Instead, Daniel finds salvation in an unlikely modern messiah, seven-time winner of the Tour de France and testicular cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.
Now of course, Armstrong is a fallen angel and after Daniel’s full recovery, he wonders – how many times will he be cheated by a God?
Creator / Performer: Daniel Tobias Director: Christian Leavesley Dramaturg: Casey Bennetto Script consultant: David Quirk Songs: Daniel Tobias and Clare Bartholomew with John Thorn and Jherek Bischoff.
The Orchid & The Crow
Tower Theatre – Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: 13 – 22 February 2015
Bookings: (03) 9685 5111 or online at: www.malthousetheatre.com.au
For more information, visit: www.malthousetheatre.com.au for details.
Image: Daniel Tobias – photo by Andrew Wuttke