Reflections of Next Wave

Reflections of NextWave
Danny Episode

This is an article i wrote for Next Wave 2006. Beat Published it, but i think it can go up here for posterity.


Never one to mince words, senior episode is the first to say that the Next Wave is a festival still in the process of figuring out who it is. Perhaps that’s appropriate for a festival of emerging artists, just coming out of art school, some of them still in high school. It’s hard enough figuring out who you wanna fuck at that age, much less being able to pin point the zeitgeist of your generation.
What were you doing at that age? Waking up from a red wine soaked haze called your early twenties breakdown to a world where music’s shit, politics has gone crazy and you’re staring out through eighteen year old eyes at a twenty something face in the mirror.
Sorry, that was me.
I’m sitting here in Adelaide covering the fringe and feeling old, looking over old programmes and reliving fond memories, so forgive me if I wander off the point.
It’s remarkable, looking over the last twelve years of the festival, how many now familiar names first came to our attention through Next Wave.
In 1994 a notable appearance is a company called Back to Back with a show called Voices of Desire. A couple of days ago at the Arts Market, I sat watching the same Back to Back perform their 2005 Melbourne Festival hit, Small metal objects, to a packed crowd of international delegates.
That year was also the first time I started hearing about this guy who’d written a play called Features of Blown Youth. Some guy called Raimondo Cortese.
1998 Kate Denborough’s Kage physical theatre appears with Contamination and Sandra Long makes Rear Vision with theatre membrane. Sandra’s the first of my whatever happened to’s… the next year in 2000 Sandra made the all conquering Happy 100, a blend of English, Indonesian and Auslan (sign language for those of you who aren’t hip to the groovy fascinations.)
Ah, now we come to 2002.
Beyond the questionable ethics of certain members of the creative team (who thankfully have moved on) this year is the self-absorbed and, gasp, dare I say it, pretentious Next Wave, trying awfully hard to look like the successor to the Melbourne Festival.
The cryingly obvious example being the highly dubious cultural faux pas of
the publicity campaign, “Free at last.” At the hight of the refugees in detention controversy, the key image of the festival that year was a pair of open lips “sewn together” while scores of detainees were actually sewing their mouths shut in protest of their detention. Unsubtle, thoughtless and smacking of more than a little subconscious racism, the appropriation of that image was, well, not particularly appropriate. Praise be, those guys are gone.
The best of the new emergent work in 02 seemed to be crushed into one event, Primetime, which had White Crane (krinkl theatre) the Virgin Wars (which became Virgins. A musical threesome at the Malthouse Tower earlier this year) and Gretel Taylor and Jo Lloyd’s butoh performances. Gretel and Jo are the next of my whatever happened to’s... Primetime was talent scouted by Lally Katz. At least she had her finger on the faint pulse of the next wave back then.
I also remember the Next Wave mafia come snooping around spART when it was at the bowls club. There’s a test for you. Just how hip were you, did you go to spART?
The other new name we started hearing was company called Rawcus, with a brilliant new show called Designer Child.
Because it only happens every two years, only resulted in one embarrassing festival. In 2004 the indefatigable Marcus Westbury took over bringing us An Oration of Filth, form Self-saucing Pudding Productions and introducing a young Emma Valente. Melbourne Workers theatre showcased Angus Cerini’s Diatribe, directed by Chris Kohn of Stuck Pigs Squealing fame. Lucy Guerin danced with Balletlab, Lauren Taylor directed Panic in an underground cavern and Uncle Semolina whipped up Gilgamesh in a shipping container.
Unkie Episode’s picks from the guide this fest are From a Distance presented by Version 1.0 from Sydney. Suitcase Royal are back with a brand new show (and beards). Faisceau d’epingles de Verre looks stunning but that could just be clever publicity photography and a little bit of inside knowledge tells me that Y, by Ming Zhu Hii will be worth getting out to see.
My point is that Next Wave is the festival where you’re likely to see the new talent we’ll be hearing from in the coming years. If you wanna be ahead of the game, looking back over the history suggests that getting along to Next Wave is a safe bet at seeing a glimpse of the future.