The Winter's Tale - Darwin Theatre Company co-production

Town Hall Ruins, Darwin City

June 2 - 18, 1994

A Co-production with Darwin Theatre Company. The Darwin Theatre Company had a history of presenting Shakespeare in the Ruins in conjunction with Darwin’s Bougainvillea Festival (Now Darwin Festival).

Guest Director Janet Robertson engaged David McMicken and Sarah Calver of Tracks Dance Collective as choreographers for “A Winter's Tale”. Janet had worked with Sarah previously on the 1989 Lajamanu residency and various other dance-theatre productions through Corrugated Iron Youth Theatre, and she was interested in having a strong movement line to drive the story. The cast comprised of professional and amateur actors as well as community members who had never been on stage before. The diversity of the people involved led to a greater involvement by Tracks, whose experience allowed them to focus not only on the choreography and teaching a variety of dance styles, but general movement, skills development, physicality of characters and body control, focus, projection group trust, the role of chorus, the importance of preparation prior to performance, puppetry (and standing in for missing actors!).

Choreographer's Notes - David McMicken

The cast was willing to enter into new areas of performance and explored areas such as improvisation, contact release work, diverse movement styles, puppetry, and interaction with design elements.
Specific choreography included: Opening court dance, a satyr's dance, a 'time passing' dance opening the second half, and various scene transitions. Work was also done on Character physicalisation, posturing and gesture, and intermittent choreography.
Audiences used to Darwin theatre productions commented on the effectiveness of the choreography and its particular ability to creatively link one scene to another, to keep the show flowing, and also the obvious confidence portrayed by the cast on a physical level. David McMicken

Creative Personnel

Director: Janet Robertson
Choreographers: David McMicken and Sarah Calver
Designers: Sarah Harmston, Griff Pamment
Costume: Joanna Barrkman
Musical Co-ordinator: Merrilee Mills

Tracks Dance Collective 1994

Collective Members: Sarah Calver, David McMicken, Tim Newth, Berenice Franklin, Lisa Campbell
Brown’s Mart Community Arts Dance Development Offices: Sarah Calver, David McMicken

[Under Brown's Mart Community Arts – Executive Officer Ken Conway]