MISSING THE BUS TO DAVID JONES

WIN 2 double passes to the show on Tuesday 22nd March @ 6.30pm. Email with your name and suburb.
Theatre Kantanka’s highly acclaimed production of Missing the Bus to David Jones is back for a limited season at the Seymour Centre from 22 March to 2 April, 2011.
It’s not often that you see older people rocking out to the soundtrack of Trainspotting on stage. In Missing the Bus to David Jones, nursing homes are the unlikely focus of this beautiful piece of devised theatre, with the distinctive theatrical Kantanka touch. This finely observed, contemporary work fuses text, physicality, new media and sound to create a surreal world.
Meet the residents, staff and visitors of a nursing home and come on a dreamlike adventure, where day to day rituals give way to moments of spirited abandon. There are walking frames and super sized bibs, but there’s also candy floss, balloons, dancing – and bingo! And a lot of kindness too. Theatre Kantanka, with its visual and physical performance style, brings beauty, humanity and hilarity to this little-known and hidden universe.
Theatre Kantanka developed Missing the Bus to David Jones through intensive periods of research in a range of private and publicly managed nursing homes across Sydney in 2008. Director Carlos Gomes and the ensemble – both performers and co-devisors – forged close consultative relations with residents and their carers, conducting interviews and observing their day-to-day trials and tribulations. “We immersed ourselves in this surreal world of altered minds and changed bodies – at times brutal, sad, sometimes humorous and above all human,” says Gomes.
Theatre Kantanka has been working across art forms and seeking innovation in theatrical presentations since its inception in 1995. Renowned for making theatre of a high level of technical and artistic skill, Kantanka is best known for developing performances for sites that do not traditionally stage theatre productions (car parks, tunnels, gardens and film sets). This Seymour Centre season is a rare opportunity to see the company’s work in a theatre.
It’s no secret that Australians are living longer, with the second longest life expectancy in the world. Almost 3 million Australians are over the age of 65 and this number is expected to triple in the next 40 years. Aged care facilities are stretched to the limit and the question of the impact of a rapidly increasing ageing population is at the forefront of debate in Australia. Missing the Bus to David Jones finds celebration where you might least expect it.
This season of Missing the Bus to David Jones is presented during NSW Seniors Week. The production was originally researched and developed with support from the Translab Cross Cultural Residencies Program – an inter-cultural development initiative of the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, in residencies at Performance Space and at Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Venue: Seymour Centre, cnr City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale
Preview: Tue 22 March, 6.30pm
Season: 23 March – 2 April
Performance Times: Tue – Sat 8pm; Wed matinee 11am; Sat matinee 2pm
Prices: Adult $38, Seniors & Concessions $34, Groups 10+ $32; Preview $34/$30
Bookings: 9351 7940 or www.seymourcentre.com