2012 Next Wave Festival

We’re having a wedding. We need you there.

We’ve never had one before but we’ve seen it done a few times and we reckon we can wing it. We’ve got a man and a woman, we’ve got an extravagant dress, we’ve got a thousand mini-quiches and five sugared almonds in a little white bag.

We’re going to take all these ingredients and make magic.

You, me. Us - together.

Join us as we lodge another brick in the foundations of our nation’s future, and carry on the inexorable progress of civilisation.

We want to know what love is.

We want you to show us.

Co-created by Bridget Balodis & Mark Pritchard

With Dan Giovannoni, Zoë Rouse & the Ensemble.

Premiered at the 2012 Next Wave Festival

CRITICS' RESPONSES

“utterly involving, a testament to the power of the marriage ceremony.”
– Cameron Woodhead, The Age

“provocative, topical, induces thought, and, above all, the most fun I’ve had in a church. Ever.”
– Eugyeene Teh, Promptside Blog

“Delivered without irony or discontent, and more to the point, as a celebration, the work quite cleverly and acutely manages to question the place of marriage and the wedding ceremony within our society—archaic regulations in vows contrasted with the high level of excitement.
- Jane Howard, RealTime Arts
 

“the power of the ritual remained, partly because its familiarity was here sharpened into something less familiar, partly because it was something that the audience had, quite literally, created itself ... And it was enormous fun.”
– Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes

Images by Sarah Walker

Image by Sarah Walker

This event is co-created Bridget Balodis and Mark Pritchard, with designer Zoë Rouse and associate artist Dan Giovannoni and an ensemble of theatre makers and performers, including Tom Dent, Naomi Rakuvina, Zoey Dawson, Anna McCarthy, Laura Maitland, Matt Furlani, John Shearman, Nathan Troisi, Matt Adey, Mattea Davies, Jake Preval, Emma Dockery, Zoe Boeson, Nyah Seelig, Alex Duncan, James Deeth, Carolyn Butler, Marcus McKenzie and David Heinrich.

Stage Manager: Helen Lainsbury

Production Manager: Amy Bagshaw

Producer and Media Contact: Dean Drieberg - deanjd@live.com

Next Wave Associate Producer: Kristy Ayre

We would like to thank the Next Wave team, particularly Emily, Kristy, Paul, Nicole, Lucy, Annette, Ash and Briony, as well as Daniel Schlusser for his mentorship and support. Thanks also to Nikki-Fay Baxter, Brett Ludeman, Megan Fitzgerald, James Andrews, Tom Swords, Anthony Cleave, Rob Sowinski and all who supported us throughout the development project.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. We also thank the Besen Family Foundation and Next Wave for their generosity, faith and support.