I’m Emma Hall, working with Olivia Monticciolo on my 3rd solo* show, World Problems.
World Problems is an interactive, experimental piece about collective action. Each night, we build a world with the audience. Each night, we start again from scratch.
Liv and I are Melbourne-based Aussies. The designer and composer are Amsterdam-based Dutch. We are making a work for both cities. I want to know how we can unite locally, across 16000km, to fix global problems.
World Problems was hatched in late 2018 at Cultureland, a Dutch residency focussing on connections between culture and nature.
We seek support for 2nd stage research in Amsterdam in August. Amsterdam’s Theatre Oostblok has offered me a rare opportunity to further develop this project. I want to take Olivia with me, so together we can engage with the city’s residents in a more structured way, work intensively with our Dutch collaborators, and finalise plans for the Melbourne premiere in early 2019.
I have 3 months to raise the funds!
It’s a crazy, ambitious dream to make theatre across 2 cities. But I believe we can only fully understand future living and dying on this planet if we address our interconnected lives as world citizens.
Amsterdam is a small city tackling global problems. Situated below sea-level, and home to 1 million, 50% of whom are non-Dutch, it hosts over 8 million visitors each year.
Theatre Oostblok have offered the residency due to a last minute change in their existing program. If not now, it will be 2019 (if then), and sea levels will be 3mm higher.
Australians rarely develop theatre in Europe. As a result, Europeans rarely engage deeply with our perspectives. I was shocked to be asked, on more than one occasion, “but Australians are all just from England anyway, right?”
Amsterdam’s Cultureland and Theatre Oostblok and Melbourne’s Darebin Arts Centre have committed in-kind support. I hope to be able to confirm our final Melbourne venue soon too. All artists have donated their time to date, but this cannot go on.
Funds raised through this campaign will help cover artist fees ($5,400), documentation of our findings ($400), and recruitment of a local Amsterdammer to assist us, on a part-time basis, with community outreach and translation ($800).
Theatre Oostblok are offering one month’s access to the space, one month’s accommodation in Amsterdam for Olivia and I, and marketing support (~$8,200). I will pay travel and per diems for Olivia and I, set materials, and venue operating costs for the two public showings (over $12,000).
Throughout August we will create an original musical score, inspired by Amsterdam’s water. Intensive rehearsal and open studio sessions will allow us to test set building with audiences. We’ll present final showings to over 150 people.
Throughout the campaign and residency I will be sharing our activities regularly on my social media pages (Emma Mary Hall on facebook, @Emmamaryhall on twitter, emmamaryhall_ on insta).
*Solo shows are never solo, guys. It’s theatre.
