The Talk by Mish Grigor
DATES: Season: Thursday 5 July - Sat 14 July, 8pm, Sundays at 6pm. Saturday 14 July matinee at 2pm. Preview Wednesday 4 July.
LOCATION: Northcote Town Hall, Studio 1
WEBSITE: http://www.darebinarts.com.au/whats…/the-talk-by-mish-grigor
TICKETS: http://www.darebinarts.com.au/…/the-talk-by-mis…/buy-tickets
Duration: 70 mins no interval
Tickets: FULL $33, CONC/STUDENT $28, PREVIEW $25
Relaxed Performance: 2pm, Saturday 14 July
Auslan Interpreted Performance: 8pm, Thursday 12 July
“A wonderfully entertaining hour in which Grigor gets the audience to play
members of her family talking about sex. It is funny, toe-curlingly frank, and immensely insightful”
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian (UK)
“…very funny, refreshing and ... quite an emotional experience.”
Ben Neutz, Daily Review
In Mish Grigor’s participatory theatre work, The Talk, the taboos of sex, relationships and family dynamics are laid bare: it’s explicit and unapologetic, yet also tender and personal in its investigation into uncharted territory. The work is an account of what happens when you start talking about sex with your family - what ‘the talk’ is and what it shouldn’t be.
Based on real-life interviews undertaken with her family about their sex lives, Mish performs the work ‘solo’ and is supported by volunteers from the audience who read the transcripts from her family members. “I tell them that my family asked me to change their names to protect their identity (I haven’t). I tell them that my family asked me to take out some of the more intimate details of the interviews (I haven’t). I tell them that my family finally requested that I send them a final draft of the script for their approval before performing it in front of anybody (I haven’t). I then ask them to raise a glass of lukewarm overpriced champagne and say ‘cheers’ to my family, and to all the things I haven’t done for them. Then, we read,” says Grigor.
Together they enact the family’s sex stories, her own sex stories and conversations about their sexuality. It’s like a rowdy family dinner: the interviews are woven together, interrupt each other, stories left unfinished as a new, funnier or more interesting topic comes up. Nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Contemporary Performance in 2016, The Talk has toured both nationally and internationally to Forest Fringe (Edinburgh), Buzzcut Festival (Glasgow), Battersea Arts Centre (London), Brisbane Festival and Liveworks Festival (Sydney).
Mish Grigor’s work engages with issues of gender, identity and politics and is an ongoing examination into the intersections between populist entertainment and experimental performance practices. She is one third of the collaboration POST, formed in 2003, with Zoe Coombs Marr and Natalie Rose, whose credits include Oedipus Schmoedipus, Sydney Theatre Company commission Who’s The Best? and Everything I Know About The Global Financial Crisis In One Hour.
All thanks to our friends at Prue Bassett Publicity Bohemian Rhapsody Club and Magazine is proudly covering the pre view session 4 July (media: Jasna Duronjic) Please stay tuned for more information.