PHYSICAL THEATRE: VX18504

PREVIEW BY AMELIA GROOM

From one of Australia’s most internationally acclaimed director/choreographers, Meryl Tankard, comes VX18504, an exploration of conflict through theatre and dance. First performed in 1989 for the Meryl Tankard Company, this production is presented by ATYP (Australian Theatre for Young People).

‘It will be different this time around because there are always things that the actors bring to it themselves,’ Tankard says, ‘but the themes of conflict and war are universal.

‘I wanted to return to the piece because I think in Australia we’ve been so distanced from the realities of war and for decades haven’t talked about what the soldiers went through – but it’s really interesting that Anzac Day has become so popular in recent years, I think young people are starting to realise what their grandfathers did for the country.’

VX18504 was the army service number of Sergeant Mick (Clifford Matthew Tankard), Tankard’s father. ‘It’s not about my father, but he was an inspiration,’ she says, ‘when I saw photos of him at nineteen I thought ‘my god, he was at war for three years, and never ever spoke about it.’ They had to just come back to suburbia and deal with daily life as if nothing had happened.’

Another inspiration, says Tankard, was the war museum in Canberra. ‘It’s so moving when you go there ‘ there’s all these little things that the soldiers had taken with them, like photographs or lockets, and that’s all they had ‘ there’s so much feeling and emotion in those small objects

‘My memory of childhood always has those grey wooden fences, so we’ve got a fence like that in the set. We’re also getting some huge dead gum trees, because those beautiful early photos in the war memorial have so many big dead trees ‘ and we’re getting some live white chickens, so they’ll be part of the performance too.’

ATYP is dedicated to nurturing imagination, confidence and creativity in 12-26-year-olds, and giving them the opportunity to work with Australia’s leading professional creative artists. This is their major production for 2008, co-presented and performed at CarriageWorks.

VX18504
July 23 – August 2
CarriageWorks, Bay 20
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh
Tickets: $15-$22, 1300 723 038 or www.ticketmaster.com.au