THREE ACTS, TWO DANCERS, ONE RADIO HOST.
Image: Monica & Anna
Photo: Christopher Duggan
Ira Glass, host and creator of the widely loved This American Life on NPR, will be bringing his voice under the sails of the Sydney Opera House this month.
Performing Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host alongside dancers Anna Bass and Monica Bill Barnes, Glass will be presenting radio interviews and personal stories in step with contemporary dance.
“The show’s a mix of two things that really have no business being on stage together at all,” Glass wrote on the This American Life blog.
“Dance is all visuals, no talking. Radio’s all talking, no visuals. But what the stories on our show have in common with dance is music.”
“Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass are such funny, human-scale, relatable sorts of performers; their sensibility somehow matches a lot of what we do on the radio show.”
In the spirit of a This American Life episode, the show is split into several acts. Act One is about the job of being a performer, Act Two is about falling (and staying) in love, and Act Three is about the ephemerality of everything.
Like the NPR program, storytelling will be the driving force. However instead of just listening to a story unfold, you’ll also see it spin and shift in front of you on stage. (SH)
Jul 17 &18 (8pm Sun, 6.30pm Mon). Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House. $49-$89. Tickets & info: sydneyoperahouse.com or 02 9250 7777
BY SHON HO
