Having debuted at COME OUT Festival in March 2011, this fast paced and visually layered story uses a delightful swag of mixed media to bring the characters and stories to life; puppets, projection, lighting, pantomime, song — even drag. Mostly performed in English, the play also incorporates Tiwi language, song and dance.

This multi-artform delight will whisk all audience members far away into the stories of one of the world’s most unique and ancient cultures. Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui was the talk of the 2011 Darwin Festival — regarded by many as the crowning jewel of the entire program.

Produced by Darwin Festival
Written by Jason De Santis
Directed by Eamon Flack

Designed by Bryan Woltjen
Puppetry direction and audiovisual imagery by Sam Routledge
Lighting designed by Richard Vabre
Composed by Jeffrey ‘Yellow’ Simon
Performed by Kylie Farmer, Kamahi Djordon King, Natasha Wanganeen, Jaxon De Santis and Jason De Santis
Scenic painting (set) by Raelene Kerinauia
Scenic painting (puppets) by Pedro Wonaeamirri, John Peter Pilakui and Linus Warlapinni

‘De Santis is a real talent: mischievous, poetic and assured’
THE AUSTRALIAN

Enter into an evolutionary journey starting with the very first unconscious being, and progress to the present day where we (humans) live with an acute sense of self-awareness (sometimes). Be challenged about the origins of life itself. Discover a puzzling world, where the unsettling lurks just beneath the surface.

This work is quite unlike anything you will have seen before and may even be more exciting than the Danish royal nuptials.

Idea, staging, set design and lighting by Sara Topsøe-Jensen
Music and sound by Rasmus Christensen
Performance and choreography by Kristofer Krarup and Cindy Rudel
Technical management and lighting by Karsten Nisbeth
Set design by Karsten Nisbeth and Troels Lindebjerg
Voice-over by Lars Høy

‘Carte Blanche has created a totally unique and unusual performance about evolution of life. It is truly a performance of such a kind, that you only rarely can experience’.
Herlev Teater, Denmark

In 1957 the author Jean Giono said: ‘I wrote this story to make people love trees, or more precisely to make people love planting trees. Of all my stories it is one of the ones of which I am most proud. It has never earned me a penny and for that reason it has accomplished the very purpose for which it was written.’

Much more than a story about planting trees, The Man Who Planted Trees is a wonderful parable of life, the tale of a human being who saw a need and decided not to ignore it, but to ‘put things right’. The story is also known as The Man Who Planted Hope and Reaped Happiness and it holds a vital message for our time. Perhaps we all have a supply of special seeds hidden away for a better future …

This exceptional performance is brought to us by Scotland’s renowned Puppet State Theatre Company and is destined to be a sell-out highlight of the 2013 Castlemaine State Festival.

Adapted from Jean Giono’s story by Ailie Cohen, Richard Medrington and Rick Conte
Directed by Ailie Cohen
Performed by Richard Medrington (Jean) and Rick Conte (Jean’s colleague)
Set and Puppet Design by Ailie Cohen
Lighting Design by Elspeth Murray
Sound Design by Barney Strachan

Music
Canarios by Johannes Kapsberger, performed by Orphénica Lyra, directed by José Miguel Moreno
From Música en el Quijote on the Glossa label
Terre by Charles Trénet
From A Portrait of Charles Trénet
Music Collection International

Best Children’s Show 2009 Brighton Fringe Festival (UK)
Victor Award Winner at the 2009 IPAY Showcase, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Highest rated and reviewed show of the 2012 Edinburgh Festivals at Tickit.me (UK)
Winner of the 2012 CSPA Sustainable Production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK)

‘It is very, very rare to find something that appeals as effortlessly to children and adults as this magical show…’
THE SCOTSMAN, 5 stars

Co-written, directed and performed by Mark Penzak and Eliza-Jane Gilchrist

Professor Adam explores Galileo’s theory of evolution, Pasteur’s ballistics and Newton’s theory of love. Harnessing science as the springboard for a layered and richly comic work that explores human dreams, ambition, and foibles in the context of the reality we know (or presume) to be ‘true’, it will be conclusively proven that the human brain is a cauliflower, that earth looks like a pizza and that life really is as fragile as an egg.

Performed by Stéphane Georis
Written by Stéphane Georis and Francy Begasse
Directed by Francy Begasse
Presented in Association with Black Hole Theatre

Performed by Stéphane Georis
Written by Stéphane Georis and Francy Begasse
Directed by Francy Begasse
Presented in Association with: Black Hole Theatre

When young Alex is sent to her room to tidy up her mess, she discovers the land of Curiosity — a magical place that can be reached only through a tunnel in the bottom of her toy box. The characters Alex meets in Curiosity seem to defy logic with their outrageous gravity-defying feats, including handstanding on stacks of chairs, cantilevered ladder balancing and frolicking on giant stilts!

Performed by three of Australia’s most brilliant circus theatre performers, Curiosity is a truly rare theatrical treat.

“I just don’t like being told what to do” . . . “I see myself in the future dreaming” . . . “It’s a place that I can’t fully explain. Its simple’’

Five young people from the Castlemaine district throw open the doors of their imagination to create video self-portraits which take us through the wild to the wonderful, from the intimate to the downright still and quiet.. Each participant has written their own text and chosen the location and visual framework for these short films about who they are and how they experience their worlds.

‘This is Me – Now’ is a collaboration between Ranters Theatre, Adriano Cortese, Paul Lum, Max Sharam, Andrew Sully, and Ruby Benedict, Bonnie Cook-Hain, Eamon Coulthard, Holly Mcnamara and Ruby Scott.

Activities will include Dig for Victory Permaculture Design Workshops, Food Shrine creations, Seedball Sessions, Ephemeral Costume Making and more.

The Opening Weekend also features an abundance of regional and market produce surrounding The Grove and the Castlemaine Farmers Market on Sunday 17 March.

The Grove program highlights

The Living Stage

The Living Stage combines stage design, permaculture and community engagement to create a recyclable, biodegradable and edible performance space. Part theatre and part garden, The Living Stage features vertical garden walls, suspended pots and portable garden beds with edible plants. The Living Stage will house a series of experimental works that draw on the concept of regeneration, and interact with the unique design that surrounds them. The result will be part experiment and part food growing demonstration; inspiring our collective optimism about the future and a ‘how-to’ initiative that reveals what is actually possible in a world facing increasing global food crises.

By Tanja Beer, Hamish McCallum, Sas Allardice and local community members

Produce

CreateAbility (Bendigo) along with Born in a Taxi and Justin Bull (undue noise) present an ambitious new work full of budding, shooting, blooming liveliness — out of the fruit bowl and into the fresh air.

Set amongst the elements, taking cues from the living world around us, Produce grafts together sound and movement and a living, interactive theatrical space (The Living Stage). Playful and surreal, we witness growth, change, moments of unexpected generosity and the chaos of nature in this visual feast. Together we hope to find that restriction and growth are not opposites and in fact work creatively together.

The Preserves Project

What do we value most and what do we want to take into the future? Can we keep what is precious to us and share it at the same time? Dig into these questions with berni m janssen, Alison Richards and their team around the preserves table. Bring your recipes, stories, images and ideas. Discover, exchange, share, make art. Join us in The Preserves Project to add your words, thoughts, drawings, stamps and stencils to the Big Tablecloth.

Garden Chef

This our very own version of ‘Iron Chef’ meets ‘Naked Chef’, using produce from The Living Stage — two comic hosts and three hilarious judges will entertain as local chefs and food celebrities face-off for the 2012 Castlemaine State Festival Garden Chef title. Joined by the Carmen Mirandas and their entourage of little singing helpers from Castlemaine Primary School.

Mindful of Growth

Working with Eliza-Jane Gilchrist and Suzanne Kalk, Winters Flat Primary School students will create minds full of growth to decorate the park for The Grove weekend.

Long Table Feast

Using food sourced only within 100 miles of Castlemaine, community harvest group Growing Abundance brings the Long Table Feast to The Grove. Join us in sharing this bounty of local produce and celebration community spirit. $10 for a delicious vegetarian meal.

Dig for Victory
With Sas Allardice

Imagine if Victory park were an edible playground, brimming with colourful, beautiful and edible delights!
Here is your chance to dream up a public space full of your favourite fruits and vegetables.
Come along and turn your imaginings into moveable, edible, ideas to inspire the passer by. Help us create a design for an edible Victory Park which will be presented to local council.
Following the Festival we will actually work with local council to ‘dig for victory’ and grow some of our gastronomic dreamings in Victory Park!
Everybody welcome!!

EPHEMERAL COSTUME MAKING

Dress ups with a difference. Out of the dress up box comes recycled paper and card and more to get your imagination fired up. Cut, fold, paste and colour your way into a whole new persona at the Ephemeral Costume Making Workshop. Have fun building it and wearing it and then recycle or compost your costume when you have finished! Great play for anyone who likes to dress up – suitable for adults and kids alike.

The Man Who Planted Trees
Puppet State Theatre, Scotland

This beautiful theatrical adaptation of Jean Giono’s environmental classic tells the inspiring story of a shepherd who plants a forest acorn by acorn, thereby transforming a barren wasteland. As much a touching tale as a hilarious puppet show, The Man Who Planted Trees shows us the difference that one man (and his dog!) can make to the world.

The Children’s Choir
James Rigby and Jane Thompson

Harnessing voices en masse through song is a powerful, joyful collaborative experience. The sense of being part of ‘one voice’ will stay with participating children for a long time. During the first term of 2013, children will explore their own voices and their collective voice, learning and rehearsing a specially written song for the final day of the Festival. James Rigby and Jane Thompson, local and highly respected song-makers and choir leaders, will be engaging their infectious enthusiastic style, and teaching songs to share as part of the Festival Finale in Victory Park on Sunday 24 March.

Concrete Poetry
Paul Allen

Concrete Poetry is a playful and powerful communication tool for expressing ideas. Combining words, images, shapes and typography, concrete poems are often humorous and always unexpected — a pleasure for the mind, heart and eye.

Children will be taken on an adventurous journey into the world of concrete poetry, to learn about this lesser-known artform, and make poems with respected local artist and teacher Paul Allen, and fellow artists. Workshops will involve creating concrete poems that respond to the festival theme ‘Elemental’ by exploring the four elements: earth, water, wind and fire. A preparation guide will be provided to teachers at the beginning of first term so that students can familiarise themselves with this imaginative artform and language.

Curated by Clayton Tremlett and created with Castlemaine Secondary College students it also features work by Anatol Knotek – Vienna based visual poet and Pat Thompson.

Artists include The Ulumbara Singers, Mal Webb, Ajak Kwai, Bigmouth choir and the Monster Meeting Band.

The day will also include an abundance of regional and exotic foods, and the famous Castlemaine Artists’ Market.