GLASS GARDEN

A Public Private Event
By James Brennan

“Brooke and I were sitting on a beach late at night. Brooke said imagine if the ground split open. And I pictured the sand falling through and being heated by the earth’s core and turning into glass. Then came a story: this is it.” James Brennan, 2002

Set in a timeless era of guns, meat and violence, The Glass Garden told the story of a strange couple who escape this world to the wilderness. There they tend a garden made of glass which allows them to see through to the other side of the world. Escape too did the audience; through language portholes, musical incisions and choreography. Of course, the only places they can escape to are the wonderful mazes beneath their own skins. Combining experimental and ambient narrative, it inhabits the mind of an unlikely criminal en-route to death row; and serves as a cautionary tale on how not to fall in love between a crime and it’s punishment.

This site-specific performance was developed in a heritage grain storage building in Melbourne’s inner north. It has been presented in a disused abattoir in Melbourne’s outer suburbs and an off limits bomb bunker for Sydney festival in 2004.

CREDITS

Performers — James Brennan, Mia Hollingworth, Brian Lipson, Carlee Mellow & Brooke Stamp
Music — UBIN (Ollie Chang & Jo Lamonte)
Designer — Marg Horwell
Dramaturg — Agatha Gothe-Snape
Lighting — Tim Wood
Sound — Jethro Woodward
Performance Coach — Margaret Cameron
Publicity — OH Traveller! Natalia Crupi