A Bird’s Eye View of a Banquet in Brunswick

This theatrical piece employs the figure of the Kingfisher, a local Brunswick bird, as a way of looking at the wonderful kaleidoscope of culture in the area. A variety of individuals are conjured up who talk about their community bonds and how they are created through supportive and endearing exchanges around food, family and friends. 

The presence of the Kingfisher is evoked via the presence of a delightful paper mache puppet that sits alongside many of the performers. Illustrations of typical local images such as the creek or even the iconic Australian Hills clothes hoist are also used in the background to point to the landscape. The Kingfisher also acts as a kind of narrator reflecting on the observations of the community he can see from his perspective.

The Kingfisher voice stands in contrast to the migrant voices portrayed throughout the piece and raises some interesting questions around the relationship between traditional notions of Australia and an ever-growing multicultural Australia. This relationship could have been teased out or confronted more. The tendency to rely on stereotypical images of migrant communities seems to limit this possibility in this text.

The online viewing experience of this show relies heavily on individual recordings that are strongly connected thematically and narratively but somewhat disconnected technologically. Creating performances that are viable online requires more consideration of the recording process to find ways to make the experience as engaging as a live performance of such a rich text could or would be.

Patricia Di Risio