MEME GIRLS8 APRIL – 2 MAY 2015

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY / Andrew Gough

COVER TREATMENT / The Sisters HayesREHEARSAL IMAGES / Sarah Walker

Malthouse Theatre presents

MEME GIRLSCHAPTER TWO: POST // LOVE

***BECKETT THEATRE

Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

Special thanks to Tamed by Trent Ashley for Art Simone’s wigs.

Created by / Ash Flanders, Stephen Nicolazzo & Marion Potts based on an original idea by Ash FlandersDirection / Stephen NicolazzoSet & Costume Design / Eugyeene TehLighting Design / Katie SfetkidisSound Design & Composition / THE SWEATSCast / Ash Flanders, Art Simone Stage Manager / Lisa Osborn

Director’s Note

Like Charles Ludlam, Karen Finely and Leigh Bowery, Ash Flanders explores identity politics through the art of physical transformation and serious laughs. It’s as much about him as a human being, as it is about the characters he portrays. It’s like watching a young man attempt to find himself through the act of performance. There is sarcasm present, but always honesty and innocence, and a genuine love of the genders, races, or classes he represents on stage.

Flanders’ style of performance is beyond drag. Or at least beyond drag in the form we are generally familiar with. But what I think we are trying to explore with Meme Girls is that drag and performativity are a political act that has the power to obliterate binary oppositions.

For Flanders, YouTube monologues hold the same weight as a Shakespearean soliloquy. They are, as we have discovered over the last three years of developing this work, deeply theatrical and hold just as many satisfying creative possibilities for a performer. YouTube has

weirdly, and perhaps sadly, become the New Theatre, a place where audiences can instantly connect with their community.

I’d like to thank Marion Potts for her perceptive and passionate part in the making of this work. She has challenged and inspired me in all the right ways and I am deeply grateful to have had the chance to work with such a legend before her departure from Malthouse Theatre.

I would also like to thank Eugyeene Teh, Katie Sfetkidis and THE SWEATS – a design team who are crazy, creative, and inspiring, and have informed the creation of this work in ways I never thought possible.

Finally, I would like to thank Ash Flanders and Art Simone, two incomparable artists whose no-bullshit attitude and love of risk has allowed us to unlock the world of YouTube in a bizarre and unique way.

I don’t think I will be able to watch a YouTube video again. Ever. But I hope you enjoy the show.

Stephen Nicolazzo / Director

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY / Andrew Gough

COVER TREATMENT / The Sisters HayesREHEARSAL IMAGES / Sarah Walker