Video Sharon Shostak
Inspired by the Marvel comic book series X-Men and arcade video games, My Radio Heart is billed as ‘a love story for the 21st century’. It begins its local season in Lismore this Thursday.
Commissioned by NORPA and developed in collaboration with Western Sydney-based Urban Theatre Projects (UTP), My Radio Heart features the internationally renowned Tralala Blip as both performers and composers.
Lismore-based Tralala Blip is a collective of differently abled artists who create, produce and perform original electronic music. Using a variety of midi controllers, computers, digital and analog musical instruments, Tralala Blip discover new forms of musical expression that are accessible, experimental and fun.
My Radio Heart writer and director Rosie Dennis from UTP and NORPA’s artistic director Julian Louis have brought together acclaimed sound artists Lawrence English and Randolf Reimann (Tralala Blip), and video designer Samuel James. Joining the ensemble is Claudie Frock, who northern rivers locals may know as her alter ego Peggy Pop Art. Students from Wilson Park School in Lismore have also been involved in the creative process, contributing to Samuel James’s video design.
‘As a director I couldn’t ask for a more generous group of performers. They’ve dived into an unfamiliar process and have embraced it with gusto and humour. I think audiences are in for a real treat,’ says Rosie Dennis. ‘It’s a really interesting model, creating work in regional areas and then “exporting” it to the city, or in our case Western Sydney. So often it’s the reverse; work is made in the capital cities and toured to the regional areas.’
Bookings for My Radio Heart can be made on 1300 066 772 or www.norpa.org.au. Tralala Blip’s debut LP Aussie Dream is available on the Disembraining label at www.disembraining.com.