Arts & Culture
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Sisters Grimm are known for taking the piss, but it’s a case of hearts on sleeves in their latest show, which barracks for the importance of capital-A artists in an era of funding cuts. By Dee Jefferson
It would be easy to dismiss Melbourne theatre makers Declan Greene and Ash Flanders as serial provocateurs. Their works for Sydney Theatre Company ( Little Mercy; Calpurnia Descending) and Griffin Theatre Company ( Summertime in the Garden of Eden) have been fabulously OTT in every department – paeans to camp. They have described themselves as “loud, opinionated homosexualists”.
Their solo output shows a different story; Flanders’ take on the role of Hedda Gabler (Belvoir, 2014) was anything but a crossdressing punch line, and Greene’s works as a playwright, Moth, I Am a Miracle and Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography have offered thoughtful takes on mental illness, the death penalty in America and porn addiction. La Traviata, in the downstairs theatre of Belvoir, sees them apply that level of interrogation to their practice: what makes someone continue to make theatre, despite the often deleterious effects to personal wellbeing? “We created work for a very long time with no money,” says Greene. “In fact we’ve never made any money off doing Sisters Grimm.”
In Verdi’s opera, based on Alexandre Dumas’ 1848 novel The Lady of the Camellias, Parisian partygirl and courtesan Violetta sacrifices health, wealth and home for love of young toff Alfredo. “She’s the ultimate idealist, someone willing to sacrifice everything she loves in the material world, including her life, for this one shining, true belief,” Greene says. “We’re asking what it is to be an idealist, to try and remain true to your beliefs in a political arena – within Australia – where that seems increasingly difficult. There’s so little actual ideology at play in our politics –instead there’s this incredibly cynical pandering, which seems to be the currency of political argument.”
The fact that Violetta (to be played by Emma Maye Gibson) is a high-end prostitute is not lost on the Sisters, either: “As an artist, you are always selling your identity, and navigating that line between what’s personal and what’s your business. And things like the National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) and Australia Council really push the idea of arts as a business and something that’s marketable.”
The recent funding changes, which syphon $105 million from the Australia Council to the freshly-created NPEA agency, have many small-to-medium theatre companies fearing for their funding, while Opera Australia looks to be sitting pretty. Greene says one of the goals of Sisters Grimm’s La Traviata (an opera in name only – there’s no live singing) is to take that situation to its extreme: a culture where theatre relies on commerce alone. “That situation inverts the romantic hierarchy in the arts, putting the audience up on the pedestal instead of the artists; all the artists have to do is please the audience, so that they can make their work financially viable – or be able to make anything at all.”
Belvoir Street Theatre 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills 2010. 02 9699 3444. belvoir.com.au. Tue 7pm; Wed-Fri 8.15pm; Sat 2.15pm & 8.15pm; Sun 5.15pm. $25-$68. Aug 27-Sep 20.
“Remaining true to your beliefs in Australia seems increasingly difficult”