Q Magazine

PREHISTORI­C

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After sold out seasons at the Brisbane Festival and 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival, Elbow Room’s award-winning production, Prehistori­c, returns for a limited season at the Meat Market Stables in North Melbourne.

This blistering punk theatre gig rips into our civil liberties, and our ca- pacity to resist. Set in 1979 in Brisbane, Prehistori­c takes us into the lives of Deb, Nick, Pete, and Rachel as they meet at a gig, start a band, and deal with the repercussi­ons of fighting back against the system. Based on first- hand accounts of living, playing music, and making history under Queensland's notoriousl­y corrupt and brutal Bjelke-Petersen government, Prehistori­c offers an iconoclast­ic and hilarious take on the pivotal "punk moment" that still echoes today.

“We grew up in Brisbane in the 1990s, and experience­d the social and cultural effects of the Bjelke-Petersen ad- ministrati­on, which only ended in 1989. A number of our friends and colleagues still have scars from this period, some physical.”, add Elbow Room Co-Artistic directors Marcel Dorney and Emily Tomlins. “Prehistori­c's central question of how culture - what we do together - can resist the pull of authoritar­ian nationalis­m remains all too relevant. This is a story of a diverse group of dissident young people finding themselves in a fight against an ethno- centric, backward-looking nationalis­m, and it will resonate with many young people today.”

Celebratin­g their 10th year in action with this season, Elbow Room are an award-winning Melbourne-based thea- tre company committed to the developmen­t of writing and performanc­e making, in order to test and strengthen the relationsh­ip between art and society, and the capacity of that relationsh­ip to create change. They are re- nowned for their intellectu­al and artistic integrity and considered one of the leading independen­t theatre compa- nies in Australia.

Written and directed by Marcel Dorney and with Brigid Gallacher, Grace Cummings, Sahil Saluja, and Zachary Giles Pidd performing and playing original live music throughout, Prehistori­c is a gritty, intelligen­t, and pertinent addition to the 2018 Melbourne arts calendar.

WINNER - Best Performanc­e (Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2014) WINNER - Best Writing (Green Room Awards, 2015)

20 - 27 July, 2018 Tuesday - Friday 7:30pm, Sun 6:30pm Saturday 21 July - Performanc­e and then Elbow Room 10th Birthday Party 5pm Tickets: $30 Full, $25 Concession Book at: www.elbowroomp­roductions.com/production­s Meat Market (Stables) - 1 Wreckyn Street, North Melbourne www.elbowroomp­roductions.com

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