carnival of mysteries

Cycling through Melbourne dusk after watching a show with Christy and she has been doing some random Wikipedia-ing “did you know that Fringe came out of the Pram Factory?” We talk about all those classic Melbourne companies that came out of the Pram Factory. Imagine if those artists had managed to buy the Pram Factory. The influence that the availability of space has on artists’ ability to make work. We talk about Liz Jones and the campaign to buy La Mama. The preciousness of places for making as real estate goes up.

We go to see the Carnival of Mysteries. The familiar people, Azaria, Derek, Sosi, Yumi, Maude Davey, David Pidd, Moira Finucane, the bodies so present and precise, the eyes right there with you. Something brilliant about seeing the product of all those minds.

In the middle of it Toni Lamond got up and sang. She stepped up onto the stage and I thought ‘who is she?’ there was a sense of something special in the way the audience stopped.

She sang about her life. Vaudeville, early TV, spruiking at Coles, stage shows. As the show finished and all the cast stood up on the bar to dance to ‘Flashdance what a feeling,’ I had a moment. It was something about being seeing this world that has such a long and particular history. This world of artists making work in Melbourne. Making work against odds. Making art. That they are still here and the history is a continuum and I am a little part of it.