Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet Graeme Murphy is famous for bringing new life to classic ballets, and now he’s tackled the greatest love story ever told: Romeo & Juliet. Traversing time and place, Murphy’s ballet follows “a feisty girl and a feisty boy who are willing to take a stand for their love”. Young passion smoulders at its core, but Murphy also tackles the consequences of greed and war, and asks what happens to humanity when love dies. This grand story is also grandly designed, with costumes by Australian fashion luminary Akira Isogawa and some of The Australian Ballet’s most ambitious sets to date. The result is a masterpiece from first blush to final devastation. Credits Romeo & Juliet (2011)
Choreography Graeme Murphy
Creative associate Janet Vernon
Music Sergei Prokofiev
Costume design Akira Isogawa
Set design Gerard Manion
Lighting design Damien Cooper
Projection Design Jason Lam
‘Team Murphy’, a coterie of genius that includes Vernon, costume designer Akira Isogawa, set designer Gerard Manion, lighting designer Damien Cooper and projection designer Jason Lam. They’re as tight as a locked-down, impenetrable scrum; seemingly each other’s mind-readers, such is the degree of sympathy for and synergy with each other’s craft. Each and all of these components is and are ravishing’ Lloyd Bradford Syke reviewing Romeo and Juliet, Crikey’s Curtain Call 6 December 2011
Damien Cooper’s lighting makes the most of the richly designed space, while Jason Lam’s digital projections add another layer of depth and transformation. Chloe Smethurst reviewing Romeo and Juliet, The Age, September 17 2011
Gerard Manion’s sets range across continents and religions, with Damien Cooper’s lighting and Jason Lam’s projection design enriching the stunning visuals. Carol Middleton reviewing Romeo and Juliet, Australian Stage September 16 2011
Side to One
Side to One is a duet choreographed and performed by Lisa Griffiths and Craig Bary with live projected animation and sound by Adam Synnott. Exploring the concepts of soul mates and intuition, Side to One follows two individuals destined to connect. Attracted like magnets they are never static, but constantly evolving in a heightened state of connected energy. At its simplest, the work traces the trajectory of a relationship from its first fragile intensity to inseparable unity to dangerous territory. But these two are not necessarily lovers and clever ambiguities open up other readings.
Choreographer/Performer/Director Lisa Griffiths
Choreographer/Performer/Director Craig Bary
Media Artist and Sound Design Adam Synnott
Initial Projection Design Jason Lam
Lighting Designer Ben Flett
Production Manager/Set construction Craig Clifford
Producer Rosalind Richards Artful Management
World Premiere of Side to One was on 27 July 2011 at the Adelaide Festival Centre, Space Theatre
Reviews:
SMH Weekend, August 2011 The Australian, July 2011 The Advertiser, July 2011 The Weekend Australian, July 2011 Australian Stage Online, July 2011 Rip it Up, July 2011 In Daily Online, July 2011 The Barefoot Review Online, July 2011 Glam Adelaide Online, July 2011 Arts-hub Online, August 2011
Element
Element is a full length dance work by Lisa Griffiths and Adam Synnott. It was choreographed on company, Dance Forum Taipei as part of an Asialink residency and premiered at Novel Hall, Taipei City on November 4th & 5th 2010. The work explores fundamental elements of nature and human relationships through choreography and interactive projection.
Choreography/direction: Lisa Griffiths & Adam Synnott
Projection design: Kaboom Studios
Lighting Design: Channel Huang
Impulse
Impulse, features the witty and dynamic strains of Michael Nyman’s Second Quartet. It explores how music not only propels dance – but also inspires, directs and shapes it – and how movement becomes the materialisation of the sound itself.
Jason and Adam created a stunning interactive projection work by taking live input from each of the Zephyr Quartet and processing and projecting it in realtime, making visual the music, resulting in a unique performance where all the elements stem from the music.
Choreography: Leigh Warren
Set & costume Design: Mary Moore
Lighting design: Geoff Cobham
Projection design: Jason Lam & Adam Synnott
Musicians: Zephyr Quartet
Composers: Michael Nyman – String Quartet No. 2
Premiered in Adelaide 2008
Performed in Holland Dance Festival 2009
Some Rooms
Some Rooms is one of Sydney Dance Company’s most celebrated and performed productions.
Some Rooms is quintessential Murphy. Transforming four rooms – bedroom, bathroom, changing room and reading room – into a phantasmic journey of life, this illustrious work is acclaimed for its expressive choreography, evocative music and striking design.
There are some rooms that have to be seen to be believed.
Photo: Jeff Busby
Choreography : Graeme Murphy
Creative Associate : Janet Vernon
Lighting : Damien Cooper
Video Projections : Jason Lam
Set : Kate Lehtonen
Costume : Margaret Whittingham
Reviews
‘…supurb video designs’ Deborah Jones, The Australian 30th September 2004
‘…beautifully recreated…vivid galactic imagery…adds great dimension and meaning – an early example of how much projection can enrich a live work’ Jacqueline Pascoe Dance Australia Dec 04/Jan 05.
Die Silberne Rose/The Silver Rose
The Silver Rose based on Richard Strauss’s beloved opera Der Rosenkavalier.
Set in turn of the century Vienna this gorgeous-looking three act ballet follows the romantic intrigues of The Marschallin, an aging actress her young lover Octavian his sweetheart Sophie and her admirer, the villainous Baron Ochs. The plot, lifted from Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s vision of Strauss’s opera, is a convoluted affair involving mistaken identity, jealousy, betrayal and a large dose of Benny Hill style slapstick
Jason created an abstract film projected during the opening of the ballet, a nightmare in the Marschallin’s mind, and also developed a system to time the fireworks to live music.
Created on and Premiered by the Bayerishes Staatsballet 2005
Subsequently acquired by the Australian Ballet 2010
Credits
Choreography Graeme Murphy
Creative Associate Janet Vernon
Video Projections Jason Lam
Set and Costumes Roger Kirk
Lighting Christian Kass (Munich) Damien Cooper (Australia)
photo: David Kelly
