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Penelope Bartlau

PENELOPE BARTLAU

  
Nationality:    Australian
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

WHY I DO WHAT I DO - I believe that people need to be heard and that everyone has a story to tell. My job is to enable the sharing and telling of stories - And to create the platforms for their telling across many different mediums. WHAT I DO - I interpret and create stories. I specialize in writing and visual creation. BACKGROUND - I am the Artistic Director of independent theatre company Barking Spider Visual Theatre (Barking Spider). I am a director and visual creator with a background puppetry and performance, as well as being award-winning creative writer.I have worked professionally in the arts for over 25 years. In the last 10 years with Barking Spider, I have generated, collaborated and directed in excess of 60 works - with museums and galleries, site-specific works, works for theatre and for radio, community arts projects, schools works and roving pieces. As a part of my practice, wherever possible I work with young people as equal creative collaborators and innovators.

Research:    http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/2797

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below is a list of Penelope Bartlau's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Bathing Beauties         Bobbing For Apples         Dispatch         Flush         Hatch         Keeper, The : A Gothic Tale Of Light And Dark         Memorandium, The         Psychopomp         Seething
Bathing Beauties

Synopsis:
Bathing Beauties was originally created as a sound design and performance piece for the Melbourne City Baths, as a part of the 2014 Melbourne "24 Hour Experience". Through the paradigm of competitive swimming, older women describe their experiences of water and swimming, their bodies, and ageing. The dialogue is supported by a soundscape/sound design that engages the listener in the worlds of Olympic and competitive sport and water itself. Bathing Beauties is a meditation on the ageing process, with a critical eye on what women are "expected" to look like - and be - as they age. This work digs into the heart of the aesthetics and experience of ageing, of grace, and the meaning of true beauty.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Festival of Live Art 2014, Melbourne City Baths     Feb 2014

Organisations:
ABC radio national, Soundproof

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Radio docu-drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bobbing For Apples

Synopsis:
Red is hiding under her hood. Something is hiding in her shadow. Will she beat the wolves to the door? An urban fairytale told with puppetry of shadows.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Brunswick, VIC     27 Jan 2011

Organisations:
Midsumma Festival

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Puppetry

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/94664

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Dispatch

Synopsis:
A girl, Sorrel, arrives at an island in a leaky boat. The island is a stopping-place for departing souls. Keeper of the island is Maman Brigitte, and on the island are abandoned suitcases. Sorrel goes through these seeking shelter and refuge. She receives stories and lessons from the contents she finds within.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Grant Street Theatre, Southbank, VIC     25 Sep 2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Visual theatre with puppets 50 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  Variable gender for all roles

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/75859

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Flush

Synopsis:
Flush is a cabaret style black comedy about the grandeur, delusion and consequences of one woman's gambling addiction. Adapted from Klabund's Der Speiler (The Gambler) written in Berlin in 1920.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatreworks, St Kilda, VIC     22 Sep 2004

Organisations:
St Kilda Bangs!; Melbourne Fringe Festival 2004

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short Black comedy/cabaret

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/65999

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Hatch

Synopsis:
Hatch is the tale of a puppet character called Little Legs. After a joyful birth he encounters pain followed by disillusion and loss of sense of self. He journeys through different worlds seeking understanding and the story ends in his triumph at rediscovering lost joy and a restored sense of faith in the world.

Notes:
Performed as part of the Ishara International Puppet Festival

1st Produced:
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India     Jan 2007

Organisations:
AusArts India 2007

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
puppetry

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/119114

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Keeper, The : A Gothic Tale Of Light And Dark

Synopsis:
On a tiny island in a lonely sea, human lives jostle and collide like waves on the rocks. A love offering, a doomed rescue, death and a child's secret are the flotsam in this watery tale. Connie's secret floats in from a dark past, carries her to a terror filled fututre; music is one thing that can soothe. And the lantern in the tower must flash its pattern of light and dark, no matter the human cost.

Notes:
written by Shaw, Chrissie And Bartlau, Penelope

1st Produced:
Street Theatre, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory     27 Feb 2008

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/74316

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Memorandium, The

Synopsis:
The Memorandium is a theatrical exploration of our memories - the stories, feelings, thoughts and impressions that reside within us all. A creation of Melbourne-based Barking Spider Visual Theatre, it premiered as a theatrical production in 2012. During the performance, visual objects triggered memories from the audience, which were then used to create live improvised stories. The Memorandium has now been adapted for Soundproof. For the radio version, the audience was invited into the ABC studios where, instead of objects, carefully crafted soundscapes were played to spark memories. From that point on, the performance was in the hands of Barking Spider artistic director, Penelope Bartlau, and her musician collaborators Leah Scholes and Darius Kedros.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carlton Courthouse, Carlton, VIC     02 Aug 2011

Organisations:
Barking Spider Visual Theatre

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Children's visual theatre

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/93578

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Psychopomp

Synopsis:
Psychopomp: A visual quartet for four voices

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
La MaMa Courthouse
349 Drummond Street Carlton, New York, NY     18 Feb 2015

Organisations:
Barking Spider Visual Theatre

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short work

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seething

Synopsis:
Seething: A short work for voice and dancer.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
La MaMa Courthouse
349 Drummond Street Carlton, New York, NY     18 Feb 2015

Organisations:
Barking Spider Visual Theatre

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short work

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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